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Move system files away from end of external HDD


poosticks

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I want to shrink the drive and create another partition on my external USB HDD but there are some system files sitting on the end there which won't move. And I can't (and probably don't want to) delete them.

These are $UsnJrnl:$J / $Secure:$SII / $ObjId:$O files. Defraggler won't move them with a Boot Time Defrag. Does anyone know how I can move them?

Thanks.

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If they are on an external usb drive, I assume they are also kept in a more reliable internal drive?!

you could as you said, delete them, shrink the partition, and recreate them.

or copy, shrink and paste them.

or get a defrag program that allows individual files to be moved.

how did they get there in the first place?

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Hi, thanks for your replies and my apologies for not getting back to you sooner. The USB external drive is an NTFS formatted Buffalo HD-PCU2 500 GB. (Although the "Properties" tab for some reason says the capacity is only 465 GB).

001.JPG.88317dba974627167572168767fd4281.JPG

So, (in theory) I have about 65 GB of free space which I would like to format as Ext4 and use as a Linux partition. However, I cannot shrink the drive and partition it as these NTFS system files are sitting in two blocks at the end of the drive.

002.JPG.fd696ed2630da856a4ca218eff3b1bc9.JPG

I should have also explained that my Windows OS is Vista SP2 (Home Premium). I'm intending to install Linux Mint as a dual boot in another partition on the C: drive.

The easiest thing, as has been said, would be to move the existing files and re-format and partition the drive. But I don't have another 500 GB drive available. Yes, I know I really should invest in more storage, but money's a bit tight at the moment. 

Some time ago I did have the free version of PerfectDisk which probably would have moved these files. My trial expired and I don't want to pay for the full version.

I think I'm resigned to the fact that I will just have to find the cash for another HDD !
 

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Cheap/reliable HDD's, just buy a name brand you're already familiar with. As with any HDD as soon as you get it don't put anything on it right away, instead run chkdsk /r on the drive first to check for any possible errors.

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On 20/10/2018 at 03:02, Andavari said:

Cheap/reliable HDD's, just buy a name brand you're already familiar with. As with any HDD as soon as you get it don't put anything on it right away, instead run chkdsk /r on the drive first to check for any possible errors.

Thanks Andavari. Good advice.

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