Extend Volume with Disk Management Tutorial with Pictures

If you're looking for a way to extend a partition that's running out of space, you've come to the right place. This article from How-To Geek will provide a detailed guide on how to use Disc Management, Windows' built-in disk and partition management tool, to extend a volume. We'll also introduce an even better method. Read on to learn more.

How to Extend a Volume Using Disk Management

As mentioned above, Disk Management is a built-in utility provided by Microsoft to help Windows users manage and partition hard drives. With this tool, you can create volumes, initialize a hard drive, extend and shrink volumes, and more. By managing and partitioning your hard drive, you can optimize storage space and boost system performance.

Here are the steps to use Disk Management to extend a volume, with illustrations.

Case 1: There is contiguous free or unallocated space behind the target volume.

Step 1: Press "Windows + R" keys to open the Run dialog box.

Step 2. Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

Step 3. Right-click the partition you want to extend, and select “Extend Volume.”

Click “Next,” and then enter the amount of unallocated space you want to add to the target partition.

Step 5: Click “Next” and then “Finish” to complete the setup.

Scenario 2: You don't have unallocated or free space on your drive, so you'll need to shrink a volume first.

Step 1: Press the "Windows + R" keys to open the Run dialog box.

Step 2: Type diskmgmt.msc and press "Enter".

Step 3: Right-click the partition you want to shrink and select "Shrink Volume."

Step 4: Enter the amount of space you want to shrink the partition by, and click "Shrink."

Then you will see an “Unallocated” space on the disk. You can refer to Case 1 to allocate the unallocated space to other partitions.

It's worth mentioning that some users might find the “Extend Volume” option grayed out. This usually happens when there's no unallocated or free space adjacent to the volume you want to extend, or the partition is formatted as FAT or something else. You can read the article below for more details.

Please provide the English content you would like translated, and I'll do my best to translate it into Chinese.

Extend Volume Option Grayed Out? Fix Unable to Extend Volume Issue in Windows 【New】

When you find "Extend Volume" grayed out in Disk Management, you can't extend the volume. Don't worry! Here, we'll show you an effective method on how to solve this issue and easily expand the target partition volume. Read More >>

A simpler method: Extend the volume with a partition master tool

If you are confused by the limitations of disk management, I recommend you use the powerful third-party software – AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

It has a more user-friendly interface and more practical features than Disk Management. The “Resize/Move” feature even allows users to extend a partition with non-contiguous unallocated space. Now, look at the steps below to expand your volume.

Step 1: Locate the target partition.

Launch the Partition Manager, find the target partition and select “Resize/Move Partition”.

Select the target partition to extend

Step 2: Extend the Target Partition

Drag the partition panel right or left to add unallocated space to the current partition, and then click “OK” to confirm.

Extra option: Get space from another disk

If there isn't enough unallocated space, right-click on a partition with enough room and select “Extend Volume.”

In the Allocate space to column, select the partition you want to extend.

<b>Step 3: Perform the operation to extend the partition.</b>

Drag the partition you want to move into the unallocated space, then click “OK”.

Click the Run Task button, and then click Apply to save all changes.

Read more:

Why do we need an extended partition?

If you're wondering why you'd need an extended partition, here are some common reasons.

If you find this article useful, please share it with your friends who may also need guidance on extending partitions.

Conclusions

When you want to extend a partition to get more storage space, the first tool that comes to mind might be Disk Management. In this article, you can learn from a comprehensive guide how to use Disk Management to extend a volume. However, the utility has limitations in certain aspects.

Fortunately, there are powerful and professional tools like Partition Master that can help you easily and safely partition hard drive. Download the software now and enjoy these useful features!

Frequently Asked Questions About Using Dynamic Disks in Disk Management

If you have more questions about “Extend Volume,” see the following FAQ for answers.

How to Extend C Drive with Disk Management?

To extend the C drive using Disk Management, you can follow these steps:

- Press the "Windows key + R" to open the Run dialog box. - Type "diskmgmt.msc", then press "Enter" to run Disk Management. - Right-click on your C drive and select "Extend Volume". - Enter the amount of space you want to extend to the C drive, then click "Next". - Click "Finish" to complete the process.

2. Why Can't I Extend Volume in Disk Management?

The inability to extend a volume in Disk Management is due to the absence of adjacent unallocated space or free space behind the selected partition. Another reason is that Windows can't expand a partition formatted as FAT or other file systems.

How can I extend the C drive space via CMD with utf-8 encoding?

To extend the C drive using CMD, you need to first open the Command Prompt and then enter a series of commands. Follow these steps:

• Press "Windows + X" and run Command Prompt as an administrator.
• Type each of the following commands, pressing "Enter" after each one:

diskpart is a command-line tool used to manage disk partitions and volumes in the Windows operating system. It allows users to perform various disk operations such as creating, deleting, formatting partitions, checking disk status, assigning drive letters, and more.

"List volume"

Select Partition x (where x is the number of your C drive)

extend size=number (where number is the amount of MB you want to add to your C drive)