Can someone please explain to me why Windows doesn't have a way to add my unallocated space to my Windows partition?

Question

I just upgraded to a larger SSD hard drive (256GB to 1TB) and now I cannot use the extra space I gained and the old space as one partition. In disk management the unallocated space and the Windows partition are "separated" by my recovery drive so I cannot extend the partition for this reason. I have searched but the only solutions I could find were (1) to make a recovery drive USB and then delete my recovery partition using DISKPART, making my windows partition and the unallocated space "next" to each other, and then save the USB somewhere in case I ever need it. I do not want to do this. And (2) use third party software. My Windows partition is basically full so I cannot install new software or add files to my C: drive. I am on Windows 10 currently by the way.

My Questions are:

1. Is there a way to do this at all WITHOUT deleting my recovery partition and WITHOUT using third party software? Like, is there a way to allocate space on the same drive and just move the recovery files or some other work around like this?
2. If that isn't possible with Windows tools, then is there a reason Windows doesn't allow this? (When it is clearly possible to do with third party software) It seems to me that it's more of a software issue than a hardware issue if other programs can do it, so what's the deal with that?
3. Is there a reason that when a system image is copied to a larger hard drive that the recovery partition isn't made after the unallocated space so that the extra space can be used without making an extra partition for no apparent reason. Or maybe a better question is what is the reason that the space has to be "next" to each other in the first place? (I hope I'm making sense)

Can someone please explain this because so far everyone offers alternatives but doesn't explain why it isn't possible?

Thanks

Answer 1

02/20/2022 11:15 PM

It took approximately 1 1/2 hours for the post to make it to the thread.

So much time was wasted.

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This is more information on the dynamic movement of the Windows data and recovery partitions:

We recommend that you place this partition immediately after the Windows partition.   

This allows Windows to modify and recreate the partition later if future updates require a larger recovery image.  

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions?view=windows-11

Create a separate recovery partition to support automatic failover and to support booting Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption-encrypted partitions.

We recommend that you place this partition in a separate partition, immediately after the Windows partition.   

This allows Windows to modify and recreate the partition later if future updates require a larger recovery image.  

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-biosmbr-based-hard-drive-partitions?view=windows-11

The above Microsoft links are for recovery partitions on UEFI and MBR partitions.

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Answer 2

Were the links useful in explaining the dynamic Windows partitions?

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