Partition or Volume - Extend

How to Extend a Partition or Volume in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to extend a hard disk partition or volume into a empty unallocated space on the same hard disk to make it larger using Disk Management or Diskpart in Windows 7.

   Warning

You must be logged on in an administrator account to do this tutorial.

If you disable the Disk Defragmenter service, then you will get the error below when you try to do anything in Disk Management. If you get this error, then make sure that the Disk Defragmenter service is set to only Manual.

OPTION ONE

Using Disk Management

1. If you have not already, you will first need to delete the partition or volume that you want to extend into to make it unallocated space.

2. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Administrative Tools icon. then close the Control Panel window.

3. Click on Computer Management in Administrative Tools, then close the Administrative Tools window.

4. In the left pane under Storage, click on Disk Management. (See screenshot below)

5. In the middle pane, right click on the partition or volume directly adjacent (left) of the unallocated space that you want to extend into, and click on Extend Volume. (See screenshot above)

6. Click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)

7. Type in how many MB (1 GB = 1024 MB) you want to use from the unallocated space to extend the selected partition (step 5) into, then click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you want to use all of the unallocated space to extend into, then type in the maximum available space shown for the unallocated space.

8. Click on the Finish button. (See screenshot below)

9. The partition or volume has now been extended into the assigned unallocted space (step 7). (See screenshot below)

10. Close the Computer Management window. (See screenshot above)

OPTION TWO

Using Diskpart in a Elevated Command Prompt

1. If you have not already, you will first need to delete the partition or volume that you want to extend into to make it unallocated space.

2. Open a elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

3. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

4. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This is to help you ID the disk that has Free space that you want to extend into, and to see the disk size to make it easier to ID it's volume number in step 5. For example, Disk 1.

5. In the elevated command prompt, type list volume and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Look for the volume number that has the same Size as from the size in step 4 minus the Free space. For example, Volume 2.

6. In the elevated command prompt, type select volume # and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You would substitute # for the volume number listed that you want to extend. For example, I want to extend the listed volume 2 since, so I would type select volume 2 and press Enter.

7. To Extend into All of the Unallocated Space
A) In the elevated command prompt, type extend and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: The unallocated space will be removed and added completely to the selected partiton or volume (step 6).

B) Go to step 9.
8. To Extend into the Unallocated Space by a Specified Size
A) In the elevated command prompt, type extend size=(# in MB) and press Enter.
NOTE: You would substitute (# in MB) for how many MB (1 GB = 1024 MB) you want to use of the unallocated space (free space shown in step 4) to be extended into. For example, if I only wanted to extend into 5 GB of the unallocated space, then I would type extend size=5120 and press Enter.
9. In the elevated command prompt, type exit and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

10. Close the elevated command prompt.

11. The selected partition or volume (step 6) has now been extended into the unallocated space to make it larger.
NOTE: If you did step 8 instead of 7, then you can use the rest of the unallocated space to create a new partition with if you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• Data Partition
• How to Delete a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Shrink a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Create a New Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Create and Attach a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Unattach and Delete a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Fix Missing Vista Hard Disk Partition Letter in Windows 7
• How to Convert a FAT or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows 7
• How to Convert a MBR Disk to a GPT Disk
• How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
• How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
• How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
• How to Clean or Clean All a Disk with the Diskpart Command
• How to Quick Format a HDD or USB Drive
• How to Mark a Partition as Active in Windows 7
• How to Mark a Partition as Inactive in Windows 7 and Vista

 

[Brink]

It not a problem Lub. I understand.

At step 8 in STEP ONE of the tutorial below, you should have the option of where you want to save the transfer files to. You might create a new folder on your desktop, and select it to transfer the files into to make it easier to locate.

In step 4 of STEP TWO in the same tutorial below, you should see what to look for in the recovery partition to delete. It will be the "Windows Easy Tranfer....." file.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11470-windows-easy-transfer-transfer-computers.html

 

[lub006]

It not a problem Lub. I understand.

At step 8 in STEP ONE of the tutorial below, you should have the option of where you want to save the transfer files to. You might create a new folder on your desktop, and select it to transfer the files into to make it easier to locate.

