Gparted won't strink NTFS

Blue445 · 01-17-2009, 07:14 PM

Hello all!

My 250 gb HDD has a large 240 something gb partition, and and 8 gb (recovery) partition. I would like to shrink my 240 to about 200, and have a 40 gb ntfs so I can try out the new Win7 beta.

Problem i'm having:

-I'm using Gparted, and it wont let me shrink my main partition (ntfs)
-I did defragg it.
-I did run chkdsk and reboot twice.

Still doesn't work, any help?

**wmorri** · 01-17-2009, 08:11 PM

Hi,

What happens when you click on the resize button? That should open a window that lets you change the size of the partition. Also, how much space do u have free in the partition. If you don't have a lot of space free then that might be part of the problem.

Cheers!

Blue445 · 01-17-2009, 09:12 PM

Hey there wmorri. I have plenty of space in my HDD. And a window comes up, and i can't rezise it. The accept button thing is dimmed out, and will not allow me to click it.

**Bartender** · 01-18-2009, 06:15 AM

Try right-clicking on the text describing the partition below the map.
The one time I tried using GParted to resize a Vista partition the Vista partition wouldn't boot...

**Done_Fishin** · 01-18-2009, 06:49 AM

you should be able to click on teh drive that you want to shrink, then using the graphical image of the drive, drag the bar at the start or finish towards the middle. Best try at the end where there is usually a small amont of space unallocated making sure that you are trying to shrink the main chunk. Don't try at the beginning of the drive where your recovery partition is held.

it is a bit finicky from what I remember but I have done it on sevearl occasions so I know it works , just requires the right handling to be successful.

Blue445 · 01-18-2009, 09:55 PM

Nether of the bars will move.

Blue445 · 01-20-2009, 07:39 AM

*bump*

**wmorri** · 01-20-2009, 07:41 AM

H,

Relax Blue. I am sure that bartender or Done will be back shortly. They all have things that the do outside of the forum. So, just hang in there.

Cheers!

**Done_Fishin** · 01-20-2009, 10:48 AM

Sorry for the delay .. have to find my copy of Gparted Live .. have so many CD's lying around it reminds me of the days of floppies .. everything getting jumbled up.

also whilst I am trying to find the right CD (just realised I found PartEd Magic instead of GPartEd Live

)

have you see this page

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php

has some useful screenshots about what to do and what you will see

Did you click on the drive and then resize/move

otherwise nothing will work ..

the same icon is at the top of the page green arrowhead pointing at green wall as is seen at the menu on the right

This picture is only shown for reference .. ignore the format button fror the time being .. go for the resize/move one then try shrinking your drive. When you are sure about what you want to do select apply and the drive will be shrunk according to your previous instructions

Blue445 · 01-20-2009, 07:35 PM

I know how to use Gparted, i have partitioned drives with it before. Its just when i get to the screen with the movable bars, they will not move. The file system i'm formatting with is NTFS, and it has a little exclamation yellow triangle.

**wmorri** · 01-21-2009, 09:47 AM

Hi,

What is on the NTFS partition. I would guess something like windows. Have you backed up lately? I might recommend doing that. The reason I ask is that you might want to try to make a new partition. Delete the current one and then create a new one in its place.

I am curious why the slider doesn't work. It seems almost like the programs is stopping you from doing it. In linux that would equate to you not having access. That is just a thought that you might want to try if you have the back up space on a external hdd or something.

Cheers!

**Done_Fishin** · 01-21-2009, 10:07 AM

I am wondering if the drive is full or someone may have used a drive/free space eraser on it that creates a file out of the unused space, thus making it look full.

**wmorri** · 01-21-2009, 10:14 AM

Hi,

That is a possibility. I am just trying to get some new life into this thread. It looks like it has hit a dead end, with the op saying then same thing just different ways.

**Done_Fishin** · 01-21-2009, 11:06 AM

I have never come across permissions restrictions when using the partition editor and the most logical reason would be lack of usable space which would hinder the ability to make changes.
apart from housekeeping, like emptying the recycle bin, getting rid of temp files, cookies, downloads that have remained undeleted in "temp internet files" folder and other unmentionable causes of "filling up ones hard drive .. there aren't that many other choices to make apart from backing up all unwanted files to another drive ..

just thought .. any chanc ethat the drive has been made as a "compressed drive" .. must play about with the sizes of those or you'll lose a lot more than you bargain for.

