## Resize Scenarios

### Creating a new partition to detach operating system from the rest of data

Let’s assume that you’re a rank and file user who is most likely to have only one hard disk with only one partition (the only partition is always system). To secure yourself against a system malfunction or a virus attack you’ve got nothing to do, but make a backup of the whole partition, which besides the operating system itself contains all your family photos, favorite films and music, program distributives, whatever. As a result you’ll get a very huge backup image. You can easily tackle this issue however by detaching your operating system from the rest of data.

To create a new partition on your hard disk, please do the following:

1. Click the Express Create Partition item of the Wizards menu.

| There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

2. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

3. Choose a method you find the most suitable to create the partition. The wizard is especially designed to minimize your participation in finding an appropriate place for it and its resulted size. The only thing you’re to do is to choose between several modes. The most relevant thing here is the amount of space that will be allocated for that partition. For easy perception, you can see the resulted disk layout on the disk map by selecting this or that mode.

| The number of available methods depends on your disk layout. To learn more on the way the wizard works, please click the corresponding link on the first page of the wizard.

4. That’s basically it. By clicking the Next button the wizard will start modifying your disk layout. If you’ve got to do with the system partition resize, like we do in our case, you will be asked to restart your computer in a special boot-up mode to accomplish the operation. So click the appropriate button to agree.

5. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out at the moment.

After completing the operation your computer will be automatically restarted back to Windows where you can see the newly created NTFS partition. Now you’ve got a place to keep your stuff apart from Windows.

### Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent partition

Let’s assume you’ve got several partitions on your hard disk. After installing a number of resource-consuming applications and system updates your system partition has started to suffer from the lack of free space. But an adjacent partition has a plenty of redundant space. That’s just enough to make your system partition suffer no more.

To increase size of a system partition by taking unused space from an adjacent partition, please do the following:

1. Click the Express Resize Partitions item of the Wizards menu.

| There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

2. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

3. Click on your system partition. By doing that, the wizard will automatically select an adjacent partition as well. This partition will later act as a space donor.

| If you’ve got more than two partitions on your hard disk and a partition you need to increase is surrounded by other partitions, you’ve got the choice to choose which partition will act as a space donor. Just click on the left partition of the pair, as the right one will be selected automatically.

4. Increase size of the system partition with the slider or manually by entering the required value. Please note, when you change size of one partition the size of the other will be changed as well, thus redistributing the unused space between the partitions.

5. On the next page of the wizard you need to confirm the operation by selecting the appropriate option.

6. That’s basically it. By clicking the Next button the wizard will start modifying your disk layout. If you’ve got to do with the system partition resize, like we do in our case, you will be asked to restart your computer in a special boot-up mode to accomplish the operation. So click the appropriate button to agree.

7. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out at the moment.

After completing the operation your computer will be automatically restarted back to Windows where you can see that your system partition is bigger now.

### Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space from any other

Let’s assume you’ve got several partitions on your hard disk. After installing a number of resource-consuming applications and system updates your system partition has started to suffer from the lack of free space. But one of your partitions has a plenty of redundant space. That’s just enough to make your system partition suffer no more.

To increase size of a system partition by taking unused space from any other on-disk partition, please do the following:

1. In the main window select the required hard disk (if several) on the Disk Map.

2. Choose a space donor partition and then call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

3. In the opened dialog shift the edge of the partition to the right by the drag-and-drop technique. While doing this, free space from the partition will be released (displayed in aqua-green). You can also do it manually by entering the exact size of free space. Click the Yes button to continue.

4. Now you’ve got a block of free space to add to the system partition. You cannot do it directly however, but by carrying out a number of extra move/resize operations.

5. Since the block of free space is within the extended partition, you need to take it out first. The program enables to resize the extended partition only when there’s a block of free space adjoining its borders. In our case it’s between two logical disks. So we need to move it. To do that, please select the first logical partition and then call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

6. At first shift the right edge of the partition to the right, then do the same with the left edge. Make sure the partition size has been left unchanged.

7. Now you can resize the extended partition to take the block of free space out of it. Call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

| Call a context menu for the extended partition (with the blue border), not the logical one.

8. In the opened dialog shift the edge of the extended partition to the right.

9. The block of free space has been released.

10. Now you need to move the second primary partition just the way we did it with the logical partition to make the block of free space adjoin the system partition.

11. Finally increase size of the system partition. Call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

12. In the opened dialog shift the edge of the partition to the right, thus increasing its size.

13. Apply all introduced changes. By default, our program works in the virtual mode of execution, so you have to confirm all operations to let the program accomplish them. To do that, just click the Apply button on the Virtual Operations Bar.

