Resizing C partition

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

"Jim" > wrote in message ...
> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
> into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
> Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
> seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the
> others have been removed.
>
> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
> offer other suggestions?

What "partitioning applications" did you use?

[chriske911]

on 27/12/2006, Jim supposed :
> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned into
> three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest. Intent was to
> install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.

> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet the
> C partition is now choking.

> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it seems
> partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the others
> have been removed.

> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can offer
> other suggestions?

download gparted CD
this is a Linux based bootable cd to resize partitions and some other
partition related stuff

works all the time and costs you nothing but one CDR

grtz

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

"Jim" > wrote in message ...
> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
> into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
> Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
> seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the
> others have been removed.
>
> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
> offer other suggestions?

By the way, either your PC clock is wrong or your time
zone is. You're posting one hour in the future.

[Jim]

Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.

Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
the C partition is now choking.

Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the
others have been removed.

Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
offer other suggestions?

[Homer J. Simpson]

Games, for one, have a nasty habit of dropping their shyte (saved games,
custom content, etc) somewhere under My Documents without even prompting you
during installation, so unless you've relocated that folder--or the entire
user profile--elsewhere (eg, on your D drive), odds are pretty good that
you've got at least a couple hundred megs still going on your C drive
needlessly. Moving My Documents would probably let you reclaim that space
for your C drive.

Another option--have you given any thought to (or are you aware of the
existence of) junction points? Essentially, you can remap any one
particular folder to go elsewhere (another partition or another drive
entirely)--this is done transparently, so any program that insists on
writing something in a particular folder simply remains unaware of what's
actually taking place.

You can get the utility to create/delete junction points from
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/Junction.mspx

[John Barnett MVP]

Installing programs on a different drive/partition has no real benefit. If
the system crashes and you have to re-install windows, you still have to
re-install all the programs so why waste valuable disk space on a seperate
program store. As you have found out, when installing programs, there are
always files that 'must' install on the C drive regardless of where you
direct the original application to be installed.

Expanding a partition relies upon there being space to 'expand' If, for
example you have drive C: the directly next to it drive D: you are unable to
expand the drive because drive/partition D is in the way. If you shrink
partition D (from the front) then whatever you shrink D by shows as
unallocated space, thus leaving a gap between C and D. C can then expand
into this gap.

It also really depends upon your partitioning software. Either way it can be
a time consuming job. It's a bit like laying bricks, once the main course is
down if you suddenly decide that a half brick with a desgin on would look
nice in the middle of the row you have to physically move each brick until
you have enough space in the middle of the row to drop in the half brick.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Jim" > wrote in message ...
> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned into
> three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest. Intent was to
> install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it seems
> partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the others
> have been removed.
>
> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can offer
> other suggestions?

[John Barnett MVP]

Jim, parttiioning software i have used has always been able to expand the
partition. I only just noticed that you had tried deleting the D and E
drive, so there should be no reason why the partition cannot be expanded.
Obviously Windows XP won't do it, without you creating a completely new C
parttiion, but other partitioning software will. Partition Magic should for
one.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Jim" > wrote in message ...
> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned into
> three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest. Intent was to
> install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it seems
> partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the others
> have been removed.
>
> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can offer
> other suggestions?

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Jim wrote:

> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
> into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
> Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.


Although such a three-partition setup is a fairly common one, it really
makes little sense. Making C: "leaner" is not a worthwhile objective. Most
people who do this do it because they think that if they ever have to
reinstall Windows on C:. their installed programs on D: will remain. But in
fact, that is erroneous, and if Windows is reinstalled, all the programs
need to be too. So there is really no benefit to haveing programs on
separate partition.

Except for those who run multiple operating systems, there is rarely any
benefit to having more than two partitions.



> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D
> yet the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
> seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once
> the others have been removed.


What partitioning applications? All the ones I know of do this kind of thing
easily.


> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
> offer other suggestions?


You should get a new hard drive if what you have doesn't fit on the old one
(or you are quickly approaching that point). It makes no sense to get a hard
drive just because you want to reallocate the partition space.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Paul Johnson]

Jim wrote:

> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
> into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
> Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.

