Move Data from C Drive to D Drive

We wrote about how to extend C Drive with unallocated space from other drive, which is often the conventional way of increasing free space on system drive, we do another way to slow system partition low disk space problem, this time, we can move data from C Drive to any partition with enough free space instead moving unallocated space to it.

The theory is to move non-system related files to other area to save it as a backup if you don’t want to delete them to free up space on C Drive.

Move data in Partition Expert

Download, install, and run Partition Expert, then:

1. Right-click on a large partition with enough free space and choose Resize/Move Volume.
2. In the resizing window, hold and drag the handle inward to shrink this volume and create unallocated space. Then click OK to continue. (If there is already enough unallocated space to keep data from C Drive on your disk, you can feel free to skip this step)
3. Right-click on C Drive and choose Copy Volume, then click on the unallocated space we just created and click Next to proceed.

Then resize this space by adjusting the handle on each side (or just click OK to use the entire unallocated space) then Partition Expert will create a new partition on the chosen area, and then the entire C Drive is moved to this place after you clicked the Commit button.

Then Explore Volume on C Drive to delete unwanted files, folders, programs and downloaded zips. Then Explore Volume again on the copied partition to delete all the system programs and files, leave only personal data on this drive.

Some notes before moving

Firstly, this method can be applied to computers that have set download path to C Drive and always git clone repos to this volume. If deleted space is not a contributor to free up C Drive space, move unallocated space is still the recommended way to increase system partition size.

Secondly, When you Shrink Volume on D Drive (or other partition) in Disk Management to create unallocated space for C Drive extending, only to find that Disk Management cannot move unallocated space, or to be more precise, the Extend Volume is grayed out because of the unallocated space shrank from D Drive is not continuous to C Drive. Under this circumstance, we can move data from C Drive to the unallocated space and delete unwanted files to free up C Drive space again.