Windows Vista - built-in disk partition resize utility
When I tried to install windows vista on my computer, the first decision I had to take was to partition the hard disk. I started looking for software on the Internet that can resize existing disk partition. I found some free software but none of them looked convincing enough to install and try on my computer. So I just decided to go on and install Windows Vista anyway. I had two partitions on my computer. The first partition was the C drive which had windows XP installed on it and the other partition was D drive which had all my data. There was no way I can install Windows Vista on C drive. So, I installed Windows Vista on D drive. After installing Windows Vista I went to the computer manager by right cliking on the "computer" icon and selecting and "Manage". There you will find the Disk Management option. From there, select the D drive and choose "Shrink". It will shrink the parition to all available space. This will take a long time to complete without any notification. So, don't think Vista has hung. Let it finish and you will find D has been shrunk and there's a new parition.
Now move all your data from D drive to the new drive, say E drive.
If is better to do a disk defragmentation on D drive after doing this.
Note: I found this half written post in my draft box after 7 months. So, this may not be a new information. Just to let you know, for my regular development, I went back to Windows XP because there's significant difference between IIS 6 and IIS 7 and I need to see how IIS 6 behaves with my applications. Moreover, Visual Studio 2005 UI does not mix well with Vista. Since I went back, somehow XP actually feels quite light and faster than Vista. Finally, Vista burns out laptop battery within 40 mins where XP can withstand up to 1.5 hours. This can be because of Sony Advance Power Management drivers not working with Vista.