What happens to unallocated space when a partition is shrunk.

[HK_Gail]

I want to add a new partition on my 1TB HDD to serve as a backup for my 250GB SSD. The HDD is set up like normal as one large partition. I think I read somewhere that I can assign some empty space on that drive to be a new partition without losing the data in the rest of the drive, then later if I want to get rid of that partition I can "shrink" it. What happens to the GBs from the shrunk partition though? Is that space automatically added back to the original large partition that takes up the whole capacity of the HDD?

 

[i7Baby]

You can't shrink a partition to lower than the data amount it holds.

 

[HK_Gail]

Can I delete a partition and recover the storage space it used for the original drive?

 

[Lannister in the North]

Yes, delete the partition, then expand the existing one.

 

[ArtPog]

If I correctly understand your current situation and your objectives...

1. Your 1 TB HDD currently serves as a storage unit in your system. At this time it's single-partitioned.

2. For some reason you desire that secondary HDD to be multi-partitioned so that it will contain two partitions.

3. So, first of all what is the total data currently contained on that HDD?

4. Assuming that the present total data is considerably less than that HDD's disk-space capacity could you not shrink the current partition to a size of your choosing? Then create a partition from the resulting unallocated disk-space? Wouldn't that meet your objectives?

 

[HK_Gail]

@ArtPog

1. Yes

2. Yes. I just thought it would make keeping a backup of my SSD simpler and safer. I think when I tried to use Windows backup to back up to an external HDD it wanted to format the drive, which made me think it needed a formatted empty partition to work.

3. It has 305 GB of data on it. 626 GB of free space.

4. I could do that. Would that make more sense, or be easier or safer? sorry, I'm new to partitioning.

 

[ArtPog]

Well it's certainly wise to maintain a backup of your SSD but from the description of your needs I'm wondering why you would have need for two partitions on that secondary storage HDD. Wouldn't a single partition on that disk serve you just as well?

Also, for backup purposes might you consider a disk-cloning program that you could use routinely to maintain a comprehensive backup of your system? A program that, in effect, creates a "mirror" of your day-to-day working SSD. So that in the event your SSD becomes defective or the operating system (OS) on the SSD becomes corrupt causing the drive to be dysfunctional, you would have at hand a perfect copy of your once-functional OS and easily restore your system quickly and without much fuss or bother. Anyway, give it some thought.