In-Place Upgrade fails with message "not enough disk space"

f14tomcat said:

@markrosa

Your specs say you are running win 10 pro on a surface pro 3. I also am running win 10 pro on a surface pro 3. I am on build 14393.447. What is your build number? WIN KEY + R, enter WINVER.

Your MiniTool partition display is far different than mine. I'm at a loss to explain that. The position of the partitions and the size of your Recovery Partition does not make sense to me. Maybe to someone else.

Here is your Minitool & mine.....

Yours:


Mine:
Attachment 110417

I'm running UEFI, it appears you are not. This is a little out of my league, but that 360MB recovery may need to be 450MB and windows has no room to expand it.

I'm gonna ask for some input on this one, @essenbe. It just doesn't look right.

Hi @tomcat @essenbe,

thanks for your help!

Here is the history of my laptop:
1. bought the Surface 3 Pro in 2015 (spring) with Windows 8 (or 8.1, not sure any more) preinstalled. If I remember correctly there was always a "recovery partition" of multiple GB at the end of the disk (and is still there) and the small one (350 MB) at the beginning.
2. I split the original one big C: partition into 3 partitions (C:, R: and P:) for Windows&Programs, private data, business data respectively. I have been using MiniTool Partition Wizard (free) for that.
3. Since the front glass delaminated in May 2015 I had to move to a replacement Surface 3 Pro using Macrium Reflect (free) and an external disk to mirror my original disk.
4. Upgraded to Windows 10 in Summer 2015.

As far as I know I am still using UEFI (which seems to be shown by the active&boot partition labeled "SYSTEM", showing "EFI System Partition" in the partition type column).

Do you think it would help to try to repartition (i.e. increase the size of the 350MB recovery partition at the beginning to be 450MB large)?

f14tomcat said:

@markrosa, good morning, mark.

thanks for the history, it helps.

i'm going to be on and off today doing some repair work of my own. there are some other options, but first we need a few answers to some questions. based on the steps you've done in the past, you are obviously not a novice, so please excuse if i over-explain steps. not suggesting yet to take any steps, just investigating.

1. What build are you currently running? Hold Win Key and press "R", type WINVER and enter. Post the screen.

2. Have you ever successfully done an in-place repair?

3. Do you have a current, verified full system backup stored off-line? (Macrium)

4. Have you done a Disk Cleanup, including system files, on your C: drive?

5. Do you have your product key written down? Any/all activation keys for apps you have purchased?

6. Could you explain briefly a little more about your statement in the first post... to "repair" my system (there are some quirks I want to get rid off)

I'll check back later. Thanks, tc...

hi tc,

sorry, but since i am located in germany, my replies might be delayed a bit ...

here the answers to your questions:

1. What build are you currently running? Hold Win Key and press "R", type winver and enter. post the screen.



2. Have you ever successfully done an in-place repair?

No, I never did (with Windows 10, at least and I cannot remember ever doing an in-place repair with a previous Windows version on another computer). Mostly I took the hassle to do a clean installation to get rid of the acquired "grime". Just wanted to do it different this time and save some time this time (the "saving some time" part has already failed miserably ).

3. Do you have a current, verified full system backup stored off-line? (Macrium)

Yep I have a series of them on my synology NAS.

4. Have you done a Disk Cleanup, including system files, on your C: drive?

Yes, I did run the disk cleanup (chkdsk with /F) on C:, P: and R: but no errors were found. I did not try on the other (hidden) partitions, since they are not NTFS in most parts (as far as I know).

5. Do you have your product key written down? Any/all activation keys for apps you have purchased?

I have copies of the product key and hopefully all of the application keys

6. Could you explain briefly a little more about your statement in the first post... to "repair" my system (there are some quirks I want to get rid off)

I experience trouble with some applications to start (for example iTunes, Partition Wizard, ...). They sometimes start, sometimes not and most of the times when they start they take a long time and start in the background.

f14tomcat said:

@markrosa, Good morning, Mark. Thanks for all the answers, that was very detailed and a good job! Not often that the answers come back so quickly and detailed. Very much appreciated. One thing, the Disk Cleanup I was referring to (#4) is this one:



then check off everything.



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Your statement here: "Just wanted to do it different this time and save some time this time (the "saving some time" part has already failed miserably )." kinda tells the tale. When it gets to a point where you're spending way too much time on a solution that gets you nowhere, it's time to look at other options.

There is a middle of the road solution we could try. Not an in-place repair and not a total clean install. Windows 10 has a Reset function that will keep all of your personal files, pics, etc. , remove all apps and programs you have installed and all their settings, and re-install a fresh copy of Windows, based on what you already have installed. You're up to date on the Anniversary Edition, have good backups, have all your keys, etc. You're in good shape to try it. I've done it before, and it's totally automatic. It has a side benefit of giving you the chance to review what you really want/need installed for your apps/programs. And they (your apps) will be a clean install.

here's where to find it, and a link to the tutorial for it. let me know what you decide. tc

Refresh Windows Tool - How to Use in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Hi TC,

thanks for the feedback.

I did use the disk cleanup function. Already when I freed up space on C: partition initially (originally I had 85GB of the 105 GB occupied...). I do not really think it is an issue of the C: partition being "too full" but instead that Windows has another hick-up. Maybe regarding the repair and boot/system partitions at the front of the disk.

Would you have an idea on how to increase the size of the two mentioned partitions? Should MiniTool PartitionWizard be able to also modify the repair and boot/system (UEFI based) partitions?

Bye,
Mark