Extend / Shrink Volume on Windows Server 2016

by Jane / Tue Dec 26 2017 / UPDATED in Partition Magic Server

Resizing partition on Server disks becomes the daily operations when Server starts to provide more reactions and data transfer services, C Drive, the system partition, is the one always runs out space and show low disk space warning. In this page we’ll guide through resizing Server C Drive with Server Disk Manager Disk Management and Third-party Server disk partition manager Partition Expert Server.

Before we start

Although we’re using Windows Server 2016 to resize C Drive, this guide works on other Windows Server systems like Server 2012, 2008 and even Server 2003.

The disk we’re testing is Basic Disk not Dynamic Disk, which has different methods to approach the same purpose.

Shrink Volume in Disk Management

Run Disk Management from the shortcut Windows + R and type diskmgmt.msc, press enter to open Disk Management. Then:

  1. Right-click on the partition you’d like to shrink and choose Shrink Volume
  2. Type in the desired mount to shrink this volume or just use the recommended size Disk Management had just calculated.
  3. Waiting for a while, seconds or minutes, depends on the capacity you’re shrinking, then you get a decreased partition and an unallocated space.

The Shrink Volume function is always used to create unallocated space which will be the source free space for creating new volume or extending volume on Dynamic disk.

Unallocated space created by shrinking volume on a basic disk can’t be used for extending volume ahead of the partition shrank. Simple explanation: The idea of shrinking D Drive for extending C Drive is not gonna work on a basic disk.

Shrink Volume with Partition Expert

Download the Server Edition of Partition Expert, directly run the software from the portable package, click Yes to the UAC dialog and:

  1. Right-click on the target partition and choose Resize/Move Volume to open the resize window
  2. There are two handles on each side of the partition bar, drag one of which to shrink volume or just type in the specific number to decrease this volume, click OK when you’re OK with the preview effect
  3. Click Commit in the main window to actually shrink this volume.

What’s the difference between Disk Management and Partition Expert?

Well, take shrink volume for example, the shrinking effect is more vivid and intuitive, the speeding of shrink is faster.

Extend Volume in Disk Management

To active the Extend Volume option, please make sure there’s continuous unallocated space after C Drive, or the Extend Volume feature will be grayed out. If the option is clickable, then:

Choose Extend Volume and follow the Extend Volume Wizard to extend C Drive

If there’s no unallocated space on the disk, the only way to create it is to delete the partition next C Drive, mostly it’s D Drive, so backup D Drive and delete it, then the entire D Drive becomes unallocated space. Then we are free to extend C Drive.

When D Drive has large capacity and extending volume on C Drive only took little of the free space, the rest of it can be used to create D Drive again.

Extend Volume with Partition Expert

Extend Volume in Partition Expert is easy, that’s why we develop this program, resize and move without data loss.

In Partition Expert, there’s no need to delete a partition and make space unallocated, remember the Shrinking step, right? You can create unallocated space with this feature and move D Drive without deleting.

How to move D Drive?

resize_move_volume

How to Extend C Drive

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