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C Drive Low on Space, D Drive Has Plenty - How to Reallocate Disk Space?

Anonymous
2024-12-02T06:56:37+00:00

Hi, I need help with disk partitioning. I have a 256GB laptop I bought about 4 years ago. Over time, my C drive has filled up, and now I only have about 5GB left, which is always in red. But my D drive still has around 190GB of free space.

I want to move 30GB from D to C, but I'm facing some issues:

  1. Using Windows Disk Management:
  • I shrank the D drive to create free space, but it didn’t fix the issue.
  • The 30GB unallocated space is next to D, yet Windows won’t let me merge it with C, and the "Extend Volume" option is grayed out.
  1. I followed an online tutorial:
  • Shrink the D drive, create an E drive, move files from D to E, and then delete D to add the space to C.
  • But this didn’t work because:
    • The new E drive was smaller than expected, even though D had at least half of its space free before shrinking.
    • I couldn't finish transferring files.

I've looked into third-party tools, but most aren’t free. Has anyone dealt with this before or know of a simple, free solution?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. DaveM121 871.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-12-03T07:22:16+00:00

    On that menu, choose the Resize option, then resize the partition to create free space on the drive, then click the 'Apply' button at the top left.

    When that completes, right click the C drive partition and choose 'Merge' then add the space you have created, and again, click the 'Apply' button at the top left and wait for that process to complete.

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  1. DaveM121 871.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-12-02T08:26:40+00:00

    Thank you for the screenshot.

    Because Windows has limited partitioning ability, it can only merge the C drive partition into space that is directly to the right of the partition, you will need to use a 3rd party partitioning tool to merge the C drive partition into that space, the free version of AOMEI Partition Assistant will be able to perform that task for you.,

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  1. DaveM121 871.3K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-12-02T07:31:11+00:00

    Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    Before I can provide you with a solution, I need to see the partition structure.

    Open Disk Management, then expand the bottom pane so all drives and partitions are visible in that pane, please provide a screenshot of that window.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-12-03T01:47:42+00:00

    Actually, I’ve already tried AOMEI. I found an official guide here:

    https://www.diskpart.com/res/add-disk-space-from-d-drive-to-c.html#:~:text=How%20to%20Use%20AOMEI%20Partition,C%20drive%20from%20D%20drive.

    It told me to click the "Allocate Free Space" option, but I couldn’t find it on my page. I think it’s for the paid version.

    I tried exploring a bit, but I felt like it might mess up my computer more, so I gave up.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-02T08:22:58+00:00

    Hey Dave! Is this screenshot okay?

    There's 15GB of space after the D drive. I think I messed up the partitioning when I first set it up 4 years ago.

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