Can't shrink C partition in Windows 8.1 with diskmgmt

Quickdraw996

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I am trying to shrink C:\ with Disk Management so I can make room for another partition, however it says the max size it can be shrunk is 1,666 MB. But even if I try to shrink it by that much I get an error (pictures attached).

What I have done to try and fix this issue:
I figured I may need to defragment my drive but that has not remedied the issue.

So I decided to do power down, remove my laptops battery, hold power for about 30 seconds, put the battery back in and power up again. This also has not remedied the issue.

----------------------------------------------

I apologize if those measures were noobish and useless to fixing my issue, I have not ran into this issue ever and was not/am not sure what to do.

I am new to windows 8 and am not sure if this is related to something that has changed since windows 7. Could it be related to secure boot or something called (U)EFI? (I need to do some reading on both of these)

Does anyone have any ideas what may be preventing me for shrinking my C:\ drive and therefore creating a new partition out of the freed up space?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Probably because the partition has to be offline to do it. I've had to use third party partition managers to do it. EaseUS has worked for me but some have had it mess up their partitions, be sure to image before using it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
The partition is fragmented. You need to run defrag first to consolidate all free spaces then try again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
The partition is fragmented. You need to run defrag first to consolidate all free spaces then try again.

The first solution I tried was defragmenting the hard drive but that did not fix it.
If I run the program called defrag a cmd window pops up and disappears.
The result of those actions is now I can only shrink it by 148MB
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
From Admin command Windows, run dfrgui. Hi lite C then Optimize

2015-05-08_17-52-03.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
1.) Your C partition is not at the end of disk.
2.) data is spread across C partition.

If you want to see how data is spread download Disk view from Microsoft sysinternals

example of disk view:

bb896650.diskview(en-us,MSDN.10).gif

If your disk does not look like the one above, you won't be able to shrink it.
additional defragmentations might solve this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
You can try download the MiniTool Partition Wizard to shrink it. It worked for me when I want to extend the C: drive.
Partition Wizard may need to reboot your PC to shrink your C: drive.

Note: Backup your data before shrink or extend partitions/volumes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Step One: Disk Cleanup - Open and Use - Windows 7 Help Forums

Step Two: Partition or Volume - Shrink - Windows 7 Help Forums

The size of the available shrink space can be restricted by the amount of space currently allocated to on the hard drive for the virtual memory page file, System Protection maximum storage space size, and hibernation files. The location of the files on the hard drive plays a big part here because these files are marked as unmovable, and Disk Management is unable to relocate them. As such, if these unmovable files are located in the middle of the total amount of free space on the disk, then only the amount of free space on the other side (to the right) of these files will actually be available for the new partition. This will result in you showing that you have x amount of free space, but not being able to use it for your partition. [del]The only way around this is to use a 3rd party hard drive partition management program, or setup the partition when installing Vista.[/del]

Note: If you have an OEM PC that came with Windows 8/8.1 preinstalled, you may not use the third-party partition software (for example, EaseUS Partition Master), because modifying the hard drive partition structure usually break the factory restore feature. But if you use Windows Disk Management to shrink the C: partition (see screenshots below), then Refresh and Reset should work.

EDIT: This program does not break the factory restore feature: http://www.disk-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html









 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
Genet, I forgot to mention that very important detail about OEM installs. I no longer have OEM or recovery partition so not an issue for me. Imaging is the best safety measure before messing with partitions, especially with any third party software.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Thank you guys for the support!

I have tried multiple suggestions but the best I have been able to do is extend C:\ to the end of the drive, but it would only let me shrink to what I had just extended.

I think there may be unmovable files at the end of C:\. How do I tell and how should I deal with this if it is the case?

I remember years ago I saw a program that (I think) was built into XP, that would linearly break down the drive and color code it. I remember yellow was unmovable files. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Is it still around in Windows 8?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
I remember that, the thing you're talking about is a disk defragmenter known from XP era and earlier.
defragmenters from new Windows versions do not show this data, but you can see it by using disk view ( link from my previous post )

As told by others your best bet is to make a backup and test 3rd party tools.
example: MyDefrag v4.3.1
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise
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