Can't Resize Windows Partition?!?

[GovernerofTibet]

To start off: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ok, I haven't had linux installed in a while (I know, shame on me), and windows has started acting really strangely lately, so I figured it was about time I reformatted and started from scratch. But there's a hitch: I've got 15+ gigs of data to save.

So I figure: I'll shrink the windows partition, make a linux partition in the open space, move all the data into the linux partition, reformat the windows partition, then move the data back over. Easy enough (better than burning 30 cds)

HERE IS MY PROBLEM:

My HD is about 37-38 gigs or so. WIndows is taking up about 18.0, and I've freed up 19.1 gigs (or so windows tells me). I've run scandisk, and defragged thrice.

When I fire up my Mandrake 8.0 installer (no taunts, its a decent distro, and I didn't want to bother downloading another), everything is gravy until I get to partitioning the harddrive; when I try to resize the windows partition, the smallest that the mdk partitioner will let me shrink it is down to about 36-37 gigs!!!!

If you didn't catch that, its only letting me shrink the windows partition by about 800MB. Which makes absolutely no fscking sense to me, as I've supposedly got 19.1 GIGS free, and I've defragged three times.

WHAT THE FRELL IS GOING ON?!

Can anybody make any sense of this situation? The mandrake 8.1 installer is doing exactly the same thing to me, so its not just 8.0; and I've previously partitioned the hd and installed both 8.0 and 8.1 before on this exact same computer. ITS MADNESS!

Specs- Its a Dell Dimension 4100 running WindowsME (*cringe*)
~38 gig HD
Soundblaster LIVE audio
Maxtor 16x10x40 cd burner
generic 40x dvdrom drive
Nvidia GEforce 2mx
Midiman USBmidisport2x2 (I know most of these should be completely irrelevent, but I figured I'd mention them anyway)
and the basics.

Yes, I know I'm probably just overlooking something really elementary, and I'll openly admit I'm somewhat a newbie, but will somebody please come to my aid here?

[vee-eye]

I think there is some data on a block somewhere on your Windows partition that Windows refuses to defrag and Mandrake refuses to remove. I wouldn't really know what to do in that case.

It is possible that Mandrake's resizer is a bit buggy. Try resizing the partition with FIPS (http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/).

After resizing the partition, you may wish to just create another FAT32 partition and move all the files there. Then you can reformat your other Windows partition and move the files back.

[mdwatts]

Look for the options in defrag for where files can be relocated. i.e. The swap file or temp files could be set for the end of the drive.

[GovernerofTibet]

Ok, I think that hidden data at the end of the disk is probably my problem... now.... how can I go about solving this?

I've just been using the default windows defragger (where the only options are "Rearrange files to start faster" and "scan for errors"). Anybody know of a good free or opensource defragger out there that will let me choose to move EVERYTHING (hidden files and swap files included) to the beginning of the drive?

Of will I have to somehow do this manually?!?

>>I tried typing dir /a:h /s in dos to see all the hidden files, and there certainly are plenty... PLEASE tell me this isn't going to be a manual procedure

Again, thanks for the replies guys, and sorry for my newbie-esque questions

[ 16 March 2002: Message edited by: GovernerofTibet ]

[GovernerofTibet]

arrrrrr....... well I hopped over to CNET and downloaded the 30day demo of Disckeeper7.0 ( http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-100-7830892.html ), and when trying to install it, was told that "The MSIEXEC.EXE file is linked to missing export MSI.DLL-222."

So that one's out of the question I guess.... umm... anybody know of another good free defragger out there?

[GovernerofTibet]

Gratuitous bump (if I may)

>>Anybody know of a good free defragger that'll move hidden/system files? Of some kind of other solution to this situation?

[LiNuts]

I may be wrong, but i think your problem is the windows swap file, If its the default, then its a dynamic swap file, which means it can grow and shrink as needed by windows,

There is a way to get round it, (and no windows expert will recommend it) but you simply delete the swap file, then defrag the drive and then reinstall the swap file. A lot of windows users recommend a static swap file ( i.e. one that is a set size, and if possible installed on a seperate drive).

Once you have done that you should have no problem resizing the partition.

But beware it has its risks, but it works because iv'e done it myself.
Cheers
LiNuts

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by GovernerofTibet:
<STRONG>Gratuitous bump (if I may)

&gt;&gt;Anybody know of a good free defragger that'll move hidden/system files? Of some kind of other solution to this situation?</STRONG>

How about the trial version of Norton Utilities (Speedisk) at www.symantec.com (http://www.symantec.com)

[GovernerofTibet]

Ok, I tried booting into dos, deleting my swap file (c:\windows\win386.swp), then running the mdk installer; still have the same problem. So either there is some other cluster of files that defrag hasn't moved, or my computer REALLY IS on crack! :rolleyes:

Watts: Reading up about Speedisk, it sounds like it will do EXACTLY what I need it to do; but I spent 30 minutes scouring google and the symantec website in vain, and could never find a trial version. Can anybody link me to a trial version of Norton Utilities? Or another working defragger that will help me to properly defrag so that I can get done with this whole mess?

Thanks again for the replies guys.

