windows 2008 Cannot extend volume for c

Question

I have a 150 GB hard drive on a windows 2008 server.

• 87 GB partition for D:\
• 10 GB partition for C:\

I cannot extend/increase the partition for C:\ in the disk manager utility. as described here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/ I tried doing it through the command: http://www.winvistaclub.com/t11.html

However I got the error: There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation.

Solution 1

Step 1: turn off "paging" computer > properties > advance system settings > performance settings > advanced > virtual memory > "paging"

Step 2: I used server edition of: extend-partition.com

The UI is really great. Even better than the nice built in win 2008 one. Note its $88, there might be some free ones out there.

Step 3: I increased the size of C:

done.

Solution 2

Is there unallocated free space in which to extend it? You won't be able to extend the C: drive into the space occupied by the D: drive unless you delete the D: drive.

Solution 3

Hmm, I didn't think the C partition could be extended in Windows but haven't spent much time with 2008. Also, is there contiguous free space available on the disk after the C partition? That may be the problem.

Use GPartEd to boot the server into this utility and resize it there:

GPartEd

Comments

[Philip]

The D: drive is most likely in the way. Partitions must be contiguous.

[Spence]

Get rid of the second partition (back it up, delete it) and then you can extend the first partition. If you have trouble doing it while booted into the installed OS boot the OS installation DVD and use DISKPART to extend the partition. No third-party tools are necessary and, frankly, I'd be scared of them anyway. Once you've extended the partition recreate the second partition and restore it.

[joeqwerty]

@Chris S & Evan: Unless I'm very wrong, I think you're incorrect. In Windows Vista, 7, and W2K8 you can extend and shrink the boot and system partitions. I've done it before and just did it now to verify that I'm not crazy.

[Helvick]

@Evan - joeqwerty is correct if you can shrink and grow the boot\system volumes in Win7 & W2K8 - growing does require free contiguous space in the underlying partition though so possibly the third party tools make that a bit easier. I still wouldn't use them though.

[Philip]

@Joe, I stand mostly corrected. In Vista/2008 and later you can shrink and grow the active boot/system partitions. The contiguous limitation is still true. However, Windows will not relocate system files when you shrink the active partition. So you may not be able to to shrink partitions as much as you'd think.

[Philip]

Using gparted will sometimes make Vista/7 not able to boot with repairs. I've also seen this effect with older partition utilities.

[joeqwerty]

@Chris S: Good point and one to consider when trying to shrink a partition.