Resizing partitions with partitionmagic

[dazz123]

Hi all,

Just after some advice. I have 3 partitions + some unallocated space.

In partition magic it shows my 3 partitions adjacent to eachother with the final partition (lets call it partition 3) next to the unallocated space.

I want to give all the unallocated space to the partition in the middle (partition 2). So I went to resize partition on the menu and selected partition 2 and went through the wizard, increased the size etc....

After clicking okay and looking at the operations pending items bit it said it was going to:

1. "move partition 3 up by the amount I wanted to give to partition 2 resize partition 2 with the amount I wanted to increase it by.

My question is that is this the correct way of doing this? Should I perhaps reszie the partition 3 to the max then give this free space to partition 2?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Freestone]

You can only resize a partition with available free space that is contiguous with the partition to be resized. So if you resize partition 3 there will be no free space (or less if you don't resize to maximum available) for partition 2.

So your steps listing moving partition 3 up (or in effect moving the free space down next to partition 2) followed by resizing partition 2 is correct.

Having said this, make sure you back up any critical data on the two partitions being manipulated in case something goes wrong.

 

[edfair]

That is one way to make it happen. But the multiple moves tend to scare me since I'm not in control.
Althoug it takes longer I would resize 3 with free, then resize 3 creating free in front, then resize 2 using free. All of these would be 1 step changes.
Freestone is correct about the backup, but since I like to live dangerously, most of my partition shuffles are done live with no backup unless there is something that is absolutely irreplacable.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[dazz123]

hi, thanks for the advise!

edfair is the method you described more reliable and less risky?

 

[Freestone]

I guess I don't know how three resizes are any less risky than one move followed by a resize, Ed. Your method will massage partition 3 twice, once to bloat it up only to be followed by shrinking it. Besides, the shrinking process will have to move the data up anyway. Otherwise, how else will the free space be placed next to partition 2 so it can be resized?

I do agree about the control though. Doing the steps manually one by one, be it moves or resizes, is my preferred method too. I also tend not to backup the data on the affected partitions as any data I consider critical is backed up routinely.

Dell

 

[edfair]

Not less risky but you might have a better shot at fixing any problems if you didn't have 2 additional steps complicating things.
P3 will get extended but that won't be moving any data in the first step, only massaging the FAT and the PT minimally.

2nd step will move data and massage FAT and PT so the steps are effectively the same as the combined first step.

3rd step is a FAT and PT modification.

Both ways only involve moving P3 data once.

Using the 3 step gives the opportunity to look at the intermediate results to verify that you have what you want.

I'm not an advocate for either way. Just how my brain thinks and offering an alternate.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[dazz123]

Hello, thanks for all your help.

I choose the Move partition 3 up to get the unallocated next to partition 2 then resize partition 2 to include all the space. It all worked great.

Thanks again for all your responses.