canuckconsulting
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Unable to shrink Windows 8 volume
I am trying to shrink a partition on my windows 8 x64 system. I've turned off the page file, restore points, hibernation, and debugging and then ran a Windows defrag. I have tons of free space as shown here but I cannot shrink farther:
I installed perfect disk running both it's consolidate free space and prep for shrink features but as shown here I still am unable to shrink:
What else can I do?
I installed perfect disk running both it's consolidate free space and prep for shrink features but as shown here I still am unable to shrink:
What else can I do?
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i would do (from elevated command prompt) defrag -u -v -x
you should see in the application log (defrag event id 259) which file(s) are not movable
in my case, after disabling restore points and moving the page file it was able to shrink nearly all of the free space; before it could only shrink a portion
check to see what the unmovable file(s) are if you prefer doing it natively
you should see in the application log (defrag event id 259) which file(s) are not movable
in my case, after disabling restore points and moving the page file it was able to shrink nearly all of the free space; before it could only shrink a portion
check to see what the unmovable file(s) are if you prefer doing it natively
Windows Disk Management tools allows getting 50% of available free space per action. In case the drive is defragmented. So you need to re-run the shrink several times to get the wanted result. Or use third party partitioning tools.
@noxcho: allow the comment, this is not correct. Windows has no online way of moving the MFT. The MFT is usually placed in the middle of the drives. Re-running the shrinkage process does not lead anywhere, something like the already mentioned gparted will need to run offline.
ASKER
Thanks for all the responses. While I'm sure the other approaches mentioned were also valid I lucked out on the first reply by Rindi and didn't get to try them. Specifically the free Paragon tool worked perfectly and quickly.
Thanks again for the help!
Thanks again for the help!
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm
Just download it; create a bootable CD using the MakeDisk utility (included in the download); then boot to the CD; select CANCEL (don't install it to your disk); then OK. Click on Partition Work; highlight the partition you want to shrink; and click on ReSize. Pick your new size .... and when it's done, you simply exit and reboot.