Redistribution of space on hard drives. How to increase the size of drive C by using drive D without losing data

05.03.2020 Windows 10

It often happens that the hard drive space is not very conveniently distributed, but it also happens that you generally only have one Disk C:. But you can always separate it yourself, and without the use of additional programs - everything is done in the system itself.

You may ask: “What is this even for?”. One of the biggest reasons is safety. For example, if you have to reinstall Windows, then all data from Drive C: will be lost. For this reason alone, you need to partition your hard drive into several partitions: on C: to keep Windows itself, and for example, on D: download all other files: documents, videos, photos and other data.

Read other helpful tips:

How to Partition a Hard Drive in Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10

Installation of separate software.
Using internal Windows services.
Separation when installing / reinstalling the operating system.

When using a separate program to partition a disk, you need to prepare, namely:

back up important personal files;
free up additional hard disk space;
check the hard drive for possible errors.

Protecting your personal files from loss during further work is the primary task of the user. Photos, contacts and other files should be copied to external media (hard drive, flash drive) or use the file storage cloud on the Internet. After backing up the data, you should take care of the availability of free space to create a new partition. To do this, just go to the "Control Panel" - "Add or Remove Programs". View the list and remove unnecessary software, which will give additional disk space.

Having received enough space for a new partition, you need to check the hard drive for errors. We go to "My Computer", select the desired disk and go to "Properties". After we select the "Service" tab and click "Perform verification", put both checkmarks and wait for completion. At the end of the check, the OS will ask you to restart the PC - we confirm. The disk properties interface in Windows 7 and XP is identical, so there will be no difficulties.

Working with Partitioning Programs

The interface of the program is configured mainly to solve one problem - how to divide the hard drive into convenient parts. Most of the software works with different versions of Windows 7 and XP, there are both paid services and for free use. It would be more correct to use programs for free use with a Russian interface.

Very popular are: "Partition Magic", "Acronis Disk Director", "Aomei Partition Assistant". Each uses a standard menu for working with the disc. It remains only to select the disk that needs to be divided into parts. Then set the volume for the new partition, its name and file system. Any of the programs will offer two options for the FAT 32 and NTFS file system. The first is installed when working with Windows 95/98 or Millinium Edition. Starting with XP, NTFS should be selected. For stable operation of the OS, a prerequisite is that all sections of the hard drive must be formatted under the same file system.

How to partition a hard drive into sections without installing software

The ability to divide a hard drive into partitions using system services is provided in versions of Windows 7 and higher. To do this, we find the item "Management", located in the folder "My Computer". In the "Computer Management" menu that opens, open the "Disk Management" tab. A list of disks that are on the PC will appear, as well as a hidden section “System Reserved” - a recovery system disk. We select drive C or the one that we will divide into two or three parts - additional containers. Open the list of disk functions: right button - "Volume Shrink". In the window that appears, select the location where you want to compress the disk. Provided that the hard drive was not previously divided into separate parts, the system will offer to divide it into parts approximately equal in volume. You can set the desired value. In the event that a miscalculation is made, it will be possible to return the previous size of the partition by selecting "Unclench the volume" in the disk functions. The system drive is shrinking, after which a new partition called "Unallocated" will be displayed. Open the list of functions and click "Create a simple volume ...". The New Simple Volume Wizard window will appear on the screen and prompt you to designate the new partition with a letter and give it a name. This is followed by the process of formatting into the file system. Having decided on the option, click "Continue", and in a few minutes the work on creating a new section will be completed.

Separation of the hard drive when installing or reinstalling the operating system

Partitions should be created at the moment when the OS installation reaches the moment of choosing the partition in which it should be installed. Further actions:

Create a partition for the OS, let it be drive C, and enter its size. If initially there is 1 TB of memory in the hard drive, you can allocate 100-120 GB for the "OS" - this is enough.
Next, the computer will ask you to allocate some more space for backup files, you need not be stingy, but click the "Agree" button.
Create a second partition: look for the line "Free disk space", click "Create". Next, set the size for it. Name it drive "D" and click "Apply". So, there are already two sections.
To create the third partition, we proceed in the same way as described above: “Free disk space” - “Create”. Specify the entire remaining size from the original.
Click on the "C" drive, which was allocated for the OS and click "Next". Your Windows 7/8 installation continues.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in partitioning a hard drive into several departments. Even a novice user can handle this simple process. The main thing is to do everything clearly according to the written points, and you will succeed. With proper execution, you will have several disks, each of which can store certain folders, files, etc. This will eliminate the problem of constantly searching for the necessary information on the computer.

The second important plus of splitting the hard drive is that when you reinstall the OS, for any reason, all information can be destroyed during the formatting process. And if the OS on the computer is on one disk, and all the files are on others, the process of destroying the contents will affect only one section of the hard drive. And the speed of the system itself will be faster, the computer will not “freeze”, thanks to less “cluttered” departments. Ideal: two to four sections, depending on the size of your hard drive.

By logging in as an administrator, you can repartition your hard drive using the Shrink feature in Disk Management. You can shrink an existing partition or volume in order to create unallocated disk space on which to create a new partition or volume (note that the terms "partition" and "volume" are often used interchangeably).

Open the "Computer Management" section. To do this, click the button Start, select the components in sequence Control Panel, system and safety, Administration, and then double-click Computer management. If you are prompted to enter an administrator password or confirm it, enter the password or provide confirmation.
In the left pane, under storage devices click Disk Management.
Right-click the volume you want to shrink, and then select Shrink Volume.
Follow the instructions.