14. The program will require the system restart to accomplish the operation in a special boot-up mode. Click the appropriate button to agree.

### Increasing size of a system partition by taking unused space of an adjacent logical partition

Let’s assume you’ve got several partitions on your hard disk. After installing a number of resource-consuming applications and system updates your system partition has started to suffer from the lack of free space. But an adjacent logical partition has a plenty of redundant space. That’s just enough to make your system partition suffer no more.

To increase size of a system partition by taking unused space from an adjacent partition, please do the following:

1. Click the Redistribute Free Space item of the Wizards menu.

| There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

2. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

3. Select a volume you want to expand, i.e. the system one.

4. Select a volume to take the space from, i.e. the logical one.

5. On the next page of the wizard you can specify size of the resulted system volume. Drag the slider or type in the exact value to set the volume size.

6. Apply all introduced changes. By default, our program works in the virtual mode of execution, so you have to confirm all operations to let the program accomplish them. To do that, just click the Apply button on the Virtual Operations Bar.

### Separating OS from media data

Let’s assume you’ve got one partition available on the hard disk, like other people who purchase a computer with a preinstalled operating system. So besides OS, it holds all your documents, favorite music, movies and family photos. This type of configuration is certainly not optimal for effective data organization and safety. First, it negatively affects the system: huge amount of data aggravated by its inevitable excessive fragmentation causes poor performance in file search/access and read/write operations. Second, it’s inconvenient for the user: system files and folders piled up with media and documents besides obvious difficulties in transparent organization become a naughty problem in case of a system malfunction.

Split Partition Wizard can help you detach the operating system and data or different types of data by splitting one partition to two different partitions of the same type and file system – you just select a partition, then files and folders you’d like to move to the new partition, finally redistribute free space between the two partitions if necessary, and here you are!

Before you start, please take into account the cases when the split operation is impossible to perform:

· Partition's type is not supported (you have selected a non-standard primary or logical partition: OEM, MSR, etc.);

· The selected partition is located on a dynamic disk;

· You've already got 4 primary partitions on a Basic MBR disk;

· You've already got 3 primary partitions on a Hybrid (Retained) GPT+MBR disk;

· There's not enough free space on the selected partition (free up to 50 MB);

· The selected partition has an unsupported file system (currently only NTFS and FAT file systems are available for splitting).

To detach OS from media files, please do the following:

1. Click the Split Partition Wizard item of the Wizards menu.

2. The first page of the wizard informs the user on the upcoming operation. Please read all notes carefully before you proceed. Once you’re done with that, click Next to continue.

3. Select a volume you want to split up.

| If the wizard cannot work with the selected partition, you’ll get a corresponding notification – click on the “More Info…” link to see the details.

4. When selecting a system partition (just our case), the wizard notifies that this type of operation may cause inability of the operating system to start up if moving system files/folders to the new partition. So please take it seriously. If you’re sure, confirm the operation.

5. Mark checkboxes next to files/folders you’d like to move to the new partition. Please don’t touch system files/folders like “Windows”, “Users”, “Program Files”, config.sys, etc. By clicking the Next button, the wizard starts calculating the amount of data to move, which may take some time.

6. Redistribute free space between the partitions by moving the slider or manually by entering the required value for the new partition in the corresponding field. Then choose a drive letter for this partition from the pull-down list that contains vacant letters if necessary (by default, the wizard selects the first vacant one).

| By default, the wizard allocates all free space to the original partition. You should decide for yourself how much of it should be given to the original and the new partitions. Anyway we strongly recommend you to allow free space on both partitions.

7. Review the changes and complete the wizard.

8. Apply all introduced changes. By default, our program works in the virtual mode of execution, so you have to confirm all operations to let the program accomplish them. To do that, just click the Apply button on the Virtual Operations Bar.

9. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out at the moment.

### Merging a system partition with an adjacent logical partition

Let’s assume you’ve got several partitions on your hard disk. After installing a number of resource-consuming applications and system updates your system partition has started to suffer from the lack of free space. But an adjacent logical partition has a plenty of redundant space. That’s just enough to make your system partition suffer no more.

To merge a system partition with an adjacent partition, please do the following:

1. In the main window select the required logical volume on the Disk Map.

2. Call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Make Partition Primary dialog.

3. Confirm the operation by clicking the Yes button. By default, our program works in the virtual mode of execution, so you can either confirm all operations to let the program accomplish them or continue work in the virtual mode.

