I already told you. At the request of subscribers, today I will tell you how to do the reverse procedure. Combine several disks into one using standard windows tools. No need to use third-party programs.
How to merge hard disk partitions
So, we go to the control panel. Open the Administration applet.
(To enlarge the image, click on it)
Computer management
Disk management 
A panel with computer disks will open in front of us. 
Select the disk you want to expand. Right-click and select the expand volume command. 
Start the Volume Expansion Wizard, click next. A window will open for selecting disks by which you can expand the volume 
You need to select the disk and indicate the size that you want to attach, or if you need to add all the space, then just click next and you're done. 
After completing the wizard, the selected disk will be increased to the desired size.
How to combine logical drives
Now let's consider the option when you need to increase the size at the expense of the existing logical disk.
ATTENTION! Before this procedure, save the data from this disk! This action is irreversible! All information will be lost!
So, we saved the data, now let's proceed directly to the merge. Everything is simple here, first we delete the section that needs to be attached. To do this, right-click on the partition to be deleted and click "Delete volume".
The disk will be removed. Now we do the same as with the unmarked area. For clarity, I recorded a video - merging logical drives in windows:
To make one of two local disks or increase the disk space of one of the volumes, you need to merge the partitions. For this purpose, one of the additional partitions into which the drive was previously partitioned is used. This procedure can be carried out both with the preservation of information, and with its deletion.
You can merge logical drives in one of two ways: using special programs for working with drive partitions or using the built-in Windows tool. The first method is more priority, since usually such utilities transfer information from disk to disk when merged, but the standard Windows program deletes everything. However, if the files are unimportant or missing, then you can do without using third-party software. The process of how to combine local drives into one on Windows 7 and newer versions of this OS will be the same.
Method 1: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard
This free disk partition manager helps you merge partitions without losing data. All information will be transferred to a separate folder on one of the drives (usually this is the system one). The convenience of the program lies in the simplicity of the actions performed and the intuitive interface in Russian.
After the merging is complete, you will find all the data from the disk that was attached to the main one in the root folder. It will be called X-drive, where X- the letter of the drive that was attached.
Method 2: MiniTool Partition Wizard
The program is also free, but it has a set of all the necessary functions. The principle of working with it is not much different from the previous program, and the main differences are the interface and language - MiniTool Partition Wizard does not have Russification. However, basic knowledge of the English language is enough to work with it. All files will be migrated in the process of merging.
Look for the transferred files in the root folder of the disk that was merged with.
Method 3: Acronis Disk Director
Is another program that can combine partitions, even if they have different file systems. By the way, the above-mentioned free analogs cannot boast of this opportunity. In this case, user data will also be transferred to the main volume, but provided that there are no encrypted files among them - in this case, merging will be impossible.
Acronis Disk Director is a paid, but convenient and multifunctional program, so if you have it in your arsenal, you can connect volumes through it.
After rebooting, look for files in the root folder of the disk that you designated as the main one
Method 4: built-in Windows utility
Windows has a built-in tool called "Disk Management"... He knows how to perform basic operations with hard drives, in particular, in this way you can merge volumes.
The main disadvantage of this method is that all information will be deleted. Therefore, it makes sense to use it only when the data on the disk that you are going to attach to the main one is missing or not needed. In rare cases, carry out this operation through "Disk Management" fails, and then you have to use other programs, but such a nuisance is rather an exception to the rule.
- Press the key combination Win + R, type diskmgmt.msc and open this utility by clicking "OK".
- Find the section that you want to join to another. Right-click on it and select "Delete volume".
- In the confirmation window, click "Yes".
- The volume of the deleted partition will turn into an unallocated area. Now it can be added to another disk.
Find the disk you want to enlarge, right-click on it and select "Expand Volume".
- Will open ... Click on "Further".
- In the next step, you can choose how much free GB you want to add to the disk. If you need to add all the free space, just press "Further".
To add to a fixed size disk in the field "Select the size of the allocated space" indicate how much you want to add. The number is indicated in megabytes, taking into account that 1 GB = 1024 MB.
