SIMPLE instructions for re-sizing partition

Hi

Background: I have been using Macintoshes since 1990 and consider myself a knowledgeable Mac user. There is one program that I want to use on the Windows side. I needed a new computer anyway, so I bought a MacMini with Parallels pre-installed and Windows XP Home pre-installed on a 5GB partition created by the retailer. It has been 8 years since I have used a Windows machine regularly. Therefore, I am essentially a Windows beginner again and have no experience with virtual machines of any kind. I wanted Windows only to run Dragon Naturally Speaking (voice recognition) as I am a translator and my hands ache because of all the typing I do.

Problem: Naturally Speaking works fine IF you start it up new, create a new user and train it and then get going, but the next time you try it, it fails to recognize the microphone. While that sounds like a hardware or settings problem, my discussions with the Dragon people suggest it is not, but a corrupted user file problem. The only way to fix things is to create a new user and start all over again. When it works, it works brilliantly. Obviously, however, it is unacceptable to start all over again. The point of the training is to progressively speed things up.

I think part of the problem is that the Windows system is short of space. I began getting error messages after it did an auto update on itself that perhaps added a bunch of new files (I don't know). I thought 5GB would be bags of room for just XP and one program, but I guess it isn't. I wanted to run only ONE program....

Anyway, I think I need to increase the size of the windows partition. Yes, I have read through the thread here about doing that, but so much of it assumes Windows skills that I don't have and it goes back and forth now over five pages of responses; I find it very confusing and I suspect many other newbies will too. Now that there has been a great deal of discussion and (presumably) a consensus is emerging about how to do this, can some kind soul go back to the beginning and re-post the instructions with all the goodies in a simple, clear way that tells you HOW to do the required steps, not just the steps required?

To take just one example of my confusion, I'm not at all clear if the 5GB Windows partition I had the retailer create is the same partition that people here are talking about as the one to resize. How do you get a "meta-view" that shows you how the physical computer is partitioned for the Mac OS and the Windows side? When I run the Parallels utility that supposedly allows you to resize the Windows partition (if this is the 5GB partition I'M talking about), it shows the partition as 20MB (as in the documentation, actually), but that size makes no sense--it's way too small. So I'm doubting that it's looking at the right partition--what is it looking at?. Or does that 20MB just come up as a dummy figure? Also, the download that people recommend, has one of those dark grey screenshot icons that is maybe a Linux application? I have Mac experience, not Linux experience, so that's useless. I click on it and all it says is that there is no default application. I can't pick one, of course, because I have no idea what it's looking for. In fact, I'd be happy to pay someone to help me fix this (I'm near Santa Rosa, CA) as I hope to ignore the Windows side as soon as I get it working.

Hope this all makes sense. Any guidance would be appreciated. To summarize, I'm mainly hoping someone can condense the entire thread on resizing partitions into a new, clearer set of instrucitons now, keeping in mind that many things have become clear (presumably) since the original thread was started and that many people having these problems will have little or no experience using Windows and, while they may have years and years of Macintosh experience, their only Linux experience will be through the OSX interface that so beautifully insulates us all from Linux (it IS Linux, that is behind it all, isn't it?)

Thanks: In advance

Colin

 

No, it isn't Linux, it's Darwin, based on free BSD. I'm sure we'd all like to be insulated from life, but i don't have time to write a step by step. You will have to do some of the work unless you would like to hire me to do it for you.

The 20 meg is the default new image size, which doesn't make a lot of sense, but I didn't design it. Type in the size (in megabytes) you want in that box. Select the .hdd file you want to expand, and let it do its thing.

The file you downloaded (assuming the GPARTED .iso file) is a bootable Linux partition that included the gparted program. Connect your virtual CD to controller 0:0 and your .hdd file to 0:1. Change the .hdd first because it's probably on 0:0. If you need to know how, read the manual. Connect the downloaded .iso to the CD (again see the manual).Set your VM to boot from the CD.

Back up your .hdd file (duplicate in finder works).

Start your VM. It will boot from the CD image. Accept all the defaults as it boots. When it finishes booting, start the gparted program (as instructed on the last screen), select your partition (should be the only one) and expand it to fill the disk. Select apply, wait for it to finish, shut down the VM, set it to boot from the disk, put the CD back on 1:0 or wherever it was, put the .hdd back on 0:0, and start your VM.

Enjoy the new bigger disk.