Resizing Vista Partitions

[NanLaew]

I have cloned my original laptop HD three times as larger drives come on the market. I used Apricorn Easy-Gig and latterly Acronis for these upgrades. I used the proportional resizing option but now I find that makes the C (Vista) and the Reiser (Linux) partition larger than they really need to be. Ultimately, I want my D (data) partition to be the largest and keep the other 3 partitions (there's a FAT32 partition which I believe is the domain for hibernation,etc.), pretty much the same size as they were when I did the first clone.

Vista has limited resizing capabilities built in and I have shrunk the C partition, freeing up a chunk of space that I ultimately want to add to the D partition. Since the free space is not physically located at the 'end' of the drive, I can't find any way to increase the D partition using Vista, Acronis or Paragon software. I understand that I need to physically move that free space to the end and that way the D partition will be allowed to expand into the free space. This correct?

Any robust and bulletproof software out there to do this manipulation?

Many thanks!

[webfact]

You know already Vista has a built-in "Shrink" utility.

But I found a link to an article which reports about the danger to resize a Vista partition with

3rd party software: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=834

The article is dated January 16th, 2009

Edited March 31, 2009 by webfact

[Guest Reimar]

You can also use the command line tool!

Hit the Windows Key +R and type cmd [Enter]

In the Command Windows type the following except what's within the **......**:

diskpart

**wait until you see: Diskpart:**

list disk

**you should get the list of you HDD's pp.**

select disk (No.)

**type the number of the disk you want to shrink without brackets**

select partition 1

active

**Caution: you can only shrink a HDD with one volume/partition!**

shrink QUERYMAX

**this to find out how much max you can shrink the HDD**

shrink DESIRED=[MB]

**if you have 50 GB for to shrink but you like only 20 GB to shrink, type 20000**

assign

**this is for to get your drive letter back**

exit

All commands again without explanation:

diskpart

list disk

select disk (No)

select partition 1

active

shrink QUERYMAX

shrink DESIRED=[MB]

assign

exit

You can also get more infos about the different command while typing (within Diskpart:) for example:

help shrink

or whatever command you like to use.

The advantage of this command line tool is that it shows you the maximum possible amount of GB/MB you can shrink with no problems which the shrink option within the Disk Management can not!

Cheers.

[NanLaew]

I can and have shrunk the Vista partition successfully using Vista's own disk management software. The laptop works great, no problems.

The issue I have is extending the size or "unshrinking" the data partition to absorb the free space that shrinking the Vista partition has set free. I now have as follows:

24Gb FAT32 part (hibernate,etc)

97.81Gb Vista partition

97.66 unallocated (from Vista partition shrink)

83.98 Gb which is my Reiser fs (Linux partition)

161.89Gb Data partition

The Extend Volume options are disabled in Vista Computer Management. I think I cannot extend the Data partition into the unallocated space as there is the Reiser partition in between. I need some software that can physically move the unallocated space so that it is contiguous with the Data partition.

[webfact]

Maybe you can try to do the impossible with this software

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/res...a-partition.htm

[RKASA]

I have not done this before, but was thinking.  "LOOK OUT"

If vista is smaller and the other is smaller.  The way you like.  Then image them and put the images back in their own partitions in the right order now the free space is in one piece, can be partitioned and the data from the old data partition which you backed up reloaded into larger data partition.

Otherwise you may have to re partition the drive and do installs into smaller partitions and bring all the saved data back into everything.