?? How did you manage this, or is the problem really that Documents and
Settings really needs to be moved to D: and windows told where it can find
it? Have you tried to find where on C: your drive space is going?

> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
> seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the
> others have been removed.

Which "partitioning programs" are we talking about, anyway? That's kind of
like asking a question about how do you fix a car doing ___? What kind of
car? :)

> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
> offer other suggestions?

Save your money until you give us enough details to work with.

[Rock]

"Jim" wrote

> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned into
> three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest. Intent was to
> install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
> the C partition is now choking.
>
> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it seems
> partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the others
> have been removed.
>
> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can offer
> other suggestions?

To add to what others have said, one problem that might happen, with D and E
removed and C expanded, is that some programs might not work. If they were
installed to the D drive then that will be reflected in the registry. Now
they are on C, it might cause problems. If so those programs will need to
be uninstalled / reinstalled, and uninstalling might be a problem if the
uninstall utility is looking to the D drive to uninstall them.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]

[chriske911]

After serious thinking Ken Blake, MVP wrote :
> Jim wrote:

>> Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
>> into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
>> Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.

> Although such a three-partition setup is a fairly common one, it really makes
> little sense. Making C: "leaner" is not a worthwhile objective. Most people
> who do this do it because they think that if they ever have to reinstall
> Windows on C:. their installed programs on D: will remain. But in fact, that
> is erroneous, and if Windows is reinstalled, all the programs need to be too.
> So there is really no benefit to haveing programs on separate partition.

> Except for those who run multiple operating systems, there is rarely any
> benefit to having more than two partitions.

>> Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D
>> yet the C partition is now choking.
>>
>> Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
>> seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once
>> the others have been removed.

> What partitioning applications? All the ones I know of do this kind of thing
> easily.

>> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
>> offer other suggestions?

> You should get a new hard drive if what you have doesn't fit on the old one
> (or you are quickly approaching that point). It makes no sense to get a hard
> drive just because you want to reallocate the partition space.

granted that I am not the average joe in this area
but I can assure you I have about 15GB of programs that don't need
reinstalling along with windows
same goes for most of the games, sometimes there are some DLL's that
need reregistering but that's all

It would really be a waist of time if I would need to reinstall them
all of the time cause I 'refresh' my OS's almost every month or so

I also redirect a lot of user folders like appdata, my documents, temp
folders, favorites and so on

I do have to say I have a multi disk setup rather than multiple
partitions on 1 disk but the idea behind it remains the same

grtz

[Ken Blake, MVP]

chriske911 wrote:


>> Although such a three-partition setup is a fairly common one, it
>> really makes little sense. Making C: "leaner" is not a worthwhile
>> objective. Most people who do this do it because they think that if
>> they ever have to reinstall Windows on C:. their installed programs
>> on D: will remain. But in fact, that is erroneous, and if Windows is
>> reinstalled, all the programs need to be too. So there is really no
>> benefit to haveing programs on separate partition.
>

> granted that I am not the average joe in this area
> but I can assure you I have about 15GB of programs that don't need
> reinstalling along with windows


If you say so, I believe you. You don't say what the programs are, but yours
is a very unusual situation. There certainly are occasional such programs,
but comparatively very few, and in the great majority of cases, they are are
very small programs.

My statement "if Windows is reinstalled, all the programs need to be too"
was an oversimplification, made for the sake of keeping things simple and
easy to understand. Yes, it's not literally *all*. But for the enormous
majority of Windows users, it's close enough to all that the exceptions
don't matter.