Notes:
Here, under the “Compression” function, Windows means resizing a partition (volume). Before you start compressing, review the list of prerequisites for compressing. For more information, on the menu Reference select item Calling up help, go to the tab Search, enter Basic volume shrink and press the button Sections.
If the disk has multiple partitions, you can delete one of them and create new partitions on the freed up unallocated space. When a partition is deleted, all information stored on it will be destroyed.
You can also repartition a disk using a third-party partition manager. Some third-party manufacturers offer programs that allow you to repartition your hard drive without deleting information.

Below is an example of deleting and creating partitions
As described above, enter Disk Management.

Picture 1

On the Drive 0 465.76 GB in size, we see 4 partitions. Please note that the fourth section F is a logical drive that is located in an extended partition. An extended partition is a container that contains a logical drive F.
For clarity, we set the task - to delete sections D and F and in their place create one section D.

Figure 2

Move the mouse cursor over the section F and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Delete Volume".

Figure 3

A window opens with the warning "Deleting a volume will destroy all data on this volume." Archive any data you wish to keep before deleting. Would you like to continue?" If you agree, press the button Yes.

Figure 4

logical drive F deleted, - there is free space for the additional partition. Let's start removing this additional section.

Figure 5

Move the mouse cursor over the free space of the additional partition F and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Delete Partition".

Figure 6

A window opens with the warning “This is an optional partition. After deletion, the section will become inaccessible. Are you sure you want to delete the partition?". If you agree, press the button Yes.

Figure 7

The additional partition was deleted, leaving unallocated hard disk space in its place. Similarly, delete the main section D.

Figure 8

As a result, we get unallocated hard disk space, on which we proceed to create a new main partition.

Figure 9

Move the mouse cursor over the unallocated space of the hard disk and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Create a simple volume".

Figure 10

The "New Simple Volume Wizard" window opens - click the button Further.

Figure 11

Since it was decided to take all the remaining unallocated disk space for the partition being created, we leave the default “Simple volume size (MB)” proposed unchanged - click the button Further.

Figure 12

Assign a letter to the partition (if we do not assign it, the partition will not be visible in the "My Computer" window), - press the button Further.

Figure 13

Set the formatting options and click the button Further.

Figure 14

We press the button Ready.

Figure 15

And we love the result.

Figure 16

The autorun window opens, open it and use it.

And in conclusion, I want to note the features of expanding and compressing partitions.
Before performing these operations, make sure that the Disk Defragmentation service settings are set to the Manual startup type. If this service is disabled, then when you try to resize the partition, you will receive an error: "The specified service cannot be started because it is disabled or all devices associated with it are disabled."
A partition can only be extended by an unallocated area on the hard disk that is adjacent to it.
Unallocated area can be obtained by deleting or shrinking existing partitions.
Please note that an unallocated area can only be used to extend partitions that are on the same physical hard drive as it is.

For example, - to expand partition C (when it is not adjacent to the unallocated area), you must:
Shrink partition D as much as possible, create a new partition in the unallocated area that appears, move the information from partition D there (if it fits there), delete partition D, and then expand partition C to the desired size, then assign a letter to the newly created partition D and extend it to the remaining unallocated area. This is such a complicated process...

Probably, every user has come across such a paradox that no matter how huge the volume of the C drive is, the day comes when the space on it begins to be sorely lacking.

And then the question arises, is it possible to painlessly increase the volume of disk C for the system and for all saved data and how to do it correctly?

How to increase the size of disk C - an actual problem for many users

This article is intended to answer this question. But first, let's look at why the space on the C drive starts to run out.

Why is C drive running out of space?

The fact is that the Windows operating system has such an unpleasant feature as an increase in the volume of its logical volume occupied after a certain time.

At the same time, all files, both temporary and system ones, are subject to growth. And this happens with all versions of the OS - Windows 7, 8 and 10.

Of course, at first we try to free up space by deleting unnecessary files or cleaning the disk, but still there comes a moment when there is nothing to delete, and the volume continues to be sorely lacking.

Drive C is completely full - an unpleasant but fixable situation

This situation has a very negative effect on our computer.

There is little disk space left - urgent action is needed

- it starts to crash and fail frequently, bringing us a lot of inconvenience, such as a decrease in PC performance and a slowdown in its speed.

The fullness of the disk also affects the security of the system, increasing the risk that at the most inopportune moment during hard work at the computer, the program we need will fail.

3 ways to increase the volume of disk C

Method 1. Free up space on drive C using the system utility

Windows 7, 8 or 10 operating systems have a standard Disk Management utility that allows you to view and modify hard disk partitions at our discretion.

It is quite easy to find it by following the instructions below:

Right-click on the "Computer" icon and select "Manage" in the dialog box that opens.

On the "Computer" icon, right-click and select "Manage"

In the menu that appears, find the Disk Management utility and click on it with the mouse button.

Find and run the Disk Management utility

This program gives us the opportunity, at our discretion, to manage all devices designed to save data - logical drives, flash memory, CD-ROM.

Using this utility, we can easily transfer the amount of free space from the local drive D to drive C, that is, increase the size of the system drive on which we have the Windows 7 (8 or 10) operating system installed.

Before transferring free space, let's decide how much free space we have on drive D, how much we need for our local drive C, and how much we can transfer.

Now, in order to transfer this freed space to the system volume, right-click on it and select the “Extend Volume” function from the menu that opens.

To transfer the freed space to our disk, select the item "Expand volume"

Now we press the “Compress” command, after which the system provides us with information about the freed space, which we redirect to drive C.

