I have a new Dell Studio 15 laptop with Windows 7 Pro and a 500GB hard drive. I want create new partitions for storing my data.
Currently, the size of the C: partition is 461,899 MB, of which 36,250 MB is used. That leaves 425,649 MB free. But when I start to create a partition, Windows 7 tells me that it has a maximum of only 215,699 MB of available shrink space.
[start][control panel][administrative tools][computer management][disk management]
That must mean that Windows 7 is reserving 425,649-215,699=209,950MB free space for future expansion of C:. That is only 36,250 MB more free space than I would have allowed on C:, but I thought I was being extra generous.
Q1 - Does anyone know what rule Windows 7 uses to calculate the maximum "shrink space" it makes available for additional partitions?
Secondarily, on past computers I have used a separate partition for the pagefile, but with this much extra space on C: I think that would be a waste.
Q2 - Any thoughts on that?
Stan Hilliard