increase Partition size in Vista with Partition Magic

Do I have any other options than?  Or would I have to start all over...:(

You can shrink the partition size using Vista utilty built-in.

Punky-  If I shrink the partition can I add the remaining to the C: drive?

http://lifehacker.com/software/vista/screenshot-tour--repartition-your-hard-drive-in-windows-vista-231613.php

gParted is very simple to use.  I use it quite frequently with my clients.  The link I posted is above and it's legit.

Or here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/

There are some important limitations to the Vista partitioning tools that you should keep in mind:  you can only shrink and expand NTFS or RAW (unformatted) partitions;  when you shrink, there are some unmovable files such as page files or shadow copy storage areas that inhibit the amount of shrinkage allowed; you cannot extend a partition into unallocated space to the left (lower disk addresses) of the partition to be added to; you cannot move around unallocated space; if you have too many bad clusters on the disk, then you cannot shrink a partition on it.  Many of these limitations are removed by commercial products such as those from Paragon and Acronis...

So if I wanted to shrink D: and then use the unallocated to add to drive C: the vista program would not work?  Is that correct?

I would have to use a third party software like gParted.

That's correct.  When Vista's partitioning tool shrinks a partition, it puts the unallocated space at the end of the space, and there is no facility such as in Partition Magic to shift it to the left so that the unallocated space appears at the lower addresses, where it could be merged with a lower-addressed partition.  

I used Vista's partitioning tool to create 4 partitions on my original C: drive, and when I wanted to add more space to the third partition after C: (which on my system was named H:) because I wanted to increase the storage for my Virtual Pc storage areas there, I had to delete the prior partition G: and then also H: , and then recreate both with different sizes and restoring the data from a backup.

... be sure and look at all of my comments in the linked question if you have any questions r.e. "sliding" the free space.

Author:   Had you download gparted, open source mind you, you could have already burned the CD, booted, and resized your drive all the way you wanted to without any problems.  Please, if you are truely interested in getting an answer, try the tool I am suggesting.

inthecure: I tried gparted and it would not work for me.

I just posted this.  I had a few people tell me Partition magic would work in Dos on Vista.  After I started using it I got some error's and I read some reviews about major problems after using PM 8.0 with vista.  I'm so mad at my self.  I should be in bed but instead I'm waiting to see if my life is ruined waiting for PM to finish.


Here is what I wrote in my new post:

I'm very scared right now.  Please help.

I have two partitions: C: 30gig and D: 160gig.

C: was running out of room.  Vista's disk managment will not let you move space from D: to C:.  I read somewhere that Partition Magic will work with Vista if you boot from Dos and use it that way.  We I got a couple of errors while using Partition Magic in Dos with Vista.  It is currently still partitioning and it won't let me cancel the process.

I was just reading that other peoples computers got really screwed up after using Partition Magic.  I'm freaking out right now because I have spent 20 hours getting everything loaded on this computer and working just right for business.

Do you think I will be OK?  How will I know if it caused any problems?

If this works and puts unallocated space between C: and D: what program should I use to move the unallocated to C:  Should I use vista's own disk management or something else.

Thanks!!!!!!!

There's a reasons Partition Magic is sometimes referred to as "Partition Tragic"  :-)
... I quit using it shortly after Symantec purchased it, as the newer versions are simply not as reliable as it used to be.

I'd strongly recommend you use Boot-It NG if you ever need to do this again => the process I described above would have easily done this for you ... and it's a rock-solid utility that works every time.   The link in my earlier comment shows you exactly how to do what you asked.

OK.  It worked so far for what I was doing.  No errors and Vista starts up fine.

So now I have a C: 30gig
D: with 160gig but now 15gig is free space sitting in front of it.  But vista disk management won't let me combine this free space with the C: drive.

Any ideas?

"... Any ideas? ..." ==>  You should close this question [I'd suggest a split between my first post which told you how to do this with Boot-It (much more reliable than Partition Magic) and LeeW's first post -- which warned you about using PM with Vista]  ... and then continue the discussion in your other questions that are more focused on the remaining issue.

Hmmm, KCTS sometimes calls me LeeW.  Now garycase too?  Hey, my name is LeeTutor.  LeeW is Another Expert!  ;0)

Whoops !!!   Sorry about that LeeTutor --> it was far too late at night when I posted that :-)

Please explain how Gparted didn't work.....I have used it on all types of different operating systems, WinXP, Vista, Linux, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server without issue and am curious to know the instance it doesn't work for future knowledge.  FYI, I just used gparted to move a Vista partition to a different location on the drive, shrink it, grow the XP partition, and move it as well without issues.  So, please, post how it didn't work.

Hi Busterbrit,

Depending on the version of Gparted it may not work.

The safest way to do what you are asking is to follow these instruction.

Vista comes with a built-in tool for resizing partitions on the fly.

1) Use the built in tool

Start --> [right-click Computers] --> Manage --> Disk Management --> [select your disk- D (probably Disk 1)] --> [right-click select Shrink Volume] --> [shrink it down to the size that you want]

2) Repeat step 1 only this time select the C partition (Disk 0), right-click on it and select Extend Volume. Increase it the volume size and you are done.

I hope that this helped.

Thanks,
Linuxio

Boot-it worked great.  Thanks.