Normally, while expanding partition during Windows installation, we keep the storage space for System Partition at least close to 100GB. Eventually, however, the storage bar indicator turns red and you feel the need for more storage space on your drive. Well, you probably have to know that the disk management utility inbuilt in Windows 10 won’t let you extend your system drive. Even though you have enough unallocated space, Extend partition option will be greyed out.
Little brother to BIG brother.
Yes, you can manually extend the system partition by backing up the logical drives and deleting them. And, then extend the system partition by the available space. But, it is a tedious job and will take too much time. So here I want to show you how you can easily extend the system partition without doing any backup or logical partition deletion.
How to extend system partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant
The software we will use here is called AOMEI Partition Assistant. Why this particular software you ask? Well, I first tried EaseUS Partition Master but it didn’t work on my Windows 10 machine. So I tried this software and it works perfectly. You can also try EaseUS Partition master if you want. However, AOMEI Partition Assistant is used for this tutorial. And, we totally recommend it.
Download and install the software. The software is packed with features with some being blocked behind the wall of fees. However, one feature that we are going to use here is free. It is called Expand Partition Wizard.
You can approach this system partitioning guide in two ways. You can let the software shrink the logical drives for you. Or you yourself can shrink a specific logical drive and create unallocated space. If you want the wizard to select a specific unallocated space then you should approach the second way. However, if you want the wizard to automatically shrink logical drives and transfer space to the system partition, then choose the first way.
For the second way, only the unallocated space will be used. No downscaling will be applied. So the second way will be faster. If you have an SSD on your PC, then you can choose the first way. It will speed up the process and will shrink faster.
No idea about SSD? Here’s a quick guide to SSDs and its types.
Method-1: Select logical drive for free space (Auto Shrink)
Step 1: Open the software and click on Expand Partition Wizard.
Step 2: In New Window you will have two options. Select Extend system partition. It will be selected by default. Click Next.
Step 3: The next dialog box will provide an option to automatically extend the partition. This will automate the process of selecting logical drives to shrink. Don’t do that. Press only Next. Now, here select the logical drives that you want to shrink. (The drive for which you want to give some space to the system drive.) And press Next.
Step 4: On the next screen, set the partition size for your system drive. You can drag to set a value or add a value manually. But, not greater than the maximum partition value. Once selected, click Next.
Step 4: The next screen will show you where the drive memory is being taken from. If there is unallocated space with other drives, the wizard will also take those unallocated space. Don’t worry, only the drive you selected will be shrunk. That too, only when necessary. If the drive has enough unallocated space, it will be used.
So, after the partitioning process is finished, you will get the following message.
Here, I added 20GB to my system drive. Next, I will add another 20 GB using the second method by selecting the unallocated space.
Don’t know how to shrink partition? Here is a quick guide on how to use Disk Management Utility
Method-2: Use Unallocated Space (Minimize Manually)
As stated before, this method is slightly faster. The above method takes 18 minutes and this one takes 14 minutes. The time completely depends on your system configuration. The process is quite similar. You just need to click on a link shown in Step 3 above. Links are provided below.
You will then have to add the required space to your system drive. Note that only unallocated space is given to the system drive.
Then follow the rest of the steps shown in Method 1 and you’re ready to go. You have successfully extended your system partition without any trouble.
Better native support is needed
Windows 10 has certainly brought many great improvements. Also, the storage settings are now more reliable. However, the disk management utility is still asking for an upgrade. But, Microsoft won’t hear the cry. Let us know in the comments if you have successfully extended your partition or not. If you encounter any errors then mention them. We are here to help.
SEE ALSO: How to install and run Windows 10 modern apps from an external drive
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