4. Click the Merge Partitions item of the Wizards menu (any of the ways described earlier can also be used here).

5. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

6. Click on the left partition of the pair of partitions you need to merge, as the right one will be selected automatically. During the operation all contents of the right partition will be placed in a folder on the resulted joined partition. By default, the program offers an easy-to-understand folder name, which can be customized however.

| If a system partition is the right one of the selected pair, Windows OS will become unbootable after the merge operation is over.

7. Review the changes and complete the wizard.

8. Apply all introduced changes. By default, our program works in the virtual mode of execution, so you have to confirm all operations to let the program accomplish them. To do that, just click the Apply button on the Virtual Operations Bar.

9. If you’ve got to do with the system partition resize, like we do in our case, you will be asked to restart your computer in a special boot-up mode to accomplish the operation. So click the appropriate button to agree.

10. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out at the moment.

After completing the operation your computer will be automatically restarted back to Windows where you can see that you have the merged volume now.

### Shrinking a system partition to increase size of a data partition

Let’s assume you’ve got two partitions on your hard disk, the first one takes about 40% of all the disk space and is exclusively used for Vista 64-bit, while the second servers as a data storage. One day you realize that your system partition doesn’t need so much disk space, that’s what your data partition really requires at the moment. You can easily tackle this problem with Paragon Linux/DOS recovery environment.

To increase size of a data partition by taking unused space from a system partition, please do the following:

1. Start up the computer from our Linux/DOS recovery media.

| Recovery Media Builder can help you prepare our recovery environment either on a CD/DVD disc or a thumb drive. To automatically boot from the recovery media please make sure the on-board BIOS is set up to boot from CD/USB first.

2. In the boot menu select Normal Mode to use the Linux recovery environment (more preferable) or Safe Mode to use the PTS DOS recovery environment (in case you’ve got problems with Linux). Moreover you’ve got the option to boot into the Low-Graphics Safe Mode (PTS DOS safe mode) to cope with a serious hardware incompatibility. In this case, only the minimal set of drivers will be included, like hard disk, monitor, and keyboard drivers. This mode has simple graphics and a simple menu.

| By default the Normal Mode will be automatically initiated after a 10 second idle period.

3. In the Linux launch menu select Partition Manager. You can find it in PTS DOS as well.

4. In the main window select the required hard disk (if several) on the Disk Map.

5. Choose your system partition and then call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

6. In the opened dialog set a new size for the partition by moving the slider or by entering the exact value in the appropriate field. While doing this, free space from the partition will be released (displayed in aqua-green). Click OK to continue.

7. Now you’ve got a block of free space to add to your data partition.

8. Choose the data partition and then call the context menu for it (right click of the mouse button) to launch the Move/Resize dialog.

9. Move the slider to the right to increase size of the partition. Click OK to continue.

10. Apply the pending changes.

11. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out by the program.

### Resizing partitions of Apple Boot Camp

Let’s assume you’re a Boot Camp user who’s got Windows XP as the second operating system. Initially allocated space for the Windows partition has turned out to be insufficient for your current needs. The only way out is to take some space from your Mac partition, thus redistributing the unused space between the partitions.

To increase size of the Windows partition by taking unused space from the Mac partition, please do the following:

1. Click the Express Resize Partitions item of the Wizards menu.

| There are other ways to start up this function, please consult the Interface Overview chapter to know more on the subject.

2. On the Wizard's Welcome page, click the Next button.

3. The wizard will automatically select Windows (the NTFS file system) and Mac (the Apple HFS file system) partitions of your Boot Camp configuration.

| On the disk map you can also see the GPT service partition (called EFI) as well as a 128-megabyte free block between Mac and Windows partitions made with Boot Camp. It’s just for your information.

4. Increase size of your Windows partition with the slider or manually by entering the required value. Please note, when you change size of one partition the size of the other will be changed as well, thus redistributing the unused space between the partitions.

5. On the next page of the wizard you need to confirm the operation by selecting the appropriate option.

6. That’s basically it. By clicking the Next button the wizard will start modifying your disk layout. If you’ve got to do with the system partition resize, like we do in our case, you will be asked to restart your computer in a special boot-up mode to accomplish the operation. So click the appropriate button to agree.

7. In the Progress window you can see in real-time a detailed report on all actions carried out at the moment.

After completing the operation your computer will be automatically restarted back to Windows where you can see that your system partition is bigger now.