In step 4 of STEP TWO in the same tutorial below, you should see what to look for in the recovery partition to delete. It will be the "Windows Easy Tranfer....." file.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11470-windows-easy-transfer-transfer-computers.html

Shawn,

Thanks for your info last night.... I tried to get access to the Partition and I couldn't for the life of me.... But I did manage to get the files transfered again.... The username files transfered ok the first time, but the Shared Item's fils didn't... So I transfered hem over again and it worked.... I know dealing with the partition is risky, but, since i couldn't access the files or drive and feared i didn't transfer all the required docs..... I used partition wizard to shrink the main hdd and extend the recovery drive.... Pretty good software too....

Any way, all went through, I'm happy with the outcome and believe the recovery disk is still in as good a shape as it was when first got .... Thanks for all the help, and I doubt this is the last you'll hear from me....

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Lub. I'm happy to hear that all went well.

 

[juice370]

Hi Guys,

Like Chan i was following the article using Method 2 as i wanted to further extend a partition. I hit the same problem "The size of the extent is less than the minimum"... Brilliant!

However looking at the comments i can't see an explanation as to why Method 2 isn't working? Any ideas guys, does it or does it not work with Windows 7 64Bit?

Anyways i downloaded Partition Wizard as recommended by Dave and once again I hit a Snag. Do i need the "Merge" option?

2 More quick Q's...

1) If it is the Merge feature I need any ideas why it won't let me select the Unallocated Space on the (What to Merge) page? On the previous step (What to Expand) page i was able to select this partition without problems.

2) Also at bottom of the (What to Merge) page it says "Specify A Folder Name to Keep Content of The Selected Partition". Is this going to replace the name of the partition I'm merging with the Unallocated Space?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Ian

 

[Brink]

Hello Ian, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Before we can offer any advice, could you post a screenshot of you Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc)showing all of your drives layout and let us know what drive letter you are wanting to extend?

 

[bennygan]

Guys, appreciate if any of you can help me on this issue.

I just bought my lappy with a 640GB. I created a partition (D of ~200GB. However, i would like to allocate another ~80GB to D:.

I shrinked ~80GB from C: and it's now unallocated. But when i tried to extend D:, the option was gray.

Pls help/

 

[Brink]

Hello Bennygan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since the unallocated space is to the left of the partition that you wanted to extend into it, you will need to use a free program like Partition Wizard home edition to extend D: into the unallocated space instead. Disk Management will not be able to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bennygan]

Hello Bennygan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since the unallocated space is to the left of the partition that you wanted to extend into it, you will need to use a free program like Partition Wizard home editionto extend D: into the unallocated space instead. Disk Management will not be able to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the reply Shawn.
Will read through the forum how to use Partition Wizard.

Cheers

 

[bennygan]

Hello Bennygan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since the unallocated space is to the left of the partition that you wanted to extend into it, you will need to use a free program like Partition Wizard home editionto extend D: into the unallocated space instead. Disk Management will not be able to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the reply Shawn.
Will read through the forum how to use Partition Wizard.

Cheers

Just like to say thanks again Shawn. Used Partition Wizard and it worked like a charm.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Bennygan. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[Dawnz]

Hi Brink,
Thank you for the tutorial at the start. It answers quite a few questions.

I have had experience working with XP alone.

I just received laptop with windows home 7 premium, 320GB HD. It is an acer with only one drive, :C. Your tutorial makes it amply clear how to make another partition D. Further I have two quick questions

1. How could I go on to make multiple partitions like E, F, G, H? Can I follow the same ‘shrink volume’ technique elaborated in your tutorial? Is creating multiple partitions possible using disk management tool?

2. If the window 7 has to be reloaded again, can it be loaded onto a harddisk with multiple partitions, or does it require that there should be only one drive?

3. It is said, that the windows 7 creates a system partition and keeps it hidden from the user. If I create a rescue disk would the system partition still be required?

4. Does creating partitions ensure long-life of the hard-disk?

Please, do answer the above queries, whenever you get time.

Regards and thanks again for helping out.

Dawnz

 

[Brink]

Hello Dawnz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It depends on how Acer has your HDD setup already. Could you post a screenshot of your Disk Management with it showing your complete drive layout?