We have information about the freed space, which we can now transfer to the system drive C

In the field that opens, specify the size in MB of the space that we intend to transfer. After this action, the system will poll the volume and provide you with the result in this form:

We determine the size of the space required for compression and indicate this value in the corresponding field

In order to free up the volume of our disk, right-click on it and stop on the "Compress Volume" option.

Right-click on the D drive and select Shrink Volume

Thus, we launch the special program "Volume Extension Wizard". Click "Next" and in the proposed window we determine the amount of space that we are going to add.

We launch the "Expand Volume Wizard" and determine the size that we are going to add

After all the manipulations done, we restart our computer.

Method 2. We increase the volume of the system disk using the Aomei Partition Assistant program

One of the most versatile and well-proven programs for reliable and easy partitioning of our disks is the free Aomei Partition Assistant.

Aomei Partition Assistant - a universal program for working with hard disk partitions

This application allows the user to perform the following actions:

Aomei Partition Assistant is a versatile and useful program for every user

Create and delete hard disk partitions.
Change the amount of free space.
Format hard disk partitions.
Merge, split and move or copy partitions, including to another hard drive or SSD.

Step 2Install Aomei Partition Assistant

After launching the installation file, select the language (Russian) and follow the prompts of the installation wizard.

We install the Aomei Partition Assistant program, following the prompts of the Wizard

It should be noted that the program is distributed free of charge for private and commercial use.

Step 3Launch Aomei Partition Assistant

After the installation is completed, a very convenient interface in Russian opens before us, where all the disks of our computer with all partitions are displayed.

The simple and user-friendly interface of the Aomei Partition Assistant program allows you to work effectively with all computer disks

Step 4. Increase the size of drive C with drive D

Let's take a closer look at how you can increase the space of volume C at the expense of volume D without losing data.

So, we perform actions, according to the instructions:

Right-click on drive D and select "Resize partition";

Right-click on partition D and click on the "Resize Partition" option

In the console that opens, we can easily change the volume of the disk with just the mouse, hovering over the control points, as shown in the photo;

Partition size can be easily resized using breakpoints

Click "OK" and open the system volume C in the same way and increase its volume due to free space;

By analogy with D, we work with disk C, changing its volume at our discretion

Upon completion of all disk manipulations, in the top panel of the main menu, click the "Apply" option;

After all the actions performed, click on the "Apply" function in the top toolbar

Next, you may need to perform, usually two reboots, after which we get the desired result - an increased size of the system C-disk by reducing the D drive without losing any data whatsoever.

Method 3. Change the disk size with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

Partition Wizard is a convenient and easy-to-use application

The program, like the previous application, is shareware and does not require any additional knowledge, except for the skills of an ordinary PC user.

However, it has one small drawback - the lack of a Russian-language interface. What, however, is offset by its simplicity and accessibility. In addition, work in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

very similar to working with the Aomei Partition Assistant program discussed above.

After installing Partition Wizard, we see the same simple interface, which makes using the program easy even without Russian-language settings.

A simple interface makes it easy to work in the program even with the missing Russian interface

Resizing disks also occurs by analogy with the above program. In the same way, using checkpoints, we easily change the size of the volume, due to the available free space.

Throttling the added space on disks is done in the same simple way

After we have done all the operations to increase the volume of the system disk C due to volume D, the result will be immediately available to us in the explorer.

I hope these simple methods will help you quickly and easily solve the problem of increasing the size of one disk at the expense of another without losing data.

Use the Disk Management utility

Open the utility by right-clicking on the "Start" menu, select "Disk Management".

In the Start menu search bar, type "Control Panel" and open it.

Select "System and Security".
In the window that opens, in the "Administration" item, click on the "Create and format a hard disk" sub-item.

Shrink volume, free up space to create a new partition in Windows 10

In order to create a new volume in the utility, you first need to take free space somewhere for this, you can get it by compressing space on an existing volume. In the Windows operating system, no more than 4 partitions can exist on one physical HDD, including system partitions (for example, the Recovery Partition). Usually there are two local drives C and D.

To create a third volume, you need to right-click on the partition with more free space, in our case it is drive D. An explorer window will appear, click on the “Compress volume” item to free up free space, change it to unallocated.

Section D to create a new volume.

After that, the message “The volume is being polled to determine the available space for compression. Wait…". The process can last from a few seconds to several tens of minutes.
When the system finishes polling the volume, a window will appear, in the "Size of the volume to be compressed" column, you need to specify how much space must be separated from the donor disk to create free space for now. It will not work to allocate more space for the new partition than specified. In the example in the screenshot, the limit is 78880 MB, a little more than 77 GB.

You can specify any other number less than the above, for example, setting the value to 51200 MB will allocate exactly 50 gigabytes for the new volume. After selecting the “Compress” item, no result will be noticeable for some time. To check if the compression process is in progress, you need to hover over the utility window, a spinning blue circle should appear. When a black bar with unallocated space appears at the bottom of the window, this will indicate that compression has occurred.

This freed up space to create a new volume on the HDD in Windows 10. Now the unallocated space must be turned into a full-fledged hard disk partition.

- Create a hard disk partition from unallocated space

You must right-click on the area labeled "Unallocated", select "Create a simple volume".

The "New Simple Volume Wizard" will open, click "Next", in the next window you will need to specify the size of the new volume. You can leave the value unchanged or, if you want to create two partitions or more, specify a value less. Click "Next".

After that, select the Latin letter that will denote the disk, for example, F. Select the letter, click "Next".

