Expanding C:\ partition?
sapat
Posts: 1,735
I only have a 1 terabyte hard drive that I can't replace atm. Is there some way to make the C:\ partition larger and make the D:\ partition smaller? When I go to Disk Management, the only option it gives me is 'Shrink'. The 'Grow' is grayed out. They're all NTFS. Also, why are there 2 or 3 OEM partitions? I thought I only had 1 small partition for recovery, so not sure what the other ones are doing there and what they're for. See attached image.
Lots of stuff I have (as do we all) installs to C:\. I just had my hard drive reformated and my OEM Windows 8.1 reinstalled 2 days ago by Geek Squad (due to major isses). Then yesterday hubby and I decided to put Win10 Home on it so hubby and I could share files again since he lost Homegroup on Win10. Bottom line is....my C:\ partition is only 149 GB, and 61.4 GB is already taken up just by Windows. I still have to install all my 3D graphics programs, Windows Professional Office Suite, and others things I need. This is going to top off my C:\ partition. My D:\ partition has 757 GB free. (There's something on it that's using 7.02 GB and don't have a clue what it is).
Can I take some away from my D and give it to my C? My D is empty because it was my entire content library, and I moved that to an external drive. It's just over 750 GB and my D partition was red lining....literally.
Thanks.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
You would have to shrink the D: drive to make room for the C: drive to grow. However, you should be able to use the D: drive for data, content, and even applications if you wish.
Yes, it is possible to increase the size of the C drive at the cost of decreasing D drive.
Since you do not have anything on D drive, just delete D partition from disk manager,
extend C partition as desired and create new smaller D partition again.
I still recommend to make a backup of your installation, before making changes
to the partition layout - see below.
Long version below.
I assume, you have never done it before, so the operation could danger to your system,
making it unbootable. If you fail in the procedure, you end up in the need to reinstall Windows from the scratch.
First of all, you need to make system image of your current state of the disk.
For that, you need some external storage, for example external hard disk.
The tool is located in Control Panel -> Backup and Restore
From that you need to create system image and emergency repair disk.
You need either Gparted program on the CD or USB memory stick
or any live DVD with Linux - I use Ubuntu for that purpose.
After booting the Linux from DVD, search in menu for Gparted
and start it. Find your disk D in the partition list and shrink its size
to the desired size. Apply operation. Then move the resized D partition
to the end of the space.
After that quit the program and linux.
After you boot up Windows again, you can expand the size of C drive.
I didn't know if I could install any programs on the D: drive. I thought they all wanted to go to C:. But I guess I can just change the installation destination to D: instead of C:. I was thinking there were a lot of programs that wouldn't install if they didn't go to the drive with Windows.
Wow, the thought of that scares me to death since I just spent the last month without my computer and just got it back. I'll have to work up the courage for that kind of procedure. Thanks for the info and the detailed instructions. Will save this.
Gparted can be downloaded as a bootable LIve CD here - https://gparted.org/livecd.php - Its 318MB
Symbolic links might be an easier solution for you, which will have applications use files on the D drive as if they were on the C drive. They basically just make it look like the files and folders are there to anything accessing them, when they are in fact in some other location (like on another drive).
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/
The tutorial at this address tells you how to set up symbolic links. The graphical tool it recommends will be the easiest way to go (it's not exactly graphical per-se, it just adds an option to your right-click menu in folders).
With the tool set up, you can just find a folder that has too much stuff in it and move it onto the other drive. Then you right-click on it where you moved it, click 'Pick link source', and where it used to be you right click again, hover over 'Drop as...' and click 'Symbolic link'. Boom - space freed up on your C drive, no need to mess with partitions, installing or uninstalling your existing programs... everything thinks the stuff is right where it always was. You just have to remember that you did it and where you put them, in case you ever need to do it again. I found that uninstalling a product with Daz Install Manager deletes the symbolic link, but that's easily fixed by just remaking the link.
Google 'Partition Manager'. There are plenty of Windows programs that will resize partitions non destructively. Most cost $/£ but there are some free ones. If you want a basic GUI based program without having get into the nitty gritty it is perfectly possible.
Not saying that these are the best way, just that it is possible if you are not technically minded.
Cool, I'll have to read it more thoroughly and see what hubby thinks. He's the computer person in the house! Thx.
That sounds fairly easy and I'll let hubby know and we can read it and see how he feels about it!
Uh...no, I'm not technically minded. I can install memory, a power supply, a graphics card, and switch out a hard drive, but thats about a 'build your own computer' as I get. No motherboard stuff, too scary for me.
I'll certainly read some tutorials and see how any free ones compare with the options you get in a paid one. This will be a one time thing though, so I hate to pay for one. Thanks