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I've a 250GB HDD with 3 drives, C:, D:, E:
C: (25 GB) 6.61 GB FREE
D: (25 GB) 21.0 GB FREE
E: (182GB) 179 GB FREE

But still I cant extend C or D drives. Some software is installed in D drive which is not executing currently. I'm the admin of the system.

4 Answers 4

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Download GParted. Burn a disc from the ISO.

Shrink the third partition to accommodate for the amount of space you want to expand the first two partitions. Move the third partition (to the right, or rather to the other side of the now unpartitoned space, since you will need to expand the second partition into this unused space). Resize the second partition into part of this unused space. Move the second partition to the right to leave the remaining unused space available for the first partition to be expanded into. Resize the first partition.

The reason for this is because the partitions start and end in specific places on the disk and all data within a partition is contiguous (kept together). Although you have free space, you cannot use it to expand your C: partition because the free space you have is not immediately after your C: partition on the disk.

You should have no issues doing all of this before you have to apply any of the steps.

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  • (Unrelated: @BonGart, I just wanted give you a *thumbs up* for your recent contributions to the site. Keep up the great work!)
    – iglvzx
    May 2, 2012 at 0:24
  • @John thanks for the edit :) I do sometimes forget to explain the why of things... curse of being more engineer than teacher
    – Bon Gart
    May 2, 2012 at 1:54
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You need to right 'computer' in menu.

Then click 'manage'

Then 'disk management'

You then need to unallocate the extra space on C & D and then right click the partition you want to re-size and extend it into the unallocated space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im8KlOtsVJM&feature=youtu.be

The top tip is to unallcoate/format the rest of the partition before choosing 'extend'

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    This is incorrect. With multiple volumes, there would be no space for the C: or D: volumes to expand into because of the location of the volumes on the disk. For C: or D: to be expanded, a tool such as GParted would be required to move the D: and E: partitions with their data to allow C: to expand into the unallocated space directly after it on the disk.
    – john
    May 1, 2012 at 19:35
  • The C and D drives would show up in the list. tehy will always be classed as separate drives. Unless, I am mistaken and he has one drive that is showing as three drives. What I'm assuming is C: and D: are separate drives then there will be unallocated space on both drives to extend into.
    – Mark R
    May 1, 2012 at 19:39
  • Oops, I have now re-read what he has said and see I am wrong. yes he will need G Parted or similar solution. In reality he should get a Hirens boot CD and keep it handy as mit has many solutions for disk operations. :D
    – Mark R
    May 1, 2012 at 19:42
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Easiest way IMHO is to use some free graphical partitioning tool. I can recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard Home. Another free one is EaseUS® Partition Master 9.1.1 Home Edition. No need to burn a boot disc just a restart. Procedure should be the same like mentioned by Bon Gart.

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Best option available that I am aware of is to use GParted. It should work, but I have in the past had problems with it - the details evade me at the moment but I think it was something to do with the boot table losing the position of the partitions and had to be updated manually. It is do-able, but irritating.

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