Issues shrinking a volume on Windows 10?

I just finished installing Windows 10 (Home), and my very first order of business was wanting to split my hard drive into two separate partitions.
The drive itself is about 244 GB, and my plan was to set the C: drive to roughly 80 GB and leave the remaining 160 GB for a D: drive.
So, I opened up Disk Management within Windows 10 and selected the shrink volume option,
but then this popped up on my screen:
Total size before shrink in MB: 244000
Size of available shrink space in MB: 121000
Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB 121000
Total size after shrink In MB: 122000

Now, from what I can gather, the field labeled "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB" is where I should be inputting the desired size for my new D: partition. However, the system simply refuses to accept anything greater than 121000.
On My PC, it shows that I've only used about 20 GB, which means there should be plenty of room—roughly 220 GB—to work with.
Does anyone happen to know why it won't let me enter a larger number when there clearly seems to be enough free space?

Try running a disk defrag, though I doubt you'll see much of an improvement.

'Size of available shrink space in MB: 121000' means you're stuck with 'only about' 121 GB of actual shrinkable space. There's some locked, unmovable file sitting right on that boundary holding everything up.

coppersailor28 said:Try running a disk defrag, though I doubt you'll see much of an improvement.

'Size of available shrink space in MB: 121000' means you're stuck with 'only about' 121 GB of actual shrinkable space. There's some locked, unmovable file sitting right on that boundary holding everything up.

I find myself pondering a rather curious question today, one that seems almost trivial on the surface but actually touches upon the very fundamentals of how our hardware interacts with software. Why on earth would anyone bother with defragmentation immediately after a fresh installation of Windows 10? I mean, think about it—you've just gone through the whole ordeal of formatting the drive, everything is wiped clean, the OS is freshly installed, and you haven't even had the chance to install a single program yet. It feels somewhat redundant, doesn't it? Almost like cleaning a house that was just built from the ground up! I would love to hear your thoughts on this particular logic.

Just create a new partition—set your size and format it.

Besides, 240 GB isn't much room to be splitting up. And having only 80 GB on your C drive is cutting it close; you'll run out of space before you know it.

I’m having a bit of trouble following your logic when you suggest, "Well, just create a new partition (set the size and format it)." How exactly am I supposed to go about creating one if the shrink volume feature isn't even working for me? If you wouldn't mind, could you please elaborate on that process? It would be a huge help.
By the way, is 80 GB really considered enough for Windows 10? My notes suggest that somewhere between 60 and 100 GB is the sweet spot for smooth, everyday operation.

Carol Harris9 said:I’m having a bit of trouble following your logic when you suggest, "Well, just create a new partition (set the size and format it)." How exactly am I supposed to go about creating one if the shrink volume feature isn't even working for me? If you wouldn't mind, could you please elaborate on that process? It would be a huge help.
By the way, is 80 GB really considered enough for Windows 10? My notes suggest that somewhere between 60 and 100 GB is the sweet spot for smooth, everyday operation.

It’s not that I can't explain it, but the reality is that (in your specific case /limited shrink capacity/) my "suggestion" is actually quite problematic. 🤣 🙈

Give me a break...

Why not just reinstall the OS if you're that determined to have two partitions?
Do some actual research first on how to partition a drive during an OS installation.

🤷

80GB is nothing. You install a few programs, run a couple of Windows updates, let the temp files pile up, and suddenly your roaming and local folders are eating everything. I run my main drive at 240GB, keep all my games on separate disks, and even then I’ve only got about 30GB left over.

My brother has been running a laptop with a 60 GB C: partition dedicated to Windows 10, and honestly, it’s been performing flawlessly for over five years now.
The reason I’m so adamant about having two separate partitions is quite simple: if the operating system ever hits a snag and requires a complete reinstall, I want to ensure my precious data on the D: partition remains perfectly safe and untouched.

Look, you aren't even losing any data on your C drive if things go south and you have to reinstall.

Carol Harris9 said:My brother has been running a laptop with a 60 GB C: partition dedicated to Windows 10, and honestly, it’s been performing flawlessly for over five years now.
The reason I’m so adamant about having two separate partitions is quite simple: if the operating system ever hits a snag and requires a complete reinstall, I want to ensure my precious data on the D: partition remains perfectly safe and untouched.

