How to Increase C Drive Space in a Windows Server

Updated by

Tracy King 

Written by

Linda 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

Translating from English to Chinese involves converting English text into its Chinese equivalent. For instance, the phrase "Hello, how are you?" would be translated in Chinese as "你好，你怎么样？"

By default, each system includes disk storage. Drive C is the default drive for the system. Drive C contains all operating systems, programs, data, and files. However, it's not recommended to store important data and files on Drive C for two reasons. Firstly, storing a large amount of data on Drive C can affect the speed and performance of the system. Eventually, it may lead to a shortage of disk space. Secondly, your data could be lost in case of a virus attack or when you need to upgrade your Windows.

Although by default, Drive C has enough capacity to store files, exceeding the storage limit can affect the Windows system. No matter how large the drive is, files, applications, and documents take up space – not just their file size but also cache memory.

When you need to store a large amount of data, you will require more space. On a Windows server, when space is needed, we usually delete some unnecessary or extra files. But this is only a temporary solution. For a more efficient and stable fix, it is recommended to create partitions. These partitions are built using the space available on other disks.

To address the issue of insufficient disk space, we have expanded the size of the disk. This was achieved by removing old volumes and merging them into Drive C to free up more space.

In this article, we will explore how to extend the disk space. First, we will introduce a trustworthy third-party service that is our preferred method. Additionally, we will walk through the built-in system options to increase disk space.

In this article, we will delve into disk management and CMD. By the end of the piece, you will be able to determine which method suits you best. So, let's dive in for a detailed look.

Method 1: Use a Third-Party Server Disk Manager

To extend the C drive, we recommend using a third-party tool - tools Partition Master. This tool helps you accomplish the task quickly with a user-friendly interface. It allows you to create partitions and allocate space efficiently, enabling you to make the most of your available space. Here are some key features of tools Partition Master:

• Excellent resize/extend/shrink function
• Increase C drive space, extend partition without data loss
• Let you drag directly to add storage space
• Tech support provided

Some of the silent features of Partition Master are:

- Supports converting NTFS to FAT32 - Ability to create split partitions - Reduces the need for rebooting - Merges partitions and creates larger ones when disk space is insufficient - Detects and repairs partition errors - Features partition cloning - Changes partition labels for optimized data organization - Offers a free trial version - Ensures 100% data safety

If you use a third-party tool like Partition Master to extend the partition, it will allocate the space effectively. You can download a trial version from their official website, but you'll need to purchase the software to access all its features.

Install this program on your system. Select the disk that you want to extend. There will be only one option to resize/delete. It will start resizing your partition. If you want to use unallocated space on another disk, make sure you select it as well. It will adjust the size of your disk partition according to the available space.

Option 1: Expand the System C Drive using unallocated space

1. Right-click on the System C drive and select "Resize/Move." 2. Drag the end of the system partition to the unallocated space, adding it to the C drive. Then click "OK." 3. Click "Apply" under "Tasks" to execute the operation and extend the C drive.

Option 2: Extend System C drive without unallocated space

1. Right-click on a large partition with ample space on the system drive and select "Allocate Space." 2. In the "allocate from (*) to" section, choose the system drive, then drag the end of the System C drive to the unallocated space. Click "OK" to confirm. 3. Click "Execute Task," which will list the pending operations. Then click "Apply" to save the changes and extend the C drive.

0:00-0:26 Extend the system drive using unallocated space; 0:27-0:58 Extend the system drive without unallocated space.

Method 2: Increase C Drive Space via Disk Management

Disk Management is an inbuilt disk management feature that can be used to increase the space on Drive C. Note that the Extend Volume option will gray out if there is no unallocated space right after the target partition. To resolve this, you need to shrink or delete a volume first before extending Drive C. The steps to increase disk space on Drive C using Disk Management are as follows:

Step 1: Click on the Start menu and open Disk Management.

<Step 2> Right-click the target volume and select Delete Volume.

Select the partition you want to delete, then click “Delete Volume”.

You now have unallocated space available.

Step 3: Right-click on the C drive and select "Extend Volume".

Select the disk partition to be extended

< b >Step 4.< /b > This will open the Extend Volume Wizard. Click Next.

Click the “Next” button on the “Extend Volume” wizard.

Step 5: Type in the amount of space you want to allocate to the C: drive, then click "Next".

Step 6: Click Finish.

Click Apply to finish.

Step 7: You have now extended the space allocated to your C: drive.

Video Tutorial: How to Extend C Drive Space on Windows Server via Disk Management or Partition Manager Software

Aside from these two methods, you can also use the CMD command line to extend the C drive space. Here are the detailed steps:

Method 3: Add Spaces Using CMD

The second built-in method is to increase C drive space using CMD. Here are the detailed steps to expand C drive with or without unallocated space using CMD:

1. Increase the C drive capacity using unallocated space

Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys to open the “Run” dialog box.

Step 2: Type CMD, and press Enter to open Command Prompt as an administrator.

Step 3: Type diskpart, and then press Enter to start DiskPart.

Step 4. Type the following CMD commands one at a time, and press Enter after each to extend the C drive:

1. Select disk x (replace x with the number of your system disk).
2. List volumes.
3. Select volume x (replace x with the number of your C drive partition).
4. Extend size = number (usually, the default unit is MB).
5. Exit.

Then, restart your computer and you'll find that you have more space on your C: drive.

2 - Resize C Drive without Unallocated Space

If there's no unallocated space after your C drive, you'll get the error “Virtual Disk Service error: There is not enough usable space for this operation.” If that happens, you'll need to delete the partition right after your C drive to free up unallocated space.

Before doing this, make sure to back up all your data to another location. Now, follow these steps to extend the C drive, which is similar to the previous method:

Step 1: Open the Run dialog box, type cmd, and press Enter to launch Command Prompt as an administrator. Type diskpart and hit Enter to open DiskPart.

Step 2. Enter each of the following commands, pressing Enter after each:

• List Disks • Select Disk X (replace X with the disk number of your system disk) • List Volumes • Select Volume * (replace * with the number of the partition you want to delete) • Delete Volume • Select Volume X (replace X with the disk number of your C drive) • Extend Size=Number (usually, the default unit is MB) • Exit

Then, you can restart your system to extend the C drive.

Last Words

We have presented three methods to increase C drive space. The default disk management method for finding space may not work. Using CMD might result in data loss. Hence, we recommend using the Partition Master tool. It is a reliable application. Besides, its user-friendly interface lets you get the job done quickly.