You will then be able to format the new partition if necessary.

Continue by clicking "Finish".

After a few seconds or minutes, the partition will be formatted and a new Windows 10 hard disk partition will be created. When choosing the amount of memory that you want to allocate for the formation of a new one, you must take into account that a small amount of compressed space will be taken by Windows for system needs.
So when choosing 50 GB of memory, we got a volume of 49.9 GB.

Create Partitions When Installing Windows 10

When installing Windows 10 on a computer from a USB flash drive or disk, you can divide disks into volumes. For those who reinstall the operating system, be aware that this will delete data from the system partition.
During the installation of Windows, after entering (or skipping entering) the activation key, select the "Custom installation" item, after which it will be possible to select a partition for installation, tools for configuring partitions are available.

In our case, drive C is partition 4.
To make two partitions from one HDD, you need to use the "Delete" partition button, as a result it will be converted to "Unallocated disk space" (point 4).
Then select an unallocated space, click the "Create" button, set the size of the future "Disk C". After its creation, free unallocated space will remain, which will need to be converted into the second disk partition in the same way.

After creating the second partition, it is recommended to select it, click "Format" (otherwise it may not appear in Explorer after installing Windows 10 and you will have to format it and assign a letter through "Disk Management"). Then select the volume that was created first, click the "Next" button to continue installing the operating system on drive C.

Programs for partitioning disks into partitions

In addition to the built-in Windows tools, there are many programs for working with partitions on disks. Some of the best free programs are Aomei Partition Assistant Free and Minitool Partition Wizard Free.
First you need to download the Aomei Partition Assistant program from the official website, install it on your PC and run it. The application has a Russian language, we select a non-system drive, in our case it is "E".
Right-click on it, click "Resize Partition".

The selected amount of memory will appear, in our case - 15 GB.
Right-click on the system local drive C, select "Resize partition" from the context menu.

Again, drag the slider to the right to the desired size, or set the desired space for expansion in the "Unallocated space after" field. A warning will appear to make a Windows 10 system recovery image or backup using third-party tools, click "OK". To save the changes, click "Apply" in the upper left corner.

A message will appear that there will be several reboots, during which drive C will merge with unallocated space, select "Go". A message will appear that the program will work in PreOs mode, click "Yes".
Windows 10 will restart.
The first boot will launch AOMEI Partition Assistant PreOS Mode.
The task execution process will start.

Why is it necessary to partition a hard drive in Windows? First of all, for the security of your personal data. When a hard disk has only one partition, then all the files that are on this disk: programs, documents, photos, files of the Windows OS itself - are stored in one place.

Now imagine that the system crashes. All your personal files (photos, documents) will most likely be lost. It is much more correct when system files and user files are stored separately from each other.

Physically, they will still remain on the same hard drive, but will be on its different partitions. There may be several sections. One, as a rule, is assigned to the operating system and programs (system partition), the other (or others) - to the user's files.

One of the easiest and most affordable ways is to partition your hard drive when installing Windows. How to do this, we have analyzed in great detail and using a specific example in. What to do if the system is already installed and there are user files in it, how to partition the disk in such cases?

How to partition a disk with an installed Windows system without losing data

Today we will analyze how to divide a hard drive into two or more partitions with an already installed OS. It doesn't matter what edition of Windows you are using. This method will be relevant for any version, be it Windows 7 or Windows 10. In addition, if you already have two partitions, but you want to create a third one, both methods described below will also work.

In fact, our task is to “pinch off” from a large partition (and in our case this is the only partition - the system drive C) some part, say 200 GB, and make a separate partition out of it.

This can be done in several ways, including using the Windows operating system itself, which has a special Disk Management tool (Disk Management). This method requires a minimum of effort and in most cases solves the task without third-party software. Let's start with him.

Before proceeding with the partition of a hard drive with Windows installed, you need to take some precautions. If there are important files in the system, copy them to external media (flash drive, external hard drive) in advance.

How to divide a hard drive into two or more partitions? Method 1 - Windows system tools

Let's use the Disk Management tool. In Windows 10, just right-click on the icon My computer, select item Control - Disk Management.

In other versions of Windows, this tool can be found using a regular search or using a hotkey combination Win+R, and enter the diskmgmt.msc command.

Before us is the Disk Management window, which displays the user's disk, which in this case has a size of 465.76 GB (Disk 0). Almost all HDD space is allocated to one partition - Disk C. There is also a partition (500 MB), which is reserved by the operating system at the stage of its installation.

In our case, 465 GB (the entire hard drive) for one system disk is not an affordable luxury, so we will “pinch off” the maximum possible (as the system allows) number of GB from it and make a new partition out of this free space.

As a rule, about 100-150 GB are allocated for the system disk. It all depends on the specific user. 100 GB is enough if Windows and the most necessary software are installed on the system disk. If, in addition to the system and software, it is planned to install modern games, then the size of 100 GB will not be enough.

Before performing any operation with a specific hard disk partition, do not forget to select it. It is enough to click on it with the left mouse button and the section will be selected. Only then proceed to the operation.

Let's move on to practice. Select the partition from which you want to "pin off" the space. On the selected section, right-click and select the command Shrink Volume.

All sizes are in megabytes, be careful. In a specific example, the maximum amount of MB that the system "allows" to compress is 237.656 MB (232.09 GB). This means that after compression, we will get Disk C with a size of 232 GB and Disk D - 238782 MB (233 GB). Not the best option. If it does not suit you, and you need to “pinch off” more than the system offers, then you will have to use third-party software, but more on that later.

