Can't extend my W7 Partition(I Looked at the tutorial)

Hello to all,
So I have 30Gigs on my W7 Partition, which was fine for a while, but I want to use W7 more extensively now so I wanted to extend my partition. I have looked at the tutorial posted in the tutorials, and its as simple as right-clicking the partition and clicking 'Extend Volume'. Well the problem is that no matter what I try, this option is always grayed out. Whenever I right-click any of my partitions, all of the options are available except for 'Extend Volume'. Am I missing a step here, or am I not doing something right?



Thanks

You will have to use a third party partion tool to do this. The Microsoft tool will only extend "to the right" (in Disk manager) and only to unallocated space.

Paul

Any suggestions on a third party app that works for vista?

Gparted works but read the FAQ's since When changing a Vista partition, you will most likely need to repair the boot.
GParted -- Welcome
Using GParted to Resize Your Windows Vista Partition :: the How-To Geek

Paragon Partition Manager

Does it work for x64 vista?

It says it does, there's a 30 day trial.

Download PARAGON Software - Partition Manager, drive backup, hard disk manager, drive copy

Im sorry but that program^^^ just caused me to erase the whole partition because it wouldn't work anymore; in the middle of the formatting it came up with an error saying 64 bit doesnt work, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FORMATTING. I couldn't boot up W7 afterwords. Wasted a ton of time with W7 but whatever, good OS though.

I've used it with success and I thought you wanted to extend your partition, not reformat it? I'm sorry, I should of told you to use Redistribute Free Space not Format Partition. Formatting wipes your partition clean.

View attachment 3371

The initial problem was that you had no unallocated space in that drive to extend your partition into, that's why it was greyed out.
You would have needed to consolidate any free space in one of the adjoining partitions and then "Shrink" that partition to get space to extend your Win7 partition into. You can't get unused space from formatted partitions for extending another partition using the Windows tools...you have to have some available (unallocated) first.

Sorry about your probs with Paragon...I am kinda cautious about Paragon too after an issue I had with it in Vista.

I use Paragon 8.5, has no trouble with it in Vista 32/64 bit and 7.

Im gonna borrow this thread. So, i have my Win 7 partition, 50 gb, then i have my games partition, 180 gb. Now i have 180 gb free on my 500 gig drive, and want to extend the games partition, since it has only 7 gigs left. Problem is, as the topic starter, the extend volume is greyed out. I have paragon 10, but it wont let me to resize the partition either.

Can somebody help me' please?

I had trouble with Paragon 8.5, it wouldn't resize a partition because of a very small unallocated space. Got Easeus Partition Manager and it worked - no problem. I thought both of these, free versions anyway, were for 32bit only.
I used "Partition Wizard" as recommended here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/software/92-free-great-programs-windows-7-a.html
Worked great on my 64bit Vista Premium.
Good luck,

Installed it, that either wont let me extend to 186GB of unallocated space on the left side of E:, the partition i want to extend.

Edit: Does this information help; The unallocated space is logical, and the E: is primary type. Can that be the problem?

gheeD said:

Installed it, that either wont let me extend to 186GB of unallocated space on the left side of E:, the partition i want to extend.

Edit: Does this information help; The unallocated space is logical, and the E: is primary type. Can that be the problem?

Click to expand...

I'm having an extremely slow internet speed day, and can't view your Disk Management attachment.
Did you install "Partition Wizard" ?
Your E drive is the one to the right of the unallocated space?
You want to expand the E drive to the left to take the unallocated space, correct?
Unallocated space is an empty space on your physical hard drive and not yet designated as logical or primary, it's unallocated.
Windows will not let you extend to the left, only to the right. But, just about any partition manager should do it with no problems. I've done it with Easeus and Partition Wizard. Moved, shrunk, expanded in every direction with and without unallocated space.

Which partition software are you using?
List the steps you are taking to accomplish this.
Are you using 32 bit or 64 bit OS, or both?

You should be able to select the E drive in the window that looks similiar the windows Disk Management and drag the left end to the left and take all of the unallocated space. Then you will have to click the "Apply" or similiar button.
Most partition managers will not support volume sets and dynamic Disks.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for your reply.

