How to extend C Drive in Windows 10 without formatting?

In today’s article, we will discuss How to extend C Drive in Windows 10 without formatting or losing any data. Most of us face low storage space issues in C Drive because everything we install and run in our Computer leaves some data and residual files in it even after uninstalling those programs. For cleaning up those data, you can use CCleaner or any other software, but even if it doesn’t work for you, you can opt for extending your C Drive space if you are not sure what extending C Drive means. Extending, your C Drive denotes allocating more disk space to it from any other disk. So, let’s go dive deep into it.

For extending C Drive or any other drive, it is important to know that it can only be done if there is an unallocated space available in your storage drive. Otherwise, the drive cannot be extended with the Windows Disk Management tool.

How to extend your C Drive in Windows 10 without formatting without any software?

For this purpose, we have come up with an excellent idea for our readers; we will follow the below-mentioned steps to create some free unallocated space adjacent to your C Drive, which can be used to extend your C Drive.

• STEP1 – 1st, we will create a free partition from the existing partition adjacent to C Drive.
• STEP2 – 2nd, we will back up all the data from your previous partition in the newly created partition.
• STEP3 – Now we will safely delete the partition to create an unallocated space adjacent to your C Drive.
• STEP4 – Then, we will add that unallocated space to the C drive to extend its storage space.

Isn’t it smart? So, to implement this, stay tuned to our article and follow the steps below:

STEP 1 – Shrink Adjacent Volume

1. Go to your search box on the taskbar and search for “disk partition.” The search result will show you Create and format hard disk partition. Click on it, the resultant window will show all the partitions(drives) and physical hard drives. Identify the partition/ drive adjacent to your C Drive
2. Now minimize the current window and open your File Explorer. Go to the adjacent Drive of C Drive and note down the storage used and storage available free.
3. Now we will shrink the drive adjacent to drive C (say Drive E) to the extent that it is greater than the storage occupied with data. Again, open your disk management window, right-click on the E Drive and click on the shrink volume option from the group of options available. A window will appear to show the total size of the drive and the extent to which you can shrink your E Drive; in another box, you have to enter the value to shrink in megabytes. Enter your desired megabytes in that box and click on Shrink. Once you click on the Shrink option, the E Drive will Shrink and create an unallocated space just beside it.
   
   
4. Right-click on the unallocated space and click on “New Simple Volume” in the option; two dialogue boxes will appear in which you will have to select the yes options, a default window will open with the name of the new partition/ Drive also. So, just click on next, and finally, they will show a dialogue box for finishing the action, click on finish and proceed.

After following the steps above, a new volume will be created with the default name to check in your file explorer window.

STEP2 – Backup data to newly created partition volume

The next thing we have to do is to take backup of all the data present in your E Drive in the newly created Drive by copying all the data in it.

1. Open File Explorer and select E Drive to copy all the data.
2. Now paste all the copied data in the newly created volume.

All your data are safely backed in the new drive, and the C Drive adjacent drive is ready to be deleted to create unallocated space.

STEP3 – Delete the partition to create an unallocated space adjacent to your C Drive

To delete the E Drive:

1. Open the Disk Management window, click on E Drive, and select the Delete Volume option to delete your E Drive. After deleting the E Drive, you will find the unallocated volume in place of it and which is also just beside your desired C Drive.

STEP4 – Add unallocated volume to C drive to extend its space

1. Right-click on C Drive and select Extend Volume option. Click on next, next, and finish on the following windows.
   
   

Your C Drive will extend up to the free unallocated space available beside it.

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The “Delete Volume” option is grayed out; what to do?

Sometimes while deleting your E Drive, you may find your delete volume option greyed out or disabled. In such a situation, the following steps may help:

• Go to the search box in your taskbar and search for Advanced System Settings and open it.
  
  
• Select Advanced from the top menu.
• Click on the Settings button in the Performance section.
• Again, select Advanced tab and click on the Change button on the Virtual Memory section.
• Uncheck the box that says: “Automatically manage paging file size for all the devices.”
  
• Select the drive, in this case, E Drive, and select “No paging file” and click set.
• Now select C Drive in the same window and select “System managed size.”
  
  

This is done to change the location of page files from E Drive to C Drive. Reboot your computer once you have followed the above steps. And then again, open Create and format a hard disk partition, and now you will find the delete volume option usable with E Drive.

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How to use Diskpart Command to extend C drive in windows 10 without formatting?

If you already have unallocated space adjacent to C Drive, it can be extended using the diskpart command. The steps are as follows:

1. Open Windows PowerShell (Admin) by right-clicking on the start menu.
2. Type the following command and press enter.

   diskpart

3. Type the below-mentioned command. Don’t forget to press enter after each command.
4. Select Volume# and press enter.
5. Extend size=XXXX (enter desired disk size in place of XXXX in MB that is required to be added to C Drive)
   
   

Note: You must have unallocated space adjacent to C Drive and must enter the above commands correctly otherwise may end up losing data.

How to extend C drive in Windows 10 without formatting using Easeus software?

Apart from the method we have discussed above to extend your C Drive in Windows 10, you can also use any 3rd party software to do this task for you. This software enables you to extend the C drive or any other drives even if you don’t have unallocated space beside it.

Easeus Partition Master is among the software that can be used to extend C Drive easily. For using it download from the official site – https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/epm-free.html

then follow these steps to extend C drive in windows 10 without formatting:

1. Open Easeus Partition Master and go to the drive from which you want to allocate space to your C Drive (in this case E Drive).
2. Right-click on it and select Resize/Move option.
3. Drag the blue bar that appears in your screen towards right up to the extent you want to shrink it and allocate to Drive C. Remember, don’t shrink it more than the space taken by your data already in that drive. You will find an unallocated space in between your C Drive and E Drive.
4. Click on Ok.
5. Now go to Local Disk C and select Resize/Move.
   
   
6. Drag the blue bar from right to left up to the extent available.
   
   
7. Click on Ok.
8. Click to Execute 2 Operations on top of the window and select “Apply.” Once you have clicked on Apply, your PC will reboot itself. After restarting, you can check your extended size of C Drive from file explorer.
   
   

Disclaimer: all the above-mentioned methods will only work if your C Drive and unallocated space are in the same physical hard drive.

So, in today’s article of How to extend C Drive in Windows 10 without formatting, we have discussed all the possible methods through which you can increase space in your C Drive without losing your valuable data; I hope you will find it helpful, stay tuned for our next blog.

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