Too small of free space on Disc: C to partition? 47.06 GB or 2145 MB in Shrink Window

Hello All and thanks in advance for your help.
I have a Vista laptop I wish to dual boot with a linux Mint OS probably 18 'Sarah' Mate or XFCE. Specs for laptop at bottom of this post.
My problem is in setting up a partition I find confusing information.

First I right clicked on Computer icon in Start menu. Then I clicked on C: then Manage to open Computer management window then disk management.
DISK 0 Basic 298.09 split into 3 partitions
78 MB Healthy (EISA Config, has diagonal lines across square 78 free space
Recovery D: 10.00 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition) only 2MB free space
OS C: 288.01 GB NTFS Healthy (System. Boot, Page file,Archive,Crash Dump, Primary Part.. 47.06GB = free space

SO I then right clicked on C: section and Shrink Volume to bring up
Shrink C: window
Total size before shrink in MB 294925
Size available in MB 2145
Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB 2145 up/down arrows
Total size after shrink in MB 292780

Here is where I panicked; I converted 2145 MB to GB and I come up with 2.145 (embarrassed that I googled that but heh..) What happened to the 47.06 GB I thought I had of free space?

I think I need to have 10 GB at least for Linux mint
FINALLY my question. Should I just proceed to shrink to all the 2145 MB and stuff Linux Mint in it? I have spent some time deleting pictures music ect. Delete more before I partition?

I also realize my Recovery D disc is bright red and totally stuffed full. Under USER-PC I found a Back-up dated shortly after purchase in 2009 it has 18 files with total of about 2686059+ kb what is this??
Can i delete this safely? Should I reserve this for a whole other question?

Specs
Dell studio 1737 64-bit OS
Intel(R) Core (TM)1Dua CPU T6400 @2.GHZ
4.00 GB RAM Mobile Intel (R) 4 series Express Chipset Family
Generic PnP Monitor
47.0 GB of 288 GB
Base score 3.8

Defragment your C: drive. Shrink Volume doesn't relocate files, so if there is a file currently stored near the end of the filesystem, that's going to limit the amount of possible shrinkage.

Instead of(!!) "dual booting," I strongly recommend that you purchase an external (USB or FireWire) hard drive of suitable size, and download a copy of (free ...) VirtualBox. Use this to install Linux in a virtual machine hosted by Windows.

Hi (&welcome to LQ)!
I 'second' the recommendation of VirtualBox
I found it ultra simple/easy & *SAFE*, for Newbie-ME playing with various distro's.
Plus, it enables me to do web-searching, while stuck installing/booting Linux.
(ooops, I just found your thread about successfully dual-booting another laptop: COOL!)

Actually, you might not need an external drive to get started
(an 8GB '.vdi' might be plenty, and it only actually takes up space [away from Win] as it needs it, so even up'ing the default of 8G to like 16G, won't fill up your 'real' disk!)

Best wishes! Enjoy...

Maybe I'm overly pessimistic, but a 2 GHz dual core mobile CPU with just 4 GB of RAM strikes me as a bit weak to be running Linux in a VirtualBox VM. Anyone with experience to the contrary??

I have found gparted liveCD to be *much* better at rearranging Windows filesystems - particularly before Win7.

And I rarely run virtualised - I much prefer native installs.

Originally Posted by rknichols Maybe I'm overly pessimistic, but a 2 GHz dual core mobile CPU with just 4 GB of RAM strikes me as a bit weak to be running Linux in a VirtualBox VM. Anyone with experience to the contrary??

Your assessment is accurate, especially since the host OS is very memory inefficient (Windows) and the desired hosted OS will be running a GUI (Linux, albeit with an admittedly efficient XFCE desktop interface).

As for the original question - you are doing this the correct way, but unfortunately there are limitations with Windows's ability to shrink its own OS partition. There are various system files which it refuses to move, so typically it is impossible for it to shrink itself less than about half the original partition's size.

I do not know why the amount it says it can shrink by is so small, though. In my experience the Vista disk manager can indeed move around files when shrinking the volume. Maybe defragmenting will help, but I don't know.

Either way, 2145MB in space is not really enough space for your desired Linux install. It's enough for a frugal install, I guess, but that's probably more limited than what you really want.

So, I'd go with the previous suggestion to try defragmenting the drive, even though I'm not sure it will work.

Hello
Well I took rknichols advise and ran defraggler by Priform and it worked wonders. I now have 100GB free of 188 GB on C: Drive! The very helpful guide Easy Linux Tips project had warned against defragmentation but it certainly worked well here. I also plan to run Ccleaner.

I also deleted PC-USER backup files from D: Drive and now have 2.28 GB free. I think I had back uped files on D: by accident early when I just bought the computer. Embarrassing to admit but poking around has given me more confidence.

I do back up my work on a external Iomega hard drive.

