How can I reduce the physical size ("size on disk") for TrueCrypt encrypted volumes?

Question

I have an encrypted TrueCrypt volume with dynamic size (maximum 4GB).

I had about 900MB used on that volume (and so the "size on disk", or the physical volume size on my "real" hard drive was also about 900MB).

Now I have deleted some stuff from that encrypted volume, and freed about 150MB of space (and when I go to properties of the TrueCrypt drive, Windows says that its capacity is 4GB and used space is about 750MB).

BUT: when I open the properties of the physical file (where the TrueCrypt volume is stored), it says that the size on disk is still about 900MB - it has not reduced at all!

Is there some way to also reduce that physical size of the file on disk? I mean, if some space that was used in the drive is now free, why it still occupies the physical space on my hard drive?

Answer 1

Easiest way: create a new TrueCrypt volume and move files to there, and then delete the original one.

According to TrueCrypt website, reducing the size of dynamic volumes is not implemented:

Note that the physical size of the container (actual disk space that the container uses) will not decrease when files are deleted on the TrueCrypt volume.