When all calculations are completed, and the sizes of future sections are set, click OK(or click Enter). We have a new unrecognized partition (200 GB). Do not rush to exit Disk Management. The procedure for dividing the disk into two partitions has not yet ended. Select a new partition (200 GB), and right-click, select the item Create a simple volume.

run Create Simple Volume Wizard. In principle, everything is simple, just follow the instructions of the master himself. Check out the screenshots. You are required to give the future partition a letter (in my case it is D) and the file system - NFTS.

Let's see what happened. We have one hard drive and divided it into two partitions: the system Disk C (265 GB) and the New Volume D (200 GB) for storing personal data. By the way, the new volume is now displayed in Windows Explorer as well.

Now you know how to partition a hard drive into two or more partitions using Windows. If this method suits you, and it coped with your task, then you can stop there. However, if you are looking for a better option, and, for example, you need to “pinch off” a larger size than the system itself offers, we use third-party software. True, first we need to return the original state of the hard drive.

Let's delete the created partition and return it to the system disk. We allocate New volume and right click the item Delete volume.

Read the warning and click OK. We get 200 GB, which are not distributed.

We carefully check all the numbers and click Further.

We have returned to the original state, when the system has one hard drive and it is almost completely reserved for one partition (system).

How to divide a hard drive into two or more partitions? Method 2 - Partition Master Free

It's time to switch to third-party software. Here the choice is great. There are paid and free options. I recommend staying at . Why? Time-tested, intuitive interface, free. Unlike the Disk Management tool that Windows offers, Partition Master allows you to shrink a disk partition for as long as it is physically possible.

The official website of the program is www.partition-tool.com. Go to the site, and select the section Products - Partition Master Free - in the top menu - Download.

Since the program is free, it will prompt you to install additional unwanted programs during its installation. Many free products work great and do their job perfectly, but since they are free, developers try to somehow make money on them. Be careful and uncheck the checkboxes with the offer of promotional products in time.

1. We start the installation of the downloaded program. Choose a language English and press OK.

2. In the next window, we agree that we will use this software only for our family, check the box and click OK.

3. In the next window (at our discretion), we leave only one checkmark - Create a desktop icon(create an icon on the desktop) and click NEXT.

Installing Partition Master Free in screenshots. Click

5. In the next window, enter your Name and Email. You can enter fictitious data.

6. After installation, click Finish.

The program should start. The interface is completely in English, but it is quite simple and with the help of this instruction it will not be difficult to partition a disk in Partition Master Free.

The main window of the program displays Disk C, which you want to split. Its main information is also presented here: file system (NFTS), size - actual (465.27 GB) and used (17.10 GB). Pay attention to the graphic disk scale, which is located at the bottom of the window. You can work and execute commands using both options. With a graphical scale to make it a little easier and clearer.

Select the section (left click) that you want to split (from which you want to pinch off a place), and in the drop-down list of commands, select the item (Resize).

In the window that appears, grab and move the special slider. It is responsible for the size of the future partition being set. We indicate how many GB we need to pinch off. In this case, 322.242 MB (or 314.69 GB) is selected for the new partition.

Pay attention to the bottom of the window. While moving the slider, you see in real time how your C Drive will change after compression, and how much will be allocated for the new partition.

I set the size of the new partition to 314 GB, and the size of Drive C will become 150 GB. After that we press OK.

An unrecognized partition appeared (314 GB). Now we need to make a partition out of this unrecognized space.

We click on it with the mouse and select the command (Create section) in the drop-down menu.

In a new window, I am prompted to enter a partition label, give it a name (Partition Label). Let's say I call it Multimedia. Next, you need to specify the partition letter (Drive Letter). Don't forget the item Optimizefor SSD, but only if you have an SSD drive. If you are using a regular hard drive, then this item is not checked. File system (File Systems) - NFTS. click OK.

Let's see what happened. System Drive C under which we took about 150 GB and a partition for storing files (Multimedia). This is not the final result yet, but rather a sketch. For the program to perform all operations, you need to click on the button apply in the top menu.

A pop-up window will appear containing information about the operations that will now be performed. Click YES and the program will start executing them. The computer will restart and start in download mode. Wait for the end of the operation.

After the end of the process, a window will appear with information that the two operations were successfully completed. If you open the explorer, you can see the created new partition.

Now system files and user files will be stored separately. The assigned task has been completed. As you can see, both methods described are working and allow you to partition the disk without losing data. Which one to choose - everyone decides for himself. I hope this article was useful and helped you finally understand this issue.

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If, while working with Windows, you are faced with the need to increase the size of the C drive due to the D drive (or a partition under a different letter), in this guide you will find two free programs for this purpose and how to do it. This can come in handy if you receive messages that Windows is running out of memory or the computer has begun to slow down due to low free space on the system disk.

I note that we are talking specifically about increasing the size of partition C at the expense of partition D, that is, they must be on the same physical hard drive or SSD. And, of course, the space on disk D that you want to attach to C must be free. The instruction is suitable for Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Windows 10. Also at the end of the instruction you will find a video with ways to expand the system disk.

Unfortunately, using standard Windows tools, the described change in the structure of partitions on the HDD will not work without data loss - you can compress drive D in the disk management utility, but the freed space will be located “after” drive D and it will not be possible to increase C due to it. Therefore, you will have to resort to using third-party tools. But I will also talk about how to increase drive C at the expense of D and without using programs at the end of the article.

