Easy way to shrink a Windows partition with unmovable files without buying Partition Magic?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Boot/System partition resizer

Is there a better option than paying $20 for Partition Magic to safely and relatively easily shrink my Windows partition? I have 140G capacity and around 95G free, but only 24G can be freed up because of unmovable files. I already defragmented, but the unmovable files are scattered all over.

Solution 1

Recently I've had the same problem. For me the solution was GParted - http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php.

All you need is a usb thumb drive or a blank cd +some hours to spend. Go to the link I've attached above and follow the instructions.

You should take some precautions as sometimes the program might destroy your data (preferably you should backup it first).

Have fun and good luck!

Solution 2

When you mean unmovable files, are you talking about the green bars in the defragmenter? This is most likely your swap or hibernate file; I don't think there are any other files that are unmovable.

What I would recommend is:

1. Disable your swap memory
2. Disable the Hibernate feature
3. Defragment your drive (maybe more than once to get the files better compacted)
4. Try to shrink your partition
5. Enable swap
6. Enable hibernate

If you have another computer where you can plug your disk into, you can just copy the files out, delete the partition and do the same at a much faster rate.

Solution 3

PerfectDisk (free 30-day trial, $30 retail) can defrag otherwise "unmoveable files," since it can run after a reboot (i.e. before Windows can lock the files again). After it completely defragments your drive, you should be able to shrink your partition as desired.

Comments

[Rafael Rivera]

Have you tried resizing the volume via Disk Management? (Start menu search for 'disk management')

[nhinkle]

possible duplicate of Boot/System partition resizer and Resize primary partition

[jonderry]

@Rafael: vista's built in utility to shrink partitions cannot move unmovable system files, so it's limited in how much it can shrink the partition by.