> It would really be a waist of time if I would need to reinstall them
> all of the time cause I 'refresh' my OS's almost every month or so


Ugh! "Refreshing your Windows installations "every month or so" is itself a
giant waste of time, as far as I'm concerned. Windows doesn not need to be
reinstalled periodically.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup



> I also redirect a lot of user folders like appdata, my documents, temp
> folders, favorites and so on
>
> I do have to say I have a multi disk setup rather than multiple
> partitions on 1 disk but the idea behind it remains the same
>
> grtz

[Phisherman]

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 07:54:33 -0600, Jim > wrote:

>Daughter's desktop computer has an 80gb drive originally partitioned
>into three partitions. The D (data) partition being the largest.
>Intent was to install programs to D thereby leaving C leaner.
>
>Problem is she is an avid gamer. Games were installed pointing to D yet
>the C partition is now choking.
>
>Tried deleting D and E with intent to then expand C. But so far it
>seems partitioning applications will shrink C but not expand it once the
>others have been removed.
>
>Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
>offer other suggestions?


Partition Magic

[chriske911]

Ken Blake, MVP formulated the question :
> chriske911 wrote:

>>

>> granted that I am not the average joe in this area
>> but I can assure you I have about 15GB of programs that don't need
>> reinstalling along with windows

> If you say so, I believe you. You don't say what the programs are, but yours
> is a very unusual situation. There certainly are occasional such programs,
> but comparatively very few, and in the great majority of cases, they are are
> very small programs.

> My statement "if Windows is reinstalled, all the programs need to be too" was
> an oversimplification, made for the sake of keeping things simple and easy to
> understand. Yes, it's not literally *all*. But for the enormous majority of
> Windows users, it's close enough to all that the exceptions don't matter.

>> It would really be a waist of time if I would need to reinstall them
>> all of the time cause I 'refresh' my OS's almost every month or so

> Ugh! "Refreshing your Windows installations "every month or so" is itself a
> giant waste of time, as far as I'm concerned. Windows doesn not need to be
> reinstalled periodically.

it does need to be done if you continually try out a lot of stuff, be
it software or hardware

and who is talking about windows installations?
I also try out a lot of non-MS operating systems
and yes, I know you could use VMware or virtualPC for this but then I
still wouldn't know if the OS is recognizing all of my hardware

the programs I am able to use without reinstalling are:

open office so I can open any document without the need for installing
MSoffice

several CAD programs (A9tech, BCad, CADstd, freeCAD, LasiCAD,...)

a lot of picture handling programs (Irfan, Photofiltre,
PowerDraw,imgThumb, ASSCII Pic, TifSplitter, Iphile, Picasa,...)

a number of multimedia clients (VLC, Audacity, FSplayer, XMplay,
Screamer radio, BSplayer, Zortam, mPlayer, WorldTV, AVIpreview,...)

a few file managers (A43, TotalCommander, CubicExplorer, LupasRen,
Bruno, XYplorer)

editors of all sort (Notepad++, Winmerge, XMLFox, Shalom, PsPAd,
WinVI32, Scite, Witched, Reshack, NVU, Alleycode, Amaya, Foxit, Uedit,
Dasm,... )

a variety of network tools (Dameware, Foundstone, Sysinternals
utilities, UltraVNC, Lantool, Radtool, Putty, Kiwi,...)
a heap of debug and enumeration tools for hardware and software
(APImonitor, dependency walker, dissasembler, ListWnd, Aida, ...)

misc tools like
Micro20 to be able to write CD's on any writer,
Convert so I don't have to remember how many liters there are in a
gallon or how many pounds to a stone or whatever
Jamsoft treesize to be able to pinpoint an out of order logdirectory in
a matter of seconds,
WinRAR to open almost all of the well known existing archive formats
KeePass so I don't need to remember or write down any password
Portable Firefox with my bookmarks to start up on any computer or
OffByone for a quick check or Gecko if I want to see if pages are
following W3C standard
SmartFTPclient holding all ftp sites I use regularly
RSSOwl so I stay up to date on world news whenever I have the time
MesNews so I can keep an eye on this and other newsgroups ^^
Trillian to check up on my buddies whenever and where ever I happen to
be
uTorrent so I can abuse bandwidth on the spot :')

these are just the tools I use regularly
and they are all indeed pretty small but I hate bloatware anyway
I'd rather use a lot of tiny tools that do exactly what I need without
a lot of features
they can all be put on a USB flash disk so I can use these tools where
ever I have to go