I will try a new partition this evening and should be good to go. I'll then mark thread solved

But, "chips are cheap." Just knuckle-down and buy more RAM if you experience a need for it.

Well it turned out to be more complicated then I thought.

After defragmenting the computer I gained 100 GB space but the mouse ran really jerky and there was hesitation loading pages, weird flipping of cards in solitaire, mouse was irratic but no other harm seems to be evident. I think Defragmentation was needed and I didn't have a choice but it carries risk.
SO I decided to let it rest and not poke it anymore and over the course of the week with normal usage it improved, running smoother and faster. Now it seems normal and zippier. I do not notice any problems in function or loss of files.

The C; drive lists 288 GB free space listed but when I try to shrink the C: it only allowed 1.95 GB
So feeling adventures I shrank the D: leaving 279 mb But I end up with two unallocated spaces one at 1.95 GB and the other at 2.01 GB

So now I have four sections in this order.
1st section 78 MB with 100% free space Healthy (EISA Configuration) Its shown to have 100% free space! Can I load LM Sarah XFCE here??
Recovery D; 7.99 GB NTFS w/ 3% free Healthy (Primary Partition)
3rd section 2.01 GB unallocated
OS C: 286.06 GB NTFS Healthy (system, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) with 88.25 or 31% free space
5th section 1.95 GB unallocated

I right clicked the 1.95 GB and opened New Simple Volume Wizard and can specify a volume between 1995 and 8. Enough improvisation. I decided to ask here first. What should I do to get more space for Linux Mint Sarah 18 Xfce or LM 17.1 Xfce?
I can also delete photos but that will take a while to do.

Okay I think I figured this problem out.
This computer has a pretty checkered past. Within the first 90 day warranty the motherboard went bad and had to be replaced by Geek squad... THEN just after the warranty ran out, it started making this odd dragging, sighing noise and would not load windows. I called in a repairman who listened to it and said you have a flaw in your hard drive. I remember now he partitioned it 'around the bad sector.' He said at the time it may spread and ten it would be best to ditch the machine or the flaw may stay static and you will just have a little less space. I didn't really remember that until last night when I started thinking about that extra section marked EISA. Does that theory explain my problem??

It sounds like its worth getting your HDD checked before you go any further.
If this was a Linux system, a LiveCD version of Linux (ie that runs from the CD/DVD) could run some disk test tools likie smartctl/smartmontools or even 'badblocks', but I'm not sure if they would work for an MSWin format.
Hopefully someone else can help.

you could also get a internal hdd get the cables to hook it up via USB then just install Linux on that and boot into it. or like others have suggested, get a new 1 tb hdd, they here anyways (usa) run about 50 to 60 bucks. then just go mad crazy giving windows only just enough to work with, and giving the rest to Linux. I have a dule boot, win 10 linux, but the only reason I am even in windows right now is to just update it, then its back to Linux I will go. which is right after I post this .. hehe

Sundialsvcs: Virtual box is by Oracle. Are they really a reliable company? I am thinking of Java fiasco. I also note that they list two places to download and say one is "the MD5 algorithm must be treated as insecure!" Why still list a checksum that is insecure? It also does not have support for Linux Mint unless I can just use Ubuntu?
I successfully downloaded Linux Mint sarah xfce on a XP laptop and I'm loving it. I'd rather stick to one distro as I'm learning. No sense in turning my learning curve into a hockey stick and I have a feeling that Linux can keep offering new tempting tangents... well, forever.

Chrism01: I think the hard drive has been the same for over 5 years. Larger question is, do I bother to resurrect this Dell Laptop? It has two keys that stick and another fell off but its not one I use very much. Its the \ and | key and I drew the symbols in on the white under face. I think of this as a learning device. The xp/LM sarah xfce can get me by in a pinch and I have put feelers out with my techy friends to buy a used laptop. I have until April 2017 to sort this out so I am not very attached to this particular machine.

If I just decide to try and clean up a decade of sloppy filing and excess programs is this program Should I Remove It? at http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/index.aspx a good reference to consult? I would NOT download it as my goal is to take off programs.
Cleaning up is a longer slower option but I have a handy retired husband I can coax and bribe into cleaning out blurry pictures.

NOW LETS TALK HARD DRIVE OPTION! I already own an iomega external hard drive on which I have backed up my files. It has 105 GB free of 298 GB. Most of the music is also backed up on original CDs (actual hard silver discs) I have used this to backup my computer but have never had to restore it. Will this work? Do I put the virtual box on the iomega HD then run live boots? Its not ideal because it takes up two usb ports at a time. OR do I partition the iomega HD like I did the xp laptop?

But a 100 GB of space? yee-haw lets go Cinnamon!

Some programs are locked by their security to prevent moving parts of the program.

Anyway, 100G ought to let you run what ever.