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Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition?

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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AndyHancock wrote

> I was talking to tech support about cloning all 4 partitions in my
> Toshiba Satellite A660 laptop to a smaller auxiliary HDD (not creating
> an image, but a clone -- recoverable image may be in the plans in the
> future).  If the laptop HDD suffers a hardware failure, I can drop the
> clone into the laptop, be up and running (and source down a new HDD).
> Alternatively, the newer (faster) HDD can displace the current HDD.

> From asking in forums, partition 1 is for booting, partition 2 is the
> C-drive, and partitions 3 & 4 are for various recovery operations and
> content.  According to experienced posters, Acronis True Image and
> Norton Ghost will both adjust partition 2 in the cloning process so
> that all partititions fit in the target HDD, without requiring the
> partitions to be resized in the source HDD.  I find it reassuring that
> I don't have to mess with the partitions on the source HDD until I've
> confirmed the integrity & full functionality of all partitions in the target HDD.

> However, one Toshiba forum poster said that shrinking partition 2
> causes partitions 3 & 4 to start at lower locations, and he found that
> the recovery functionality was lost.  I didn't ask for further details
> but there are two functions he could be referring to: (1) the
> creationg of recovery discs using a dedicated Toshiba app and (2)
> restoring to factory state (Toshiba's are designed to do this by
> pressing 0 during power up).  I want to retain both functions (1) and
> (2) in the clone.

> As an alternative to on-the-fly resizing, Tech support suggested
> shrinking partition 2 on the source HDD before cloning, reassuring me
> that it is safe and common practice.  In fact, Windows 7 includes
> functionality for adjusting partitions.

I cant see that doing that will help if the recovery code is so crude that
it assume the physical location of the recovery partitions on the drives.

> I am new to disk management and don't have a detailed picture of how
> partition shrinkage works.  I imagine my C-drive partition to have
> content scattered throughout the partition, even though I use a
> miniscule portion of the capacity.  Even after a defrag, you can't
> assume that all the content is compressed to the bottom of the
> partition, and when you boot up, who knows at where in the partition
> the OS is utilizing disk space from.
>
> My main question is: How is it that you can shrink a C-drive partition
> without fear of amputating content in the space that becomes unused space?

Basically what is doing the shrinking moves what is in the part of the
partition that will no longer be part of the partition after the shrink,
in a process similar to how a defrag works, moving files that matter.

> P.S. In a related note (related to the context of the above question,
> that is), is there a way to test the 2 recovery functions of the
> cloned partitions 3 & 4?

Yes, you can make the clone, then install the clone in place of the
original drive, and try the recovery operations and see if they work.

If they dont, you have lost nothing, you can just put the original drive back in the laptop again.

> For (1), I can burn recovery discs again, but it seems a waste

You might be able to use RW media and reuse that.

Most likely if the clone to a different size drive stops the creation
of the recovery disks it will likely just refuse to create them so you
wont have wasted any blanks.

> (and I'd have to figure out how to compare them with my existing recovery discs).

Its very unlikely that it will appear to create viable recover disks but in practice
the contents wont be right. Normally it will just refuse to create the recovery disks.

> For (2), I'd have to perform a disc- less recovery, which I don't really want to do.

Its harmless to try that with the new clone of the original drive.

> I like having my current system state (though I suppose if it's
> just the clone HDD that reverts to factory state, no big deal).

Particularly with the newly cloned drive, you can just put the original drive back in again.

> I'm wondering if there is a simpler, faster indicator of correct functionality.

Fraid not. 

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Thread

Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-05 16:31 -0800
  Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-06 17:57 +1100
  Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-06 09:46 +0000
    Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "john james" <jj@jj.com> - 2012-01-07 08:02 +1100
    Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-06 21:55 -0800
      Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-07 14:15 +0000
        Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-07 13:12 -0800
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-07 22:50 +0000
            Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 16:27 -0800
  Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Winniethepooh@100acrewoods.net (GMAN) - 2012-01-06 16:39 +0000
    Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-07 08:14 +1100
      Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Winniethepooh@100acrewoods.net (GMAN) - 2012-01-06 21:35 +0000
        Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-07 14:46 +1100
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-06 22:07 -0800
            Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-07 14:19 +0000
              Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "john james" <jj@jj.com> - 2012-01-08 06:28 +1100
                Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-07 22:51 +0000
            Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 07:33 +1100
              Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-07 13:31 -0800
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Winniethepooh@100acrewoods.net (GMAN) - 2012-01-07 15:44 +0000
            Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 07:09 +1100
        Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Krypsis <krypsis@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-01-08 01:40 +1100
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 06:54 +1100
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-07 13:19 -0800
          Re: Does shrinking a partition lop off content at top of partition? Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-07 22:56 +0000

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