If there's only C drive (except reserved small partitions) on system disk, you'd better shrink it to create more partitions. For example, at least one separate partition for programs. Don't throw everything to C drive. Otherwise, your computer will runs slower and C drive will become full very quickly. To shrink C drive in Windows 11 desktop/laptop/tablet, there are 2 options with native Disk Management and third party software. This article introduces how to shrink C drive in Windows 11 computer without losing data or programs.
Shrink C drive in Windows 11 via Disk Management
From Windows 7, new "Shrink Volume" and "Extend Volume" functions are added in Disk Management. Windows 11 has the same functions without modification. It is easy to shrink C drive volume in Windows 11 via Disk Management, but in some cases, this native tool doesn't work. I'll talk about this in next section.
How to shrink C drive in Windows 11 with Disk Management:
- Press Windows + X together on your keyboard, and then you'll see Disk Management in the list.
- Right click C: drive and select "Shrink Volume".
- All available space will be given by default, enter a smaller amount if you want to keep more free space in C drive.
- Finally click Shrink to proceed. C drive will be shrunk in a short time.
Caution: take care of your data if C drive is on a MBR disk and there are logical drives on the same disk. I've encountered the issue several times that Disk Management destroyed my partitions.
The cases cannot shrink C drive in Windows 11
Disk Management can only shrink and extend NTFS partitions, however, it is not an issue to C drive, because the system partition is formatted with NTFS by default. But you still cannot shrink volume C in Windows 11 with Disk Management in some cases.
1. File system error
When there's file system error in C drive, "Shrink Volume" option is activated but "Shrink" button is grayed out in pop-up window.
2. Unmovable files
If there are unmovable files in C drive, even if there is plenty of free space, Disk Management gives you little or even 0MB space to shrink.
If you want to decrease C drive to extend System Reserved, EFI, Recovery or other data partition, Disk Management cannot help you. Because the Extend Volume option is always grayed out.
Shrink C drive in Windows 11/10 with free partition software
Comparing with Windows Disk Management, third party partition software is much more powerful. There are many disk partition software for Windows 11 computer, but NIUBI Partition Editor is recommended by many users. It is 100% free for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP home computer users. It is 100% clean without any bundled advertisement or plugins.
The most attractive aspect, it is much safer and faster. This program has unique 1-Second Rollback, Virtual Mode, Cancel-at-will and Hot-Clone technologies to protect system and data. The special file-moving algorithm helps shrink, move and clone partition 30% to 300% faster. To shrink C drive in Windows 11 computer with NIUBI, you just need to click, drag and drop on the disk map.
Download NIUBI free edition and you'll see all storage devices with partition layout on the main window. Single partitions are listed with detailed information on the top. Right click a partition or the front of a disk, you'll see available operations.
How to shrink C drive in Windows 11/10/8/7 without losing data:
- Right click C: drive partition and select "Resize/Move Volume".
- Drag right border towards left in the pop-up window, then unallocated space will be made on the right.
- Click "Apply" on top left to take effect.
If you want to make unallocated space on the left of C drive, drag left border towards right in step 2.
After shrinking C: drive, you can create new volume(s) or add unallocated space to other partition to increase free space. Watch the video how to shrink C drive partition in Windows 11 to create new volumes:
Follow the steps in the video if you want to extend System Reserved, EFI or Recovery partition by shrinking C drive.
Besides shrinking volume in Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP, this free partition software helps you clone disk partition to back up or migrate system/data, convert disk partition type, defrag, hide, wipe partition, scan bad sectors and much more.
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