Extend partition to new HDD

PointlessSpike · 02 May 2014

Hi all

I'm trying to extend my OS's partition onto a new hard drive that I've just installed. From what I've read it has to be adjacent in the GUI (meaning on the same drive), so does that mean I can't extend it onto a new disk? Do I have to use third-party software?

Update: Having just learned about Basic and Dynamic disks, it looks like I probably want a striped dynamic disk, but my disks are currently all basic. Would it be possible to change to a dynamic disk without having to reinstall the OS?

Thanks in advance for the help.

ignatzatsonic · 02 May 2014

DON'T get involved with dynamic disks at this time.

Do you mean extend a partition ON a new hard drive or extend a partition ONTO a new hard drive from another hard drive?

Repeat: DON'T get involved with dynamic disks at this time.

You can generally extend a partition on a hard drive, but it isn't clear from your post exactly what you want to do.

You may or may not have to use a third party application.

Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management so we can see what is going on.

FerchogtX · 02 May 2014

I guess he's refering to this: He already has a HDD that holds his OS and files, but bought a new one to get more storage capacity, now e wonders if he can extend the already made patitions from physical disk 1 into physical disk 2.

I'm not a guru or something, but that is not possible unless you convert that into dynamic discs (and I'm not sure, but maybe setting up a RAID config so both disks can be seen as one... that asuming the MoBo includes AHCI capabilities to enable RAID). This of course means formatting and reinstalling everything all over -no chance for converting, since dynamic disks use a completely different partition table for disks... GPT instead of MBR unless I'm mistaken or confused with UEFI and partitions...-.

Personaly, I woulnd't mess with that, if you have stuff that can be transfered from your disk 1 into disk 2 without having issues, just do it to free up some space, otherwise, you can face some hard times setting up complex stuff...

ignatzatsonic · 02 May 2014

FerchogtX said:

I guess he's refering to this: He already has a HDD that holds his OS and files, but bought a new one to get more storage capacity, now e wonders if he can extend the already made patitions from physical disk 1 into physical disk 2.

Personaly, I woulnd't mess with that.......

I'm guessing you are right about his meaning and I also agree that I wouldn't mess with it.

If my OS partition was too small, I'd either enlarge it on the existing drive or transfer all of it to a new larger drive---rather than splitting it across two entirely separate hard drives.

Let's see what he has to say.

whs · 02 May 2014

Ignatz is right. Anything but dynamic disk. Suggest the OP post a picture of disk management and then we can explore the options.

PointlessSpike · 03 May 2014

FerchogtX was exactly right about my intentions. It's not a big deal, I can just use it as a seperate drive. I just wondered if there was some easy way to extend my original drive onto the new one. If not I won't bother and just put my games (which are really the space hogs) onto the new drive.

Again, thanks for the help.