Windows Server 2012 add disk space to C drive
This article introduces how to add space to C drive on Windows Server 2012 (R2), shrink other partition to get free space and then add Unallocated space to C drive.
Add space to C drive in Server 2012 Disk Management
Windows Server 2012 Disk Management inherited Shrink and Extend Volume functionalities to change size of allocated disk partition, so many people try to add free space from D to C drive but failed. In fact, you can’t add space to C drive in Server 2012 DM by shrinking another one.
Shrink Volume can only decrease a drive to the left and produce Unallocated space on the right. Extend Volume can only expand the drive with adjacent Unallocated space on its right.
As you see, Unallocated space is produced on the right when shrinking drive D. Extend Volume option is grayed out for both drive C and E.
Because the 20GB Unallocated space is nonadjacent to drive C and is on the left side of E.
The only way to add space to C drive in Server 2012 DM is by deleting the adjacent partition (D:). (Tip: if the right adjacent partition is Logical, you still cannot extend C drive.)
If there are programs and/or Windows services running from drive D, do not delete it.
Add space to C drive from D (contiguous partition)
Obviously, the native Disk Management is not the best tool to accomplish this task. Instead, you’d better use 3rd party safe partition software. However, some unreliable partition software could cause system damage and data loss. If it happens, you have to start from scratch or waste a long time to restore from backup.
As the safest tool, NIUBI Partition Editor provides 1 Second Rollback technology to ensure system and data intact. If any software error or hardware issue occur, it is able to reverts the server to original status in a flash. If it happens, server could back online in a short time and nothing will be changed or damaged.
It also provides Virtual Mode to avoid incorrect operations, Cancel-at-will technology to cancel wrong but ongoing operations, Hot-Resize to extend volume on the fly, unique File-Moving algorithm to resize and move partition much faster.
When there is plenty of free space in the adjacent partition such as D, you can simply drag and drop on the disk map to shrink it and produce Unallocated space on the left, and then add disk space to C drive. No other operation is needed, even if you use hardware RAID arrays such as RAID 0, 1, 5.
Download NIUBI Partition Editor and you’ll see all disk partitions on the right, available operations to selected disk or partition are listed on the left or by right clicking.
Steps to add space to C drive on Windows Server 2012 (R2):
Right click the contiguous partition (D) and select “Resize/Move Volume”, drag left border rightwards in the pop-up window:
This partition (D) is shrank and Unallocated space is produced on its left side.
Right click C drive and select “Resize/Move Volume” again, drag right border rightwards in the pop-up window.
Unallocated space is added into C drive.
Click Apply on top left to execute, done.
NIUBI is designed to work in its virtual mode, you can click Undo to cancel the pending operations or click Apply to modify real disk partitions.
Add space to C drive from E (nonadjacent partition)
If there is not enough free space in the adjacent drive D, you can shrink E or other non-adjacent partition. In this situation, you need an additional step to move partition.
Follow Steps 1 above, you’ll get Unallocated space on the left side of drive E.
Right click drive D and select “Resize/Move Volume”, drag middle position rightwards in the pop-up window:
Unallocated space will be moved from right of D to the left. Follow Step 3 to add the Unallocated space to C drive.
In Summary
Server 2012 built-in Disk Management cannot extend a volume by shrinking another one. To add space to C drive for Windows Server 2012, you’d better back up and use safe partition software. Because of the unique and powerful technologies, NIUBI Partition Editor help you solve this problem fast and safely.