Blue445 · 01-21-2009, 01:19 PM

Well, I recall having this same problem before. It is an OEM install of windows, and it doesn't show that it has any data. As in the rectangle is just plane white, when I know there I have like 80Gb's used...that free space eraser...could that be removed? I'll take a pic in a few and post it... Thanks for helping me so far guys.

**Done_Fishin** · 01-21-2009, 01:28 PM

Does it have a recovery partition for example ?? How big is the drive that you say has 80GB written ? can you boot into windows and check ?
Also .. is it a dynamic drive or basic disk as seen by Control Panel, Administrative tools, Disk Management .. if it's dynamic not sure if that can be manipulated in the same way as a basic disk

when in windows check your Boot.ini .. does it recognise your drive with a signature ?? that happens sometimes when Windows had problems recognising the drive and or location .. it could also be a reason for not being able to make any adjustments

Blue445 · 01-21-2009, 01:45 PM

-Yes, it does
-Yah, i actually used 130 of 250, so regardless i have plenty of space.
-How do i know if its dynamic or basic?
-I've never heard of the boot.ini...can you elaborate?

And here are the pics.

**Done_Fishin** · 01-21-2009, 02:12 PM

well the first point to note is that you have problems with the drive .. you should back up all your files before proceeding, get a diagnosis disk from your disk manufacturer and check out that drive .. it might be failing or it might be recoverable./

Advice is given in your photo's to run chkdsk /f but only do that AFTER you have backed up your files
Once you have rectified the problems with your drive I would suggest you try to proceed. Otherwise you risk losing everything

Blue445 · 01-21-2009, 03:32 PM

Well i already did the ckdsk thing. Still shows the same message.

**Done_Fishin** · 01-22-2009, 10:55 AM

find out who manufactured your HDD and get a disk diagnosis software to make sure that your disk is healthy

you'll probably find it here

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

01-17-2009, 07:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Gparted won't strink NTFS Hello all! My 250 gb HDD has a large 240 something gb partition, and and 8 gb (recovery) partition. I would like to shrink my 240 to about 200, and have a 40 gb ntfs so I can try out the new Win7 beta. Problem i'm having: -I'm using Gparted, and it wont let me shrink my main partition (ntfs) -I did defragg it. -I did run chkdsk and reboot twice. Still doesn't work, any help? __________________ bLUE445

01-17-2009, 08:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,827 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Hi, What happens when you click on the resize button? That should open a window that lets you change the size of the partition. Also, how much space do u have free in the partition. If you don't have a lot of space free then that might be part of the problem. Cheers! __________________ Linux Forever!

01-17-2009, 09:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Hey there wmorri. I have plenty of space in my HDD. And a window comes up, and i can't rezise it. The accept button thing is dimmed out, and will not allow me to click it. __________________ bLUE445

01-18-2009, 06:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
Bartender Mentally divergent Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA, USA Posts: 1,285 OS: W2K, Ubuntu 8.04	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Try right-clicking on the text describing the partition below the map. The one time I tried using GParted to resize a Vista partition the Vista partition wouldn't boot...

01-18-2009, 06:49 AM	#5 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS you should be able to click on teh drive that you want to shrink, then using the graphical image of the drive, drag the bar at the start or finish towards the middle. Best try at the end where there is usually a small amont of space unallocated making sure that you are trying to shrink the main chunk. Don't try at the beginning of the drive where your recovery partition is held. it is a bit finicky from what I remember but I have done it on sevearl occasions so I know it works , just requires the right handling to be successful. __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner

01-18-2009, 09:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Nether of the bars will move. __________________ bLUE445

01-20-2009, 07:39 AM	#7 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS bump __________________ bLUE445

01-20-2009, 07:41 AM	#8 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,827 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS H, Relax Blue. I am sure that bartender or Done will be back shortly. They all have things that the do outside of the forum. So, just hang in there. Cheers! __________________ Linux Forever!

01-20-2009, 10:48 AM	#9 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Sorry for the delay .. have to find my copy of Gparted Live .. have so many CD's lying around it reminds me of the days of floppies .. everything getting jumbled up. also whilst I am trying to find the right CD (just realised I found PartEd Magic instead of GPartEd Live ) have you see this page http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php has some useful screenshots about what to do and what you will see Did you click on the drive and then resize/move otherwise nothing will work .. the same icon is at the top of the page green arrowhead pointing at green wall as is seen at the menu on the right This picture is only shown for reference .. ignore the format button fror the time being .. go for the resize/move one then try shrinking your drive. When you are sure about what you want to do select apply and the drive will be shrunk according to your previous instructions __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner Last edited by Done_Fishin; 01-20-2009 at 11:03 AM.

