Partition size doesn't match disk size

[glricht]

Having a problem with my workbench PC that has me stymied. The Win 7 C: partition says it's 85GB, but the disk itself says it's only 55GB. See the attached disk mgmt screenshot.

The workbench PC is setup for multi-boot and the HD has 4 partitions: Win 7, Vista, XP and a data disk available to all.

Originally, the HD was partitioned like this (sizes are rounded):
1 - XP (37GB)
2 - Data disk (140GB)
3 - Win 7 (55GB)
Unallocated (30GB)
4 - Vista (36GB)

I use Win 7 for day-to-day and C has been getting pretty full, so I decided to resize it and pickup the unallocated 30GB. (Used one of my tools of choice, Acronis Disk Director (ADD))

Did the resizing stand-alone using the ADD boot CD. During the resize, ADD said there was a file structure error, so I assumed the resize failed.

However, on rebooting, the partition size shows it's 85GB, but the C disk itself says it's only 55GB - and Windows treats it as 55GB.

I'm probably missing something simple, but I can't figure out how to get the sizes in sync.

Here's what I've done so far:

• Scheduled a CHKDSK /F /R from within Win 7 which ran it on restart. No problems found and no change.
• Booted to XP so I could access the Win 7 disk as other than C; did CHKDSK /F /R from there, again no problems found and no change.
• Ran ADD again (both from within XP and stand-alone) to resize the partition back to 55GB. Both times ADD said there was a file structure error, but the partition size remained at 85GB.

Not sure what else to try. I cloned the HD before I did any of this, so I can always restore, but would rather not do that yet.

 

[TimJacobs]

Have you checked it with GParted to see what it says??

 

[glricht]

Have you checked it with GParted to see what it says??

Sorry for the delay in replying ... busy day, plus I don't normally use GParted and had to d/l it first.

GParted showed both the partition size and the disk size as 55GB, but said there were 2 bad blocks on the drive.

Looks like either a format/re-install or clone the entire HD to a new drive.

 

[glricht]

To close the loop in case others have the same problem:

Further diagnostics showed that the HD had 3 bad blocks. Ordinarily that shouldn't be that much of a concern, especially since I had done a CHKDSK /R /F, but I just couldn't get past the problem.

I did a full Acronis True Image (ATI) backup of the 320GB HD and then restored it to a 500GB HD. Let ATI dynamically resize the partitions for the larger HD and when all was said and done, everything is as it should be.

Must admit that I'm not sure what caused the original problem or whether the bad blocks was a part of it. But things are back to normal.

 

[pc-quebec]

May be off topic a little bit but why not utilize VM instead of multi boot? Far more easy to switch from one OS to the others..

 

[glricht]

May be off topic a little bit but why not utilize VM instead of multi boot? Far more easy to switch from one OS to the others..

I do indeed use VMs, especially for software testing, such as OSes, apps, malware removal, etc.

However, in my experience, a VM isn't usually the best solution when working with different hardware since the hardware is most often handled by the base OS and not the VM. If I need to know the specifics of how a particular piece of hardware is installed/configured in XP versus Vista versus Win 7 (plus 32-bit versus 64-bit), using multiboot is much better than a VM.

 

[Shark]

Just for the sake of information. I have used Gparted to fix disk errors just like that. It has its own check disk utility.
Also, TestDisk can be used to fix similar problems.

 

[glricht]

Just for the sake of information. I have used Gparted to fix disk errors just like that. It has its own check disk utility.
Also, TestDisk can be used to fix similar problems.

Thanks Shark. I saw the "check disk" utility in GParted, but since I don't normally use GParted, didn't realize it was something other than the standard CHKDSK. I've still got the old HD so will give GParted another shot (and TestDisk too).

If either would have repaired this particular problem, they'll be joining my regular toolkit!

 

[pc-quebec]

..... If I need to know the specifics of how a particular piece of hardware is installed/configured in XP versus Vista versus Win 7 (plus 32-bit versus 64-bit), using multiboot is much better than a VM.

If so I suggest you re format the disk, re partition and re install your 3 OS and do a cloning of the disk on another one, and you always use the clone, so when you change the piece of hardware you re clone the HD, like that you always have a fresh install. It will by example avoid problem cause on by old Nvidia drivers on an ATI card. It's what the reviewers do for switch to one hardware to the other.