Degragmenting before partitioning a hard drive?

Question

I want to partition my computer's hard drive in half. I have degragmented it several times in order to get all data onto the first half of the hard drive. Is this necessary or will the partitioning tool automatically move the data? Also, what is the best tool to get stubborn pieces of data hanging near the back of the drive to move?

Answer 1

GParted will relocate data while forming a partition, but you can help.

• Consider reducing the number of files (with a backup and delete from the partition).
  
  • After reducing the disk utilization, defrag should work better
• If this is a Windows boot partition, you could also remote the hibernation and page files for a while

Here is some more reading at the GParted forum on How to shrink a partition without data loss.

Answer 2

No the partition tool doesnt move any data, I bieleve. Use MyDeFrag to get those files to the back end of the HD.

Answer 3

You don't need to prep your drive for re-partitioning. A good partitioning tool, like Acronis Disk Director, will take care of everything for you.