increase partition size

aaronm13

I have a 250gb drive which I got when I installed vista ultimate.At the time I was reading that 20gb will be loads for the vista partition so thats what I did 20-230,big mistake,but my vista partition is out of space.Can I increase the size of the vista partition without having to re install vista or loose anything on either partition.

oneweb

I've used a bootable Ubuntu disk and the partitioning tool to do the very same. You should back up the drive before you start but it's worked well for me each time It could take quite a while as every sector of the disk has to be shifted.

I can't give all the details here but just google ubuntu partition resize

aaronm13

I'll look into that oneweb,thanks.Hopefully I can get it working as I think I only have about 30mb free space.

Voodu Child

Vista has a partition tool that works on an active volume just fine. No need to reinstall or use a liveCD.

Right click 'computer' and select 'manage'. Select 'disk management' and away you go, everything should be straightforward from there. You'll have to shrink one volume to make space for the Vista partition.

Defrag all volumes first, and be aware that it might take a while to do the repartitioning.

Post back if you have any queries.

BaconZombie

This CD is a life saver, http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Software/529170/GParted-Clonezilla.html

GParted will let you move, resize and change partition without any problem.
Also CloneZilla is a excellent tool to create a backup image of your drive, I use it in work to image ~20-50 system at a time.

Sherifu

I'd use GParted.

Lazarus2.0

As an alternative you could instal another HD , change your C Drive from Basic Disk to Dynamic and extend your C partition by the capacity of the new disk .
Not quite what you were asking for but an alternative that offers a reduced risk of data loss ( though none of the suggestions thus far should incur data loss either ) .

aaronm13

Thanks everyone for your help.Going to give GParted a bash and see how it goes.Is it fairly straight forward to use?

Sherifu

aaronm13 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your help.Going to give GParted a bash and see how it goes.Is it fairly straight forward to use?

Well I think so, pretty easy after the first go.

DonkeyStyle \o/

oneweb wrote: »

You should back up the drive before you start

+1 with an exclamation mark

It's the one time you don't backup that something will go wrong.
*shakes fist at partition magic and own lack of backing up*

Voodu Child

Yeah, for what you're doing, gparted will be completely straightforward.

Just remember to have your Vista disc handy to repair the install, and also, allow yourself plenty of time for gparted to do its thing. Ive used gparted on laptop drives (ie slow) and sometimes its taken 4 or 5 hours:pac:... I usually use an linux liveCD so you can still use the internet if you need it while the partitioning is being done.