Member Avatar for Brent

Hi - Brent here. I am running Windows XP Prof. I have a partitioned hard disk with two partitions c and f. I am running out of space in "c" and am having difficulty doing a defrag.
I am getting messages appearing at bottom right hand side by clock advising me of this limited "c" space.
Partition "c" has 509mb free while "f" has 62.7gb.

How can I move say 10gb from "f" to "c"?

Cheers

Brent

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Problem summary and a safe plan of action for the thread: C: has very little free space (about 500 MB) while F: has plenty. Resizing partitions will work but is not risk-free. The lowest-risk first moves are to identify and relocate large non-system data, remove temporary files and unused programs, and make a full image of the disk before any partition changes. These steps reduce pressure on C: and lower the chance of data loss if something goes wrong.

A practical, fail-safe workflow

  1. Inventory: run a disk-analyser to find the biggest folders/files and note which are user data vs. system/app files.
  2. Short-term relief: move or archive large user files to another volume or external drive; disable hibernation and check pagefile size if immediate free space is needed.
  3. Backup: create a full sector image of the entire drive (a restore point is not adequate for partition-table changes). Store that image externally.
  4. Prepare: defragment C: (if using an offline tool that moves blocks, an online defrag helps), close background apps, ensure an uninterrupted power source.
  5. Resize: use a trusted offline/bootable partition editor to shrink F:, make the unallocated space contiguous with C:, then expand C:. Expect operations to take hours; do not interrupt.
  6. Aftercare: boot Windows, run chkdsk and verify installed programs and user folders. If drive-letter mappings look wrong, Windows stores cached mappings in HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices (editing the registry is advanced and should only be done after imaging).

Notes tied to the thread: this builds on ’s idea to offload user data and ’s offline-edit approach; it also echoes ’s backup caution and explains why saw the Acronis trial behavior. Trials often show functionality but may refuse to commit changes. If uncertain, keep data on a separate partition or external drive rather than resizing until a full image exists.

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Member Avatar for Aia

Copy and paste anything that you have saved in C as yours, usually in C:\Document and Settings\<UserNameHere>, to F:\>.
You can transfer My Documents to F:\
But you can not transfer anything belonging to the operating system or applications installed already. You can un-install programs and install it again in the F:\ partition, to free some more space.
There's also bootup programs like Partition Magic, or Acronis Disk Director Suite that will allow you to resize your partitions in a non-destructive way.

Member Avatar for gerbil

Doing that is messy.... it involves the partitioning pgm moving a lot of files from the beginning of the F: partition to 10GB further back.
That happens slowly. And seems to be a bit error prone. Another way is to shrink F:, make a third partition and copy all F: contents into it. Then you can easily, and more safely, move the boundary between C: and F:.
Then copy back to F: the files you want in there. That procedure will be more difficult if you have applications in F:, but still possible - you would have to rebuild the original F: directory structure.
Well, that is the way I would do it, if free space in F: permitted that. Even borrow a hdd as a temp F: file store...
Software to use is the GParted 3.7.7 Live CD, or Parted-Magic 3.
There is a catch.. Windows knows where it lives, there is a reg key devoted to that, and I have forgotten which one it is... [find it and delete its value, so XP will be forced to create a new value when it is started after the move]. But I have done what you are attempting with no problems [did it as I describe above, with GParted] and because I did not change the drive letters Windows did not complain.
I'm too lazy to check, but I seem to remember the key contains info about drive size and the surrounding drive letters.

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

download and run Acronis Disk Director Suite, increase the size of c: and you will have no problems but make a restore point before you start changing drive sizes.

Member Avatar for abhisdm

I guess softwares like partition magic will be useful...

Member Avatar for Brent

download and run Acronis Disk Director Suite, increase the size of c: and you will have no problems but make a restore point before you start changing drive sizes.

Hi Bob - ty - I c in Aconis site there is a free download trial. Will this allow me t o do business or will I have to purchase software.
Brent

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Use the trial it will not revert after the trial.

Member Avatar for gerbil

Brent, the trial sware is severely limited in function. Please say how you get on with the trial. I'd just like to know.

Member Avatar for Brent

Downloaded trial - looks quite simple - but u have to purchase software to effect changes. Trial is just that - just shows u how it works.

Member Avatar for Brent

Yeh it is limited - is only an example of what will happen and what u can do if u PURCHASE the s/w @$49.99 usd

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Try this 1

Member Avatar for Brent

Bob - at top of this thread is a link to www.partition-tool.com. This is software free to home users produced by a company named "Easeus". Any knowledge of them - bit sceptical in using it. Cheers

Brent

Member Avatar for gerbil

I already gave you the best free tools. Partedmagic or Gparted 3.6.7.

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