Hi,

I would like to shrink my OS C: partition disk space to accommodate making an extended partition with logical partitions in it -

And I'm using only Microsoft to do it, no 3rd party programs.

I have reduced it as far as I can so far which is hardly enough for making the extended partition.

So, in reading in Microsoft help files I found this:



What is the "page file"?

Is it the "pagefile.sys" folder? I did find this and it is 3.7 GB in size. Is this what I am suppose to move to another hard drive? If not what then?

Next, where are the "shadow copies" needed to be deleted?

I do understand that I am suppose to delete the "shadow copies" before I put the "page file"(?) back.

Any clarification on this will be of great help. Thank you.

John

Yes, that's the page file - you can resize it (to make it smaller), or you can move it as the article suggests.
Haven't messed with the VSS service - but I'd expect that you'd have to turn the service off first, then delete the stuff it leaves behind.

FWIW - I've done this before, only to find that I quickly run out of space on the C: partition. Be careful to allow enough space to install a few apps that you must have - and leave 15% free space for behind-the-scenes Windows operations (such as defragging and copying operations).

IMO it would be easier and more effective to add a second hard drive. If you can't do this, then I'd suggest a USB external hard drive for storage.

Hi USASMA,

I have been able to shave off about 80 more GBs turning off "System Restore" which I haven't used sense my first 6 months to a year using a PC.

I'm not sure how smart that was sense doing that has taken me all morning to get my PC to start normally again. I had to access through Safe Mode start to do a CHKDSK C: /F/R disk scan, after which it worked, still there seem to be a few glitches appearing.

Anyhow, to the 2 questions:

1. How do I shrink the pagefile.sys folder?

2. And/or how do I move it sense it's "In Use" and won't let me move it?

I have a 750 GB SATA HD that hasn't been partitioned yet. There are 2 partitions on it of about equal size. I'd like to make at least 5 to 7 partitions.

Right now the Vista OS is on the first partition of 365 GB. I'd like to get that down to 100 GB from the 365 GB it's stuck on. I don't need all that space just for one OS.

I'd like to get an XP OS on a different partition to help mitigate the frustration associated with learning a new OS. (If that can be done?)

The Vista help files say that the first 3 partitions will be primary partitions, then I can make an extended partition. I really only need 2 primary partitions. I'd like to put a few Logical drives under one Extended partition after the 2 Primary partitions which will have the OSs.

Any clarification on what to do here will be of great help, thanks.

John

To shrink it, you've got to adjust the size settings in the System Applet of Control Panel. Go to Start and type in "sysdm.cpl" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

Click on the Advanced tab, then on the Performance Settings button, then on the Advanced tab, then on the Virtual Memory Change button. Adjust the settings in there, click on the Set button, then on OK. Reboot for the changes to take affect. It's possible to run Windows without a pagefile - but some programs will insist upon it. The general rule is that the pagefile should be 1.5 times the amount of RAM installed - but this is an older rule, and it's generally not the most efficient use of the pagefile. IMO the pagefile should be slightly bigger than your installed RAM in order to leave room for a memory dump file in case Windows crashes.

How to move it? Well, you create a pagefile on the other disk in the above tool, then you set the current drive to "No pagefile", click on Set and then reboot for the changes to take affect.