gcastong
asked on
Extend Drive partion on C Drive
I am trying to figure out how to extend the "C" Drive, my drive is running out of space. It is a dynamic disk, on Windows 2008 Standard R2, there is lots of unallocated disk space available. But the option is gray'ed out.
Any ideas how this can be done, the C drive is the primary boot partition for the OS.
thanks
Any ideas how this can be done, the C drive is the primary boot partition for the OS.
thanks
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Is this not available on your end ?
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/expand-and-shrink-tasks-with-windows-server-2008/398
Please review this link and let me know. A screen shot would help. Please ensure you're logged in as a admin on the machine
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/expand-and-shrink-tasks-with-windows-server-2008/398
Please review this link and let me know. A screen shot would help. Please ensure you're logged in as a admin on the machine
I would also reccomend using a tool such as partition magic which would make this easier.
The os drive is not reccomended to be resized as it may cause issues.
The os drive is not reccomended to be resized as it may cause issues.
Partition Magic is an ancient tool that has been discontinued many years ago and isn't officially available anymore. Also, it was never made for Server OS's, only for desktop OS's.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
From what I understand now, I think I will move the existing data on the D drive, to the E drive, and then delete the D partition, then extend the C partition from the unallocated space from D, then change the E drive back to the D drive, and we'll be all set.
That should work from my understanding. The reason being you have to have unallocated space to the right of the drive you need to extend. I only have unallocated space at the right of the E drive.
That should work from my understanding. The reason being you have to have unallocated space to the right of the drive you need to extend. I only have unallocated space at the right of the E drive.
correct!
Regarding the inbuilt Windows shrink option posted in URL above it's not any use in this case because it shrinks D: from the wrong end so only frees up space for another drive E:
It depends on what his current partitioning looks like. A screenshot of the Diskmanagement can sometimes help us getting a better idea.
You are working with Dynamic drive. Do not put yourself into trap by using Extend option of dynamic drive. Extended dynamic drive is a real dead end. You need to convert the drive into Basic MBR disk first and then extend the partition using native Windows Disk Management - extend partition option or using third party tool such as Paragon Partition Manager 11: www.partition-manager.com
It does convert the drive into basic without dataloss and does resize partitions plus backup them.
It does convert the drive into basic without dataloss and does resize partitions plus backup them.
it's greyed out because it is the OS partition - resizing the OS partition comes with risk but can be done