I use Windows seven 64-bit, and windows xp 32-bit. I installed the partition wizard, but it didn't do anything else than what paragon partition manager: Nothing. I cant expand to the unallocated space with any partition programs. First, theres C:, then theres unallocated space, then theres D: and then E:. Is D: causing the problem here? Win Xp is on D:, but is it possible to create somekind of copy of windows XP, and then delete D, extend to unallocated space and then create the D: partition again and copy windows xp back on it? Since i dont want to install win xp again. (have formatted and re-installed win 7 x2, win vistax1, and win xp in past month)

gheeD said:

Thanks for your reply.

I use Windows seven 64-bit, and windows xp 32-bit. I installed the partition wizard, but it didn't do anything else than what paragon partition manager: Nothing. I cant expand to the unallocated space with any partition programs. First, theres C:, then theres unallocated space, then theres D: and then E:. Is D: causing the problem here? Win Xp is on D:, but is it possible to create somekind of copy of windows XP, and then delete D, extend to unallocated space and then create the D: partition again and copy windows xp back on it? Since i dont want to install win xp again. (have formatted and re-installed win 7 x2, win vistax1, and win xp in past month)

Click to expand...

Hi,
I know how you feel, too many installations can be stressfull.

First, be sure you backup everything, or you may end up re-installing it all!
If you don't have a good backup program you can get good free programs, many people say Acronis is the best ($50), try Macrium Reflect it's free and works very well. If you have a seagate or maxtor hard drive you can download DiscWizard from Seagates website, it's a smaller version of Acronis and is very good.

I would do this in steps, it should actually do it all at once but to be safe do it one at a time.
Step 1:
Your going to have to 'Move' the D partition next to the C partition. Select 'Move/resize' in Partition Wizard, click on the left side of the D partition and drag it next to the C partition, then drag the right side of the D partition and make it the size you want. Hit 'Apply'. It will re-boot, and perform the operation before it re-starts. Check that it's where you want it when it's done.
Step 2:
Now your unallocated space will be next to the E partition. Select 'Move/resize', drag the left side of the E partition to the D partition. Hit 'Apply'.

This should work, if it doesen't reply here and list the steps that you took to try it.

If it still won't work you can try to backup the D partition and then delete it and then move your partitions, make a new one for D and restore it.
I did basically the same thing when I moved my Win7 partition from my external HD to my internal HD. Had to make a backup image of the Win7 partition, move the partitions around on my internal, then restore the Win7 partition to it. Win7 just kept on running like nothing happened.

Let me know how it goes,
Dave

Thanks, i allmost got it to work :/

First, succesfully backed up the D:, then i moved it next to C, now i could Resize E:. So, i selected move/resize, selected all the unallocated space, then hitted apply, but it said that programs on E: is currently in use, close them or reboot computer and let wizard finish resizing. I selected reboot, but when it started loading partition wizard, it loaded it succesfully, but somekind of light blue screen flashes, and then it continues loading windows. Argh. It didn't do anything, still unresized. Now, i first closed all programs that were on E: partition from task manager (i looked up every one of the programs folder), but still it said same error message.

What now?

Regards, gheeD.

gheeD said:

Thanks, i allmost got it to work :/

First, succesfully backed up the D:, then i moved it next to C, now i could Resize E:. So, i selected move/resize, selected all the unallocated space, then hitted apply, but it said that programs on E: is currently in use, close them or reboot computer and let wizard finish resizing. I selected reboot, but when it started loading partition wizard, it loaded it succesfully, but somekind of light blue screen flashes, and then it continues loading windows. Argh. It didn't do anything, still unresized. Now, i first closed all programs that were on E: partition from task manager (i looked up every one of the programs folder), but still it said same error message.

What now?

Regards, gheeD.

Click to expand...

gheeD,

My internet speed is back but, I still can't see your attachment. Only the toolbar is visable.

Try to reload the attachment or list your drives and what they are being used for.

You might try booting to the D drive XP and run Partition Wizard from there. I have never seen the error message you mentioned.
Is the E drive your Win7?

This shouldn't affect the partition program. It sets up what it's going to do then reboots and preforms the re-partitioning before any OS is loaded.

You might try an additional reboot before you expand E to the unallocated space.

If it still isn't working list all the steps you are doing in Partition Wizard.

Let me know your progress or lack of,

Dave

Edit: Better yet, give me a screen shot of Partition Wizard before you hit 'Apply'

Ill post a pic of what it says: Sry for late reply.

I havent tried running partition wizard on D: partition yet, gonna do that tomorrow.