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How I resized a Windows partition  
  

How I resized a Windows partition

May 13, 2006, 01:01 AM
#1  

joem
Senior Member


Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,275
Quote:
Originally Posted by BatmanPPC
You don't need to make a copy of the disk image.
Perhaps, but resizing a partition I don't have a copy of seems unnecessarily risky, so I wouldn't advise not copying it first just in case something goes wrong.

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May 15, 2006, 12:34 AM
#2  

BatmanPPC
Junior Member


Join: May 2006
Posts: 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by joem
Perhaps, but resizing a partition I don't have a copy of seems unnecessarily risky, so I wouldn't advise not copying it first just in case something goes wrong.
Heh, how come I always feel like I'm the only one who runs a backup system?
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May 22, 2006, 07:48 AM
#3  

myktee
Junior Member


Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by BatmanPPC
You don't need to make a copy of the disk image.

Download the live cd from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
Boot your VM from the live cd iso
Select default values until gpartd starts
Select partition to resize
Resize and apply
Disconnect iso
Reboot

Windows should run chkdsk automatically.
All,

This technique worked exactly as mentioned. I was able to expand a single 4 GB NTFS boot volume (C:\ drive) with about 250 MB of free space to 8 GB.

I extended the virtual hard drive file using the Parallels Image Tool to 8 GB (perhaps I could have used gparted to do this too), booted the VM to the mounted gparted 0.2.5 live CD ISO image and resized the original partition from 4 GB to 8 GB.

After restarting the VM (booting off the hard drive), Windows XP did a checkdisk, restarted, launched a dialog mentioning some device was found/changed (I suspect this step might not always happen to you), restarted and now I have an 8GB partition in a single virtual hard drive file.

I agree, this should be a FAQ entry or sticky topic!

Thanks Batman!

myktee
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Jun 2, 2006, 08:33 PM
#4  

scotymac
Junior Member


Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 14
You don't need to make a copy of the disk image.

Download the live cd from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
Boot your VM from the live cd iso
Select default values until gpartd starts
Select partition to resize
Resize and apply
Disconnect iso
Reboot

VM iso boot worked great on my FAT32 partition, thanks Batman!
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Jun 29, 2006, 01:41 PM
#5  

sloosley
Junior Member


Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 25
sourceforge.net hint worked flawlessly. Great, great hint. Thank you !!! !!!
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Jun 29, 2006, 11:58 PM
#6  

blomasky
Junior Member


Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 29
Help: Followed the instructions, but when I LIST VOLUME in diskpart, I see the 3 partitions (CD , System and EXTRA) but there is NO drive letter for the 2nd volume and when I select it and type extend I get: "the volume you selected can not be extended"
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Jul 14, 2006, 12:08 PM
#7  

aplnub
Junior Member


Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 27
This does not work on FAT32 formatted systems. Bummer! I am trying to figure out how I have filled a 8 GB hdd with windows, office, and autocad. Seems impossible to me.
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Sep 19, 2006, 12:38 AM
#8  

blomasky
Junior Member


Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 29
Volume may NOT be extended Error
Sort of followed the instructions! (I did not make the copy before resizing).

made the copy, added my resized VDisk as disk2, when I select volume 2 and type extend I get this error (get same error if I select volume 1)

Help!

Bruce
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Oct 25, 2006, 04:40 PM
#9  

plazmyd
Junior Member


Join: Oct 2006
Posts: 11
step 5 is messing me up.
Everything is fine for me up to step 5. I run the Image Tools without any problem. I get a verification that the expansion was successful, but the .hdd file does not change in size, nor does it reflect a larger size when I run DISKPART. Am I supposed to 'Note which volume is your original, resized partition' by the changed size or by the 'system' next to the size?

I am going to just go ahead with the directions and see what happens, but I have a feeling that something is not right.

Matt

EDIT

Well, completed steps and got the "DiskPart failed to extend the volume. Please make sure the volume is valid for extending."

Any ideas?

EDIT

Oops, apparently the letter C is no longer a number. When did that happen? I tried it with "1" with the same results.

EDIT again

It works! I had my .hdd files mixed up.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Picture-3x.jpg (11.8 KB, 19 views)
File Type: jpg Picture-2_x.jpg (12.7 KB, 15 views)
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Nov 5, 2006, 02:41 PM
#10  

enthios
Member


Join: Apr 2006
Posts: 79
Only works on NTFS?
For some reason, my paritions are FAT32, and the "extend" function only works on NTFS volumes. Are there any drawbacks to having NTFS, vs. FAT32? And how do I change the partition from FAT32 to NTFS?