That’s actually really smart thinking—it’s a strategy I’ve personally used for ages. It’s one of those things we all learned back when we were using Windows 98, though if I’m being honest, I never really felt like the desktop versions of Windows were the best tools for managing this kind of thing. Since it’s such a critical part of your setup, you shouldn't just leave it entirely up to the OS, because we've all seen how messy things can get when they go wrong.

In my experience, the easiest and most straightforward way to set up your partitions is to use a Windows XP installation disc; it'll walk you through the whole process and ask you exactly how you want to split things up before the actual installation kicks off.

Since I don't actually use Windows 10 myself, I might not be the best person to give specific advice on that version... and from what I understand, Windows 10 doesn't always play nice if you try to make a partition larger than half the total disk space.

Well, I am going to attempt to tackle this using a specific utility I have on hand—I've got MiniTool Partition Wizard installed, and I am sincerely hoping that it might be capable of handling the task at hand.

Carol Harris9 said:My brother has been running a laptop with a 60 GB C: partition dedicated to Windows 10, and honestly, it’s been performing flawlessly for over five years now.
The reason I’m so adamant about having two separate partitions is quite simple: if the operating system ever hits a snag and requires a complete reinstall, I want to ensure my precious data on the D: partition remains perfectly safe and untouched.

Look, if you're actually stressing about stuff like that, and you're running a desktop (not a laptop), isn't it just better to slap in a second physical drive for your data? Just put your D: partition on its own separate disk and call it a day.

...maybe check how much space is being hogged by the Recycle Bin first, then try shrinking it before you attempt to create that new partition again.
(just right-click the icon and hit properties)

Look, you aren't going to lose your data—this isn't Windows XP. Even if Windows completely crashes, you just reinstall it without touching your files, and everything will be sitting right there in the Windows.old folder.

coppersailor28 said:Try running a disk defrag, though I doubt you'll see much of an improvement.

'Size of available shrink space in MB: 121000' means you're stuck with 'only about' 121 GB of actual shrinkable space. There's some locked, unmovable file sitting right on that boundary holding everything up.

I mean, there’s really no point in defragging an SSD. It’s just not necessary, I guess.

Megan Thomas5 said:80GB is nothing. You install a few programs, run a couple of Windows updates, let the temp files pile up, and suddenly your roaming and local folders are eating everything. I run my main drive at 240GB, keep all my games on separate disks, and even then I’ve only got about 30GB left over.

I guess you're right. Honestly, there's probably more chance of just causing yourself a massive headache than actually doing anything smart by splitting up such a tiny drive into two partitions.

Megan Thomas5 said:Look, you aren't going to lose your data—this isn't Windows XP. Even if Windows completely crashes, you just reinstall it without touching your files, and everything will be sitting right there in the Windows.old folder.

+1

The volume can only be shrunk by half because the MFT backup is sitting right in the middle. Running a defrag isn't going to fix this one... I'm not even sure if there's a way to move that backup, guess I'll have to look into it.

I am honestly at a complete loss here; I simply cannot get this to work, which is incredibly frustrating because I have successfully resized partitions on five or six other laptops without a single hiccup. On my current machine, I’m looking at a C: drive with 90 GB and a D: drive with 150 GB, both running the exact same version of Windows.
I attempted to resolve this using MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it just refuses to cooperate. My plan was quite straightforward: expand the C: drive to 100 GB and let the D: drive occupy whatever space remains.
I have attached an image below showing exactly what happens immediately after I click the Apply button.
open source screen capture

I already laid out what you need to check. Can you actually manage to move that MFT mirror? I honestly don't think you'll pull this off without doing it...

I find myself quite perplexed by this issue, especially considering I’m working with a brand-new hard drive that I picked up just two days ago and used to install Windows 10

Carol Harris9 said:I am honestly at a complete loss here; I simply cannot get this to work, which is incredibly frustrating because I have successfully resized partitions on five or six other laptops without a single hiccup. On my current machine, I’m looking at a C: drive with 90 GB and a D: drive with 150 GB, both running the exact same version of Windows.
I attempted to resolve this using MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it just refuses to cooperate. My plan was quite straightforward: expand the C: drive to 100 GB and let the D: drive occupy whatever space remains.
I have attached an image below showing exactly what happens immediately after I click the Apply button.
open source screen capture

Does that have anything to do with it? The screenshot shows the C: and B: partitions.

(Shouldn't it be D:?)