I was planning to install ubuntu on my box to dual
boot with XP. I need to resize my drive, so i used gparted. I got this an error message about file errors causing it to fail. Ran chkdsk a few times but still haven't been able to resize. here are the latest error messages.

GParted 0.2.5

Resize /dev/hda2 from 69.51 GiB to 35.00 GiB ( ERROR )

check filesystem on /dev/hda2 for errors and (if possible) fix them ( SUCCES )

ntfsresize -P -i -f -v /dev/hda2

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
Using locale 'en_US.UTF-8'.
Device name : /dev/hda2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 74636190208 bytes (74637 MB)
Current device size: 74636190720 bytes (74637 MB)
Checking filesystem consistency ...
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 14665 MB (19.6%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
Estimating smallest shrunken size supported ...
File feature Last used at By inode
$MFT : 3286 MB 0
Multi-Record : 62095 MB 28802
$MFTMirr : 37319 MB 1
Compressed : 64060 MB 5154
Ordinary : 74637 MB 61151
You might resize at 14664663040 bytes or 14665 MB (freeing 59972 MB).
Please make a test run using both the -n and -s options before real resizing!
resize the filesystem ( ERROR )

run simulation ( SUCCES )

ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/hda2 -s 37572739072 --no-action

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
Device name : /dev/hda2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 74636190208 bytes (74637 MB)
Current device size: 74636190720 bytes (74637 MB)
New volume size : 37572735488 bytes (37573 MB)
Checking filesystem consistency ...
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 14665 MB (19.6%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
Needed relocations : 2051964 (8405 MB)
Schedule chkdsk for NTFS consistency check at Windows boot time ...
Resetting $LogFile ... (this might take a while)
Relocating needed data ...
Updating $BadClust file ...
Updating $Bitmap file ...
Updating Boot record ...
The read-only test run ended successfully.
resize the filesystem ( ERROR )

ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/hda2 -s 37572739072

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
ERROR(95): Opening '/dev/hda2' as NTFS failed: Operation not supported
The NTFS journal file is unclean. Please shutdown Windows properly before
using this software! Note, if you have run chkdsk previously then boot
Windows again which will automatically initialize the journal correctly.
check filesystem on /dev/hda2 for errors and (if possible) fix them ( SUCCES )

ntfsresize -P -i -f -v /dev/hda2

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
Using locale 'en_US.UTF-8'.
Device name : /dev/hda2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 74636190208 bytes (74637 MB)
Current device size: 74636190720 bytes (74637 MB)
Checking filesystem consistency ...
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 14665 MB (19.6%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
Estimating smallest shrunken size supported ...
File feature Last used at By inode
$MFT : 3286 MB 0
Multi-Record : 62095 MB 28802
$MFTMirr : 37319 MB 1
Compressed : 64060 MB 5154
Ordinary : 74637 MB 61151
You might resize at 14664663040 bytes or 14665 MB (freeing 59972 MB).
Please make a test run using both the -n and -s options before real resizing!
grow filesystem to fill the partition ( ERROR )

run simulation ( SUCCES )

ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/hda2 --no-action

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
Device name : /dev/hda2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 74636190208 bytes (74637 MB)
Current device size: 74636190720 bytes (74637 MB)
New volume size : 74636186112 bytes (74637 MB)
Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK.
grow filesystem to fill the partition ( ERROR )

ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/hda2

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
ERROR(95): Opening '/dev/hda2' as NTFS failed: Operation not supported
The NTFS journal file is unclean. Please shutdown Windows properly before
using this software! Note, if you have run chkdsk previously then boot
Windows again which will automatically initialize the journal correctly.
check filesystem on /dev/hda2 for errors and (if possible) fix them ( SUCCES )

ntfsresize -P -i -f -v /dev/hda2

ntfsresize v1.12.1 (libntfs 8:1:0)
Using locale 'en_US.UTF-8'.
Device name : /dev/hda2
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 74636190208 bytes (74637 MB)
Current device size: 74636190720 bytes (74637 MB)
Checking filesystem consistency ...
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 14665 MB (19.6%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
Estimating smallest shrunken size supported ...
File feature Last used at By inode
$MFT : 3286 MB 0
Multi-Record : 62095 MB 28802
$MFTMirr : 37319 MB 1
Compressed : 64060 MB 5154
Ordinary : 74637 MB 61151
You might resize at 14664663040 bytes or 14665 MB (freeing 59972 MB).
Please make a test run using both the -n and -s options before real resizing!

Bottom line: you may be out of luck as far as resizing goes, especially if you've been running WinXP on this particular partition for a few years; I had this exact same issue about 2 weeks ago and was unable to resolve it. I found some suggestions regarding disabling WinXP automated restoration points (I'm guessing here on the terminology) and also regarding disabling WinXP drive compression, but they were mostly in reference to using Partition Magic 8.0, and they didn't work for me. You might want to look those up just in case, though (I don't recall and didn't save the urls, unfortunately)

One thing to note - I WAS able to use GParted to resize a WinXP NTFS partition on a brand-new Dell laptop, so I assume the problem lies (for me, at least) in something XP does after it's been running on the same drive for a while...

Good Luck.

I too have been able to resize NTFS using GParted, but only on systems that were relatively fresh. Did you de-frag the drive first?

Over the years, I have learned that a Windows system in regular use develops gremlins over time. Many have reported that they recommend re-installing once per year. I have found this to be a good practice--at least with win2k.

Another potential issue are "special" files like hidden system
stuff by Nortons tools that are slapped at the far rear end of
a partition .... I had problems with my bosses NTFS until I
removed Norton Desktop (I think that was what he had installed).


Cheers,
Tink

I know this is an Open Source Software forum but I found the best way to defrag my hard disk properly was to use a commercial program called PerfectDisk. I've had my laptop for about four years now and PerfectDisk showed there were files scattered all over the hard disk (despite regularly defragging with Norton Speed Disk). So I suspected that using GParted would have caused problems with the files located at the end of the disk. It did a brilliant job and you can download a thirty day trial. Since I shall be dual-booting Win Xp and my chosen Linux distro (eventually) I suspect I may well be purchasing PerfectDisk just to keep the pesky messy NTFS partition in check.

SilverMermaid.

I didn't defragment, after doing a disk cleanup, XP said i didn't need to defragment. I guess i should have done it anyway.

Anyway, after running enough disk checks i somehow managed to resize the partiton, but that caused problems. Norton go back couldn't operate after that. Goback completely co-opts the boot process, so with that not working, I couldn't boot up. I used the XP setup CD to recreate the MBR, and that got around Goback. I got the windows splash page, but then a message that it couldn't find autochck. Then the system resarts.

Well the good news is i can boot to ubuntu now, so i still have a computer.

I was running into this error on a 300GB Raptor that I wanted to split in half. The existing Win XP install was using about 50GB on the disc.

Ran PerfectDisk 'Merge Freespace' with 'Aggressive FreeSpace Combining' flag on, rebooted into GParted and the proper magic happened.

There were some files on the end of the disk that windows defrag just didn't feel like moving I guess. No idea what the files actually were.

I don't use hibernate or pagefiles, so had no hiberfile.sys or pagefile.sys. I'd done a full defrag before the first failed attempt(s) at GParted.