- In the parameter confirmation window, click "Ready".
Result:
Merging partitions in Windows is a very simple procedure that allows you to effectively manage disk space. Despite the fact that the use of programs promises to combine disks into one without losing files, do not forget to back up important data - this precaution is never unnecessary.
Let's take a closer look at how to merge hard disk partitions.
Content:If your PC has too many unused partitions and you want to remove them, use the following instructions from the article.
Preparing to delete a disk volume
Before you merge multiple volumes, you need to follow the steps to save your files.
Any editing of a partition in Windows will permanently delete files and folders in this volume.
In most of them, you can use up to 20 GB of space for free (, DropBox, and others).
Merging partitions in Windows 7
In Windows 7, users can merge disk partitions without downloading additional programs to their computer. All the required settings can be changed as follows:
- Go to the Start menu and open the Run window. This key may not be present in the Home Edition. In this case, just press Win + R to bring up the desired window or edit the appearance of the Start menu in the settings of the home screen;
- In the window that appears, type diskmgmt.msc - the command to open the computer's disk management window. Confirm the action by clicking on "OK".
Fig. 2 - command input
- The following window will open. In the lower part of the window, all hard disks connected to the system and their conditional division are displayed. Each division section is a separate volume. It is denoted by a letter, has its own file system type and space;
Rice. 3 - displaying sections in settings
- You need to select the partition you want to delete (merge with the main volume of the C drive). Then click on it with the right mouse button and click on the item "Delete volume". Next, a window will appear with a system message stating that all data on the volume will be deleted and you cannot restore them. Confirm uninstallation. Basically, you are not deleting anything, but simply erasing the section. All space goes to drive C;
Rice. 4 - deleting a volume
After deleting one volume, you can do the same with the others, thus creating free partitions. An "Empty Volume" appears in place of the previous object.
Don't forget to attach it to the section you want. Click on the section into which all objects will be combined and in the context menu click on "Expand volume".
In the window that opens, select an available empty section and add it to the main one. Repeat the action until there is no unreserved part of the hard disk left on the computer.
Rice. 5 - expanding a volume in Windows 7
After completing the procedure, it is imperative to restart Windows, otherwise further work may lead to errors and data deletion.
Instructions for Windows 10
The instructions described in this section of the article are suitable for both and for all versions of Windows 8. You can combine sections using the built-in OS tools.
As in the previous description of the settings, we need a utility "Disk Management"... Follow the instructions:
- Go to the search box and enter the word "Management". The required option will appear in the results. Also, you can press the Win and X key combination to bring up the shortcut menu. It has a link to access "Disk Management";
Fig. 6 - Windows 10 hard disk settings window
- Decide which sections you no longer use. For better orientation, they are marked with letters that correspond to the names of the disks in the window "This computer";
- If you want to keep only one volume, choose which one you will attach the rest of the elements to;
- Then right-click on the object you want to delete. And uninstall it;
Fig. 7 - deleting a partition in Windows 10
- Confirm the action by agreeing to the loss of data;
- Remove the partition space;
Fig. 8 - Freeing up space
- Now you will see that the section has become empty, but its division remains. Since it is no longer used in the system, its name and other attributes are removed. The object can be merged with the main disk;
- As a result of the correct execution of all actions, you will see that an inscription appeared in place of the disk section: "Not allocated"... Now you can start merging the sections.
Click on the main section - in most cases it is drive C. In the menu, select the expand volume item.
Rice. 9 - attaching an element
The settings wizard window will open. With it, you can easily divide free space or combine it into one system storage medium.
Figure 10 - Merging Sections
Instructions
First, decide what information from the logical volumes you need to save. Make copies of them on other removable media. Then you can proceed to. One way is to reinstall the operating system. At the same time, it will prompt you to completely format your hard drive and re-partition it. Follow the prompts that appear on the screen. You can independently choose the size of the new partitions you need.
You can also use the free Partition Manager program. Download it from the Internet and install it on your computer. After that, reboot the system so that the utility is correctly installed on the computer. Run the program.