01-20-2009, 07:35 PM	#10 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS I know how to use Gparted, i have partitioned drives with it before. Its just when i get to the screen with the movable bars, they will not move. The file system i'm formatting with is NTFS, and it has a little exclamation yellow triangle. __________________ bLUE445

01-21-2009, 09:47 AM	#11 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,827 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Hi, What is on the NTFS partition. I would guess something like windows. Have you backed up lately? I might recommend doing that. The reason I ask is that you might want to try to make a new partition. Delete the current one and then create a new one in its place. I am curious why the slider doesn't work. It seems almost like the programs is stopping you from doing it. In linux that would equate to you not having access. That is just a thought that you might want to try if you have the back up space on a external hdd or something. Cheers! __________________ Linux Forever!

01-21-2009, 10:07 AM	#12 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS I am wondering if the drive is full or someone may have used a drive/free space eraser on it that creates a file out of the unused space, thus making it look full. __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner

01-21-2009, 10:14 AM	#13 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,827 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Hi, That is a possibility. I am just trying to get some new life into this thread. It looks like it has hit a dead end, with the op saying then same thing just different ways. __________________ Linux Forever!

01-21-2009, 11:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS I have never come across permissions restrictions when using the partition editor and the most logical reason would be lack of usable space which would hinder the ability to make changes. apart from housekeeping, like emptying the recycle bin, getting rid of temp files, cookies, downloads that have remained undeleted in "temp internet files" folder and other unmentionable causes of "filling up ones hard drive .. there aren't that many other choices to make apart from backing up all unwanted files to another drive .. just thought .. any chanc ethat the drive has been made as a "compressed drive" .. must play about with the sizes of those or you'll lose a lot more than you bargain for. __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner

01-21-2009, 01:19 PM	#15 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Well, I recall having this same problem before. It is an OEM install of windows, and it doesn't show that it has any data. As in the rectangle is just plane white, when I know there I have like 80Gb's used...that free space eraser...could that be removed? I'll take a pic in a few and post it... Thanks for helping me so far guys. __________________ bLUE445

01-21-2009, 01:28 PM	#16 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Does it have a recovery partition for example ?? How big is the drive that you say has 80GB written ? can you boot into windows and check ? Also .. is it a dynamic drive or basic disk as seen by Control Panel, Administrative tools, Disk Management .. if it's dynamic not sure if that can be manipulated in the same way as a basic disk when in windows check your Boot.ini .. does it recognise your drive with a signature ?? that happens sometimes when Windows had problems recognising the drive and or location .. it could also be a reason for not being able to make any adjustments __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner Last edited by Done_Fishin; 01-21-2009 at 01:30 PM.

01-21-2009, 02:12 PM	#18 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS well the first point to note is that you have problems with the drive .. you should back up all your files before proceeding, get a diagnosis disk from your disk manufacturer and check out that drive .. it might be failing or it might be recoverable./ Advice is given in your photo's to run chkdsk /f but only do that AFTER you have backed up your files Once you have rectified the problems with your drive I would suggest you try to proceed. Otherwise you risk losing everything __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner

01-21-2009, 03:32 PM	#19 (permalink)
Blue445 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 165 OS: Linux Mint	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS Well i already did the ckdsk thing. Still shows the same message. __________________ bLUE445

01-22-2009, 10:55 AM	#20 (permalink)
Done_Fishin Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brit living in Greece Posts: 7,521 OS: WinME, WinXP Pro SP3, Win7 Beta, Ubuntu 9.04 & Netbook Remix & CD2USB, Mepis 6.5, Fedora 10 My System	Re: Gparted won't strink NTFS find out who manufactured your HDD and get a disk diagnosis software to make sure that your disk is healthy you'll probably find it here http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 __________________ . . I'm not old!! I'm age impaired .. D_F I DON'T PLAY GAMES How to mark your thread as solved HDD DIAG UTILS TSF's Photographer's Corner Last edited by Done_Fishin; 01-22-2009 at 10:58 AM.