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 Post subject: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 10:20 pm 
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I'm running out of space on my C:\ drive partition in Windows 8.1 so I need to give it more space. I have 50 GBs in an adjacent partition on the same hard drive that I want to move into the C:\ drive partition. In Disk Management, when I right click on the C:\ drive partition, "Extend Volume" is grayed out. Do I first need to shrink the adjacent partition before the extend command will be active in C:\? I don't want to shrink it if that won't allow me to move the 50 GBs.
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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:30 pm 
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There needs to be free space adjacent to the C:\ (or %System%) partition in order to expand it. I don't think that shrinking the adjacent partition will free up space between the two partitions. You may need to use a 3rd party program to do this.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... ows-vista/

See the Answer here for 3rd party tools that you can use: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 9691d14598

Alternatively, copy everything from the adjacent partition to an external drive, delete the partition, expand your system partition, create a new partition in the remaining free space, then copy everything from the external drive to the new, smaller partition.

I no longer partition drives these days -- there's really no good reason to, in my opinion. So, my choice would be to do the first part of the above, but then expand C:\ to use all available space on the drive after the deletion of the second partition. Then, create a folder structure for the data you copied to the external drive and copy it back.

If you reason for partitioning is to have your data isolated from Windows and Programs, you've better off with a second physical drive instead of partitions in most cases.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:31 pm 
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Alternatively, get a larger hard drive, then clone your partitions onto it, making each partition larger.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:59 am 
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Something to think about... What is the 50gig partition? Is there anything on it? Is it a recovery partition?

I agree with Patty that it would be nice to get a larger drive and clone as needed but that is not always an economic option.

IMPORTANT NOTE! DO NOT do this until you are sure of what the 50 gig partition actually holds and I would suggest doing a complete system image backup prior to the following.

1) Open Disk Management.

2) Right click on the 50 gig partition and delete. It will now show as 'Free Space'.

3) Right click again on the 50 gig partition and select to 'Delete Partition'. It will now Show as 'Unallocated'.

4) Right click on your C: partition and select to 'Extend Volume'. You will find that it is no longer 'greyed out'.

You can only extend a partition, or volume, into unallocated space that is adjacent to the right of the partition to be expanded.

@ Steve: I totally agree (and don't) on partitioning a drive these days. :mrgreen: As to myself I have no choice as I multi-boot on both my laptop and desktop with a shared data partition. In my case the third partition (being the shared data partition) only makes sense in relation to drive usage. Shoot, even my Live Mail store is on the common data drive so that it is always synced between the dual boots without having to do anything. Since I totally isolate the different OS partitions to where the other OS has no access I have to use a common data partition as, since the OS's are totally isolated, I would have no way to sync data. Even if I could my drive usage would dramatically increase as my data is currently 303 gig.

I would be very interested in your reasons for going against partitioning. I grant that it is not really needed on a single OS system but I would still run a separate partition even if only running one OS. My thought behind this is that even if my system partition got hosed by an infection, and was totally inaccessible, I could still slave the drive to my other system and retrieve my data from the data partition.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:47 am 
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Although there are good reasons for it, I have no use for multi-boot these days, too. It's too much trouble. The same goes for partitioning a drive. Your case is valid -- shared data for a multiple boot system, but a separate physical drive would do, too.
For a single boot system, a single drive/partition is much simpler.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 10:17 am 
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Not that I want to take off into a partitioning discussion but I truly think there's a good case that still exists for keeping your system partition as simple and small as possible. The less data that needs backing up the better and that means putting data elsewhere. Although a possible answer is multiple physical drives but so is partitioning.

This problem will require third party tools because MS tools just don't put the free space between adjacent partitions when shrinking the one to the right. Steve already gave links so I can only add that if you haven't done this before and although it's simple make sure that you have backups of the partition you are shrinking. Nothing should happen really but it's always best to be prepared.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 1:19 pm 
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I only ever use one partition. Having data on it isn't a big deal I just image it and have the data as well as the OS in the partition.

One good reason for a single partition is I can keep everything at the fastest part of the disk. True in some cases it doesn't matter, but in others it does


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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 1:10 am 
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I'm keeping my promise and not diverting.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:37 am 
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Manny Carvalho wrote:
This problem will require third party tools because MS tools just don't put the free space between adjacent partitions when shrinking the one to the right.


Could you explain this a bit more in depth as to what you are saying, I'm not sure that I follow?

Before I gave my instructions as to how to add the 50 gig to the C: drive I tested it on my media system to be sure. I happen to have a DVD sized partition on my media system that was perfect for the test and all went well using Drive Management through Windows. Since this 4.7gig partition actually does sit to the right of an OS partition it was what seemed the perfect test.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:43 am 
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sboots wrote:
Although there are good reasons for it, I have no use for multi-boot these days, too. It's too much trouble. The same goes for partitioning a drive. Your case is valid -- shared data for a multiple boot system, but a separate physical drive would do, too.
For a single boot system, a single drive/partition is much simpler.

