How to Extend Partition/Volume in Windows Server 2008 R2

When system C drive is getting full in Windows 2008 server, if you contact support from OEM manufacturer, they'll tell you to back up everything, delete and recreate partitions, finally restore from backup. If you do like that, the whole weekend will be wasted. It can't be better if you extend Server 2008 partition with free space in another volume. Better than previous version, Windows Server 2008 has Diskpart command and Disk Management to help extend partition without losing data (in most cases). However, they only work under restricted condition. In most cases, you still need disk partition software. This article introduces how to extend volume in Windows Server 2008 (R2) with 3 kinds of tools.

1. Extend volume in Windows Server 2008 with Disk Management

To extend Server 2008 partition with Disk Management, your disk partition structure must meet all requirements below:

1. The partition that you want to extend (such as C:) must be formatted with NTFS file system.
2. There is another partition (such as D:) adjacent and on the right of the drive that you want to extend.
3. You must delete the right contiguous partition (D) to get Unallocated space before extending partition (C).
4. On MBR disk, the partitions that you want to delete and extend must be the same Primary or Logical partition.

If your disk partition configuration meet the requirements, you can extend Server 2008 volume without any software.

How to extend volume in Server 2008 R2 with Disk Management:

1. Press Windows + R hot-keys together, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.
2. Right click the right adjacent partition (such as D:) and select Delete Volume, then the disk space will be changed to Unallocated.
3. Right click the partition that you want to extend (such as C:) and select Extend Volume.
4. Simply follow up the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard.

Together with Extend Volume, there is another Shrink Volume function in Disk Management, why not extend C drive by shrinking D or other partition?

2. How to extend Server 2008 partition with diskpart cmd

The same with previous Server 2003, you can extend partition in Windows Server 2008 (R2) with Diskpart command. But the same with Disk Management, diskpart can only extend NTFS partition by deleting the right contiguous volume. Diskpart works in different way, but it has same restrictions with Disk Management tool.

Steps to extend partition in Windows Server 2008 with Diskpart command:

1. Press Windows + R hot-keys together, type diskpart and press Enter.
2. Input list volume and press Enter in the command prompt window, then you'll see all partitions.
3. Input select volume D and press Enter. (D is the right adjacent drive.)
4. Input delete volume and press Enter.
5. Input select volume C and press Enter. (C is the partition that you want to extend.)
6. Input extend and press Enter.

Note: if you want to extend this partition with only part of Unallocated space, input extend desired=XX (XX is amount in MB).

3. Extend volume in Server 2008 R2 with NIUBI Partition Editor

To extend volume in Windows 2008 server, third party software is better choice. Because comparing with Windows native tools, disk partition software has many advantages such as:

• They can shrink and extend both NTFS and FAT32 partitions.
• They can make Unallocated space on either left or right side while shrinking a partition.
• They can add Unallocated space to either contiguous and any nonadjacent partitions on the same disk.
• Move, merge, convert, wipe, copy disk partition, scan bad sectors, optimize file system and much more.

Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has powerful technologies to protect system and data:

• Virtual Mode - all operations will be listed as pending for preview, real disk partitions won't be modified until click "Apply" to confirm.
• Cancel-at-will - if you applied wrong operations, you can cancel the ongoing operations without damaging partitions.
• 1 Second Rollback - if any error is detected while resizing partition, it automatically reverts server to original status in a flash.
• Hot Clone - clone disk partition without server interruption, you can clone system disk regularly as backup and boot from the clone disk directly when system disk is down.

How to extend partition in Windows Server 2008 R2 without losing data:

① Download NIUBI Partition Editor and you'll see the main window with disk partition structure and other information.

② Right click D: (the right adjacent volume) and select "Resize/Move Volume", drag left border towards right in the pop-up window. You may also enter an amount in the box behind "Unallocated space before" (1024MB = 1GB).

③ Right click C: drive and select "Resize/Move Volume", drag right border towards right to combine this Unallocated space.

To modify real disk partition, remember to click Apply on top left to execute. Otherwise, these operations only work in virtual mode. Watch the video how to operate.

Besides shrinking and extending partition in Windows Server 2008/2012/2016/2019/2022, NIUBI Partition Editor helps you do many other disk and partition management operations.

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