How to Extend Volume or Partition in Windows 10
In Windows, you can add more space to existing primary partitions and logical drives by extending them into adjacent unallocated space on the same disk. To extend a basic volume, it must be raw or formatted with the NTFS file system. You can extend a logical drive within contiguous free space in the extended partition that contains it. If you extend a logical drive beyond the free space available in the extended partition, the extended partition grows to contain the logical drive.
For logical drives, boot, or system volumes, you can extend the volume only into contiguous space and only if the basic disk can be upgraded to a dynamic disk. For other volumes, you can extend the volume into noncontiguous space, but you will be prompted to convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk.
This tutorial will show you different ways on how to extend a volume or partition into unallocated space on a basic disk in Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to extend a volume or partition.
Contents
- Option One: Extend Volume or Partition on Disk in Disk Management
- Option Two: Extend Volume or Partition on Disk in Command Prompt
- Option Three: Extend Volume or Partition on Disk in PowerShell
- Option Four: Extend Volume or Partition on Disk in Settings
1 Open the Win+X menu, and click/tap on Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).
2 Right click or press and hold on the partition/volume (ex: "F") you want to extend, and click/tap on Extend Volume. (see screenshot below)
If Extend Volume is grayed out, then there is not any unallocated space available on the disk to extend the partition/volume into.
3 Click/tap on Next in the Extend Volume Wizard. (see screenshot below)
4 Type in how many MB of unallocated space you want to extend the partition/volume into, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
If you wanted to add all of the unallocated space to the partition/volume, then you type what is shown as the Maximum available space in MB (ex: "10241").
1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB
4 Click/tap on Finish to extend the partition/volume (ex: "F"). (see screenshot below)
5 If you were extending a partition/volume (ex: "D") into noncontiguous unallocated space, then you will be prompted to click/tap on Yes or No to convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk to be able to perform this action. (see screenshot below)
It is not recommended to convert the disk to a dynamic disk unless you are really sure you want to do this.
If this is a disk that Windows is installed on, then click/tap on No.
6 If successful, the selected amount of unallocated space will now be added to the partition/volume (ex: "F"). You can now close Disk Management if you like. (see screenshot below)
1 Open an elevated command prompt or command prompt at boot.
2 Type the commands below one at a time into the command prompt, and press Enter after each command. Make note of the disk number (ex: "2") that contains the Free space (unallocated space) you want to extend a partition/volume on this disk into. (see screenshot below)
diskpart
list disk
3 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
select disk <number>
Substitute <number> in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "2") from step 2 above.
For example:select disk 2
4 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. Make note of the volume number (ex: "5") of the drive letter (ex: "F") you want to extend into the unallocated space. (see screenshot below)
detail disk
5 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
select volume <number>
Substitute <number> in the command above with the actual volume number (ex: "5") from step 4 above.
For example:select volume 5
6 Type the command below you want to use into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
(To extend into all of unallocated space)
extend
OR
(To extend into specified size of unallocated space)
extend size=<size in MB>
Substitute <size in MB> in the command above with the actual size in MB (ex: "10240") you want to extend the partition/volume (ex: "F") into. You will not be able to extend the partition/volume more than the amount of Free space available on the disk shown from step 2 above.
1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB
For example:extend size=10240
If the selected volume (ex: "4") is being extended into noncontiguous unallocated space, then you will get a There is not enough usable free space on specified disk(s) to extend the volume error message below.
You will need to select a volume (ex: "5") to extend into contiguous unallocated space instead.
7 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt.
To see more usage options for the Resize-Partition command, see: Resize-Partition - Microsoft Docs
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type theGet-Partition
command into the elevated PowerShell, press Enter, and make note of the drive letter (ex: "F") of the partition/volume you want to extend on a disk. (see screenshot below)
3 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. Make note of the supported SizeMin (minimum size) and SizeMax (maximum size) in bytes to resize the partition/volume. (see screenshot below)
Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter <Drive Letter>
Substitute <Drive Letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "F") you want to resize from step 2 above.
For example:Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter F
4 Type the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
(To shrink by size in Bytes)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>
OR
(To shrink by size in KB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>KB
OR
(To shrink by size in MB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>MB
OR
(To shrink by size in GB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>GB
OR
(To shrink by size in TB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>TB
Substitute <Drive Letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "F") you want to resize from step 2 above.
Substitute <Size> in the command above with the actual size (ex: "64425958912" in Bytes) you want to resize the partition/volume (ex: "F") by. You will not be able to resize the partition/volume more than the supported SizeMin (minimum size) and SizeMax (maximum size) given from step 3 above.
If you wanted to add all of the unallocated space to this partition/volume (ex: "F"), then you would use the SizeMax (maximum size) for <Size> in the command.
1000 Bytes = 1 KB
1024 KB = 1 MB
1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB
For example:Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "F" -Size 64425958912
5 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 20197.
1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.
2 Click/tap on Storage on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage Disks and Volumes link on the right side. (see screenshot below)
3 Expand open the disk (ex: "Disk 2") that contains the volume or partition you want to extend into adjacent unallocated space on the disk. (see screenshot below)
4 Click/tap on the volume or partition (ex: drive "F") you want to extend into adjacent unallocated space on the disk, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)
5 Click/tap on the Change size button under the Size section. (see screenshot below)
6 Type in a New size in MB (ex: 1025) you want for this volume or partition (ex: drive "F") that is higher than the Current size (ex: 512 MB), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
The Max size (ex: 1025 MB) is the total amount of space available on the disk you can use for this volume or partition (ex: drive "F").
Type the Max size (ex: 1025 MB) for the New size will extend this volume or partition (ex: drive "F") into all of the unallocated space on the disk.
7 You can now close Settings if you like.
That's it,
Shawn
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