How to clone partition on the same HD

[yh125d]

Hey guys, I have a problem. I had my 1tb drive with one big partition. I decided to shrink that partition to ~150gb for OS/apps, and make a new partition for storage. My big partition only has about 45gb at this time. I still haven't really done much with it.

So, I go into disk management (vista) to shrink it (c, and I can only shrink it down to about 650gb. I figure there's some outlying file that can't be moved (I defragged immediately before) limiting how much it can be shrunk.

I think that since everything on the drive would fit in the 250gb new partition (k, I'll clone the c: partition to it, then once c: is empty I can shrink it to the size I need andn clone k: back to c:. Will this work? What software will I need to make this happen? I have an Acronis TI trial still valid, but I've looked through and it can only clone a partition to a different drive. I don't really have an extra drive to clone it to right now, unless I seriously bastardize an office computer here, which I'd rather not do. Once I get c: cloned to k: and format c:, I should be able to shrink it to whatever size I want, right?


Thanks in advance

 

[rarebear]

Acronis True Image is best for cloning IMHO
Ghost and Drive Image are two others..

I like Partition Magic for changing Partitions but Acronis also makes Disk Director...

Clone C: to another drive or DVDs

Resize partions and you can add image of C: back to an size partion that has enough space for files.. Plus have a Disastor Recover Copy..

Delete all the temp files and a defrage is also nice before imaging..

I am pretty sure Drive Image will let you resize partions with data still on the drives but had it fail on me once and I never forgot it

 

[techmanc]

Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2009 Professional Edition is my new partitioning utility and it works well. One caveat to you backing up to the same psychical hard drive is if it goes bad you lose everything.

 

[dunkster]

For partition manipulation (create, shrink, expand, merge, clone, wipe, etc.) you need partition-management software. Google 'partition manager' for a selection of both free and paid solutions.

I can recommend Paragon HD Manager 2009 Suite, a rich suite that combines comprehensive partition-management functions combined with full image backup/restore functions.

You can also download product user-manuals from both Paragon and Acronis at their respective sites for your inspection.

Hope this helps!

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

You may also be able to do this with GParted on a Linux live CD like Ubuntu's. I was able to resize and move partitions on 200GB and 500GB drives with no issues, although it can take quite a while. I don't know about the other utilities mentioned, but this is a free option. Make sure you back everything up ahead of time, as there are obvious risks.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: yh125d
So, I go into disk management (vista) to shrink it (c, and I can only shrink it down to about 650gb. I figure there's some outlying file that can't be moved (I defragged immediately before) limiting how much it can be shrunk.

Thanks in advance

Wonder if it is the swap file that is limiting how much you can shrink it?

 

[yh125d]

I found a spare IDE drive in the office big enough to do what I needed, and got it taken care of with acronis. Thanks guys