Partition Question

nkaufman · 02 Jan 2016

Hello,

I've got a Win-10 Pro system on which I need to shrink C:\ by 15GB and increase the D:\ by 15GB. Since the increase to space is on the left of D:\, I was wondering if I have no option but to use a third-party software or can Win-10 handle this requirement.

If needed, I can make a backup of contents of D:\, shrink C:\, then delete D:\ and then format the free from C:\ + free from D:\ together. Does that sound right?

,

Thank you for your assistance.

topgundcp · 02 Jan 2016

If needed, I can make a backup of contents of D:\, shrink C:\, then delete D:\ and then format the free from C:\ + free from D:\ together. Does that sound right?

Yes, you can do this without installing 3rd party.

EDIT: In addition. If C: Drive is fragmented or data in it sit at the end of C: then you might have problem shrinking C: with disk manegement in which case, you will need to defrag/consolidate free space on C: first in order to shrink.

Word Man · 02 Jan 2016

Hiya, nkaufman. The free MiniTool Partition Wizard could make short work of it - yes, third party.

Those multiple recovery partitions look a little weird and non-standard but I won't belabor that and just go directly to your inquiry.

I think your proposal to shrink C:, backup D:, recreate D: at desired size, and restore data to D: is certainly doable with Disk Management alone (as I see topgundcp confirms as I typed this).

cereberus · 02 Jan 2016

Easier just to install 'easeus partition manager free' which allows you to expand partitions either way.

nkaufman · 02 Jan 2016

topgundcp said:

Yes, you can do this without installing 3rd party.

EDIT: In addition. If C: Drive is fragmented or data in it sit at the end of C: then you might have problem shrinking C: with disk manegement in which case, you will need to defrag/consolidate free space on C: first in order to shrink.

Thank you for confirming and your suggestion. Will defrag first and then shrink/format.

nkaufman · 02 Jan 2016

Word Man said:

Hiya, nkaufman. The free MiniTool Partition Wizard could make short work of it - yes, third party.

Those multiple recovery partitions look a little weird and non-standard but I won't belabor that and just go directly to your inquiry.

I think your proposal to shrink C:, backup D:, recreate D: at desired size, and restore data to D: is certainly doable with Disk Management alone (as I see topgundcp confirms as I typed this).

Thank you for your comments.

Yes, that is the way the Lenovo laptop came - with 6 partitions. It came with Win-10 Home and I installed Win-10 Pro by only formatting the C:\ and left everything as is (machine owner wanted to keep ability to revert it to factory condition using the Key Recovery feature from Lenovo) and I was surprised to see all the other partitions as 100% free but since this is the first Win-10 unit I was working with, I just left everything as is.

Word Man · 02 Jan 2016

nkaufman said:

Thank you for your comments.
...and I was surprised to see all the other partitions as 100% free ...

You're very welcome. Note that the 100% free is bogus - Disk Management is not up to the task.

You can check this in diskpart from an elevated (admin) command prompt. An example in your case would be the following commands:

diskpart
select vol 1
detail vol

You can change the volume selected to see details on them and it will correctly reveal how much space is actually free on them.

NavyLCDR · 02 Jan 2016

nkaufman said:

Since the increase to space is on the left of D:\, I was wondering if I have no option but to use a third-party software or can Win-10 handle this requirement.

I and several other members of this forum trust MiniTool Partition Wizard Free a whole lot more than we trust built Windows disk management.