Hi guys, I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk. Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space? Cheers -- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
The only reliable way to do what you want is to copy all the data to another location and then copy it back. Well, you could pay good money for some utils to do this, but that's the cheap way. I found a utility on TUCOWS that will move the files Windows Defrag doesn't want to move, but I'm not sure it'll do what you need. On Tuesday 13 September 2005 05:22 pm, Sunny wrote:
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
-- See Ya' Howard Coles Jr. John 3:16!
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 18:22, Sunny wrote:
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
Hi Sunny, Can't you just shrink the whole partition? That will move the files. I've successfully resized (shrunk) my NTFS partition twice on this system using Partition Magic. I seem to recall reading about other tools (free) that will do the same job, but I paid for PM so that's what I use in these situations. regards, - Carl
On 9/13/05, Carl Hartung
Hi Sunny,
Can't you just shrink the whole partition? That will move the files. I've successfully resized (shrunk) my NTFS partition twice on this system using Partition Magic. I seem to recall reading about other tools (free) that will do the same job, but I paid for PM so that's what I use in these situations.
regards,
- Carl
Thanks Carl, that was the right word (shrink) I needed :) Cheers -- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
On Tuesday, September 13, 2005 @ 3:40 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 18:22, Sunny wrote:
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
Hi Sunny,
Can't you just shrink the whole partition? That will move the files. I've successfully resized (shrunk) my NTFS partition twice on this system using Partition Magic. I seem to recall reading about other tools (free) that will do the same job, but I paid for PM so that's what I use in these situations.
regards,
- Carl
Must be a newer version of PM than I have (8.0). Mine wiped out a Windows file at the end of a partition once when I shrank it and I had to restore my entire system. Greg Wallace
* Greg Wallace
Must be a newer version of PM than I have (8.0). Mine wiped out a Windows file at the end of a partition once when I shrank it and I had to restore my entire system.
First mistake, you don't restore windoz, you format it and install linux. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 21:55, Greg Wallace wrote: <snip>
Must be a newer version of PM than I have (8.0). Mine wiped out a Windows file at the end of a partition once when I shrank it and I had to restore my entire system.
Nope... same version, and I haven't had a single problem using it to create, resize, move or delete NTFS partitions. I don't know what happened in your case, George, but I don't think it's fair to blame the software. Not without something concrete and documented pointing to it as the culprit. - Carl
On Tuesday, September 13, 2005 @ 6:56 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 21:55, Greg Wallace wrote: <snip>
Must be a newer version of PM than I have (8.0). Mine wiped out a Windows file at the end of a partition once when I shrank it and I had to restore my entire system.
Nope... same version, and I haven't had a single problem using it to create, resize, move or delete NTFS partitions. I don't know what happened in your case, George, but I don't think it's fair to blame the software. Not without something concrete and documented pointing to it as the culprit.
- Carl
Maybe it was user error on my part. I just wanted to point out that I did what he was trying and had problems. But, in looking in the doco on PM 8.0, I don't see where it says it will move any files around for you, but maybe it's in there somewhere. My impression is it only works at high level and doesn't really get into moving files, but I didn't spend a lot of time reading through it (and probably should have!) Greg Wallace
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 23:07, Greg Wallace wrote:
Maybe it was user error on my part. I just wanted to point out that I did what he was trying and had problems. But, in looking in the doco on PM 8.0, I don't see where it says it will move any files around for you, but maybe it's in there somewhere. My impression is it only works at high level and doesn't really get into moving files, but I didn't spend a lot of time reading through it (and probably should have!)
I highly recommend reading documentation, Greg! ;-) See chapter 3, pg. 32 in PM8.pdf, "Notes on Resizing Partitions" "When you resize a partition, data is consolidated, not compressed..." But back to the topic at hand: Sunny, I'd recommend trying out the procedure described earlier by Michael James. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have mentioned PM on this list. Doing so could be considered poor form or bad taste or something along those lines... even if I did pay money for it. Not everybody owns a copy and it doesn't run under Linux, so it's OT... Sorry! regards, - Carl
On 14/09/05, Carl Hartung
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 23:07, Greg Wallace wrote:
Maybe it was user error on my part. I just wanted to point out that I did what he was trying and had problems. But, in looking in the doco on PM 8.0, I don't see where it says it will move any files around for you, but maybe it's in there somewhere. My impression is it only works at high level and doesn't really get into moving files, but I didn't spend a lot of time reading through it (and probably should have!)
