Partition Magic - problem redistributing free space

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k.korsch

I am trying to use Partition Magic 8.01 to change partition sizes (or
free space?) between two partitions of the same physical hard drive.
The first partition is currently 108GB in size with 52GB free, and the
other is 196GB with 17GB free. What I would like to end up with is
70GB and 230GB partitions or so but the 'Redistribute free space'
wizard does not give anything like this option.

How can I do this safely? Do I need to use the 'Resize' option to
shrink the first partition to 70GB (leaving the rest unallocated), and
then increase the second partition with the unallocated space? Thanks
for any help.
 
I am trying to use Partition Magic 8.01 to change partition sizes (or
free space?) between two partitions of the same physical hard drive.
The first partition is currently 108GB in size with 52GB free, and the
other is 196GB with 17GB free. What I would like to end up with is
70GB and 230GB partitions or so but the 'Redistribute free space'
wizard does not give anything like this option.

How can I do this safely? Do I need to use the 'Resize' option to
shrink the first partition to 70GB (leaving the rest unallocated), and
then increase the second partition with the unallocated space?
Click to expand...

Exactly. PM will make the second part of this (increasing the size of the
2nd partition) a two-step thing: moving the partition down, then increasing
its size. But that's automatic; you don't have to worry about it.

Keep backups... :)

Gerhard
 
I resized my first partitition to the desired size but the next step is
a little less clear to me. I now have a 196GB FAT32 second partition
and an adjacent 33GB unallocated space which I would like to add to it.

When I right-click on the second partition and choose resize/move, the
window that pops up does not seem to let me increase the 196GB FAT32
partition to 229GB like I expected. I can drag the partition image
from left to right which changes the 'Free space before' value from 0
to 33GB and the 'Free space after' from 33GB to 0. But the 'New size'
value stays at 196GB which seems strange to me (looks like moving the
partition not resizing it).

Is this the way I add the unallocated space or do I need to partition
the unallocated space then merge it with my second partition? Or is
there some 196GB limit on FAT32 partitions? Thx for any help...
 
IIIRC, you first drag the whole partition to "0GB before", then grap the
right end of the partition and resize it..(there should be a small "tab on
the end of the partition where the arrows change from 4way to 2way....)


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Most learned on these newsgroups
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(translations from/to FI not always accurate)
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Thomas said:
IIIRC, you first drag the whole partition to "0GB before", then grap the
right end of the partition and resize it..(there should be a small "tab on
the end of the partition where the arrows change from 4way to 2way....)
Click to expand...

Yes that is what I thought should happen. But it does not work in my
case. Using the resize/move option on my 196GB FAT32 partition, the
cursor does changes from 4way to 2way at the 'end' of the black
partition image, but it does not let me expand it beyond 196GB. Even
though there is 33GB of unallocated space (gray area) after it. All I
can do is drag the black partition image rightward so that the 'Free
space before' increases (up to 33GB).

Help! Anyone?
 
Yes that is what I thought should happen. But it does not work in my
case. Using the resize/move option on my 196GB FAT32 partition, the
cursor does changes from 4way to 2way at the 'end' of the black
partition image, but it does not let me expand it beyond 196GB. Even
though there is 33GB of unallocated space (gray area) after it. All I
can do is drag the black partition image rightward so that the 'Free
space before' increases (up to 33GB).
Click to expand...

That's strange; I've never seen this happen with PM. It should allow you to
grow your partition into any adjacent unallocated space. Since you can move
the partition back and forth, it seems that PM actually recognizes the
adjacent space as unallocated (otherwise it wouldn't allow you to move the
partition into this space).

Does your combination of hardware, BIOS and operating system have some
obscure size limit for partitions? I remember having seen a list of those
limits some time ago, and it listed many more than I thought there were.
Don't remember where that was, though -- maybe Google helps, or someone
else here knows a good list of these.

Another thing you could try is changing the numeric values in the
Resize/Move Partition dialog, rather than using the mouse to drag the
handles. PM gives a "Maximum Size" for the partition there. It should be
the sum of the partition size plus any adjacent unallocated space. What
does it say? Can you set the partition size to this value? Can you set both
the "Free Space Before" and "Free Space After" fields to 0?

Gerhard
 
Thanks very much for the follow up I was wondering about some strange
partition size limit, though I see no reason why my system would have
it: Asus P4PE with last bios release 1007, WinXP SP2 fully patched,
and a 320GB Western Digital (WD3200JB). Nothing came up when I tried
Google but I will look into this possibility some more.

I tried to change the 'New Size' field directly with no luck. Pressing
the up button to increase it does nothing. If I manually enter a
higher number it immediately reverts back to 196GB when I press enter
or tab. If I set either 'Free Space' field to 0 the other 'Free Space'
field automatically goes to 33GB, so I cannot set both to 0.

If there were another safe method to resize I would be willing to try:
Create a partition out of the unallocated space first and then try
merging it (but if so what format, FAT32 same as the adjacent
partition?)? Convert my 196GB partition from FAT32 to NTFS (if no data
loss)? A different partition manager?

In case it is any help here is an pic of my resize screen:
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/407/partitionprob2we.jpg
 
If there were another safe method to resize I would be willing to try:
Create a partition out of the unallocated space first and then try
merging it (but if so what format, FAT32 same as the adjacent
partition?)?
Click to expand...

No! Don't try that! Avoid mergeing whenever you can.
Convert my 196GB partition from FAT32 to NTFS (if no data
loss)?
Click to expand...

Possibly. I am not sure if the MS FS converter does 32 kb clusters. PM does
not convert itself, it simply calls the MS util for FAT(32) > NTFS
conversions.
In case it is any help here is an pic of my resize screen:
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/407/partitionprob2we.jpg
Click to expand...

PM may not have enough free space inside the partition to shuffle around
data. Try getting some more free space *inside* the partition you want to
resize, so clear out temp, junk stuff, or if that's not enough, temporarily
copy some data (let's say 10 Gb) somewhere else. Copy it back in after the
resize.
 
If there were another safe method to resize I would be willing to try:
Create a partition out of the unallocated space first and then try
merging it (but if so what format, FAT32 same as the adjacent
partition?)? Convert my 196GB partition from FAT32 to NTFS (if no data
loss)? A different partition manager?
Click to expand...

If you mentioned before that this is a FAT32 partition, I didn't pay
attention... For that size, I'd suggest NTFS (actually, for any size, if
there's not a reason against it -- like sharing it with Win9x or Linux).

So I'd probably convert it to NTFS, as this may help. Another option is to
try another partition manager; maybe this one
http://www.allensmith.net/Storage/Ranish/Part.htm

Creating a new partition in the unallocated space and the trying to merge
it is also an option. Of course, the partition you create should have the
same format and cluster size as the one you want to merge it with.

In any case, working with partitions without a backup is like walking on a
rope without net :)

Gerhard
 
For whatever reason, converting the partition to NTFS seems to have
fixed the problem. Since doing this it looks like I can increase the
partition size with the unallocated space. I have not completed the
operation since I want to backup and such first, but I think it will
turn out fine.

Thanks for all the help, guys!
 
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