In the window that appears, select "Mode for advanced users", then in a new tab find "Wizards", then on the toolbar, click "Additional functions". In the drop-down list, click on the item "Merge sections".
In the window that appears, click "Next" and select the volume of the disk to which you want to attach the volume of another. The name of the newly created disc will be the same as you just specified. If the merge involves the volume on which the software resides, be sure to specify it as master. Now select another drive that will no longer exist. As a result of these actions, double-check the selected parameters and click "Next" to confirm. To record this information in the system, click the "Finish" button.
In the main menu of the program, select the "Changes" tab, then - "Apply Changes". Partition Manager will start to merge the logical drives. When prompted, click the Restart Now button. The system will boot up again and the selected operation will continue. When the program finishes, restart the system again. This will be the completion of the merger. You can make sure that the application is working correctly using the explorer. The destination drive will already be displayed in the My Computer menu.
Sources:
- How to merge two logical drives
The capacity of hard drives commercially available in today's industry is constantly growing. The amount of data stored by users on their personal computers is growing. The views on the parameters of the capacity of information storage devices that are acceptable for comfortable work are changing accordingly. So, when adding a new drive to a computer, a decision is often made to connect logical disks on an old hard drive to get one, but more capacious storage location.
You will need
- - administrator rights in Windows.
Instructions
Copy valuable data from the logical drives to be merged. Create temporary folders on the disk that will not be merged. Take advantage of the capabilities of the file manager or explorer. Copy or transfer the data you want to keep from the drives to be merged to temporary folders.
Open the management section. If necessary, expand the "Manage (local)" branch of the list located on the right side of the window. Expand the "Storage" branch. Highlight Disk Management. The disk manager interface will be displayed.
Remove the booleans to be merged. In the list of disk drives, find the one that contains the logical disks to be connected. Right-click on the area corresponding to one of the disks. In the context menu, select "Delete disk ...". A warning window will appear. Click the "Yes" button. Perform the same operation with all the disks to be combined.
Start the process of creating a new boolean in the freed space. Right-click on the area labeled "Free". In the context menu, select "Create Logical Disk ...". The partition wizard will be displayed.
To work with partitions of a hard disk (dividing into partitions or combining them into one) in the Windows 10 operating system, there is a built-in utility " Disk management". Its use, in my opinion, is preferable to installing any third-party tools. How to divide the hard disk by their own means "dozens" or, conversely, combine its sections, can be found in separate articles on this site: divide and unite... But sometimes situations arise when it is quite difficult to do without third-party tools.
This article was written in response to questions from readers of the site who have problems dividing a hard drive or merging its volumes. Despite all its advantages, the "Disk Management" utility built into Windows 10 has its drawbacks: sometimes it does not allow creating a partition of the required size, from time to time it does not allow partitioning the hard disk at all, sometimes it is impossible to combine the necessary volumes into one. In these problem situations (and only in them!) I recommend using a third-party, albeit free program for managing hard disk partitions in the top ten. It is worth remembering that using any third-party tool to manage the operating system can be potentially dangerous. I am not inclined to dramatize the situation, but I think that I must warn about it, even if the probability of possible problems is one in ten thousand. Therefore, whenever possible, it is best to use the Windows 10 built-in Disk Management utility developed by Microsoft.
When I was preparing this article, I spent several hours of time to find a truly completely free, reliable and reputable a program for dividing a hard disk into partitions(or their combination). There are a lot of outright lies and dubious programs of unknown origin in this area. A separate item in my search was the question that the found software was not only free, but also had a Russian-language interface and also turned out to be completely compatible with Windows 10... The last question is far from idle - the fact is that on the Internet you can find information about how some disk partitioning programs created for Windows 7 or 8 ruined hard drives for Windows 10 users.