I highly recommend reading documentation, Greg! ;-) See chapter 3, pg. 32 in PM8.pdf, "Notes on Resizing Partitions" "When you resize a partition, data is consolidated, not compressed..."
But back to the topic at hand:
Sunny,
I'd recommend trying out the procedure described earlier by Michael James. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have mentioned PM on this list. Doing so could be considered poor form or bad taste or something along those lines... even if I did pay money for it. Not everybody owns a copy and it doesn't run under Linux, so it's OT... Sorry!
regards,
- Carl
There's always this free one: http://www.ranish.com/ The Ranish Partition Manager. Though I am not sure whether it caters for NTFS partitions. If not then I apologise for the suggestion. -- ============================================== I am only human, please forgive me if I make a mistake it is not deliberate. ============================================== Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR
On Wednesday 14 September 2005 05:09, Kevanf1 wrote:
There's always this free one:
The Ranish Partition Manager. Though I am not sure whether it caters for NTFS partitions. If not then I apologise for the suggestion.
Thanks for the link, Kevan. That guy types up a storm, doesn't he? I've bookmarked it for when I've got time to read it all. I didn't find his details on NTFS resizing on the first scan, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't in there... somewhere. ;-) regards, - Carl
On 14/09/05, Carl Hartung
On Wednesday 14 September 2005 05:09, Kevanf1 wrote:
There's always this free one:
The Ranish Partition Manager. Though I am not sure whether it caters for NTFS partitions. If not then I apologise for the suggestion.
Thanks for the link, Kevan. That guy types up a storm, doesn't he? I've bookmarked it for when I've got time to read it all. I didn't find his details on NTFS resizing on the first scan, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't in there... somewhere. ;-)
regards,
- Carl
The only downside is that it doesn't look as though the page has been updated for some time. Which may mean that development of the software hasn't been ongoing :-( I've known about Ranish for years. It was not very user friendly to start with... but it improved.. -- ============================================== I am only human, please forgive me if I make a mistake it is not deliberate. ============================================== Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR
On Wed, 2005-09-14 at 01:56 -0400, Carl Hartung wrote:
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 23:07, Greg Wallace wrote:
Maybe it was user error on my part. I just wanted to point out that I did what he was trying and had problems. But, in looking in the doco on PM 8.0, I don't see where it says it will move any files around for you, but maybe it's in there somewhere. My impression is it only works at high level and doesn't really get into moving files, but I didn't spend a lot of time reading through it (and probably should have!)
I highly recommend reading documentation, Greg! ;-) See chapter 3, pg. 32 in PM8.pdf, "Notes on Resizing Partitions" "When you resize a partition, data is consolidated, not compressed..."
But back to the topic at hand:
Sunny,
I'd recommend trying out the procedure described earlier by Michael James. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have mentioned PM on this list. Doing so could be considered poor form or bad taste or something along those lines... even if I did pay money for it. Not everybody owns a copy and it doesn't run under Linux, so it's OT... Sorry!
Didn't version 5 have a Linux based module?
On Wednesday 14 September 2005 06:11, Mike McMullin wrote:
Didn't version 5 have a Linux based module?
Hi Mike, If it did, it was likely just an open version of BootMagic(TM), their boot manager/menu system. Or maybe it was a version of the PM recovery tools modified to run under Linux. I just don't recall. regards, - Carl
On Wednesday 14 September 2005 06:11 am, Mike McMullin wrote:
On Wed, 2005-09-14 at 01:56 -0400, Carl Hartung wrote:
On Tuesday 13 September 2005 23:07, Greg Wallace wrote:
Maybe it was user error on my part. I just wanted to point out that I did what he was trying and had problems. But, in looking in the doco on PM 8.0, I don't see where it says it will move any files around for you, but maybe it's in there somewhere. My impression is it only works at high level and doesn't really get into moving files, but I didn't spend a lot of time reading through it (and probably should have!)
I highly recommend reading documentation, Greg! ;-) See chapter 3, pg. 32 in PM8.pdf, "Notes on Resizing Partitions" "When you resize a partition, data is consolidated, not compressed..."
But back to the topic at hand:
Sunny,
I'd recommend trying out the procedure described earlier by Michael James. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have mentioned PM on this list. Doing so could be considered poor form or bad taste or something along those lines... even if I did pay money for it. Not everybody owns a copy and it doesn't run under Linux, so it's OT... Sorry!
