Shrink / Extend Volumes

[capreppy]

I've setup a Dual Boot on my laptop in sig. OS1 = Vista and OS2 = Win7 . Both are Ulitimate x64 versions.

I first shrunk C (Vista) to create a partition to install Win7 to. Vista was being stingy and only gave me 40GB.

I installed Win7 and that install went without a hitch. I need to give Win7 more room to work with so I shrunk the Vista partition which free'd up 145GB. I would like to extend the Win7 partition to include this 145GB that has been freed, but Computer Manager | Disk Management will not give me that option. That option IS available to the Vista partition from which the 145GB came from.

How go I get Win7 to recognize the available space and allow me to extend it's partition to include the 145GB?

 

[capreppy]

Well I found a solution kinda. Since the partition that I am extending is to the right of the newly created partition, I used DiskPart to try to Extend my Win7 partition. DiskPart says it did it, but when I go into Disk Manager or Windows Explorer, it is still the same size and the empty partition is still there in Disk Manager. I can't find anything on google to suggest I did anything incorrectly, but don't know how to fix.

Any suggestions?

 

[MrF]

Neither Vista's disk manager nor Windows 7's can extend or shrink a partition on its start point. As you have found out, they can do that only on the end point of a partition.

You can create an image of the OS, on the right side in the disk manager, using a tool like Acronis True Image or Clonezilla and store.
Then, delete the partition.
Now, restore the image to the unallocated space. This lets you effectively move the partition to the left.
Now, you can use the disk manager to extend the partition on the right.

Alternatively, you can use gparted live CD to extend any partition on the starting point.
But, make sure to backup anything irreplaceable on the hard drive. Also, make sure you do not need the computer for a long time as this function can take a very long time depending on the size of the partition.

 

[capreppy]

Hmm. That sounds like a good solution, but also very time consuming

This is on my main work laptop, but have come to love Win7. I may have to bite the bullet and get it done, just need to find the time as I'm working 80 hours a week

 

[MrF]

Another option (may be faster):

- Backup any data (music, pictures, movies, emails, Word documents, ...) you have on the second partition, which I understand is Windows 7.
- Delete the Windows 7 partition.
- Re-install Windows 7. It will occupy all the free space. Re-install any programs you need.
- Restore the backed-up data to Windows 7.

 

[capreppy]

possible solution, but I'm not sure that it would be "faster" as the number of applications that would need to be re-installed is pretty high (thus the reason I am doing this because I am running out of room on the Win7 partition)

 

[MrF]

Tools that let you relocate the starting point of a partition are risky. I have used a few and have seen none that gives you an undo choice.

In addition to the time required, consider the risk also before you choose which path to take.
If it goes busted, the time required to restore all the lost data will be longer than all the other options.

 

[capreppy]

I've used Acronis TI before to do a restore to a partition before. Since I am restoring to an empty partition, that helps to mitigate some of the risks. I'll be backing up both OS Partitions just in case. Again, just need to find the time as this will obviously take a good deal of it

 

[Yeorwned]

You need to perform a low level disk defragmentation and then you will be able to extend the volume 50% of your free space. Rinse and repeat to get it to the max size.