Help with resizing partion that is part of Intel Smart Response Array

dbrohm

October 21, 2012 8:49:13 PM

SITUATION:
I know just enough to be dangerous and to mess up my new system. Windows 7 X64 Laptop with I7-3610QM CPU. System is setup exactly as it came from the factory. Currently the system runs great.

Disk 0 - [1st partition] hidden - (Is as I understand it, necessary to boot?)
Disk 0 - [2nd partition] C: (917 GB Primary partion)
Disk 0 - [3rd partition] D: (Stores Page file, backups of system Drivers and Software application software)
Disk 0 - [4th partition] hidden (OEM system restore partition) appears empty at present
Disk 0 currently has 4 primary partitions on it which I believe is the maximum.

Disk 1 - 32 GB SSD tied to Disk 0, 2nd partion in an Intel "Smart Response Technology" array

Here is a screen print of Windows Disk Management

OBJECTIVE:
Shrink 2nd hard disk partition C: to 250 GB, and reuse the space to expand D: or optionally create a new partition.

This would give me a place to store photos, music, etc so the main boot partition stays smaller and easier to backup. I presently backup image files of C: to an external hard disk.

I had trouble doing the above with Windows Disk Management. I installed Aomei Partition assistant 5.1 to do this. All went well until Aomei Partition Assistant was moving the files on C: and it crashed. Luckily I was able to use an image file of partition 1 & 2 from my external drive to quickly restore the system and reset the array. I contacted Aomei support and sent them the details they requested. They responded that I cannot make this change to C: while it is part of the Smart Response Array?? I tried to get help from Lenovo support, and was willing to pay for it. I don't know for sure where Lenovo support is located, but I could not understand the Lenovo tech. and it did not appear to me he knew what he was doing.

How can I shink C: and reuse the space on D: I do not care if the OEM system restore 4th partition is eliminated during the process as it looks empty. I believe it was trashed during the restore process. I tried to find help in documentation on Intel's web site that would tell me how to do this and then restore the array. All the intel documentation seems to refer to RAID arrays which technically is not what I have.

More about : resizing partion part intel smart response array

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Hidream

October 25, 2012 3:43:30 AM

I do not know how to solve this problem, but I hope some expert here could give some suggestions

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dbrohm

October 25, 2012 2:36:09 PM

Hidream said:

I do not know how to solve this problem, but I hope some expert here could give some suggestions

I may need to turn off the Intel "Rapid Storage Technology", [RST] and disable RAID in the system BIOS? Perhaps I will looose eveything on C:? I do have Image backups for a restore. I have searched for help on turning off RST with no success. Plenty of help on turning it on. The RST control panel has nothing in it that has a place to turn it off. The control panel has 4 buttons, STATUS, MANAGE, PREFERENCES, HELP. Status just tells me the system is working normally in acceleration mode. Manage give me access to details about the drives in the RST array, no option to change or manage anything. Preferences has 4 check boxes to turn on/off notification icon in tray, show Information, warnings, errors. Really nothing to Manage anything. The support at Lenovo is useless. I called Lenovo support, located in The Phillipines, could not get anybody that I could communicate with, or that seemed to have any idea what they were doing.

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