How to Resize Partition in Windows 10 Without Losing Data

by John, Updated on: October 17, 2022

Disk partitions was allocated when installing Windows or by computer manufacturers. Many people are wondering if it's possible to resize partition in Windows 10 without losing data. Because C drive runs low on disk space, nobody likes to start from scratch. C drive out of space is common issue in Windows 10 laptop/desktop/tablet. To adjust partition size in Windows 10, it is not an easy task to many users. In technical forums, many people ask similar questions such as: "is it possible to re-size disk partition without reinstalling OS, my c drive is full but there is plenty in D", "Is it safe to resize my Windows 10 drives, will it cause data damage?" In this article I'll introduce how to resize partition in Windows 10 with native Disk Management tool and best free partition software.

Windows 10 HDD/SSD partition resizing tools

There are two kinds of tools to help change partition size in Windows 10: native Disk Management and 3rd-party disk partition software. Disk Management can help you shrink NTFS partition to create new volume. If you want to extend a partition by shrinking another one, you have to run partition software.

Some people like to use Windows native tools thinking they have best compatibility, but it's not true. Disk Management destroyed my partitions several times when I shrinking partition. Be careful when there are both Primary and Logical partitions on a disk.

To adjust partition size for Windows 10 laptop/desktop/tablet, third party software is much more powerful. However, few partitioning software are safe enough. Therefore, before resizing partition, you'd better make a backup and run the safest tool. Otherwise, your system and partitions may be damaged.

Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has unique 1 Second Rollback, Virtual Mode and Cancel-at-well technologies to protect system and data. In addition, it is able to clone disk partition without rebooting. Its advanced file-moving algorithm helps resize partition 30% to 300% faster.

How to resize partition in Windows 10 using Disk Management:

Windows 10 Disk Management has no "resize volume" function, partition resizing is realized by Shrink Volume and Extend Volume functions. Note: only NTFS partition is supported. FAT32 and any other types of partitions can't be resized by this native tool.

To shrink volume in Windows 10:

  1. Press Windows and X on keyboard and click Disk Management in the list.
  2. Right click a NTFS partition and select Shrink Volume.
  3. In the pop-up window, enter the amount of space and then click Shrink to execute.

To extend volume in Windows 10:

  1. Right click the right adjacent partition (such as D:) and select Delete Volume.
  2. Right click the left adjacent partition (such as C:) and select Extend Volume.
  3. Simply click Next in the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard window.
  4. Confirm the operation and click Finish to proceed.

Some people may ask why not shrinking D to extend C drive, because Disk Management has no such ability. The "Extend Volume" function only works when there's contiguous Unallocated space on the right. "Shrink Volume" function cannot make such required Unallocated space. As you see the screenshot in my computer, after shrinking D drive, Unallocated space is on the right of D. It is nonadjacent to C drive and is on the left of E drive. This is the reason why Extend Volume is disabled for both partitions.

Extend Volume greyed

Disadvantages to resize partition in Windows 10 using Disk Management:

  1. It can only shrink and extend NTFS partition, any other partitions are not supported.
  2. It can only shrink partition towards left and make Unallocated space on the right.
  3. It cannot shrink a partition to the point where unmovable files are located.
  4. It can only extend partition when there's contiguous Unallocated space on the right.

Change partition size in Window 10 with free partition software

To resize partition in Windows 10 without losing data, NIUBI Partition Editor is better choice. Both NTFS and FAT32 partition can be resized. Unallocated space can be made on either left or right when shrinking partition. This space can be combined to any contiguous and non adjacent partitions on the same disk. It has free edition for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP home computer users.

Download the free edition, you'll see all storage devices with partitions structure and other information on the right, available operations are listed on the left and by right clicking.

NIUBI Partition Editor

How to resize partition in Windows 10 without losing datat:

Right click a partition (here is D:) and select "Resize/Move Volume", you have two options in the pop-up window.

Option 1: If you drag left border towards right in the pop-up window,

Shrink D

Then partition D is resized and Unallocated space is made on the left.

Shrink D rightwards

Option 2: If you drag right border towards left in the pop-up window,

Shrink D

Then Unallocated space will be made on the right side of D drive.

Shrink D lefttwards

If you want to extend C drive partition, follow Option 1 above to make Unallocated space on the left of D. Then right click C: drive and select "Resize/Move Volume" again, drag right border rightwards to combine this Unallocated space.

Extend C drive

Then two pending operations are created on bottom left, you need to click Apply on top left to take effect.

Resize partition C

If you want to extend partition E, follow Option 2 above to make Unallocated space on the right of D drive. Then right click E: and select "Resize/Move Volume" again, drag left border leftwards to combine the Unallocated space.

Extend E drive

Resize partition E

If you want to shrink E to extend non adjacent partition C, follow the steps below:

  1. Shrink drive E: and make Unallocated space on the left side.
  2. Move Unallocated space from right side of drive D: to the left.
  3. Add Unallocated space to C drive.

To move Unallocated space from right to the left, right click drive D: and select "Resize/Move Volume", drag the middle of D drive towards right in the pop-up window:

Move drive D

Watch the video guide how to change partition size in Windows 10 without losing data:

Video guide

Besides resizing partition in Windows 10 computer, NIUBI Partition Editor helps you move, merge, copy, convert, defrag, wipe, hide partition, scan bad sectors and much more.

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