Size of available shrink space in MB = 0

[Maya]

Hi,

I am trying to shrink space on my C: partition using the Vista Disk
Management program. I have 54.15GB of free space; however when trying
to shrink the C: volume, the program tells me that I have 0MB of
shrink space. I have done the following:
- ran disk clean-up on files from all users
- disabled system restore
- cleaned up restore points
- defragmented the disk

I have also tried using the trial version of Acronis Disk Director,
which is compatible with Vista. However, in the trial version, it only
allows shrinkage of about 7MB (I would like to free up about 30GB).

If anyone can help me fix this, I'll greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

You may need to use a third party defrag program to move files that Vista's
defrag routine cannot. If they are locked at the end of the volume, you
won't be able to shrink it until they are moved.

[NoStop]

I use Ubuntu, not Fedora, but I'd imagine the routine is the same. I'd
recommend letting the Fedora install routine shrink and use available space
it creates. I doubt that it will defrag your existing ntfs drive. You
should do that in Windoze prior to installing Fedora. I thought that Vista
automatically did a defrag in the background as you ran it? So it might be
a non-issue.

[Maya]

Vista does run an automatic defrag whenever you set it to. However, I
have deleted many files in the past week to free up more space so I
need to defrag once more.

I think I most likely will just use the Fedora install shrink routine
and partitioning. However, I'm still confused as to why Vista's disk
manager tells me that there is 0MB space to shrink (where I have
54GB's of free space).

[the wharf rat]

Linux questions on a Vista newgroup??? :-)

Well, ok... Best way to add linux to an existing windows is

0. BACK UP YOUR DATA
1. Defrag under windows
2. Boot Knoppix (single cd linux distribution)
3. Run parted or gparted

Here's something that looks interesting but I havent' tried it:

http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

[Maya]

The link is to gparted liveCD - it's the same gparted that will be run
during Fedora installation though - right?

[the wharf rat]

All those things run exactly the same software. The difference
is how and when it's presented. IMHO it's less confusing to get a nice
simple interface. make your changes, then start an install then it is to
deal with it as part of the larger task. Also, it's easier to recover
if you check your work before proceeding. Did I ever tell you about the
time I overlapped the swap partition with /usr, and the system would
run fine until it got busy and started swapping? (You can't do that
any more but it's still less confusing to carefully repartition THEN
deal with installing a new OS... IMHO)

[Maya]

I also prefer to break down everything into little tasks as opposed to
doing everything at once. That is why I wanted to partition before
installing the new OS. However, it seems like I don't have much choice
in this situation since the Vista partitioner seems to not give me any
space to shrink, for some reason.

[the wharf rat]

Boo on the vista partitioner! Linux! Linux! Linux!

:-) Really though, these kind of low level system tasks are where
linux shines, fire up knoppix or whatever and see what it says.

Aside: Remember Larry Wall makefiles? "Congratulations. You're not
running Eunice" ? Lol. Maybe gparted should make snide remarks about
vista, haha :-)