Expand the C Drive in Win7

srfpala

New member
Local time
3:48 PM
Messages
8
Running Win7 Disk Management V1.0
C:\ 39.06GB D:\ 127.50GB Free space 66.31GB
C and D are both NTFS
I'd like to give C an Additional 40 GB from the Free Space
Can this be done with multiple steps all within Disk Management ?
If so, how?
Bob
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Presario V5000
OS
Win 7 Home Premium
Browser
Google

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home made Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
CPU
Intel i7-6800K @ 4.3
Motherboard
ASUS X-99 Deluxe II
Memory
Corsair Platinum 16 gig @2400
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1070 OC
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27" LED LCD/VE278Q
Screen Resolution
1920-1080 or 1280-720 HDMI
Hard Drives
INTEL SSD 730-240 Gb Sata 3.0/
PSU
EVGA Platium 1200W
Case
Phanteks Luxe Tempered Glass 8 fans/ one radiator
Cooling
XSPC/ Water Cooled CPU
Keyboard
Das 4 Professional
Mouse
Logitech M705/MX Anywhere 2-S
Internet Speed
100 mbits
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials/ Malwarebytes Premium 3.0/ SAS
Browser
I.E. 11 default/Firefox/ ISP Time Warner Cable/Spectrum
Other Info
LG BluRay Burner/
Sound system-KLipsch-THX/
Icy Dock ssd Hot Swap bays.
No, it cannot be done with Disk Management.

To accomplish your goal, there are at least three steps that must be performed. (More sophisticated software may obfuscate what's going on, but under the hood any software must still follow these same steps.)
Step 1a: if necessary to accomplish step 1, compact D so no "in use" sectors are in the rear 40GB of D. *

Step 1: shrink the D partition, so you end up with C (39GB) + D (87GB) + unallocated space (40GB). **

Step 2: slide D toward the rear of the disk, so you end up with C (39GB) + unalloc (40GB) + D (87GB).

Step 3: expand C into the unallocated space, so you end up with C (79GB) + D (87GB).
Disk Management is a crippled partition manager and can only perform steps 1 and 3. It can shrink and expand, but cannot slide or compact.

However, there are several popular third-party partition managers that can perform all four tasks, as necessary. Your goal can be easily accomplished using one of those.


Footnotes:

* You need to clear the back 40GB of the D partition so its space can be deallocated. Compacting is different from defragging. Defragging pulls pieces of files together, but doesn't necessarily move all the files toward the front. Though they may now be one piece, files may still be strewn about the partition with interspersed free space.

Note a partition can only shrink to its furthest "in use" sector. You cannot deallocate space from the partition if there are still stray files in the space. Compacting rewrites those stray files more toward the front of the partition so the free space is contiguous toward the back.


** tech aside: FWIW, note the distinction between "free" space and "unallocated" space. Free space is storage space within a partition that is currently available for file storage. Unallocated space is disk space not allocated to any partition.
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Optiplex 7050
OS
Windows 7/8.1/10 multiboot
CPU
Intel Core i7-7700
Motherboard
Dell, Intel Q270 chipset
Memory
48GB (2x16GB Crucial DDR4-3200 + 2x8GB Hynix DDR4-2400)
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD630 + AMD Radeon R7 450 PCIe
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus VC279 (27")
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
Toshiba M.2 NVMe (256GB),
Samsung 960 Evo (500GB),
WD Red Plus 80EFBX (8TB)

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
medionl/Aspire 6930G/acer x55a
OS
W7 home premium 32bit/W7HP 64bit/w10 tp insider ring
CPU
E5300 dual core
Motherboard
medion MS7366
Memory
3gb
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia Geforce 7100 Nforce 630i
Monitor(s) Displays
avixc
Internet Speed
n (isp resticted to 72)
Antivirus
mse/pands
Browser
palemoon
Other Info
Belkin Fd7050 n USB using Railink RT2870 drivers, more upto date
Do you have a data backup of D: on an external disk?

Edit
The easiest way:
- Copy all disk D: to an external disk
- Delete partition D:. You will end with C: and an un allocated partition on the right.
- Expand C: 40G to the right.
- Format the remaining un allocated partition and assign D letter to it.
- Copy your data from the external disk.
 
Last edited:

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
    custom build
    OS
    Windows 7 HP 64
    CPU
    i5 6600K - 800MHz to 4200MHz
    Motherboard
    GA-Z170-HD3P
    Memory
    4+4G GSkill DDR4 3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    IG - Intel 530
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    (1) -1 SM951 – 128GB M.2 AHCI PCIe SSD drive for Windows 7 and Lubuntu
    (2) -1 WD SATA 3 - 1T for Data
    (3) -1 WD SATA 3 - 1T for backup
    PSU
    Thermaltake 450W TR2 gold
    Keyboard
    Old and good Chicony mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech mX performance - 9 buttons (had to disable some)
    Internet Speed
    500Mb/s
    Browser
    Firefox 64
    Other Info
    TinyWall firewall
  • Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model Number
    Asus Q550LF
    OS
    Windows 7 Pro
    CPU
    i7-4500U 800MHz to 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus Q550LF
    Memory
    (4+4)G DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    IG intel 4400 + NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Display LP156WF4-SPH1
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    BX500 120G SSD for Windows and programs +
    1T HDD for data
    Internet Speed
    500 Mb/s
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    TinyWall firewall

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home made Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
CPU
Intel i7-6800K @ 4.3
Motherboard
ASUS X-99 Deluxe II
Memory
Corsair Platinum 16 gig @2400
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1070 OC
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27" LED LCD/VE278Q
Screen Resolution
1920-1080 or 1280-720 HDMI
Hard Drives
INTEL SSD 730-240 Gb Sata 3.0/
PSU
EVGA Platium 1200W
Case
Phanteks Luxe Tempered Glass 8 fans/ one radiator
Cooling
XSPC/ Water Cooled CPU
Keyboard
Das 4 Professional
Mouse
Logitech M705/MX Anywhere 2-S
Internet Speed
100 mbits
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials/ Malwarebytes Premium 3.0/ SAS
Browser
I.E. 11 default/Firefox/ ISP Time Warner Cable/Spectrum
Other Info
LG BluRay Burner/
Sound system-KLipsch-THX/
Icy Dock ssd Hot Swap bays.
I second Mini Tool partition as well and they do have portable version, which could be run from memory stick without installation. And I would very strongly recommend to do full back up of all data, before doing anything, to avoid data loss due to program error or user error, just in case.
 

My Computer My Computer

OS
win7hp64
Expanded C Drive MiniTool Partition Free

Followed your excellent advice and all worked fine.
Now all we need to do is push back the Win 7 EOL date :D
 

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Presario V5000
OS
Win 7 Home Premium
Browser
Google

My Computer My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell
OS
Linux Mint 18.2 xfce 64-bit (VMWare host) / Windows 8.1 Pro 32-bit (VMWare guest)
CPU
Haswell
Memory
4 GB
Monitor(s) Displays
Acer 23"
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
Two hard drives, 1TB each: One for Linux, one for my data.
Keyboard
IBM Model M
Antivirus
Sophos (Linux), Trend Micro (Windows)
Browser
Firefox, Opera
Other Info
I use Samba to share my data drive with the other computers at my house and with my guest session in VMWare Workstation Player.
Back
Top