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We have a Windows Server 2008 with C: and D: drives. I freed up 30 GB from the D: drive using the "shrink volume" option and that needs to be added to C: drive. But the extend volume on the C: drive is disabled.

Can you please tell me how can I add the free space at the end of D: drive to C: drive?

splattne
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Gopinath
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7 Answers7

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Your D: drive should be in extended partition. After shrinking, the free space is also in extended partition. To extend C: drive, there must be some contiguous unallocated space on the right side of C: drive. Now it's free space but now unallocated space, it's on the right side of D: drive but not C: drive. The two reasons cause extend volume greyed out. You need to backup D: drive -> delete D: drive -> delete extended partition -> right click C: drive and select "Extend Volume".

http://www.partition-magic.org/windows-server-2008/windows-server-2008-resize-partition.html

techfolker
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I think you can't do it while the OS is started. That's why I can tell you to try to resize it with a linux live-cd, like Gparted-LiveCD, wich support many types of partitions. keep thinking to backup your datas before resizing.

user33559
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    With 2008 you can now do it online, even on the system partition. But the free space must be just after the partition to extend – Mathieu Chateau Feb 02 '10 at 10:29
  • I agree with psbelot and would go with booting into the GParted live CD if you need to move the partitions around. It will let you move things around however you need, but definitely make sure you have backups first to be safe. Also, you might find the boot record gets messed up (I did when I resized Server 2008 with GParted), and you'll need an install CD to fix it. You can find instructions here: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Fix-Windows-Server-2008-Boot-Loader&id=1590479. – Paul Kroon Feb 10 '10 at 03:33
  • Note: Having gparted move a partition on disk is a long, slow operation. But it does work and is probably your best option for a long-term stable fix. Definitely have good backups. Alternatively, raise a separate partition in the newly freed space, convert to dynamic disk, and sew the partition onto the end of the one you want to enlarge. Hacky, though. – Chris Thorpe Mar 02 '11 at 08:11
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To extend a partition, there should be Unallocated space behind it. By shrinking a data partition, the unallocated space is behind this data partition, so you cannot extend system partition by Extend feature, for details, see how to shrink and extend partition under disk management http://www.partition-magic-server.com/resource/shrink-extend-server-2008.html

user77822
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You can only extend a partition if the free space is just after. So after extend, it's a continous partition. You can't have C partition using space after the D partition

Mathieu Chateau
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Another option may be to temporarily move the data on the D: drive (if possible) elsewhere, blow away the D: partition, extend the C:, then re-create the D: and move the data back.

HostBits
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Here's your best bet

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/02/19/how-to-mount-and-access-new-partition-volume-or-drive-as-folder-path-in-windows/

HTH

Tom
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You can use GParted started fro ma linux Live CD or you can also install a partition manager like EASEUS Partition Manager that is free and work directly from your native Windows Server OS.

aleroot
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