Having multiple partitions has practically no affect on the life of the HDD than if it only had one partition.

 

[Dawnz]

Hello Dawnz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It depends on how Acer has your HDD setup already. Could you post a screenshot of your Disk Management with it showing your complete drive layout?

Having multiple partitions has practically no affect on the life of the HDD than if it only had one partition.

Many thanks Brink for the quick response.

Sure here is the screenshot like you asked.




Does a multiple partitioned HDD affect the life of a processor or RAM. Please excuse my ignorance, but have heard that the smaller the room (Volume) the easier to find and sort items.

Regards, and Thanks,

Dawnz

 

[whs]

Let me help you.

1. You can create 24 additional partition (because then you run out of lettwers - and A, B are resertved). Just make sure your nect partition is NOT a primary (because you already have 3 primaries and 4 is the maximum) but an extended partition (a container). Under that you create the additional logical ones. When you use disk management, that will be the normal course of action.

2. There is no effect on loading the OS, the life of the disk (maybe a tiny advantage for multiple partitions), absolutely no effect on RAM, etc.

3. Even once you created your recovery disk, I would keep the recovery partition. You never know whether the DVDs you burnt are going to work and reinstalling from the recovery partition is a bit easier.

 

[Brink]

Thank you WHS.

 

[whs]

No problem Shawn.

 

[Dawnz]

Thank You for replying WHS, Brink.

Went through your tutorial again. ALSO saw the video tutorial by WHS. So this is what I will do. Please affirm if the steps below are correct.

1. Will Shrink Drive C: ( 283.99 GB = 283.99 * 1024 = 290805.76 ) and set up a new simple drive D. since I want only 60 GB in C drive , 290805.76 – 61440 = 229365.76 will be allocated to D.

2. From this D volume, I would further shrink to create a new volume E. The space in D is intended to be 60 GB, hence 229365.76 – 61440 =167925.76 will be allocated for E

3. Further from E, shrink and simple drive creation for F volume. The space intended for E is 60 GB. Hence the space left for F is 167925.76 – 61440 = 106485.76

4. E will be further shrinked and a new volume created called G. The space allocated for G will be 106485.76 – 61440 = 45045.76 (approx 43 GB)

This way there will be Three Primary Drive (C + system reserved + recovery), and other logical drives like D, E, F and G.

Please advice if the above logic is correct? Are the numbers right? Can I get the desired volumes D , E, F, G, following the above steps?

Thank you for your patience,

Dawnz

 

[whs]

I would not do this "waterfall" approach. Just shrink C and then use as much as you need from the freespace for each new partition. You may, however, run into a little problem - Disk management probably will not let you shrink C down to 60GBs (because of the MFT sitting in the middle of the partition). In that case, use this program. If you have further questions, post back.

Generally we advise to backup the partition you manipulate. In this case this is a bit more complex because it is the system partition. But you could at least make an image to an external drive. I would use free Paragon because that would allow to restore the system in a smaller partition (which a lot of the free imaging programs cannot do). Note: This is just an extra security measure - one never knows what can happen.

 

[mjf]

Just be aware if you need to do a factory recovery I think you will probably get back your original partition structure.
Recovery from images will avoid this.

 

[Dawnz]

Thank you!
Brink, WHS, & Mjf

Just finished doing the partitions.

first created a recovery set of 4 DVDs. Then followed the tutorial here:

1. Shrink a Volume tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html


and followed it with...

2. Create a Partition tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

Must say these tutorial by Brink are the most easy to understand and they are all that is required for the question asked. Kudos for the time and concern spent making these tutorials! I am sure there are many more like these; would want to explore more. Thank you WHS, for the video tutorial; it goes further to tell the viewers how to extend a volume too.

Regarding the partition this is what I did:

1. Shrinked C: ( it would only allow 135 GB to be used)

2. Out of this unallocated 135 GB, created a simple volume E: (D letter was not in option) with 61440 MB (60 GB)

3. Rest 76.60 GB showed up as 'free space'. Created a simple volume F: out of this 'Free space'

And like WHS answered, that creating multiple partitions doesn't affect performance or HDD life, I found it convenient to keep only two more partitions other than C.

Here is the screenshot:



Many Thanks,

Dawnz