Problems Setting Up Partitions for Dual Boot

[itKiwi]

I have just purchased a new computer with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium installed. NTFS file system. On the 1 TB hard disk, there is a 100 MB partition labelled "System Reserved(System, Active, Primary Partition)", and the rest is a single partition of 931 GB labelled, "C: (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)".

I now want to partition the large partition into 100MB for Windows 7 and apps, 100 MB for Linux OS and apps, and the rest as a working data partition used by both Linux and Windows. The Windows partition manager won't let me create a partition smaller than about half of the 931 GB.

Why is this ?

Can I do what I want ? If so, how ?

Thanks

 

[Emerald]

100 MB will not be enough for an OS. You are probably mean 100GB partition

 

[55Range]

+1 100 gb, use disk management..
It has all options to split hdd.

 

[itKiwi]

Thanks guys. Yes, slip of the finger. 100 GB for the OS partitions.

Disk Management won't allow me to reduce the C: partition to anything below 470 GB,

What's the reason for this ?

 

[RetiredChief]

Most likely cause is the hibernation file. Min that you can shrink to is based on location of file at the farest point. Normally win 7 shoves this file out and on some of the smaller HDD it is toward the end of the disk. Try disabling hiberantion and reboot.

from a command prompt (Start with admin), type powercfg -h off and press Enter.
Change off to on when done.

 

[itKiwi]

Thanks Chief, however, there must be another file causing this. I turned off hibernation, and saw that the file hiberfil.sys has now gone, but the Win7 partition manager still won't let me reduce the C: partition below 470 GB.

How do I find out which file is causing my problem ? Do I need another tool ?

Thanks again.

 

[RetiredChief]

Just checking, you know that the file is a hidden file, I normally use a cmd window with the switch to show hidden files and to look in all directories/sub folders.

You may also need to disable the pagefile.

When you have made the changes, run windows diskcleanup program.

Little more (deals with vista, but same same for win 7)

 

[itKiwi]

Thanks again Chief. Yes, I unhid all the system files.
Then I found a good article at http://superuser.com/questions/88131/ titled "How to shrink Windows 7 boot partition with unmovable files." I followed this, then finally, Windows wouldn't start. I used a linux CD to run live Ubuntu, then GPartEd to shrink my partition. Dead easy!. Then repaired my Win 7 install from my Win7 DVD which came with the computer. No issues here, either.
I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't use the Windows tools to do the job, but then it has given me a good example of what Linux can do, which is what I want to try anyway. Overall, I'm happy.
Thanks again.

 

[RetiredChief]

Yes, windows (vista & 7) can be a pain sometimes on shrinking the disk. Only did it twice, once on vista, and once on 7. But once I got rid of the hidden files, it work and didn't give a problem. Glad you made out OK. Take care and enjoy.