Windows 10: Modify Existing Partitions

I am working on a new Asus X556U laptop with Windows 10 Home.

Asus have already pre-installed the partitions (in this order) which are as follows:

• 260 MB (I think this is the equivalent of System Reserved in Windows 7)
• 744.45 GB / C drive / Operating System
• 499 MB / Recovery partition
• 1117.81 GB / D drive / Data

Now what I would like to do is shrink the C drive partition to say 200-250 GB max and then add the remainder of the free space to the D drive. The problem that I can see is that this will not happen automatically as the HDD is partitioned as above in this particular order and the recovery partition is located between the C and D drives.

I am quite new to Asus and don't know too much about their laptops. The other option would be to copy the recovery folder temporarily to the C drive or externally (if possible), shrink the C drive to 250 GB and format both the recovery partition and D drive. This would therefore add the remainder of the C drive to create empty space. I could then create a new partition of 499 MB for the recovery partition and a new partition for data in the D drive.

I don't know if this would work. Has anyone done this with ASUS laptops before? I am afraid of messing up the recovery partition as I think I may need it again.

:)

 

Windows 10 upgrade consistently fails at 24% (installing from USB created with the 'creation tool')

Not the case, Ubuntu had been removed and none of its partitions nor UEFI boot entry existed. However during that install Grub did alter the BCD..

In short, at the time of Windows 10 upgrade there was no Linux anything left on the system except a modified BCD..

 

Results of Msert security scan??

System Win10 64bit....

Ran full security scan and the results indicated a partial removal of browser modifer:win32/obrysper.

The browser modifier may exist on win7 32bit partition of drive, even though it's not active.

I'd like to know if this is an issue that should be handled.

Thank you.

**Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Security & privacy**

 

You could do it from the bootable copy of Linux on the Hiren boot disc. Be aware resizing partitions and moving them around can be dangerous. The other option would be to use mklink which is a built-in tool for redirecting folders.

 

Welcome to the forum. If you use any of the free partition software you simply shrink c then move the recovery partition to the left into the now free space then expand drive d no data loss

 

I would recommend using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to do exactly what @Samuria suggested.

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

 

If this is an original OEM Windows 10, a word of warning. I changed the partitions on my Dell system and was unable to create a Recovery drive. I changed them back to the OEM configuration and the Recovery drive process completed.

You may not need a Recovery Drive but I do not know if this situation would carry over to any Reset situation but there is a message regarding partitions being reconfigured to original during a reset.

 

That should only occur if you change the order of partitions, including by deleting a partition, but should not be a problem with only changing the sizes of partitions, as long as their order is not changed.

 

I started with a 2 TB original partition and shrank that to add 2 new partitions. I think that is the same thing the OP wants to do. So I don't think I changed the order of partitions since the new ones would have been numbered after the original ones.

It is easy to test by creating a Recovery Drive before the partitions are changed and then try afterward. There is always a chance what I saw happened for some other reason.

 

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I spent so many years with Toshiba but am treading carefully with Asus now. I am also new to Windows 10.

I think the best initial strategy is to do a complete disk image in Windows 10 as well as proper recovery disks (can this be done within the os?). Apparently Asus have software called Backtracker although I still need to check if it is included within this OEM operating system and if not, if it is compatible with Windows 10. The laptop isn't mine so I need to tread even more carefully...

I already downloaded MiniTool Partition Wizard Free but will need to test it on another computer first. Thanks for this suggestion.

I think what is coming up here are potential problems with changing the order of the partitions or even deleting and trying to set up a new recovery partition. If I look at the existing setup then I would need to find the correct solution:

• 260 MB (I think this is the equivalent of System Reserved in Windows 7) - Leave
• 744.45 GB / C drive / Operating System - Reduce to 200 GB
• 499 MB / Recovery partition - Samuria's suggestion to move to left (dangerous?!) or delete and recreate (also dangerous?!)
• 1117.81 GB / D drive / Data - Combine with remainder of C drive partition after the recovery partition has been moved or erased and C drive been reduced

So from what I can see now there are possibilities but dangers... I wonder if Asus support would know but I imagine they would have a standard response of leave it or else... Why did they design the partitions like this? Who needs 745 GB for a C drive?!

 

You are honestly making way too much of this. MiniTool Partition Wizard is extremely reliable. Shrink C: drive, move recovery partition to the left, increase data partition, MiniTool will tell you it has to reboot to shrink C: drive, let it reboot and within 5 minutes everything will be done.

For system image backups we recommend Macrium Reflect Free. Built-in Windows backup images is both weak and unreliable.

The big question is, if the laptop is not yours, why are messing with the partitions? What was the purpose of the owner giving you the laptop?

 

OK thanks for the advice on MiniTool. I just wanted to make sure it was as reliable as you first made out. Also for the advice on Macrium.

The owner of the laptop simply wants to increase the D drive space for the future. For example having 1 TB of free space seems enough now but if you manage to increase it by 500 GB you get around 1.5 TB of free space for extra data in the future. This is the aim of this process. It can also be done for free without adding an external drive in the future.

 

Except MiniTool Partition Wizard, EaseUS Partition Master is a good alternative, which a reliable partition manager is. Here also a tutorial: Resize operations - EaseUS Partition Master

 

Many thanks for the advice. I spoke to Asus today and they said that any modification of the partitions risks invalidating the warranty so I will only start experimenting once the warranty has fully expired. We will cope with the 1TB D drive for now.

I will probably just stick to Macrium Reflect Free or something equivalent to make a disk image.