Creating partition AFTER all progs installed (on Vista)?

[peanutty1]

Hi -- I have all my programs already installed on my C: drive with plenty of space leftover. Would it be possible to create a partition now...or does the HD have to be clean with no apps?

Also, can anyone recommend a good 3rd party partitioning prog? Like Acronis Disk Director, perhaps?

Thanks!

 

[masteryoda34]

gparted

 

[seemingly random]

Try "Disk Management". It's in "Computer Management" or is accessible by running "diskmgmt.msc". This is sufficient for most needs.

 

[peanutty1]

Thanks for the quick replies, guys! (Love this forum.)

I had tried going through Disk Management when I first got my computer, but I kept getting an "Access is denied" message when I tried to create the partition. Also, it would show that I only had a certain amount of disk size available to partition even though I actually had a lot more space to work with. I didn't know how to resolve these two issues...

If you know the answers, please let me know!

Thanks again.

 

[seemingly random]

Check that the size reported is what you expect. What is the drive size and what size is each current partition? What's the unused space size?

The "access denied" could just be vista getting in your way or you could be trying to mess with the boot up partition - windows doesn't like this at all. Do you have administrator access?

I would backup any irreplaceable files before continuing...

 

[peanutty1]

I don't know what's going on -- I'm starting to hate Vista. I did try logging in as administrator, but I still get the "access is denied" error. As for the partition drive size issue, I've confirmed that I have plenty of space (at least 200+ gigs free), but the "size of available shrink space" shows less than 100 gigs. Frustrating.

I hope that if I decide to buy a 3rd party software like Acronis, this same issue won't come up....

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: peanutty1
I don't know what's going on -- I'm starting to hate Vista. I did try logging in as administrator, but I still get the "access is denied" error. As for the partition drive size issue, I've confirmed that I have plenty of space (at least 200+ gigs free), but the "size of available shrink space" shows less than 100 gigs. Frustrating.

I hope that if I decide to buy a 3rd party software like Acronis, this same issue won't come up....

Have somebody you know look at it. It's really not all that complicated. For most drive administration tasks, the stuff that comes with vista is sufficient. In other words, you might have the same problem with a separately purchased utility.

If you can't find anybody in a few days, post a disk manager screen shot. Search for "screen capture" if unsure how this is done.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

Were you running as the administrator?

Find "Disk Management" in the Start Menu, RMB then select "Run as Administrator." That should resolve most "Access is Denied" errors. As for your disk shrink issue: the defragmenter used in Vista and prior isn't able to re-locate some NTFS files, sometimes limiting the amount you can shrink a disk. Even one with free space. If you hit this issue (and it seems you have) my suggestion would be to use GParted to resize. Be aware that Windows Vista will need to run CHKDSK when it next run.

 

[Nothinman]

I did try logging in as administrator, but I still get the "access is denied" error.

Did you mess with UAC?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: peanutty1
I don't know what's going on -- I'm starting to hate Vista. I did try logging in as administrator, but I still get the "access is denied" error. As for the partition drive size issue, I've confirmed that I have plenty of space (at least 200+ gigs free), but the "size of available shrink space" shows less than 100 gigs. Frustrating.

I hope that if I decide to buy a 3rd party software like Acronis, this same issue won't come up....

You could have some unmovable files that are taking up room. 100gb might be the largest contiguous space you have. eg..

(Windo100gb gapwsfree space)

I always use Gparted for partitioning. Disk Management might be ok, but I'm not familiar with it, so I use what I know.