Trying to Partition Vista Hard Drive

[mactovista]

Help!

Trying to shrink or partition hard drive on Vista HP to load XP to run some programs. Computer only 2 mos. old has 500 gig hard drive but will only allow me 10 gig partition. Message says "Size of available shrink space can be restricted if snapshots or page files are enabled on the volume"

Been on chat with hp all morning no help. Tried defragmenting, chkdsk, etc still limited to 10 gig.

Any answers?

mactovista <mactovista.3j8pfc@DoNotSpam.com> wrote:

>
>Help!
>
>Trying to shrink or partition hard drive on Vista HP to load XP to run
>some programs. Computer only 2 mos. old has 500 gig hard drive but will
>only allow me 10 gig partition. Message says "Size of available shrink
>space can be restricted if snapshots or page files are enabled on the
>volume"
>
>Been on chat with hp all morning no help. Tried defragmenting, chkdsk,
>etc still limited to 10 gig.
>
>Any answers?

If you are trying to use Vista's Drive Management, it will only allow
you to shrink to a point where certain files (don't remember which
ones) are, and no further.

To go beyond that, you will need a third-party partition manager.

A new one on the market - a freebie - is getting good reviews.

http://shareware.pcmag.com/product.p...SiteID%5Dpcmag

The built-in shrink utility will be able to decrease the partition size till
it bumps against the first unmovable/locked system file.

If you want to decrease the partition further you will need a 3rd party Disk
Management tool. I use Acronis Disk Director suite (ver 11.0 build 8027).
It is 100% Vista compatible.

After installing the above program, create the emergency CD. Reboot the
computer and boot up with this CD. Do your partition work from there.

You will not be hampered with locked files.


--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"mactovista" <mactovista.3j8pfc@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:mactovista.3j8pfc@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Help!
>
> Trying to shrink or partition hard drive on Vista HP to load XP to run
> some programs. Computer only 2 mos. old has 500 gig hard drive but will
> only allow me 10 gig partition. Message says "Size of available shrink
> space can be restricted if snapshots or page files are enabled on the
> volume"
>
> Been on chat with hp all morning no help. Tried defragmenting, chkdsk,
> etc still limited to 10 gig.
>
> Any answers?
>
>
> --
> mactovista
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> mactovista's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/mactovista.htm
> View this thread:
> Trying to Partition Vista Hard Drive
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

mactovista wrote:
> Help!
>
> Trying to shrink or partition hard drive on Vista HP to load XP to run
> some programs. Computer only 2 mos. old has 500 gig hard drive but will
> only allow me 10 gig partition. Message says "Size of available shrink
> space can be restricted if snapshots or page files are enabled on the
> volume"
>
> Been on chat with hp all morning no help. Tried defragmenting, chkdsk,
> etc still limited to 10 gig.
>
> Any answers?
>
>

Consider why you need to run XP.
If you don't need extreme performance or non-disk USB stuff like
a webcam, VirtualBox or an equivalent emulator will let you run
any os you want simultaneously with Vista.
If you can use win2K instead of XP, it has a smaller footprint
and no nagging activation issues.
Newer versions of the emulators have USB support, but I had problems
with the operating systems fighting over ports and locking up.
If you have a USB device that is used ONLY in the guest OS, it might
work better.

Rebooting every time you want to run the xp host gets very annoying.
And you still have to maintain the XP system. With an emulator,
you can archive the disk image. Just copy it back if you trash
the main one. And the disk image will run on ANY other computer
that has the emulator with NO changes. Just copy the disk image file
and press GO.
You simply MUST have ALL the necessary valid licenses for everything you
do...but that's a given...I even keep extra licenses on hand just in
case one gets a corner bent.
Otherwise, the "lawyers" here will give you endless grief.

My experience repartitioning an active drive is that it is SLOOOOOOW!!!
I could have imaged my system, wiped the disk, repartitioned it
and reloaded the image in way less time than it took for a partition
resizer.

And if you do it that way, you have a backup that you can use if things
go horribly wrong. I once had the misfortune to accidentally delete
a hidden partition put there by the vendor during a resizing event.
Caused the partitions to be renumbered, confusing the hell out of the
operating system. Managed to work around the M$ roadblocks and didn't
have to use my backup.

Now that I think of it, there's another annoying issue. There's often
a tiny bit of space that gets left unused. Something to do with
track numbers and rounding...
Anyway, My repartitioning software insisted on putting that space
between the partitions instead at the end. Don't know if this was
the cause, but the partitions got renumbered.
When I went to format the new partition, I looked at the partition
number and reformatted my main partition #2. If I'd been more observant,
I could have known the problem from the partition sizes...but I didn't.
Did have to use the backup that time.

Even if you use a resizer, back up your entire system...things have been
known to go horribly wrong. It's just not worth the risk.

Microsoft's gift to dual booters is that Vista, the poster child for
operating system instability, deletes its system restore files when you boot
into XP.
That was a deliberate and totally unnecessary move on the part of Microsoft.
That alone qualifies Vista as deliberate damaged goods.
What you will see in XP is time by your stop watch faster operations on
anything that involves accessing the hard drive, among other things.
On the other hand, what you will be missing in Vista is not a whole hell of
a lot.
And just remember that Windows 7, Vista in sheep's clothing, is just around
the corner.
Unless you need Vista, and the only "need" I can think of is to see the
underwhelming gee whiz GUI features in Adobe CS4, you will have less
problems overall if you make XP your main OS and only use Vista when you
want to be frustrated, as in networking, file copying and anything else you
need to do with your computer. On machines where I have a choice I always
wonder why I boot into Vista: too often I am forced into XP to get actual
work done.
You need a third part partitioning program, of which there are many, but
make sure you back up your Vista installation, or at least your necessary
files, in case something goes wrong.

"mactovista" <mactovista.3j8pfc@DoNotSpam.com> wrote in message
news:mactovista.3j8pfc@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> Help!
>
> Trying to shrink or partition hard drive on Vista HP to load XP to run
> some programs. Computer only 2 mos. old has 500 gig hard drive but will
> only allow me 10 gig partition. Message says "Size of available shrink
> space can be restricted if snapshots or page files are enabled on the
> volume"
>
> Been on chat with hp all morning no help. Tried defragmenting, chkdsk,
> etc still limited to 10 gig.
>
> Any answers?
>

Run XP in a Virtual PC.......MS VirtualPC 2007 is free....