Didn't version 5 have a Linux based module?
Yes it did. I still have it floating around here someplace from my ? days. Only ext2 though. It will barf on anything else. It's still good to move all of the doze stuff around and create empty space or ext2, then use the YAST partitioner to finish up. Bob S. Bob S.
On Tuesday, September 13, 2005 @ 2:23 PM, Sunny wrote:
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
Windows defrag won't get it on one pass. You have to keep running it until it gets it down into one contiguous piece. I've had to run it 3 or 4 times in a row to get there. Greg Wallace
On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:22 am, Sunny wrote:
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk.
Newer tools might have made this advice obsolete, but it used to be the case that you need to: Boot into Windows, turn off virtual memory and reboot. This is required to free the VM file usually located in the middle of the NTFS partition. After the reboot you can use the Windows defrag to move the files to the beginning of the windows partition and the clear space to the end. Then it's safe* to run the SuSE installer and shrink the NTFS partition to add a Linux system. Safe* = "will probably work fine" Safe* != "no need to back up first" All being well SuSE should spot the Windows partition and create a boot entry for it. Apart from needing to be renamed "Endless Frustration", it should work fine, remember to turn virtual memory back on. michaelj -- Michael James michael.james@csiro.au System Administrator voice: 02 6246 5040 CSIRO Bioinformatics Facility fax: 02 6246 5166 No matter how much you pay for software, you always get less than you hoped. Unless you pay nothing, then you get more.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2005-09-14 at 13:02 +1000, Michael James wrote:
Newer tools might have made this advice obsolete, but it used to be the case that you need to:
Boot into Windows, turn off virtual memory and reboot.
This is required to free the VM file usually located in the middle of the NTFS partition.
After the reboot you can use the Windows defrag to move the files to the beginning of the windows partition and the clear space to the end.
Also, defrag tools usually reject to move files marked with the "system" attribute. Some programs used them and would refuse to run if the file was moved. I think they used those files as part of a copy protection scheme. Also, some recovery tools maintained a copy of the system files at the very end of the disk (usually FAT partitions), and this copy was marked "SH", and thus, unmoveable. This is old info, things might have changed a bit. - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFDKEA9tTMYHG2NR9URAhW4AJ9yQdA7CAr8XpKGaFOckH5IQoAwVACghUX7 kS6tihr0kEi8SiOIC3xAGfM= =lDjb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On 9/13/05, Sunny
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
Thanks for all the suggestions. For now the problem solved by itself, I mean, there _was_ enough space at the end, even that there was more free space in the middle. So I just resized and succeeded to install. Not a solution though. But ... after I did it, and after reading Carl's suggestion to use the word "shrink" in the search query :) ... I found this article: http://www.linuxmigration.com/quickref/install/disk.html At the bottom, they are saying that there is a piece Linux-NTFS included in Knoppix. I did not tried that, but looks like a way to go. Cheers -- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
Sunny wrote:
Hi guys,
I need to install SuSE on a laptop's 40GB HDD. Unfortunately, even I freed enough space and defrag it from XP, it still keeps some files near the end of the disk. I tried a trial version of Diskeeper as well, still the same - no one wants to move these files to the free space in the middle of the disk.
Do you know any good (and possibly free) tool to do that. Or at least - something which can show me which files are there, so I can copy them over the network and free the space?
Cheers
-- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)
It may not seem a natural answer but possibly a good one in my opinion, would possibly be Ghost. Your root need is to resize not defrag. Since you are doing all of this data moving it would not hurt to have a backup image of you Windows OS. If you ghost the partition to file, then blow the file back (there is the opportunity to pick the destination partition size when blowing it back down) you will get..... 1) a resize 2) a back up when you pushed the data to file 3) Ghost will write the files to disk optimized and then write the file table. a Defrag! So if you actually boot into windows again it will be extremely defraged. Also useful when your defrag programs tell you that you don't have space to defrag... Drive Image pro or any imaging software that is file system or file aware as opposed to a straight block copy...... may also accomplish this as efficiently. Imaging does not at first appear to be the solution to a resizing problem but you get to kill 3 things at once. Luke Watson
participants (11)
-
B. Stia -
Carl Hartung -
Carlos E. R. -
Greg Wallace -
Howard Coles Jr. -
Kevanf1 -
Luke Watson III -
Michael James -
Mike McMullin -
Patrick Shanahan -
Sunny