Increasing the size of drive C in Aomei Partition Assistant

The first of the free programs that will help expand the system partition of a hard drive or SSD is Aomei Partition Assistant, which, in addition to being “clean” (does not install additional unnecessary software), also supports the Russian language, which may be important for our user. The program works on Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7.

Attention: incorrect actions on hard disk partitions or accidental power failure during the procedure can lead to the loss of your data. Take care of what's important.

After installing the program and launching, you will see a simple and intuitive interface (Russian language is selected at the installation stage) which displays all the drives on your computer and partitions on them.

In this example, we will increase the size of disk C at the expense of D - this is the most common version of the problem. For this:

Upon completion of applying all operations and two reboots (usually two. The time depends on the busyness of the disks and their speed), you will get what you wanted - a larger system disk by reducing the second logical partition.

By the way, in the same program, you can make a bootable USB flash drive to use Aomei Partiton Assistant by booting from it (this will allow you to perform actions without rebooting). You can create the same flash drive in Acronis Disk Director and then resize the hard disk or SSD partitions.

You can download the Aomei Partition Assistant Standard Edition program for changing disk partitions from the official website http://www.disk-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html

Resizing the system partition in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

Another simple, clean and free program for resizing hard disk partitions is MiniTool Partition Wizard Free, however, unlike the previous one, it does not support the Russian language.

After starting the program, you will see almost the same interface as in the previous utility, and the necessary steps to expand the system drive C using the free space on drive D will be the same.

Right-click on drive D, select the "Move / Resize Partition" context menu item and resize it so that the unallocated space is "to the left" of the occupied one.

After that, using the same item for drive C, increase its size due to the free space that has appeared. Click OK and then Apply in the main window of the Partition Wizard.

After all partition operations are completed, you can immediately see the changed sizes in Windows Explorer.

You can download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free from the official website http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

How to increase drive C at the expense of D without programs

There is also a way to increase free space on drive C using the available space on D without using any programs, only using Windows 10, 8.1 or 7. However, this method also has a serious drawback - you will have to delete data from drive D (you can first move somewhere if they are of value). If this option suits you, then start by pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard and enter diskmgmt.msc, then press OK or Enter.

The Windows Disk Management utility window will open, in which you can see all the drives connected to the computer, as well as the partitions on these drives. Pay attention to the partitions corresponding to disks C and D (I do not recommend doing anything with hidden partitions located on the same physical disk).

Right-click on the partition corresponding to drive D and select "Delete Volume" (remember, this will delete all data from the partition). After removal, unallocated unallocated space is formed to the right of the C drive, which can be used to expand the system partition.

In order to enlarge the C drive, right-click on it and select "Expand Volume". After that, in the volume expansion wizard, specify how much disk space it should expand (by default, everything available is displayed, however, I suspect you will decide to leave some gigabytes for the future D drive as well). In the screenshot, I increase the size by 5000 MB, or just under 5 GB. When the wizard completes, the disk will be expanded.

Now the last task is to convert the remaining unallocated space to drive D. To do this, right-click on the unallocated space - "create a simple volume" and use the volume creation wizard (by default, it uses all the unallocated space for drive D). The drive will automatically be formatted and given the drive letter you specified.

That's it, you're done. It remains to return important data (if any) to the second partition of the disk from the backup.

How to expand system disk space - video

Also, if something was not clear, I offer a step-by-step video instruction that shows two ways to increase the C: drive using the D: drive in Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7.

Additional Information

There are other useful features in the described programs that may come in handy:

Moving the operating system from disk to disk or from HDD to SSD, converting FAT32 and NTFS, partition recovery (in both programs).
Create a Windows To Go flash drive with Aomei Partition Assistant.
Checking the file system and disk surface in the Minitool Partition Wizard.

In general, quite useful and convenient utilities, I recommend (it does happen that I recommend something, and after six months the program acquires potentially unwanted software, so always be careful. At this point in time everything is clean).

By logging in as an administrator, you can repartition your hard drive using the Shrink feature in Disk Management. You can shrink an existing partition or volume in order to create unallocated disk space on which a new partition or volume can be created (note that the terms "partition" and "volume" are often used interchangeably).

Open the "Computer Management" section. To do this, click the button Start, select the components in sequence Control Panel, system and safety, Administration, and then double-click Computer management. If you are prompted to enter an administrator password or confirm it, enter the password or provide confirmation.
In the left pane, under storage devices click Disk Management.
Right-click the volume you want to shrink, and then select Shrink Volume.
Follow the instructions.

Below is an example of deleting and creating partitions
As described above, enter Disk Management.

Picture 1

Figure 2

Move the mouse cursor over the section F and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Delete Volume".

Figure 3

Figure 4

logical drive F deleted, - there is free space for the additional partition. Let's start removing this additional section.

Figure 5

Move the mouse cursor over the free space of the additional partition F and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Delete Partition".

Figure 6

A window opens with the warning "This is an optional partition. After deletion, the section will become inaccessible. Are you sure you want to delete the partition?". If you agree, press the button Yes.

Figure 7

The extra partition was removed, leaving unallocated hard disk space in its place. Similarly, delete the main section D.

Figure 8

As a result, we get unallocated hard disk space, on which we proceed to create a new main partition.

Figure 9

Move the mouse cursor over the unallocated space of the hard disk and press the right mouse button. In the menu that opens, select "Create a simple volume".

Figure 10

The window " Create a simple volume wizard" opens, - press the button Further.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Assign a letter to the partition (if we do not assign it, the partition will not be visible in the "My Computer" window), - press the button Further.

