How to Partition bitlocker encrypted System drive C: on my OEM PC?

Megahertz said:

.....If the System Volume Information was at the end of the disk, how was it possible to shrink the partition? I suppose that auto de fragmentation is off.....

That's a good question. I think Perfect Disk did it. It is always running in the background - normal operation in SmartPlacement mode moving files to the beginning . When System Restore is enabled and the system is rebooted, the almost blank System Volume Informatiom folder that is created afresh is automatically moved to the end of the data zone (blocks). ( I have practically seen Perfect Disk moving the pagefile and System Volume Information to the lower blocks when it is set to "Consolidate Free Space" mode.)

So my advice to anyone wanting to shrink C: and make space for other partitions without resorting to third party Partitioning Tools like Easeus Partition Master, MiniTools Partition Wizard, AOMEI Partition Assistant etc., should do well to install the free full-featured demo version of Perfect Disk and then do the shrinking with WDM ( of course after switching off hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys and disabling System Restore) Defrag & Fragmentation Prevention - PerfectDisk Pro | Raxco Software



And before manipulating the C: drive either with WDM or third party tools as you may choose, do backup your system drive. It is always the standard recommendation before manipulating any disk.

Please understand, that those third party Partitioning tools do the shrink operation during the boot mode - move data during the bootmode.. While it worked for most users without any event, some did run into problems. Here Perfect Disk is operating in its normal mode and not doing anything in the boot mode. I have been using Perfect Disk in its normal mode for more than a decade or two now and haven't faced any problem. At the sametime , I hesitate to run Perfect Disk to do boottime defrag when it defrags system files. . Anything done during Windows boottng can create unpleasant events - at times. Take it or leave it - your choice .

Megahertz said:

jumanji, just remember that SSDs don't need to be de-fragmented and doing it on a regular basics decreases its life.
Maybe there is a new Perfect Disk more appropriated to SSD's

My storage device inside the Dell AIO is a 1TB Toshiba HDD. The Intel Optane 16GB is a solid state accelerator memory module coupled to that HDD at its front end. Intel(R) Optane™ Memory—Revolutionary Memory. It can be enabled or disabled. The screenshot below tells it all.



Optane Memory review: Why you may want Intel's futuristic cache in your PC | PCWorld

How Intel's Optane Memory leads to misleading specs in PC advertisements | PCWorld

In April 2019 when the HDD in my old Windows 7 PC conked off, I replaced it with a Samsung 500GB SSD and at that time I upgraded Perfect Disk to the current version. So it is the current version. I will also be eligible to any updated version till April 2020 without any further payment.. Raxco will notify me if and when the version is updated.

Now coming to the ground realities, Windows sees the Optane+HDD as a SSD and will not allow defragging and optimising the HDD. You may remember this thread where you were in with one similar post optimize drive / optane memory That is only a passing reference. Now the screenshot below . Note that optimisation is not available for any of the drives.



Disable optane and Windows will see the storage device as a HDD and will defragment. I did that on 04th Jan 2020 and after defragmenting enabled Optane. (Without Optane only 4GB RAM is operational and with just a core i3 the PC will be dreadfully slow) I did the additional partitions only yesterday ( without disabling Optane). These also cannot be defragmented

Now the salient point: Without disabling Optane, Perfect Disk sees all my drives as HDD and can perform defragmentation. Not only PD but also all Partitioning software like AOMEI PA, Easeus PM etc., and all Backup software like My Paragon Hard Disk Manager, AOMEI Backupper etc, see the HDD and one can do all partitioning and backup jobs.

As for Intel Optane, there has been contradicting opinions that one should disable it before performing any of the disk operations. After doing much reading about it, I have come to the conclusion that it is not necessary to disable Intel optane for any of the above operations. It does not remove any data from its companion storage device and keeps it in its belly to accelerate. It only copies the relevant data from the HDD or its companion storage device and stores the reference points in the 9 to 10 MB unallocated space at the end of the storage device. That unallocated space is an essential requirement for optane operation and should not be meddled with or removed. Optane covers all data in the entire disk whether it is a single volume or multiple volumes. When the data in those devices are moved to a different location (within the covered Disk), the first time optane will take some time to locate it in the storage and copy it in its belly and rewrite the reference point in the unallocated space. Subsequent operations on that data will be fast. In other words it intelligently adapts to any change and therefore there is no need or compulsion to have the reference points to be the same at all times. I took sometime and a good amount of reading to assimilate all things before I indulged in partitioning the disk.

My system is functioning as good as it was before I partitioned the disk validating all my perceptions and reasoning.

jumanji said:

No doubt about it . But it is safer than the partitioning tools by virtue of the fact it does not interfere with Windows boot process and again no doubt about it .

I would doubt it. I've done hundreds of partition resizes over the years with MiniTool Partition and it has never failed.