Error while creating partition to unallocated partition

abhirulz94 · 12 Feb 2013

Hi guys i couldnt shrink my C drive less than 456GB so i usesd EASEUS Partition Master to shrink C drive to 150GB but now i cannot make a new partition of the unallocated drive, i get the error "You cannot create a new volume in this unallocated space because the disk already contains the maximum number of partitions".
i have attached the screenshot for a better understanding for you guys.
Can i increase the size of E drive and merge this unallocated drive with it or make a new drive of it?
Thanks! :)

TVeblen · 12 Feb 2013

I looks like your hard drive is a MBR format (legacy) drive. On a MBR drive you can have a maximum of 4 Primary partitions. To add more partitions you must create one Extended partition and then use Logical drives within that partition.
Local Disk E: is already set up as the Extended partition (the green box around it indicates this). So you will have the option to create Logical drives in or after E:.

The problem is that Windows Disk Management tool is quite limited in what it can do. Disk Management can't even extend partitions to the left.

You need to shift that unallocated space down towards E:. You would also probably want that Extended partition at the end of the drive (although that is not absolutely necessary).

Minitool Partition Wizard, from the bootable CD, can do the job for you. Please remember that it is always a good idea to backup your data before playing with partition shifting. While PW is quite good, thing do go wrong from time to time.

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Also note: if you do add a fifth Primary partition on a MBR disk the entire disk will be converted to a Dynamic Disk. And you do not want to do that.