Granted and I'd prefer to use separate physical drives but that can be a problem with a laptop. ;) I have Win 7 and 8.1 on the laptop. There is one piece of software that is somewhat important to me that will run in neither. I keep the Win 7 side for XP Mode so I can run that software. The only reason that I have a dual on my Media System is that I'm testing Win 10 and am not about to have it as the only OS on the system.

Shoot, with a 1TB drive in each system it isn't like I create any kind of space congestion by partitioning. :mrgreen:

To be honest, even if only running a single OS I'd still partition as I always create a partition as W: (for working) that I use as a 'scratch pad' for processing videos and such.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:25 am 
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sboots wrote:
There needs to be free space adjacent to the C:\ (or %System%) partition in order to expand it. I don't think that shrinking the adjacent partition will free up space between the two partitions. You may need to use a 3rd party program to do this.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... ows-vista/

See the Answer here for 3rd party tools that you can use: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 9691d14598

Alternatively, copy everything from the adjacent partition to an external drive, delete the partition, expand your system partition, create a new partition in the remaining free space, then copy everything from the external drive to the new, smaller partition.

I no longer partition drives these days -- there's really no good reason to, in my opinion. So, my choice would be to do the first part of the above, but then expand C:\ to use all available space on the drive after the deletion of the second partition. Then, create a folder structure for the data you copied to the external drive and copy it back.

If you reason for partitioning is to have your data isolated from Windows and Programs, you've better off with a second physical drive instead of partitions in most cases.

-steve

===========================================
Thanks for the information, Steve. I don't know how it happened or what I did, but fussing around in Disk Management resulted in a surprise when I booted up yesterday. The C:\ partition suddenly has 41.6 GB free and the adjacent partition is almost full. I deleted several unneeded items on it to give adequate free space there.

I do have two internal hard drives in this computer, with Windows 8.1 installed on one and Windows 7 on the other. Like Jay, I access data from a separate partition on the Win 7 HD. On that same Win 7 HD, I have just created a new 30 GB partition and installed the Windows 10 beta. I can see your point about not fussing with partitions, but for now, this works well for me.
Gerry

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:30 am 
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MacDuffie wrote:
Alternatively, get a larger hard drive, then clone your partitions onto it, making each partition larger.

==========================================
I'll probably install larger hard drives when Windows 10 is final, Patty. My two internal Western Digital drives are only 650 GBs each and are seven years old. I'm sure they are living on borrowed time, just like me :) .

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:36 am 
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jaylach wrote:
sboots wrote:
Although there are good reasons for it, I have no use for multi-boot these days, too. It's too much trouble. The same goes for partitioning a drive. Your case is valid -- shared data for a multiple boot system, but a separate physical drive would do, too.
For a single boot system, a single drive/partition is much simpler.

Granted and I'd prefer to use separate physical drives but that can be a problem with a laptop. ;) I have Win 7 and 8.1 on the laptop. There is one piece of software that is somewhat important to me that will run in neither. I keep the Win 7 side for XP Mode so I can run that software. The only reason that I have a dual on my Media System is that I'm testing Win 10 and am not about to have it as the only OS on the system.

Shoot, with a 1TB drive in each system it isn't like I create any kind of space congestion by partitioning. :mrgreen:

To be honest, even if only running a single OS I'd still partition as I always create a partition as W: (for working) that I use as a 'scratch pad' for processing videos and such.

==========================================
Jay, as I replied to Steve, I pretty much agree with your modus operandi. I have two internal hard drives, one with Win 7 and the other with Win 8.1 and another partition for all my data, shared by both operating systems. Thanks for the very complete instructions earlier on how to expand the C:\ partition. Whatever I did worked!
Gerry

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:41 am 
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Funny, Gerry. Aren't we all? Just that some of us borrowed more than others! LOL

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 10:11 am 
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jaylach wrote:
Manny Carvalho wrote:
This problem will require third party tools because MS tools just don't put the free space between adjacent partitions when shrinking the one to the right.


Could you explain this a bit more in depth as to what you are saying, I'm not sure that I follow?

Before I gave my instructions as to how to add the 50 gig to the C: drive I tested it on my media system to be sure. I happen to have a DVD sized partition on my media system that was perfect for the test and all went well using Drive Management through Windows. Since this 4.7gig partition actually does sit to the right of an OS partition it was what seemed the perfect test.
As I remember it if you have two partitions say A and B which are next to each other. If you want to increase A by taking some of B when you shrink B then you end up with A, B and then free space S. So you have ABS but to increase A you need ASB - that is the free space needs to be adjacent to A [as in ASB] rather than B [as in ABS]. Windows hasn't been able to accomplish this.

I don't know if Win 8 has changed this disk management because I haven't tried it but prior experience has always lead me to third party tools that make such disk operations much simpler and require none of this stuff because they handle the movement internally.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 8:25 pm 
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Ah, OK, I see your point and understand. And YES, I wish Windows Drive Management allowed you to chose (in an advanced mode) from which side to shrink.

That failure was not an issue in this case as Gerry wanted to use the entire 50gig partition. Since the 50gig partition was directly to the right of the C: drive this was not an issue as deleting the drive and then deleting the partition would result in 50gig of unallocated space directly to the right of the C: drive. A right click on the C: drive and the selection of expanding would work in this case because he wanted the full 50gig and did not want to shrink the 50 gig for the expansion.