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Nov 22, 2006, 03:58 PM
#11  

jkirshb
Junior Member


Join: Nov 2006
Posts: 5
Ok I followed the instructions to upgrade my virtual machines memory to 20gigs but everytime I start windows, the Control Panel information about my computer tells me that the there is only 6.something gigs available. I am trying to install a program that is 8 gigs and I can't figure out why Windows hard drive capacity is so small when the virtual machine tells me there is a total of 20gigs available. Do I need to re-insall windows now? Please advise.
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Nov 26, 2006, 03:04 PM
#12  

tlev
Junior Member


Join: Nov 2006
Posts: 4
I've tried in vain to get this to work. I keep getting the low disk space on c drive error. I've re-set the hard disk to 64g, have tried to run the gparted iso- it runs but doesnt complete the final step. When I click activate, it does it;s thing for a couple minutes then comes back with an error that the change in partition did not take place. Any suggestions? (This is extremely frustrating. Also, I dont see any extremely large temp or other files that I can delete)

Thanks

tom
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Jan 17, 2007, 12:02 AM
#13  

lucerodesign1
Junior Member


Join: Jan 2007
Posts: 9
You're my hero!
Thanks for saving my arse! This is exactly the procedure that should be in the manual. A very elegant solution for a potentially big problem...nice work!
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Jan 25, 2007, 01:51 PM
#14  

cualexander
Junior Member


Join: Jan 2007
Posts: 2
Am I missing something here?

I had 140 megs free space and it wouldn't let me boot. Used the parallels image tool to resize the image to give me about 300 megs more space, since I was just going to copy the large file off the VM to my desktop anyhow.

Booted up Windows XP. Had the new space.

Is there something else I need to do? I'm confused by all these steps.
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Feb 10, 2007, 05:06 PM
#15  

myk007
Junior Member


Join: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
Parallels + Win2000
Hi,

I am trying to expand the size of my Win2k virtual machine from 8GB to 16GB

1. I make a copy of my original .hdd and then i resize my original .hdd to 16GB using image tools.
2. Next I make the copy hard disk 1 and the original resized hdd my hard disk 2.
3. I boot up my virtual machine and run diskpart
4. I run the command list volume:


C:\PROGRA~1\RESOUR~1>Diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3553
Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MM-WIN

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 D CD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C Local Disk NTFS Partition 7985 MB Healthy System

DISKPART>

I cannot see my new 16GB Volume. Is that okay?

5. I ran list disk to get the following:
DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 7993 MB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 16 GB 16 GB

DISKPART>

Here i could see both disks.

6. So, I thought maybe i need to select disk 2 and then list volume to see if my 16G volume shows up:
DISKPART> select Disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------
Volume 0 D CD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C Local Disk NTFS Partition 7985 MB Healthy System

DISKPART>

I still could not see my 16GB volume.

So is it okay that I cannot see my 16 GB volume?

Thanks.
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Feb 16, 2007, 01:06 PM
#16  

pambyard
Junior Member


Join: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
Tried both solutions
Hi everyone, thank you for posting solutions that seem to work for almost everyone but me. I tried the gparted fix, but got an error at the end, no dice. Tried diskpart, say to check my disk is valid to extend. Tried both solutions 3 times! I am leary of trying Partition Magic not only because of the $80, but I'm not sure I have enough space on my 8G disk to install it. I assume it has to be installed on the guest system? At the VERY LEAST, parallels documentation should caution us to think ahead when allocating disk size because 8G is a joke, and this has cost me countless hours of frustration.:mad:
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Feb 26, 2007, 12:41 AM
#17  

Hugh Watkins
Senior Member


Join: Jul 2006
Posts: 976
I find that small is beautiful with parallels WinXP Sp2

VM memory 512 mb out of 2 gb

hard disk 32000 mb
runs very quickly and accurately

takes 2.2 gb virtual memory

I do keep my data on the mac in shared folders

I do clone my VM regularily
especially before an upgrade

Hugh W

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Apr 18, 2007, 08:29 PM
#18  

Sigge Stark
Junior Member


Join: Dec 2006
Posts: 1
This is ridiculous!
Of course you should be able to expand the partiton with easy to use disk tools that come with Parallels Desktop. These kind of geeky instructions can not be recommended for any "ordinairy Mac user" that has a job to take care of and expects his computer to work without getting warnings about the disk is getting ful.
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Apr 25, 2007, 06:51 AM
#19  

Pumba
Junior Member


Join: Apr 2007
Posts: 1
Good stuff
Thx alot.. saved me alot of time..
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Jun 21, 2007, 06:32 PM
#20  

amber
Junior Member


Join: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
Thanks everyone for your posts. I used jeliker's and others information to sucessfully increase my windows partition from 8 to 20GB. Without the forum I would have given up on the product long ago. Thanks for sharing your information. It's unfortunate that such a great product has such poor support and documentation.

amber
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