Figure 13

Set the formatting options and click the button Further.

Figure 14

We press the button Ready.

Figure 15

And we love the result.

Figure 16

The autorun window opens, open it and use it.

redistribute space on the local drives, them. That is, the functionality of this tool is practically a lightweight version of programs such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition magic and other disk management programs. And now I'll show you how to manage them ...

Disk management in windows 7 great tool for redistribute space on the local drives, delete local drives, create them. That is, the functionality of this tool is practically a lightweight version of programs such as Acronis Disk Director, Partition magic and other disk management programs. And now I'll show you how to manage it.

My action plan is:

1. Reduce local disk D by 50 GB.

2. Using the freed up space, create a new local disk with a size of 25 GB.

3. Increase this newly created disk by the remaining 25 GB.

4. Return everything to its place.

The Disk Management tool can be found at the following address: Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management. In the upper block of this window is a list of local disks, the lower one shows the distribution of space between them and all connected media.

To shrink local drive D, right click on it and select " Shrink Volume... ". This window will appear

And then this.

In this window, we select how much it is necessary to compress the local disk and we can immediately see how much space will remain on this disk. So, we enter the size by which we will compress disk and press " Compress».

After some time at the bottom of the window " Disk Management» A scary black area will appear, but don't be alarmed, everything is going according to plan.

This is a black area, there is an unallocated area of the hard disk.

The first point of the plan is completed, go to the second: Create a new local drive 25 GB in size. To do this, right-click on this black area and select the item " Create a simple volume... ". The "Create a Simple Volume Wizard" will open.

And here it is "Ulyalya".

Everything worked out. New local disk 25 GB in size. created. Moreover, as soon as it is created, you will be prompted to open it, as if you had inserted a disk or USB flash drive, this is good.

Let's move on to point 3: Enlarge the created local disk to the remaining free space. To do this, right-click on the new disk and select " Extend Volume... ". The Extend Volume Wizard window will open.

So, the last stage, to return everything back, for this you need delete local drive“Ulyalya” and expand disk D. To delete a local disk, right-click on the desired disk and select “ Delete volume... ". We will see a warning that all data on this disk will be destroyed.

We agree. And the unallocated area reappears. And we already know how to expand the disk due to the unallocated area.

I would also like to say that it was impossible to expand the C drive due to this unallocated area, because it is possible to expand the local disk only when the unallocated area is adjacent to it. That is, this black area should be located next to the local drive C. But there is a solution, albeit a little “gemoral”.

To expand the C drive (in my situation, when it is not adjacent to the unallocated area), it is necessary to: shrink the local D drive as much as possible, create a new volume, move the information from the D drive there, delete the local D drive, and then expand local disk C, then assign the letter D to the newly created partition and expand it to the remaining space. This is such a long process… Good luck!

The article is taken from open sources: http://www.goodkomp.com/page/upravlenie-diskami-windows-7#1

Many users of personal computers and laptops are faced with the need for several parts. This can be useful for visually distributing the functions of individual parts: for example, one virtual disk will be occupied by the system and temporary files - the cache, the second will host games and the necessary software, and the third will become the storage of media content. This article provides a guide on how to partition your hard drive using Windows 7 tools and third-party programs.

Dedicating a separate virtual (or physical) hard disk for an operating system is very convenient. Firstly, you will not be able to inadvertently fill up the system disk with files, which can slow down your computer. Secondly, if something happens to the Windows system and the partition will have to be formatted during reinstallation, all your photos, movies, books, music and documents will not be affected, because they are not stored on the same disk with the system.

In addition, if you intend to store a large amount of information of different sizes, in order to optimize machine search, it is worth placing large and small files on different sections of the hard disk. This will greatly speed up the search for the file you need.

Partitioning when installing Windows

If you have not installed the system yet, this method is the most correct. Your hard drive will be partitioned into partitions before Windows is installed on it using special utilities stored in the installation image or on the disk. The guide presented here is intended for users who already know how to install the operating system:

Boot from the installation disk or flash drive;
Wait for the installation of the operating system to begin;
Select the installation language and click "Install";
Read the terms of the license agreement, confirm your agreement with them and click "next";
Choose a full installation of Windows 7;

You have reached the point where the process of splitting hdd into parts begins. If the disk is already divided into several partitions, and you want to change their structure, the most correct solution would be to delete them first. It must be remembered that all data on the device will be irretrievably lost. If you have purchased a new storage medium, you will have only one section. It should also be removed.

Now you have resources for marking new partitions, it is called "unallocated space on disk 0". Click the "create" button and select the size of the first partition. As a rule, it will be used as a system one and should be allocated 50-100 gigabytes depending on your needs and the size of the physical hdd. Create the rest of the partitions you need in the same way. However, keep in mind that an MBR Hdd cannot be split into more than four parts.

Separation using standard Windows 7 tools

Before the advent of the "seven", such actions were possible only with the help of third-party software. This version introduced system utilities for dividing hard drives into parts. Using standard Windows 7 tools, you can divide a disk into several parts, resize these parts, delete or combine several into one. The procedure is presented in the manual.

First you need to defragment. There is no point in going into the details of this process, but, roughly speaking, it will organize and sort all the files on your disk.

Go to "My Computer", right-click on your hdd icon, and select "Properties".
Open the "Tools" tab, and click on the "defragmentation" button. Wait a while for the process to complete.

