# Gparted won't strink NTFS



## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

Hello all!

My 250 gb HDD has a large 240 something gb partition, and and 8 gb (recovery) partition. I would like to shrink my 240 to about 200, and have a 40 gb ntfs so I can try out the new Win7 beta.

Problem i'm having:

-I'm using Gparted, and it wont let me shrink my main partition (ntfs)
-I did defragg it.
-I did run chkdsk and reboot twice.

Still doesn't work, any help?


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

What happens when you click on the resize button? That should open a window that lets you change the size of the partition. Also, how much space do u have free in the partition. If you don't have a lot of space free then that might be part of the problem.

Cheers!


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

Hey there wmorri. I have plenty of space in my HDD. And a window comes up, and i can't rezise it. The accept button thing is dimmed out, and will not allow me to click it.


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Try right-clicking on the text describing the partition below the map.
The one time I tried using GParted to resize a Vista partition the Vista partition wouldn't boot...


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

you should be able to click on teh drive that you want to shrink, then using the graphical image of the drive, drag the bar at the start or finish towards the middle. Best try at the end where there is usually a small amont of space unallocated making sure that you are trying to shrink the main chunk. Don't try at the beginning of the drive where your recovery partition is held.

it is a bit finicky from what I remember but I have done it on sevearl occasions so I know it works , just requires the right handling to be successful.


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

Nether of the bars will move.


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

*bump*


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

H,

Relax Blue. I am sure that bartender or Done will be back shortly. They all have things that the do outside of the forum. So, just hang in there.

Cheers!


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Sorry for the delay .. have to find my copy of Gparted Live .. have so many CD's lying around it reminds me of the days of floppies .. everything getting jumbled up.

also whilst I am trying to find the right CD (just realised I found PartEd Magic instead of GPartEd Live :laugh

have you see this page 

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php

has some useful screenshots about what to do and what you will see

Did you click on the drive and then resize/move 










otherwise nothing will work ..

the same icon is at the top of the page green arrowhead pointing at green wall as is seen at the menu on the right

This picture is only shown for reference .. ignore the format button fror the time being .. go for the resize/move one then try shrinking your drive. When you are sure about what you want to do select apply and the drive will be shrunk according to your previous instructions


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

I know how to use Gparted, i have partitioned drives with it before. Its just when i get to the screen with the movable bars, they will not move. The file system i'm formatting with is NTFS, and it has a little exclamation yellow triangle.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

What is on the NTFS partition. I would guess something like windows. Have you backed up lately? I might recommend doing that. The reason I ask is that you might want to try to make a new partition. Delete the current one and then create a new one in its place.

I am curious why the slider doesn't work. It seems almost like the programs is stopping you from doing it. In linux that would equate to you not having access. That is just a thought that you might want to try if you have the back up space on a external hdd or something.

Cheers!


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I am wondering if the drive is full or someone may have used a drive/free space eraser on it that creates a file out of the unused space, thus making it look full.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

That is a possibility. I am just trying to get some new life into this thread. It looks like it has hit a dead end, with the op saying then same thing just different ways.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I have never come across permissions restrictions when using the partition editor and the most logical reason would be lack of usable space which would hinder the ability to make changes.
apart from housekeeping, like emptying the recycle bin, getting rid of temp files, cookies, downloads that have remained undeleted in "temp internet files" folder and other unmentionable causes of "filling up ones hard drive .. there aren't that many other choices to make apart from backing up all unwanted files to another drive ..

just thought .. any chanc ethat the drive has been made as a "compressed drive" .. must play about with the sizes of those or you'll lose a lot more than you bargain for.


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

Well, I recall having this same problem before. It is an OEM install of windows, and it doesn't show that it has any data. As in the rectangle is just plane white, when I know there I have like 80Gb's used...that free space eraser...could that be removed? I'll take a pic in a few and post it... Thanks for helping me so far guys.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Does it have a recovery partition for example ?? How big is the drive that you say has 80GB written ? can you boot into windows and check ?
Also .. is it a dynamic drive or basic disk as seen by Control Panel, Administrative tools, Disk Management .. if it's dynamic not sure if that can be manipulated in the same way as a basic disk

when in windows check your Boot.ini .. does it recognise your drive with a signature ?? that happens sometimes when Windows had problems recognising the drive and or location .. it could also be a reason for not being able to make any adjustments


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

-Yes, it does
-Yah, i actually used 130 of 250, so regardless i have plenty of space.
-How do i know if its dynamic or basic?
-I've never heard of the boot.ini...can you elaborate?

And here are the pics.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

well the first point to note is that you have problems with the drive .. you should back up all your files before proceeding, get a diagnosis disk from your disk manufacturer and check out that drive .. it might be failing or it might be recoverable./

Advice is given in your photo's to run *chkdsk /f* but only do that *AFTER* you have backed up your files 
Once you have rectified the problems with your drive I would suggest you try to proceed. Otherwise you risk losing everything


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## Blue445 (Dec 21, 2008)

Well i already did the ckdsk thing. Still shows the same message.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

find out who manufactured your HDD and get a disk diagnosis software to make sure that your disk is healthy

you'll probably find it here 

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287


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## GreenGoose (Feb 20, 2009)

Hi Blue

It sounds like you haven't got "ntfsprogs" installed.

Check in GParted "Feature" probably the NTFS options
are not checked. I guess you are not running from the live CD.

in terminal: sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs

Should be OK now.


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