And yes, shrinking a volume in Win 8.1 still insists in putting the freed space to the right of the volume being shrunk. :(

Since third party partition software was broached here is one site's top five free tools of this nature. My personal choice is EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-fr ... ftware.htm

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:16 am 
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I found another problem with 8 and it's partition positions. This Notebook came with the C: partition and a D: data partition which at first was fine but now I'd prefer to have just the one partition.

This is a bit more complicated now since the upgrade from the native Windows 8 the machine came with to Windows 8.1 etc. It put another partition in-between C and D labelled Recovery. This machine has more recovery partitions than I've ever seen and it only came with a 320GB drive. :-(

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 10:19 am 
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Is that an Asus?

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 10:38 am 
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JoanA wrote:
I found another problem with 8 and it's partition positions. This Notebook came with the C: partition and a D: data partition which at first was fine but now I'd prefer to have just the one partition.

This is a bit more complicated now since the upgrade from the native Windows 8 the machine came with to Windows 8.1 etc. It put another partition in-between C and D labelled Recovery. This machine has more recovery partitions than I've ever seen and it only came with a 320GB drive. :-(

That doesn't need to be complicated Joan. If you want move your data to C. If everything works then get rid of D and add its space to C. Leave the recovery partitions alone unless you have a good image backup process that can go well. If you don't need to recover from 8.1 to 8 that can go if you like. Another partition to play with but by now this is old hat to you. Make the machine the way you want it.

Windows built in disk management can handle this because eventually all these partitions will be next each other one way or another. It just may take more than one operation to get it done.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:48 pm 
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MacDuffie wrote:
Is that an Asus?

Yes it is Patty.

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:54 pm 
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Manny Carvalho wrote:
JoanA wrote:
I found another problem with 8 and it's partition positions. This Notebook came with the C: partition and a D: data partition which at first was fine but now I'd prefer to have just the one partition.

This is a bit more complicated now since the upgrade from the native Windows 8 the machine came with to Windows 8.1 etc. It put another partition in-between C and D labelled Recovery. This machine has more recovery partitions than I've ever seen and it only came with a 320GB drive. :-(

That doesn't need to be complicated Joan. If you want move your data to C. If everything works then get rid of D and add its space to C. Leave the recovery partitions alone unless you have a good image backup process that can go well. If you don't need to recover from 8.1 to 8 that can go if you like. Another partition to play with but by now this is old hat to you. Make the machine the way you want it.

Windows built in disk management can handle this because eventually all these partitions will be next each other one way or another. It just may take more than one operation to get it done.

This is the way my Disk Management looks Manny.


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Disk Management.PNG [50.15 KiB]
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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:57 pm 
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OK should have shown the full width. Here it is.


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Disk Management 2.PNG [ 46.87 KiB | Viewed 23936 times ]

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:36 pm 
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It looks to me like you are stuck with the 300 and 600MB partitions without third party partitioning software but you can merge the rest. Since you do images I'm not going to worry about recovery partitions. Actually all the partitions except for C: and D: show 100% free space but with recovery partitions that does not always mean anything.

Just in case have a current image.

1) Looks like you have less than 4GB on the D: drive so just copy D: over to C:.

2) Right click on the 350MB, Data and 20MB partitions and select to 'Delete Volume'.

3) Right click on each again and select to 'Delete Partition'. Depending on the type of partitions right clicking and deleting once may do it. Just make sure that they all end up as a block of unallocated space.

4) Right click on C: and Expand to the full amount allowed.

5) Make new images of the new configuration.

You can also recover the 900MB to the left of C: but it would take third party software.

Mostly @ Patty... You immediately asked if Joan's system was an Asus. Is it common for Asus to partition the drive as a factory setup? I don't know with mine as I bought it with no OS. I just had an empty drive but Win 7 Ultimate to throw on it; one of the reasons that I got a 15.6 Asus with an I5, 8gig RAM, 1TB drive and wireless HDMI for $480.00. :mrgreen:

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:05 am 
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My laptop is an Asus and it looks very much like Joan's machine with the exception that I have two recovery partitions between C and D caused by my two failed attempts to update to 8.1.

I normally, Joan, would have said to just leave those partitions alone because of their small size. However, your C drive is getting pretty full. With just 26% free space you really are approaching the point where C needs more breathing room.

That 20 GB recovery partition is the Asus return to factory defaults. You probably no longer need that but D is also a likely candidate from where to rob some free space. Leave the EFI partition alone though since the system wants it there.

I'd start with a 3rd party program. The EasUS free version will handle this for you: http://www.partition-tool.com/

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 Post subject: Re: Expand My C:\ Drive
 Post Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 12:07 pm 
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Thanks Manny and Jay, I'll look into this when back in 8, I know I have the Mini Tool Partition Wizard Program on there so can sort things out there.
I take it I can get rid of the partition between C and D then, I think I'd be happy to just be able to merge C and D together.
Any idea what that 600MB Recovery partition would be for Manny ?

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