Solved How To Change Size of Drives

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

How can I move unused disc space from the D Drive to the C Drive, which is almost full?

Brink · Dec 11, 2009

Hello Marry, and welcome back to Vista Forums.

Could you post a screenshot of Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) so that we can see your drive layout? This way we can be sure to give you the correct advice on this.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

okay, need help here. typed in diskmgmt.msc - and now am lost as to how to do the rest. sorry, but please help.

see if this works

kword88 · Dec 11, 2009

judging by the screenshot you posted, you should be able to right-click the "D:" partition and select "shrink volume", then whatever amount you choose will be added to "C:" (unless you create another partition)

Dwarf · Dec 11, 2009

Hi Mary,

Under normal circumstances, I would make another partition by shrinking D and then copying over data and files that you want to save from D. I would then delete D to make it free space and then extend C in to it. Unfortunately, that is not going to work for you because D is both a System and Active partition. You might be able to do this with a 3rd party utility such as Partition Magic (or similar), but you will not be able to do this with Vista's built in tools.

Dwarf · Dec 11, 2009

kword88 said:
judging by the screenshot you posted, you should be able to right-click the "D:" partition and select "shrink volume", then whatever amount you choose will be added to "C:" (unless you create another partition)

Sorry, but only free space immediately to the right of a partition can be added to it.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

how much space do I need to shrink? After shrinking, how do I move it to drive C?:eek:

Brink · Dec 11, 2009

Hi Mary,

The tutorial below can help show you how to shrink the C: drive by how much unallocated space you want for the other partition, then how to create the new partition from the unallocated space.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

Thanks for the info, but all that really tells me is how to partition a drive....such as Drive C into Drives C & D. I have defragmented and used the Shrink Volume on Drive D, but now do not know how to get that "Space" moved over to Drive C so it won't be full. :huh:

kword88 · Dec 11, 2009

right-click "C:" and select "extend partition"

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html

Brink · Dec 11, 2009

Sorry Marry,

The link in Kword's post will show you how to instead.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

kword88 said:
right-click "C:" and select "extend partition"

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95418-disk-management-delete-extend.html

I cannot hightlight "Extend Volume" on my computer. It is "greyed" out.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

Brink said:
Sorry Marry,

The link in Kword's post will show you how to instead.

I am trying EASEUS software since Vista wouldn't allow me to enlarge C Drive. Will let you know if it works.

SIW2 · Dec 11, 2009

Hi Mary,

If you used Windows Disk Management to shrink D, you will have Unallocated space on the right of D.

Here's what I would do:

1) Make C the "system" partition:

EITHER go to Folder options and show hidden files and folders and protected o/s files.

Then copy and paste bootmgr and the pale yellow Boot folder from D to C.

You will get a message bcd is in use and can't be copied. Skip it and copy the rest.

Open an elevated command prompt and type

bcdedit /export c:\boot\bcd

then press enter.

In Disk Management. rt click C and mark as Active.

Reboot - look in Disk Management and C should be "system".

OR download and install the free Easybcd 2.0 build 76 from here:

EasyBCD 2.0 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums

Click Diagnostics Centre, Dot Change Boot Drive, click "Rescue my system ", select C in the drop down , then click OK.

Restart and C will be the "system " partition.

2) D/l and install the free PW (Partition Wizard) from here ( get the boot disc as well - it is very useful):

Free Download Partition Wizard

On PW main window, Rt click D and select Resize/Move.

In the next window grab the CENTRE of the D partition and drag it all the way RIGHT, so the grey is now on the left. Click OK.

Then Rt click C and grab the RIGHT edge of the C partition and drag it all the way RIGHT to include all the gray area. Click Ok . Click Apply.

It will take a few minutes as it has to move all the data on D to the right.

Hope it helps.

EDIT: I see you have Easeus Partition Master. You could use that instead of PW for Step 2 above. The principle is the same.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

SIW2 said:
Hi Mary,

If you used Windows Disk Management to shrink D, you will have Unallocated space on the right of D.

Here's what I would do:

1) Make C the "system" partition:

EITHER go to Folder options and show hidden files and folders and protected o/s files.

Then copy and paste bootmgr and the pale yellow Boot folder from D to C.

You will get a message bcd is in use and can't be copied. Skip it and copy the rest.

Open an elevated command prompt and type

bcdedit /export c:\boot\bcd

then press enter.

In Disk Management. rt click C and mark as Active.

Reboot - look in Disk Management and C should be "system".

OR download and install the free Easybcd 2.0 build 76 from here:

EasyBCD 2.0 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums

Click Diagnostics Centre, Dot Change Boot Drive, click "Rescue my system ", select C in the drop down , then click OK.

Restart and C will be the "system " partition.

View attachment 17654

2) D/l and install the free PW (Partition Wizard) from here ( get the boot disc as well - it is very useful):

Free Download Partition Wizard

On PW main window, Rt click D and select Resize/Move.

In the next window grab the CENTRE of the D partition and drag it all the way RIGHT, so the grey is now on the left. Click OK.

Then Rt click C and grab the RIGHT edge of the C partition and drag it all the way RIGHT to include all the gray area. Click Ok . Click Apply.

It will take a few minutes as it has to move all the data on D to the right.

Hope it helps.

EDIT: I see you have Easeus Partition Master. You could use that instead of PW for Step 2 above. The principle is the same.

I can move the unallocated space over to be next to drive C.

By moving files to drive C (to make it the system drive) wouldn't I just be adding more data to an already full drive? And, the computer would boot from Drive D and Drive D would not contain any system files?

SIW2 · Dec 11, 2009

No, by making C the "system" partition , the pc will boot from C.

In MS speak , the "system" partition contains the boot critical files.

The "boot" partition contains the o/s you are currently booted into.

It is the opposite of what you would expect.

Mary Poppins · Dec 11, 2009

SIW2 said:
No, by making C the "system" partition , the pc will boot from C.

In MS speak , the "system" partition contains the boot critical files.

The "boot" partition contains the o/s you are currently booted into.

It is the opposite of what you would expect.

Thank you so much for your advice and help. Just finished running EASEUS Partition software and it moved the unallocated space from Drive D to Drive C and now I have 80GB on Drive C instead of 10 GB. Didn't have to format any part of the drives - just clicked to expand and it did the rest. Started all the programs I use frequently and everything is working wonderfully. HAPPY CAMPER HERE!

SIW2 · Dec 11, 2009

Hi Mary,

Glad it worked out for you.

Have fun.

Solved How To Change Size of Drives

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