Why can't I partition my drive fully ?

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

Hello there,

I signed up a while ago and browse the forums a bit, but this my first post.

I have used my recovery discs to do a fresh install of windown on my Acer 5742 Laptop. Windows 7 Home Premium.

I have a 500GB Seagate Hybrid Drive. The available size is 465GB I want to partition my hard drive so the C: drive is 80GB for all my programmes & windows, and and rest 385GB is for documents etc..

When i go to partition, i can only shink the volume to 233311MB, which is 227GB.

i believe this is the amount of free space i had on the drive before I did a fresh insdtall of windows.

It's odd because when i view the drive it says i have 432GB remaining of 465GB.. So i'm confused.

My question is as follows: is it possible the data is still on the hard drive from the last install ? and is somehow blocking me from making a partition ?

If so can i remove it ? Without losing all the windows information i need on it.

Why can I only partition up to 227GB ?

I hope this makes sense. If you need any more info I can deffo do that. Any help much appreciated

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

Could you post a screenshot?

Also, it might just be windows getting in the way of itself. Using something like a GParted LiveUSB might work.

mouse24 · Jun 20, 2013

Ah so what your saying is you had a windows install then you reinstalled windows on a later partition?

If so windows is kind of weird in that you can only extend a partition to the right. IE you can't partition a D drive with a C drive because C comes before D... Kinda dumb and I don't know if there is a more legit work around but I hear Gparted works pretty well if you can figure it out. I've never used it so I can't provide much help on that front.

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

It's pretty easy to use.

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

This is the disk management

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Then when I go to shrink I get this:

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Meaning I can only shrink C by 227GB.. I want to shink it to 80GB and leave the rest for another partition If possble

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

mouse24 :

I had windows installed. Then I reinstalled completely (using my acer recovery discs i made when I first got the laptop).

At that point the drive had not been partitioned in any way though

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

Basically it's telling you that parts of Windows are ~227GB in, so it can't move them while it's running.

GParted would fix this, because it boots a very small version of Linux off a flash drive or CD. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

Basically it's telling you that parts of Windows are ~227GB in, so it can't move them while it's running.

GParted would fix this, because it boots a very small version of Linux off a flash drive or CD. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

Okie dokey.. So I have to get technical no matter what.

Let's say I use this Gparted software and I completely screw it up (being an average computer user, maybe even basic).

Would I just be able to recover using these discs again and forget this whole sorry mess ? Or would I ruin my hard drive irrepairably and then, in turn, my life ?

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

You wouldn't ruin it irreparably, but burning the recovery disks might be a good idea, because you *could* wipe Windows. Unlikely, but possible.

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

Someone Somewhere :

I've already got the recovery discs so i'm good on that front..

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

Then you're fine - you basically can't permanently damage HDDs other than mechanical shock (dropping it) and turning it off in the middle of a firmware upgrade.

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

Someone Somewhere :

So I've checked it out. Gparted looks ok for me to use. If i can fugure out how to download it, but that's another issue.

My drive has a 100MB partition on there already (see above).. Will Gparted leave this alone ? I assume I need it

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

It will only do what you tell it to. If you shrink C:, it will shrink that partition. If you then create a new partition, it will create it. Unless you select that partition and press Delete, or rewrite the MBR, it will be unchanged.

Your recovery disks will recreate that partition if necessary - they are built to be able to deal with a completely blank drive.

One Happy Chappy · Jun 20, 2013

Ok. I think I get it. Thank you for all your help on this.

Just to be clear for my tiny mind.

If I use Gparted to shrink my C drive now, as my system stands, down to 80GB.. Will windows still work ?

As at the minute windows is currently using ~227GB..

How do I know where the useable data sits ? Or is it just a case of try it and see wht happens ?

mouse24 · Jun 20, 2013

If you go into your computer you can see how much data is used on the partition. You want to leave enough for windows to still be able to create a pagefile/hibernate file/etc. If you are using 80gb of data I would leave 20gb of free space on the drive.

Someone Somewhere · Jun 20, 2013

It finds out where the data is and moves it to earlier in the partition. It still won't let you shrink it below the size of the actual data stored on the partition.

One other question: Why do you need to partition it anyway?

One Happy Chappy · Jun 23, 2013

I want to make a partition for Imaging purposes. I want a part for windows and progs and a part for my files..

That way I can use imaging software for windows with all my progs and then use synchronisation software for the backup of my software. Rather than taking a full image of my entire drive every time. Which takes ages and I can go back to it in a flash. I hope that makes sense.

Gparted worked like a dream. Simple to use and windows is running fine after I partitioned. Was a bit wary as never really done anything like this before and am in no way computer savvy. Made 100gb partition as per advice here.

Thank you everyone, especially you someone somewhere. I do appreciate it.

Why can't I partition my drive fully ?

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