How to Make Unallocated Space Contiguous [Step-by-Step Guide]

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Unallocated space is the disk space that isn't used and doesn't belong to any partition. It allows programs to write data to the disk. You might have two or three unallocated spaces on your disk. Therefore, combining unallocated spaces is an effective way to manage low disk space. This article will provide two methods to show you how to make unallocated space contiguous.

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You can click the button below for more information on managing unallocated space.

In Disk Management, can I make unallocated space contiguous?

To better utilize the unallocated space, we need to combine the fragmented free space. However, Disk Management can't assist us with this task.

Disk Management is a very useful utility provided by Windows. It makes it easy to resize partitions without losing data. But when you try to make unallocated space contiguous, you will find that it cannot operate in the unallocated space. Disk Management cannot move the position of unallocated space, nor can it combine unallocated space into a continuous or non-contiguous partition on the right.

Moreover, when you try to extend C drive, you will find the unallocated space can only be extended to D drive because Extend Volume can only add unallocated space to the contiguous partition on its left. Shrink Volume can only create unallocated space on its right.

Can't Extend Volume? New Ways to Fix Can't Extend Volume in Windows

When "Extend Volume" is grayed out in Disk Management, you can't extend a volume or the C drive. Are you trying to extend a volume or partition in Windows 11/10/8/7? Don't panic!

In short, Disk Management cannot make unallocated space contiguous. Luckily, you can accomplish that with a professional third-party partition manager.

How to make unallocated space contiguous

We already know that Disk Management cannot merge unallocated space. I would recommend an excellent software – tools Partition Master, which makes up for the limitations of the Windows tool. This is a powerful, user-friendly, and easy-to-use utility. Let's see how it makes unallocated space contiguous.

Step 1: Select the partition that is next to unallocated space and choose "Resize/Move".

Step 2: Hover the mouse over the partition, then drag it left or right to move the unallocated space.

You can repeat steps 1 and 2 to move the unallocated space to where you want it.

Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to finally add the unallocated space to the target partition.

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What else can AOMEI Partition Assistant do?

Through the above steps, we have learned how to merge unallocated space using Partition Master. Partition Master is an excellent disk management assistant that supports Windows 11/10/8/7 and Windows XP. It can also help us solve more issues related to disk partitioning.

• Add unallocated space to D drive
• Convert unallocated space to free space
• Convert MBR to GPT without data loss
• Create/delete/move/merge partitions

Additional Tip: How to Use Continuous Unallocated Space

Now that we have combined the unallocated space, we need to know how to use it. Generally, unallocated space is used in one of two ways:

1. Use unallocated space to extend drive C.

Create a new partition on the unallocated space.

We already know that disk management has some limitations. However, using a partition master tool makes it easy to utilize unallocated space to extend the C drive. Let's see how to expand a partition using unallocated space.

"Extend C drive using unallocated space"

With AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can directly extend C drive by merging non-contiguous unallocated space. The "Move Partition" feature makes this task very easy. Here are the specific steps to concatenate the unallocated space with C drive:

Step 1: Free up unallocated space on Drive C.

If there is no unallocated space on the system disk, go to the Partition Manager, right-click on the partition next to C: and select "Resize/Move Partition". Drag the left panel of the partition to shrink it and leave unallocated space behind the system C: drive, then click "OK".

Step 2: Increase the space on the C drive.

1. Right-click on Drive C and select "Resize/Move."

2. Drag the system partition to the unallocated space to add space to C drive, and then click “OK”.

Step 3: Keep all changes to disk C.

Click “Apply,” and then “OK” to save all changes and extend the system C: drive.

Create a new partition on the unallocated space

This will make the unallocated space contiguous and larger. You can then create a partition on this unallocated space and use it to store your data. With the help of a partition assistant tool, you can learn how to create a partition in just a few simple steps.

Step 1. Launch Partition Master. On the main interface, right-click unallocated space on the hard drive or external storage device and select "Create".

Step 2. Adjust the size of the new partition, the file system (choose a file system as needed), label, etc., and click OK to continue.

Step 3. Click the Run 1 Task button, and then create a new partition by clicking Apply.

Watch this video tutorial to learn how to create partitions on an NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.

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Conclusions

From the above tutorials, we know that we can't merge unallocated space to C drive with Windows built-in disk management. But with Partition Assistant, we can satisfy various needs to combine unallocated space with C drive.

With three simple steps, you can make the unallocated space contiguous. Once the unallocated space is contiguous, you can use the unallocated space wisely. Partition Master is a very reliable tool to create new partitions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on How to Make Unallocated Space Continuous

This section will present three common questions and answers about unallocated space. If you are interested, just read on.

How can I make unallocated space usable?

You can create a new partition on the unallocated space, or use the unallocated space to extend an existing partition. The Partition Master tool can easily help you use and allocate the unallocated space. You can also make unallocated space available with Disk Management.

Step 1: Hold down the "Windows + R" keys to open the Run window, then type "diskmgmt.msc".

Step 2: Right-click on the unallocated space you want to use, and select "New Simple Volume."

Step 3: Follow the prompts to assign a drive letter, file system, and other settings.

Why do I have two unallocated spaces?

If your hard drive is larger than 2 TB and was initialized as MBR, Disk Management might have split your hard drive into two unallocated spaces. If you want to merge unallocated space larger than 2 TB, you'll need to convert MBR to GPT.

3. Can I delete unallocated space?

Since unallocated space doesn't belong to any partition, you can't delete it directly. You can either create a new partition on the unallocated space or move the unallocated space into an existing partition to achieve this. Both methods will effectively remove the unallocated space.