It can't be better if you can add more space to C drive when it is getting full, otherwise, you have to recreate partitions and restore everything from backup. In that case, server will be offline for such a long time. There are many tools and methods to help add free space to C drive in Windows server. In this article, I'll introduce how to add space to C drive in Windows Server 2019/2022 with Windows native tool and the safest server partition software.
Add space to C drive in Server 2019/2022 without software
Windows native Disk Management and diskpart have the ability to add Unallocated space to C drive without losing data, however, they only work under particular condition. Disk Management has graphical interface, diskpart works via command prompt. Although they work in different way, they have same limitations while shrinking and extending partition. Here I only introduce have to add more space to C drive in Server 2019/2022 with Disk Management. If you are interested with diskpart, follow the steps below:
- How to shrink partition with diskpart in Windows Server 2019
- How to extend partition with diskpart in Windows Server 2019
To add space to C drive in Windows Server 2019/2022 via Disk Management, your disk partition configuration must meet all requires below:
- There's another contiguous partition on the right of C drive.
- You did not install programs to the right contiguous partition, so you can delete it.
- There's third partition to save all files in the partition that you should delete.
- The right contiguous partition D (or E in some server) should be Primary.
How to add space to C drive in Windows Server 2019/2022 via Disk Management:
- Transfer all files in the right adjacent partition D (or E) to other place.
- Press Windows + X on your keyboard to open Disk Management.
- Right click D: drive and select Delete Volume, then its disk space will be changed to Unallocated.
- Right click system C: drive and select Extend Volume.
- Simply click Next till Finish in the pop-up dialog box.
If you cannot delete the right adjacent partition or if it is Logical drive, you need to run third party software.
Add space to C drive from D/E with safe partition tool
Before starting, you'd better make a backup and select the safest tool, because there's potential system damage and data loss risk while resizing disk partition. Better than other disk partition tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has advanced 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 you click "Apply" to confirm.
- Cancel-at-well - if you applied wrong operations, you can cancel the ongoing operations without damage partitions.
- 1 Second Rollback - if any error is detected while resizing partitions, it automatically reverts server to original status in a flash.
- Hot Clone - clone disk partition without server interruption. You can clone system disk regularly and boot from the clone disk immediately when system disk is down.
How to add free space to C drive in Windows Server 2019/2022 from D or E:
- Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right click the contiguous partition D: (in some server it is E:) and select "Resize/Move Volume". In the pop-up window, you may either drag left border towards right or enter an amount in the box of "Unallocated space before". Then drive D will be shrunk and some Unallocated will be made on the left side.
- Right click system C: drive and select "Resize/Move Volume" again, drag right border towards right to merge this Unallocated space, then C drive will be extended.
- Click Apply on top left to execute, done.
- If you want to add free space from a nonadjacent partition, there's an additional step to move Unallocated space before ading to C drive.
- This software is designed to work in virtual mode, real disk partitions won't be changed until click Apply to confirm.
- If you use any types of hardware RAID arrays such as RAID 1/5/6/10, do not break array or do any operation to RAID controller, simply follow the steps in the video.
Add free space to C drive in Server 2019/2022 with a disk
In some servers, there's no other data partition or unavailable free space on the same disk. In that case, no software can add free/Unallocated space to C drive from another separate/different disk. In that case, you can add more space to C drive in Windows Server 2019/2022 by cloning disk to a larger one. Follow the steps in the video:
Add disk space to C drive in VMware/Hyper-V
If you run Windows Server 2019/2022 as guest virtual machine in VMware or Hyper-V, firstly check if there's available free space on the same virtual disk. If yes, simply follow the steps in first video and there's no difference.
If there's unavailable free space on the same disk, unlike local server to clone disk, you can expand virtual disk directly.
After expanding the virtual disk, additional space is shown as Unallocated at the end, then follow the steps to move and merge Unallocated space to C drive.Besides shrinking, extending, moving and copying disk partition, NIUBI Partition Editor helps do many other disk partition management operations.
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