In the meantime, I'm going to go turn off Virtual Memory within windows, reboot, then defrag and see if that does it (Maybe manually deleting the swap file wasn't enough, and windows has other weird vm-related tentacles all over my HD)

[mdwatts]

Sorry... Your right as Symantec doesn't have a trial version of NU or Speedisk anymore. They once had.

See if this http://www.executivesoftware.com/downloads/menu.asp will work.

[GovernerofTibet]

Watts-
".... well I hopped over to CNET and downloaded the 30day demo of Disckeeper7.0 ( http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-100-7830892.html ), and when trying to install it, was told that "The MSIEXEC.EXE file is linked to missing export MSI.DLL-222."

I'm downloading diskeeper 7.0 for the 3rd time to see if I'll luck out now, but it's doubtful.

And after defragging w/ VM turned off, I'm still getting the exact same error

:mad:

This is ridiculous! I've wasted at least 15+ hours so far just watching my computer defrag.

Anybody know of any way to discern (through dos, or whatever) where a hidden file is located on the disk? And if not, how could I go about just plain deleting every hidden file en masse through DOS (Yeah, its drastic, and windows would probably stop working, but if the linux installer will work, then it won't matter, cause I'll finally just be able to pull stuff over to the linux partition)

[Okie]

since you are a Windoze user (like me) P) i reccomend getting Partition Magic and making your partitions before you start the Linux install, i prefer partition magic because it is a very user friendly graphical disk partitioning tool that does handle Linux' ext2 & swap disk partitions quite well...

plus since i run more than one distro of Linux (Redhat7.1 & Slackware8) it makes the install go easyer to have the disk partitions allready made before i start the install...

Win98/Redhat7.1/Slackware8 & one Extra Linux ext2 disk partition for testing other distros & versions, is what i have...

[GovernerofTibet]

Well I'm not too into buying something that I'll use once... but even if I did buy partition magic, it still wouldn't change the fact that I can't resize the windows partition until I can move those hidden files, would it?

Bahhhhhhhh

Any word from the penut gallery?

[smokybobo]

Actually, you can resize a fragmented partition with Partition Magic. The only thing is if you're moving partitions over to shift free space to another part of your drive, if any partitions you're moving are fragmented, moving em will take a really really long time.

However, if you don't want to buy Partition Magic, you can always check out fips or a freeware called partition resizer (http://zeleps.com/)

Mind you, those two will only work with fat16/fat32 partitions, but that's the only thing u want, right?

[GovernerofTibet]

arrrrrrr

Guys, the reason I can't resize the partition is that there is a hidden file or two at the VERY END of the drive, which means that I can't shrink the partition any smaller than where those hidden data blocks reside.

And yes, FIPS is now giving me the exact same situation.

Its not just a matter of the partition being fragmented- in order for me to be able to preserve the data when I resize the partition, I can only split it where there is blank space after all of the data; and since there is a hidden file or two towards the end, there isn't much space to be used, unless I somehow move those hidden files to the front of the HD, hence taking off the bounds.

Did that make any sense?

*shrug*

SOOOOOOOO........ who knows how I can physically move hidden etc files in dos? Or what would the command be to unhide them so they will be defragged (would that work?)

[mdwatts]

MSIEXEC.EXE file is linked to missing export MSI.DLL-222

That has happened twice now with different apps. What is wrong with Windows? Anything on the MS Knowledgebase for that error?

Usually with the defraggers you can right click on the small blocks in the HD map and it will tell you what files etc. reside in that sector.

If you are having all these problems plus you cannot even install some software, why not just backup your Windows data, blow away the partition and start from scratch?

With the MS defrag, is there not a advanced option to specify to move ALL file AND directories to the beginning of the drive?

[GovernerofTibet]

The "MSIEXEC.EXE file is linked to missing export MSI.DLL-222" has happened with the SAME app (diskeeper 7.0), and it is something wrong with the installation program itself (google for it, there's not much).

With the windows defragger, there is no option that I know of to let me move everything- and unfortunately, I don't think I can right click to see what files are in each sector (right click just bring up a window that says "This file won't be moved" etc)

Yes, backing things up and blowing away the partition would be a GREAT idea; its what I'm TRYING TO DO if you didn't notice, lol. I'm installing a linux partition so I can move all my data over to it before reformatting the windows partition.

BUT (since you apparently haven't read the whole thread, no offense intended, I'll just summarize so you won't have to skim it) I can't shrink the windows partition down enough to allow the creation of a linux partition, because there resides a hidden file or two at the very end of the HD that is not getting moved.

[GovernerofTibet]

PROBLEM SOLVED-

In desperation, I reinstalled windowsME without reformatting, and suddenly the error w/ diskeeper was taken care of; so with diskeeper installed, I defragged the HD, and voila- all was well.

I'm happily logging in from my old friend Konqueror right now. :)

[quodlibet]

Or what would the command be to unhide them so they will be defragged (would that work?)

I know you've already solved your problem, but just for completeness . . .

To unhide a file in DOS, use:

ATTRIB -H <filename>

However if the file is also a system file, you also have to turn off the
system attribute at the same time like this:

ATTRIB -H -S <filename>

To see the attributes that are set for a file use ATTRIB without flags.
For example,

ATTRIB *.SYS