Rajbir Singh | UPDATE- Please read Comments if Shrink is not working for you.
I’ve been asked by many of my friends about partitioning their computer’s hard disk drive. The question is how to partition it & which application is to be used. This question is also asked on most of the forums particularly by new notebook owners. Most of the new notebooks come with Windows Vista pre-installed. Therefore the first question I ask them is which Operating System are they using & if it’s Windows Vista, which is in most cases, I tell them they do not need any third party application for partitioning. You need not spend your hard earned cash anymore on any application just to partition your hard disk drive.
How to create a new partition in Windows Vista:
- Right click ‘Computer’ icon on your desktop or in Start menu & click ‘Manage’.
- Enter the Administrator’s credentials in the UAC prompt.
- The Computer Management Window will open. Click Disk Management on the left panel.
- Right click on the partition from which you want to create another partition & select ‘Shrink Volume’.
- Enter the shrink size.
- The selected drive will be shrinked & free space will now be shown in the Computer Management window. You can create as many partitions as you wish.
- Right click the Free Space & select ‘New Simple Volume’.
- The New Simple Volume Wizard will now appear. Click ‘Next’.
- In the next window enter the desired partition/volume size, if you want to create multiple partitions & click ‘Next’. If you want a single partition just click ‘Next’.
- In the next window assign the drive letter or, if you are not sure, leave it as it is & click ‘Next’.
- Set the file system to FAT32 or NTFS, Enter the label if desired, select ‘Quick Format’, in the next window, and click ‘Next’.
- Click ‘Finish’ in the next window to finish the New Simple Volume Wizard.
- The new partition is now created & shown in Computer Management window.
You can now access the new partition in the Computer.
Wasn’t that really awesome? It’s simple & you need not pay a single penny to create a new partition!
Happy Computing!
Thanks for the tutorial. Will surely come in handy. (Bookmarked!)
By Goobimama on April 28th, 2008 at 5:01 pmHehe, Thanks for the comment & bookmark
By Rajbir Singh on April 28th, 2008 at 11:17 pmi tired this…the problem being my c drive having 50 gb free space does not assign any space for shrinking…shrink size is 0!!!!!!11
By Shashi on May 19th, 2008 at 4:09 amnow what to do
Hello Shashi!
The reason why Windows doesn’t let you shrink is that there are some unmovable system files in the end of the volume you are trying to shrink.
Here’s what you can try:
1. Run Disk Cleanup.
2. Defrag volume. If it still doesn’t work then follow the next steps.
3. Disable system restore if it’s enabled.
4. Disable Hibernation from power options in control panel.
5. Disable paging file from:
Right Click Computer-> Properties-> Advanced System Settings-> Advanced-> Performance-> Advanced-> Virtual Memory->Change-> No Paging file.
6. Reboot. Delete C:\pagefile.sys
7. Use some 3rd party defrag application like Raxco Perfect Disk to defrag. It has free 30 day trial.
After following these steps retry shrink. Re-enable pagefile, hibernation & system restore after you’re done with shrinking.
By Rajbir Singh on May 19th, 2008 at 5:05 amHey…thanks a lot..i thought of disabling the page file..but wasnt sure ..now il definitely try ur process..!!
By shashi on May 19th, 2008 at 6:12 amthanx, but how can I disable the system restore (following your 3th step) ?
By Nam on August 14th, 2008 at 4:45 amOn your desktop, right click Computer -> Properties.
Click System Protection from the left panel in the window. Enter Admin. credentials in UAC prompt.
Deselect the drive(s) from the list.
By Rajbir Singh on August 14th, 2008 at 4:55 amthanx very very much, this entry is very useful for the newbies who using Vista
how about disabling Hibernation ?
does it has problems if I delete the C:\pagefile.sys
By Nam on August 14th, 2008 at 8:12 amIn Vista, you can no longer disable hibernation from Power Options in Control Panel. However you can do it by typing this in Command Prompt with Admin priviliges.
Here’s how to disable:
Simply click on your Start menu, and type powercfg.exe /hibernate off in your search box (just above start logo). Then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, which will run the command prompt in admin priviliges. You may have to enter admin priviliges in UAC prompt.
To re-enable type:
powercfg.exe /hibernate on
and follow the above mentioned steps.
