Cannot Reduce Partition More Than 11GB

Discussion in 'SSD and HDD storage' started by smush, Jan 23, 2018.

  1. smush

    smush Guest

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    Hi I have 221GB free on my hard drive and I am trying to create a 60GB partition. Initially I used the built in partition manager in Windows 10 but the program hangs when doing this. I then tried with EASEUS Partition Master, however it wont let me shrink by more than 11.21GB despite having 221GB free.

    Also, I could not drag the slider to resize partition I had to manually click the down arrow or type the amount in to reduce partition (not sure if a software issue?)

    [​IMG]
     
  2. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Not familiar with that "EASEUS" tool, though limits on reducing a partition's size are usually because of the physical arrangement of data on the disk. You probably have a file written at the sector that this tool is refusing to repartition smaller than (eg, the tool may not be able to move files around, only direct truncation). You'll either need to first free-space defrag the partition with something like Raxco PerfectDisk (to pack data closer to the start and away from the end), or try another partition manager.

    -I'd suggest giving gparted a shot, it's one of the most popular ones.
     
  3. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Exactly what he said.

    You have data that is at the end of the partition which causes the resize to be limited to where that last bit of data ends.
     
  4. zipper

    zipper Maha Guru

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    I suppose some software is able to shift data - but can't remember which one I used when doing a similar operation. MiniTool Partition Wizard? AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard?
    I mostly have used Easeus but in some rare cases it failed to do what expected.
     

  5. smush

    smush Guest

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    Will using GParted mess with my files? I have just returned from using Piriform's Defraggler (defrag tool) which took over 24 hours to complete and now EASEUS wont even let me partition the drive at all let alone the 11GB I could previously.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. zipper

    zipper Maha Guru

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    Did you reboot? What about MiniTool Partition Wizard? AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard?
     
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  7. smush

    smush Guest

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    Just downloaded MiniTool and it seems to allow me to make a full partition I will try it over the weekend. Not sure why EASEUS was unable to do it. If I run into any problems I will report back here. Thanks

    Edit - Is it expected I will lose any data using this?
     
  8. zipper

    zipper Maha Guru

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    I never lost anything when tinkering with partitions - but there always is a risk...Best to have backups of important stuff. I always have a clone of the OS partition and backups of other partitions - but mostly they are a little old...
     
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  9. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Any tool that moves-data is a risk to data (since that's mounting the partition for write, most likely from a non-Windows boot). Alot of why that most of the resize software won't do this, is because it requires an indepth understanding the filesystem to move files around. There's a perception that this is a bad-idea on Linux bootable media as it's not Microsoft's implementation of NTFS, but rather a community driven reverse engineering of it. In the case of simplistic tools: truncation doesn't require much more than altering the partition's end, thus the only thing the tool needs to understand is where files are stored physically [to not chop off the end before some file's data storage in the partition].

    --Truncation by definition is pretty safe, because truncation doesn't touch data. Mounting and moving data is a bit more risky, though IMO NTFS-3G is pretty solid these days, especially if you offline chkdsk the partition before you attempt the resize operation. Infact, NTFS-3G is to the point that there's partial support for running integrity checks within Linux / BSD now.

    ^ This is key. Always backup data before doing anything, no matter how remotely small the risk is (I've only once had GParted harm NTFS partitions, and this was when in the NTFS-3G infancy stages). Any risk is simply not worth it vs taking the time to make a copy.
     
  10. Clawedge

    Clawedge Guest

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    I believe you may have to do an offline repetition via a boot image as I believe there are files that may not be moveable while the os is active
     

  11. waltc3

    waltc3 Maha Guru

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    MiniTool seems OK, but I cannot in good conscience recommend AOMEI--short anecdote: first and last time I used AOMEI was to look at my EVO 850 SSD after I first bought it--by some method which I cannot understand--a bug I presume--in the process of examining boot sectors, etc. AOMEI threw the 850 EVO offline--and nothing in my arsenal of remedies could restore it to online status. Had to secure-Erase the 850 EVO and re-clone it, which worked to make the 850 EVO functional once again (and it has functioned flawlessly ever since--after the last firmware update.) So that was my last experiment with AOMEI. In fairness I do recall that lots of people were reporting their 850 EVOs going offline for various reasons during that time--and Samsung had instructions published in that eventuality--and it may have been merely a coincidence for which I have unfairly blamed the AOMEI program. Be that as it may, however...once bitten, etc...

    I think the OP should be delighted that when he was attempting a disk operation using Windows Disk Management--and the program crashed while doing it--that he did not lose the entire partition...very glad indeed...;) HDD's are dirt cheap today so want more room? buy an extra 1TB 7200RPM for ~$50 or a 2TB for ~$70--and away you go. A lot of these non-standard disk operations--like moving drive data to new positions on the same platter(s)--made much more sense when HDD space came at a significant premium--imo, of course.
     

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