System C: drive runs out of space in Windows 2016 and other servers. When it happens, don't waste a long time to recreate partitions and restore everything from backup. You can increase disk space of C drive in Windows Server fast and easily. When there is free space in other volume on the same disk, you can increase C drive space by shrinking other volume without losing data. If there is no free space on the same disk, you can clone disk to a larger one and increase partition size with extra disk space. This article introduces how to increase partition size in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 easily and safely.
1. Native tool to increase partition size in Server 2016/2019/2022
From Windows Server 2008, Microsoft added advanced "extend volume" function in native Disk Management tool. It is able to increase NTFS partition size without losing data. However, it only works under specific condition. Windows Server 2016 and all subsequent versions inherited the same function without any improvement, so you'll encounter same issue while running this tool.
If you want to increase size of C drive in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 via Disk Management, your disk partition configuration must meet all requirements:
- There is another partition such as D on the right of C drive.
- There are no programs or any Windows services installed in D drive, so you can delete it.
- There's a third partition with plenty of free space to save all files in drive D.
- D must be a primary partition.
To increase C drive disk space in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022:
- Transfer all files in D to other partition (D means the partition behind C drive).
- Press Windows + X together on the keyboard and click Disk Management in the list.
- Right click drive D: and select "Delete Volume", then its disk space will be converted to "unallocated".
- Right click C: drive and select "Extend Volume", simply click Next till Finish in the pop-up dialog boxes.
If you want to increase partition size in Windows server by shrinking other volume, Disk Management cannot help you. Learn why Disk Management is unable to extend C drive by shrinking other volume.
2. Increase partition size in Windows server with safe tool
To decrease and increase partition size in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, third party software is better choice, because:
- They can resize both NTFS and FAT32 partition.
- They can make unallocated space on either left or right while shrinking a partition.
- They can combine unallocated space to either contiguous or any nonadjacent partition on the same disk.
There are many server partition software, but not all can accomplish this task well. Before shrinking and extending partition, you'd better back up server and run safe partition software.
When resizing partition in a server, all parameters of associated disk, partitions and files must be modified correctly, files in some partitions must be moved to new locations. System boot record must be updated if you need to increase system partition size. Therefore, any slight error could cause system/partition damage.
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 changed until click "Apply" to confirm.
- Cancel-at-will - if you applied incorrect operations, it doesn't matter, you can cancel the ongoing operations without causing damage.
- 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.
In addition, it is 30% to 300% faster because of the advanced file-moving algorithm.
To increase C drive space/size in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022:
- Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right click D: drive and select "Resize/Move Volume", drag left border towards right in the pop-up window. (Or enter an amount in the box of "Unallocated space before")
- Right click C: drive and select Resize/Move Volume again, drag the right border towards right to combine unallocated space.
- Click Apply on top left to execute. (Any operations before this step only work in virtual mode.)
- The steps are similar if you want to increase disk space of a data volume, for example how to extend D drive.
- If you want to extend C drive with non-adjacent partition (such as E in my server), there's an additional step to move partition D to the right.
- If you want to increase RAID partition size in Server 2016/2019/2022, there's no difference. Note: do not break array or do any operations to RAID controller
- If there's no available free space on the same disk, you can copy disk to a larger one and increase partition size with extra disk space.
3. How to increase disk space in VMware/Hyper-V
If you run Windows server as virtual machine in VMware or Hyper-V, similarly, check if there's enough free space on the same disk. If yes, simply install NIUBI to the virtual server and follow the steps above.
If there's no available free space on the same virtual disk, follow the steps to increase disk space of Windows Server in VMware/Hyper-V:
- Expand virtual disk size for VMware VMDK and Hyper-V VHD/VHDX. Then additional space will be shown as unallocated at the end of original disk.
- Follow the method to move unallocated space and combine to C drive (or other partitions).
Besides shrinking, extending and moving partitions, NIUBI Partition Editor helps merge, convert, defrag, hide, wipe partition, set read-only attribute, scan bad sectors and much more.
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