Questions about shrinking C drive

I have now a 650 gig C drive, a 35 gig partition for ripping and processing and downloading files, and a 15 gig Recovery Drive that Dell installed with a backup of my pristine system.

I want to shrink the C drive down to 110 gigs and keep only my software on it, and use the remaining 540 gigs just for archiving movies and music.

My question is:
Is it better to use the "Shrink" utility that Vista has, or should I use my Paragon Partition Manager 9 Pro to make the partition?

Considerations:
I used Paragon Manager 9 to create the 35 gig partition, and although it seems to have worked okay, I found the software rather hard to use and nerve-wracking and it took 2 hours for it to create the partition! I have heard Paragon (as most other software co's these days) have very poor tech support and as I was doing it, I thought, "Hmm, if this goes wrong, I am in DEEP DOO-DOO!"

I was surprised and concerned that it took 2 hours (the software reported it was going to take THREE hours, AFTER I started the process - I wish they'd have told me BEFORE). I also had to start from their Recovery Disc to create the partition and the recovery disc interface (Linux, I think) was much less user friendly and more confusing to use than their Windows interface.

So.... bottom line: I would RATHER do it with Vista's Shrink utility but the whole reason I got Paragon's software was because I had heard that using a commercially made utility was "better" because if I used Vista's it would not do it exactly in the best way somehow. (I don't remember the exact warnings...)

But if it is truly better to use Paragon I will do it. It DID seem to work okay with the method I used, the only thing is that the choice they gave me for the partition said "Move/Resize" and I wasn't sure why it said "Move" and I was wondering if maybe that was why it took so long - because it was not just resizing but somehow also "moving" something or other? I did not see an option to just resize, only "resize/move". Also, should it indeed take 2 hours to make a 35 gig partition? That also had me concerned and made me wonder if I had done it right. If it takes 2 hours to make a 35 gig partition, how long is it going to take to mae a 540 gig partition out of the C drive??

Thanks for any feedback. I am new to partitioning C drive and it makes me quite nervous to do so, especially with software that seems a little confusing.

[By the way, do NOT recommend Acronis Disc Director to me! I tried that for a USB partition and it really screwed up and I was lucky to get my drive back in working order! I hate Acronis software! I also tried their back up software and found it flakey, too. I've heard a lot of neg reviews of Acronis software.]

And yes, I have a back up of my Recovery Partition made with Paragon Express back up software and loaded onto my USB HD. By the way, the free Paragon software for backing up my Recovery Partition worked really well! With that I was impressed and might buy their upgrade for backing up files etc.

Hi pd,

Yes, the Paragon was moving data to fulfill your requested repartitioning.

This is the advantage 3rd party tools have over Disk Management.

However, if you go to Disk Management and rt click the partition you wish to shrink - it will tell you how much you can shrink it (without moving data, which it cannot do ).

When you know how much free space is available to shrink ( without moving data) selecting that amount or less in either Disk Management or Paragon , will result in a a very quick operation - as there is no data being moved.

If you wish to shrink more than that, then data will need to be moved and you have to use the Paragon.

If you are moving data on either the System partition , or the Boot partition ( the one you are currently in ), you must use the bootable disc.

Hope it helps.

SIW2 said:

Hi pd,

Yes, the Paragon was moving data to fulfill your requested repartitioning.

This is the advantage 3rd party tools have over Disk Management.

However, if you go to Disk Management and rt click the partition you wish to shrink - it will tell you how much you can shrink it (without moving data, which it cannot do ).

When you know how much free space is available to shrink ( without moving data) selecting that amount or less in either Disk Management or Paragon , will result in a a very quick operation - as there is no data being moved.

If you wish to shrink more than that, then data will need to be moved and you have to use the Paragon.

If you are moving data on either the System partition , or the Boot partition ( the one you are currently in ), you must use the bootable disc.

Hope it helps.

Click to expand...

I consider your answer thorough but I do have a couple more questions if you will indulge me, just for my own knowledge and curiosity:

I checked in Disc Management as you suggested and Vista says it can only shrink my volume to 400 some gigs down from 650 or so.

Why is that? Why would it have to move data to shrink it when it's basically got some 550 empty gigs worth of space on the C drive. So why can I only shrink it down to 400+ instead of the 110 gigs I want which will still provide for the 70+ gigs of programs (including Vista) I have, plus almost 40 gigs of elbow room for Vista? What exactly does it have to move, if it already has plenty of space for my 70 gigs of programs and OS? I don't get it...

Also, if I do shrink it down with Paragon Disc Manager, do you think the 110gigs I propose for Vista is enough, or should I give it more room? I do not want to risk hampering my computer's performance in any way, if anything I wish to enhance it by giving the C drive a smaller space to defrag, and to move all downloaded files off the C drive.

Hi pd,

Disk Management will only shrink free space - where it sees a file on the drive, that is the limit.

Auslogics disk defrag has a GUI that gives a rough idea of where everything is.

You may be able to increase that by defragging with e.g. the free popular Auslogics Disk Defrag - Reclaim the Speed Of Your Disks

But, Auslogics will not move system files.

You need something like the Paragon , or the free GParted - using the boot disc with either program. (You will need to do a startup repair if working on the System, or Boot partition with GParted).

You might find this link informative:

Using GParted to Resize Your Windows Vista Partition :: the How-To Geek.

As to how much space you need, only you can decide.

My Vista partition is 30gb, as I keep only Vista and the installed programs on that partition.

It is a good idea to have a separate partion for your o/s , as it is quicker, easier, less wear on the HD , when running defrag, checkdisk, etc. It is also easier to reinstall, or create and restore an image to that partition as the data on your other partitions will be unaffected.

EDIT: You may also wish to read this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ows-vistas-shrink-volume-inadequacy-problems/

Hope it helps.