Resize the boot partition

[Tom McWilliams]

Can I reduce the size of the main boot drive containing Windows and all my programmes in order to create a new partition to hold all my photos without corrupting or losing the data on the boot drive?

 

[Trouble]

Hello Tom and welcome to the forum.
First I would strongly recommend backing up all your critical data to an external resource and creating a Disk Image of your drive before undertaking such a task.
Second, it would depend on the size of the drive / partition that you are considering resizing, as in how much free space is available to you, versus how much space (including free space) you can devote to the Operating System, Programs and data you intend to leave there.......
AND
How much space you require to

hold all my photos

 

[Tom McWilliams]

Hi again Trouble,
I have a 3TB drive all (but a few MB) is in a single partition. I was considering leaving 1TB as the Crive and making a new 2TB partition. I should have done this when I set the machine up earlier today and, to be frank, I have run out of enthusiasm to rebuild the whole system again from scratch.

I guess that to make a disk image, I'd have to use an external 3TB. That's a nuisance as I have 2 x external 2TB drives so will need a third bigger one.......

 

[Trouble]

I'd have to use an external 3TB

That's not the way a typical disk image works.
Unless you perform a sector by sector image and choose to include "unallocated" space, then a typical disk image would just image the contents of the drive and its' partition's contents and at a typical 2:1 (50%) compression ratio, the size of a disk image would like be approximately half of the used space on the drive / partitions.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/

Having said that, there are any number of partition management software which will likely allow you to perform the desired tasks.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html
http://www.aomeitech.com/pa/standard.html

Since I use Acronis True Image for my disk imaging needs, I also use their disk director suite for partition management http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/disk-manager/
Neither of which are free

But the free alternatives listed and referenced in the links above are quite adequate.

 

[Saltgrass]

Normally, the Windows Disk Management should be able to shrink the C: partition the way you want.

But something to watch out for might be the 3 TB drive and how it is set up. If you used a GPT configuration it should be fine but if you used MBR there may be some situation with the way the drive is being handled since MBR drives normally can only use 2.2TB.

 

[Tom McWilliams]

That's not the way a typical disk image works.
Unless you perform a sector by sector image and choose to include "unallocated" space, then a typical disk image would just image the contents of the drive and its' partition's contents and at a typical 2:1 (50%) compression ratio, the size of a disk image would like be approximately half of the used space on the drive / partitions.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/

Having said that, there are any number of partition management software which will likely allow you to perform the desired tasks.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html
http://www.aomeitech.com/pa/standard.html

Since I use Acronis True Image for my disk imaging needs, I also use their disk director suite for partition management http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/disk-manager/
Neither of which are free

But the free alternatives listed and referenced in the links above are quite adequate.

Hi Trouble,
Many thanks for the advice. I'll have a look at both the free and the "not" free utilities you mention.

 

[Tom McWilliams]

Normally, the Windows Disk Management should be able to shrink the C: partition the way you want.

But something to watch out for might be the 3 TB drive and how it is set up. If you used a GPT configuration it should be fine but if you used MBR there may be some situation with the way the drive is being handled since MBR drives normally can only use 2.2TB.

Hi Saltgrass,
When I initially formatted the HD using my Windows 7 disk, I could only access around 2 TB of the disk. It stated that the additional storage was not accessible and mentioned the issue with an MBR configured drive. When I formatted it a second time using the Windows 10 disk, I did not come across the same issue. I was able to format and enable for use the full disk. Can I presume that I must have configured it as a GPT drive. Is there any way I can check this?

 

[Saltgrass]

If your boot drive is configured as GPT it will have an EFI system partition. Also if you select the drive in Disk Management, right click on the description end, you will have a greyed out "Convert to MBR" option or look at the properties "Volumes" tab.

 

[Tom McWilliams]

Saltgrass,

Many thanks for the advice on this issue. Having reformatted the drive with Windows 10 64-bit, Disk Management shows me 3 entries the first 2 have no name under Volume - they are described as:

no name - Layout - Simple , Type - Basic, File System - blank, Status - Healthy (Recovery Partition), Capacity - 450 MB

no name - Layout - Simple , Type - Basic, File System - blank, Status - Healthy (EFI System Partition Partition), Capacity - 100 MB

C: - Layout - Simple , Type - Basic, File System - NTFS, Status - Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition), Capacity - 2793.97 GB

Also, right clicking does show that "Convert to MBR" is greyed out. I am given the option to "Convert to Dynamic Disk)

Looks like I am good to go - after I make another copy of the system...........

Tom

 

[Saltgrass]

Yes, it looks good. If anyone ever asks, remember you have a UEFI install. The only time it really matters is when you are required to pick a specific boot configuration.

My system was set up by Dell so the Recovery Tools partition is just in front of the Recovery image partition.

 

[chillysummer]

Can I reduce the size of the main boot drive containing Windows and all my programmes in order to create a new partition to hold all my photos without corrupting or losing the data on the boot drive?

Yes,you can. But it is a wise choice to create a disk backup using AOMEI Backupper before you resize your main boot drive in case of data loss. To create a new partition on your main boot drive, you must reallocate space from your drive. A freeware AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you realize it. Hope this helps.

 

[Tom McWilliams]

Hi Chillysummer, many thanks. I did not load any 3rd party software in the end. I simply used the Windows 10 disk management tool. I reduced the size of the C:drive partition and then created a new partition - named itself G:drive. Thanks for the tip on AOMI though.

 

[Jake B]

There won't be much difference as you will still have 3 tb of space and the pictures are in the difference folder. Also look at your page file if you decise to do it. You may want to move it do D drive if you create a 2 TB partitian.

 

[chillysummer]

Hi Chillysummer, many thanks. I did not load any 3rd party software in the end. I simply used the Windows 10 disk management tool. I reduced the size of the C:drive partition and then created a new partition - named itself G:drive. Thanks for the tip on AOMI though.

You are welcome.