Pagefile.sys isn’t related with Hibernation. It’s used as virtual memory.
By Rajbir Singh on August 14th, 2008 at 10:49 amHey Rajbir,
Your tutorial made the task (which I thought would be quite arduous), very simple.
Thanks for your great work.
Great Day!!
By Cherian on August 30th, 2008 at 3:23 pmYou are welcome, Cherian. Thanks for your comment!
By Rajbir Singh on August 31st, 2008 at 10:17 amThanks Buddy
By Ramu Bandaru on October 11th, 2008 at 5:31 amGreat tutorial! I purchased a new laptop, and the C & D drives each contained 69.5gb. Seemed strange so I deleted the D partition and expanded the C. Everyone told me I needed the partition! I panicked just having the computer less than a day! I was able to create a new D drive with less gb. Thanks!
By Dr Jerry on October 23rd, 2008 at 4:21 amHello Dr. Jerry!
We are glad to know that this article helped you out. Thanks for your comment. Have a great day!
By Rajbir Singh on October 23rd, 2008 at 9:54 amHey Rajbir,
THNX a lot for this wonderful article….it worked out great for me!!!!!!…
lookin forward 2 more aricles of ur’s to increase system performance and if possible trying to utilize the internet access via Data Cards to the maximum!!!!!!
By Impy on November 6th, 2008 at 8:49 amHello Impy!
Glad to know that this article worked out for you.
Thanks for your comment & feedback. Watch out for those articles in near future.
By Rajbir Singh on November 6th, 2008 at 11:06 amThanks this was helpful but if I chose to add space to a previously created hard drive would I have to reformat it which would result in the disaster of deleting my OS?
By Aaron Atwood on December 19th, 2008 at 3:45 amAaron, I am confused. Do you mean you want to add space to a previously created partition? If that’s what you mean, then I am afraid you’ve to repartition and all the data including OS will be gone. You can also get a third party partitioning tool like Partition Magic. Partition Magic can do that for you without removing the OS or deleting the data. Always backup your important data before doing this.
By Rajbir Singh on December 19th, 2008 at 12:33 pmJust wanted to pass some info along about a microsoft critical update that was in
the news a couple days ago, you can google for info or I have provided a link below.
I was sitting on my couch looking at my computer screen and noticed my mouse moving
around and became irate, you guys be careful.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-078.mspx
By unigmetitte on December 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pmhow do i how do I change my hard drive destination from E to D for Windows Vista
By Lewis Suarez on January 19th, 2009 at 10:54 amHi Lewis!
I suppose you want to change drive letters. For this, follow these steps:
1. Right click Computer icon on desktop.
2. Select ‘Manage’ from the menu.
3. You may need to enter your administrator credentials in the UAC prompt.
4. Computer Management will open up. In this window select ‘Disk Management’ from the left panel.
5. Right click the E drive and select ‘Change drive letters & path’.
6. On the dialog box that appears, click ‘Change’ button and then assign the D drive letter. (It’ll appear only if D is currently not in use)
7. If D is already in use then rename D to something else first & follow the steps again.
Hope it helps.
By Rajbir Singh on January 19th, 2009 at 11:18 amnice tutorial…
thanks!
i have a question however…
i have a 320 gb. hdd on my laptop & there are 4 partitions, i want to combine 3 of them & maybe add more space by getting from the last one (my drive c:)…
is it possible???
will i have problems with my OS???
By kristian on January 21st, 2009 at 6:59 pmHello Kristian!
Before trying this backup all the data on the 3 drives you want to combine as the data on these 3 drives will be lost. Backup important files on the C drive too.
Try this:
Delete all the 3 partitions you want to combine in Disk Management. Read the article to know how to launch Disk Management.
To delete the 3 partitions right click the partitions one by one in disk management & select ‘delete volume’.
Now to get more space from C, follow the steps mentioned in the article to ‘Shrink’ C drive.
Now you’ll have free space in the disk management. You can create new partition(s) by right clicking the free space & selecting ‘New Simple Volume’.
Now you have the desired numbers of partitions.
The OS should not be affected by this but be sure to backup your data.
If you don’t want to delete partitions first then you need some third party partitioning software like PowerQuest Partition Magic.