So, as a result of a long and careful search, I nevertheless found and tried the program myself AOMEI Partition Assistant... In general, its full version Professional Edition costs from $ 59 and much more. But don't let that scare you, because the functionality of its free Standard Edition branch is quite enough to:
- Divide hard disk into partitions
- Combine hard drive volumes into one partition
In general, the presence of a paid version speaks only in favor of this software. After all, this testifies to the seriousness of the intentions of its authors. Those who create programs for money, for sure, make worthy solutions for free, albeit with somewhat limited functionality (moreover, it will be enough for us). Another proof of the authority of AOMEI Partition Assistant, in my opinion, is the presence of an article about it in Wikipedia. By the way, if you doubt the reliability and safety of a particular program, always check through a search engine to see if Wikipedia writes about it. This, of course, is not a 100% guarantee, but still, since this electronic encyclopedia strives for maximum objectivity, in the articles on software you can find information about possible "pitfalls" of a particular program. It is there, in Wikipedia, that it is better to take a link to the official website of the program. The fact is that in search engines, the first places are often taken by not the official sites of certain programs.
On the official site AOMEI Tech I immediately found Partition Assistant section... We go down on this page a little down, to the second screen. There, to download the free version of the program we need for managing the hard disk, we find the item Partition Assistant Standart Edition and (of course) click "Download". Do not be alarmed that the site is in English, the program itself has an official Russian-language localization. Please note that there are several options for downloading this program for different needs on the page - for free home use, choose the version Standart Edition.
The installation process of the program is not at all complicated. First, it is proposed to select a language, then traditionally accept an agreement on use, if necessary, select a folder where the program will be stored - that's, in general, that's all. After installation, the program will automatically start, if at the last stage you leave a check mark on the "Run this program" item.
I will not consider all the options for using AOMEI Partition Assistant to manage a hard disk. I will analyze in detail only the question of how this free program to split hard drive into several partitions in Windows 10... Everything else (including merging volumes) is done by analogy.
Partitioning a hard drive with the free AOMEI Partition Assistant in Windows 10
When the program starts at the bottom of it, all physical hard drives installed on your computer or laptop, as well as partitions existing on them, will be displayed. In order to divide a disk into several volumes, you first need to "pinch off" a piece of space from an existing partition. To do this, stand on the donor volume and, by right-clicking on it, select the item " Resize Partition».
A new window will appear in which you need to specify what size you want to leave the existing volume. The rest of the space will be freed up for the new partition. I left the C drive with 150 GB. Click OK.
Now we see that we have free space labeled " Unoccupied". We need to create a new section (volume) on it. To do this, click again with the right mouse button on it and select the item " Creating a section».
The pop-up window appears again. In it, we leave everything by default and click OK.
After that, a new section will already appear on the program screen. It would seem that one can rejoice. But it was not there. Turns out, changes on the hard disk itself have not yet been made! To complete the operation, you must press the button at the top " Apply».
Typically, a computer restart is required to complete the operation. This is what a new window in the AOMEI Partition Assistant informs us about. Click it "Go". It is better to leave the checkbox opposite the item "Check partitions before execution". It will allow the program to check sections for errors before dividing.
After that, a new window will appear again with a warning about restarting the computer. We agree and click "Yes".
After the reboot, the actual physical division of the hard disk into two sections begins. It occurs before the Windows 10 operating system boots in PreOS mode.
Personally, this process took me a couple of minutes. Most likely, the fact is that on the shared hard disk I had nothing but the a clean installed Windows 10 and several programs. Therefore, it did not take much time to move the files. If the computer is weak, and there is a lot of information on the disk, then the division process can take much longer. My computer rebooted twice and then started normally. After that, a new section appeared in the explorer, and the existing one became smaller.
Let me remind you that by analogy with this instruction in Windows 10 can merge hard disk partitions with free AOMEI Partition Assistant.
I foresee a question from some caustic readers of my site, why I have considered only one free program for managing partitions of the hard drive on the "top ten". Will explain. The fact is that the rest of the programs I studied did not suit me for various reasons: some of them did not have the Russian language (and for many this is important), others had too much functionality in the free version, and others raised doubts about the plan security for the operating system and compatibility with Windows 10. In addition, I absolutely do not see any reason to look for something else to solve quite rare problems. I believe that the reviewed software copes with the assigned tasks with a bang and has undoubted advantages over all other free programs that I have studied. So why then bother yourself and others with unnecessary information?)