Now you can proceed directly to the division:

Go to the "Start" menu, right-click on "Computer" and select "Manage". Similarly, you can right-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop.
From the Computer Management menu, select Disk Management.
Right-click on your hard drive and select Shrink Volume from the drop-down menu. Wait a while while the system calculates the space available for compression.
Specify the size of the compressed space - this is the disk space that you will take from the system partition. 50-100 gigabytes is enough for the system, the rest can be safely compressed.
After compression, unallocated space has formed on the disk, you need to select it, right-click and go to the "Create a simple volume" item.
In the wizard that opens, the size of the future partition is configured (all available space, if you need only one, or part of it, if you intend to create more later). Click next.
Here you can choose a name or letter for the future section. Select any you like and click "Next".
Select "Format volume" and select the NTFS file system. Click next.
Wait for a while and complete the wizard using the "Finish" button.
If you need to create another partition, repeat steps 5-9.

Now your hdd is divided into several partitions. You can go to "My Computer" and see these sections in File Explorer.

Partitioning with Acronis Disk Director

This is a powerful utility often used by system administrators. Its functionality greatly exceeds the standard Windows tools. To work with the program, you need to download and install it. This guide shows the sequence of actions for the Suite version:

When you first start the program, you will be prompted to select the operating mode. Specify manual mode.
In the menu at the top, select the "Wizards" category, and in it the "Create Partition" item.
Select the hard drive you want to partition and click Next.
Here you need to specify from which already existing parts the space for the new one will be borrowed. It is not recommended to touch the partition signed "Acronis Hidden" - this can lead to a breakdown of your operating system. Click "Next" and wait while the system calculates the available space to borrow.
Use the slider to set the desired size of your future partition and click "Next".
Select "Logical" disk type and click "Next".
Here you need to specify the file system. You need NTFS. Click next.
In this step, you can select a letter for your section. Select the one you like and click "Next".
Click "Finish" and wait for the process to finish.

Now your disk is divided into 2 partitions and you can use them as you wish.

The new operating system from Microsoft, which has gone through a high-profile release stage, has caused conflicting reviews from users. This is not surprising - the company from Redmond has been a monopolist in the home computer software market for about two decades, and as its popularity grows, so does the amount of criticism. Whether we like it or not, but over time Windows 10 will become the new dominant operating system in the market, so it makes sense to adapt to it now.

One of the most demanded aspects of working with any operating system is disk management - here it is worth acquiring knowledge for both pros and ordinary users - everyone needs to share a hard drive. Fortunately, Microsoft has tempered its ardor in an effort to stuff its new OS with a lot of innovations, abandoning their own successful solutions. In many ways, this manifested itself in the management of such an element as a hard drive - a well-organized interface was borrowed from the previous version - 8.1. In Windows 7, which is now the most popular in terms of popularity, working with memory is similar in version 10, so this article will be useful to a much larger circle of users.

Only adherents of third-party software can object, but, as practice shows, its use (as well as the purchase of a license) is not justified for an ordinary user, and for most of them the share of used features remains extremely low - the need to share a hard drive rarely arises.

To start working with media (it doesn’t matter if you want to split, redistribute or delete a volume), you need to open the built-in program, the name of which has not changed in the 10th edition of the OS since the days of the “seven” - “Disk Management”. To do this, you need to do the following manipulations:

In the search bar of the Start menu, we are looking for the Control Panel;
Click on the "Administration" item;
In the window that appears, select the shortcut "Computer Management";
Then select "Disk Management".

The slides below show the above steps.

Control Panel - Administration

Computer management

Disk Management

Create a new volume in free space

The screenshot shows an open program window and a list of sections available for editing. To create a new one, click on the disk icon and select " Shrink Volume". In our case, it is only possible to compress the volume “disk D:” - there is more space on it, and it is not recommended to do such manipulations with the system partition.

Why Shrink Volume? The space on the disk is limited, it will not work out of thin air. Since we have a hard drive completely divided between existing disks, this is the only option - to divide the memory for the partition. Another way suggests taking advantage of the free space in the unallocated area (it is also displayed in this list), or formatting one of the partitions, deleting it and creating two new ones that are acceptable for you on the resulting unallocated area. It is worth noting that in the latter case, all data stored on this volume will be lost, so the method presented in the screenshot in this regard is the most convenient and fastest.

After activating the “Compress volume” item, a window will open in which the system will ask you to be patient and wait a few minutes. After this time, information about the maximum volume for the new volume will be displayed on the screen - in our case it is a little less than 77 GB. The user will be prompted to choose the size of the new partition, which will lie within the previously specified 77 GB. We choose 51200 MB - that's exactly 50 GB.

The space can be used to conveniently catalog your data or to install another operating system in parallel.

After setting the value, press the "Compress" button and wait. The waiting time can vary greatly - on SSD drives, the process will take a few minutes, on older machines - a couple of times longer (since the hard drive is much inferior in speed). Upon completion of the process, you will see noticeable improvements in the diagram below - among the blue bars indicating existing disks, a black one with the label "Unallocated" will appear.

Section creation

After shrinking the free memory on your hard drive, it's time to start creating a new partition. In Windows 10, control is carried out by right-clicking on an unallocated area and activating the item " Create a simple volume».

Will be called " Create Simple Volume Wizard”, which will prompt the user to manage the size of the volume. By default, the disk set value will be equal to the amount of free space - it should be changed only if you plan to create more than one disk. You will also be prompted to select a name and volume label, after which the partition formatting options will open. It is recommended to use the default values set in windows and click "Format". You now have a new volume at your disposal.

Since disk management in Windows 10 is similar to the "seven", we suggest that you visually watch the video on how to partition disks in Windows 7.