Merge two partitions on Windows Server 2016
Sometimes you need to merge two disk partitions, for example: when a partition is running out of disk space, by merging another drive, free space will be transferred to this partition. As we know, it is not a good idea to create single C drive in a disk and throw everything into it, but you may create too many partitions. In this situation, you can decrease the number of drives by merging them together.
In this article, I’ll show you how to merge/combine partitions in Windows Server 2016 without losing data.
Merge partitions with Disk Management
Merge partitions with Disk ManagementWindows Server 2016 native Disk Management utility has no “Merge Volume” feature, but you can combine two partitions with “Extend Volume” indirectly.
Steps to merge partitions in Server 2016 Disk Management:
Back up or transfer files in drive E to other place.
Press 
and 
on keyboard and then select Disk Management.
Right click drive E and select Delete Volume, the disk space will be converted to Unallocated.
Right click drive D and select Extend Volume.
Extend Volume Wizard will be launched, simply click Next till Finish.
In a while, the Unallocated space that is deleted from drive E merged into D.
Combine partitions with software
Combine partitions with softwareThird party partition software such as NIUBI Partition Editor provides “Merge Volume” function, so you can combine partitions in Windows Server 2016 directly.
Steps to merge partitions in Server 2016 with NIUBI:
Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right click drive D or E and select Merge Volume.
Click the checkbox in front of both D: and E:, and then click the drop-down box on bottom to select destination drive. If you select D:, partition E will be merged into D.
Click OK and back to the main window, where you’ll see that partition D and E are combined together. There is a pending operation “Merge volume E: to D:” added on bottom left. Click “Apply” on top left to execute.
NIUBI Partition Editor is designed to work in virtual mode, the operations you do won’t be executed immediately, instead, they’ll be listed as pending for preview. You may click Undo to cancel the unwanted operations or click Apply to execute.
Open partition D after it finish, as you see, there is a new folder named as “E to D (date and time)” created. All files in partition E are moved to this folder automatically.
Shortage of merging partition drive
Comparing with Windows Disk Management, NIUBI Partition Editor is easier and files can be moved automatically. You may use either solution above to merge two data partitions.
However, if you want to combine partition D to C, it is NOT a good idea. In most of the servers, programs and part of Windows services are running from partition D, they’ll stop working after merging, because partition D will be deleted.
If you want to extend C drive or other partitions, the best way is by shrinking another drive, so Operating System, programs, Windows service and anything else keeps the same after partition resizing.
Watch the video how to shrink and extend partition on Windows Server 2016:
In Summary
To merge disk partitions in Windows Server 2016, you may either use native Disk Management or 3rd-party software. Remember to back up or transfer data before running Disk Management. To merge hard drive in Server 2016, NIUBI Partition Editor is much easier. You just need several clicks and files will be moved automatically.
If your aim is to increase size of a partition, I suggest you resize partition instead of merging, so you won’t lose any partition and everything keeps the same.