and then I am not even including all of the bootable solutions I have
they all have yet another set of tools that can be used without
installing anything on the host computer

then onward to games

Quake3 and Quake4, Doom3, Need for Speed, FEAR, GRAW, SOF, UT2004,
Serious Sam, ShadowOps, Wolfenstein, Urban Assault, MAME32, Spirit
Warrior, Flightgear, Forsaken, Addiction Pinball,
and about a 300 smaller games ranging from chess to mahjong or jigsaw
puzzles, arcade and so on

could be that I am forgetting a lot here, the collection has grown over
the years and propably has a lot of stuff I don't use anymore

grtz

[Uncle Grumpy]

Jim wrote:

> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
> offer other suggestions?

Do it. Then clone the old to the new. Each partition will then be
larger than it presently is and all the programs will still function.

[Jim]

John Barnett MVP wrote:
> Installing programs on a different drive/partition has no real
> benefit. If the system crashes and you have to re-install windows,
> you still have to re-install all the programs so why waste valuable
> disk space on a seperate program store. As you have found out, when
> installing programs, there are always files that 'must' install on
> the C drive regardless of where you direct the original application
> to be installed.
>
Why chance wiping out the data just to reinstall Windows? Using
partitions I may need to reinstall the applications but at least the
data and other files will still be there.

> Expanding a partition relies upon there being space to 'expand' If,
> for example you have drive C: the directly next to it drive D: you
> are unable to expand the drive because drive/partition D is in the
> way. If you shrink partition D (from the front) then whatever you
> shrink D by shows as unallocated space, thus leaving a gap between C
> and D. C can then expand into this gap.

I thought that too but currently noticing that once another partition
occupied the space and was later deleted that C won't expand into it.

[Jim]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

> Although such a three-partition setup is a fairly common one, it really
> makes little sense. Making C: "leaner" is not a worthwhile objective. Most
> people who do this do it because they think that if they ever have to
> reinstall Windows on C:. their installed programs on D: will remain. But in
> fact, that is erroneous, and if Windows is reinstalled, all the programs
> need to be too. So there is really no benefit to haveing programs on
> separate partition.
>
I consider having the data files on D remaining to be a worthwhile
objective.

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Jim wrote:

> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>
>> Although such a three-partition setup is a fairly common one, it
>> really makes little sense. Making C: "leaner" is not a worthwhile
>> objective. Most people who do this do it because they think that if
>> they ever have to reinstall Windows on C:. their installed programs
>> on D: will remain. But in fact, that is erroneous, and if Windows is
>> reinstalled, all the programs need to be too. So there is really no
>> benefit to haveing programs on separate partition.
>>
> I consider having the data files on D remaining to be a worthwhile
> objective.


Two points:

1. My comments were about separating *programs* from the operating system in
a three-partition setup, *not* about separating data from the operating
system in a two-partition setup. In the message to which you replied, I said
"Except for those who run multiple operating systems, there is rarely any
benefit to having more than two partitions." Please note the word "two" in
that sentence.

2. Every time someone talks about "having the data files on D remaining," my
concern is that he thinks of that as a substitute for backup. Anyone who
does that is kidding himself, since data stored on a separate partition is
vulnerable to simultaneous loss of both partitions to most of the most
common dangers.

Here's my standard blurb on partition schemes: My view is that most people's
partitioning scheme should be based on their backup scheme. If, for example,
you backup by creating a clone or image on the entire drive, then a single
partition might be best. If, on the other hand, you backup only your data,
then the backup process is facilitated by
having all data in a separate partition. Except for those running multiple
operating systems, only seldom does it make sense to have more than two
partitions

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Jim]

Uncle Grumpy wrote:
> Jim wrote:
>
>> Considering just getting a larger new hard drive unless someone can
>> offer other suggestions?
>
> Do it. Then clone the old to the new. Each partition will then be
> larger than it presently is and all the programs will still function.
>

So far that is where I'm leaning. But it is my daughter's system, not mine.