By Rajbir Singh on January 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 ami followed everything and it seems like i’m doing fine…
that’s until i got to the shrink c: part…
when i tried to shrink my c: disk it told me that access is denied…
???
i followed everything from running disk cleanup to deleting pagefile.sys…
i got 165.42 gb on my c: with 74.68 gb free and i just wanted to add the 65.42 gb to my now unallocated space to make my c: a 100 gb. drive…
what am i doing wrong???
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 11:41 ami forgot to state that when i right-clicked c: and clicked the shrink volume it does query for available shrink space…
however, it would only allow 6460 mb to be shrinked…
and then when i clicked the shrink button there the “access is denied” screen pops up…
???
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 11:54 amHi,
It should have worked. Did you priovide admin priviliges at the UAC prompt?
Try these one by one:
Try it in safe mode.
Have you de-fragmented the drive?
Try entering less space than allowed to shrink.
If nothing works you’ll have to use third party app like Patition Magic (Paid) or Gparted (free).
By Rajbir Singh on January 24th, 2009 at 12:21 pmyeah i provided admin privilege at the UAC…
i defraged my c: twice…
i tried shrinking it 6000 mb, still, access is denied…
guess i’ll try the safe mode…
anything i should be warned of before doing things on safe mode???
is it still f8 on boot up???
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 1:14 pmNothing to worry. As always backup your data.
Yes, it’s still F8
By Rajbir Singh on January 24th, 2009 at 1:36 pmok…
thanks…
be trying it now and will post and update here after…
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 1:46 pmno luck on the safe-mode thing…
still, access is denied…
???
what about the third-party apps???
i read partition magic doesn’t support VISTA, is it true???
and does gparted support x64 systems???
i got hp pavilion dv9700 notebook pc here and this patitioning is killing me…
just kidding…
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 2:04 pmI’m not sure but I guess I used Partition Magic on Vista. Do you really want that 6 GB of space? You can still combine the other partitions.
Gparted:
You’ll have to create bootable CD for Gparted. It doesn’t work from within Windows.
Read more about Gparted:
By Rajbir Singh on January 24th, 2009 at 2:19 pmhttp://gparted.sourceforge.net/
&
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
i just thought of minimizing my system drive (c:) and maximizing the other one for repository so that i’ll be forced to move my files from c: to d: and minimize the chances losing important ones in case my system drive fails…
anyways, thanks for your time and sorry for the trouble…
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 2:44 pmIf you have Vista installation disc & don’t mind re-installing Windows then you can easily do that in the setup.
The restore discs by HP won’t help I guess.
I am wondering what is the current size of C partition?
Sorry, you already mentioned it’s 165.12 GB. It should have worked. I’ll let you know if I get the idea.
By Rajbir Singh on January 24th, 2009 at 3:01 pmquote:
i got 165.42 gb on my c: with 74.68 gb free and i just wanted to add the 65.42 gb to my now unallocated space to make my c: a 100 gb. drive…
ahmm…
its not 6 gb of space, its almost 66 gb…
it didn’t came with the vista installation disk, only the restore discs…
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pmplease do…
thanks…
By kristian on January 24th, 2009 at 3:12 pmI heard you can order Vista media from Microsoft by providing them your product key. They’ll charge a minimal fee.
Try this:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx
Anyway I’ll let you know if I find something regarding this.
By Rajbir Singh on January 24th, 2009 at 3:17 pmthanks…
i’ll check it out…
i hope they’ll ship my installer here in the philippines eventhough i bought this laptop in california…
(fingers crossed!)
By kristian on January 25th, 2009 at 7:25 amI have a problem… IT keeps telling me Access Denied, before it worked! now it isn’t
By Allan Baguinon on March 30th, 2009 at 4:47 amHi Allan,
Please check the comments from other readers & my replies about this problem.
Let me know if it helps.
By Rajbir Singh on March 30th, 2009 at 10:02 pmHi, I’m trying to partition my drive but the available shrink space is limited to about 5000MB. I did just about everything listed above with the exception of step 6. I can’t find C:\pagefile.sys to delete it. Could you help? Thanks
By romm on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 amIf anybody has a problem doing a partition go on youtube and search for you my video “How to make a partition on Windows Vista”
http://www.youtube.com/microhelper
By MicroHelper on August 31st, 2009 at 5:15 pm