How to Increase C Drive Space: Add More Space to Your C Drive

Updated By

Linda 

Written By

Linda 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Why is there a need to increase the C drive space?

< strong > Case 1. "I have a 18 GB hard disk, which is divided into two partitions: C: and D:. C: has about 4 GB of space while D: has around 14 GB. However, I'm running out of space on my C: drive. How can I add space from D: to C:?"

Scenario 2: "I'm running Windows 2000 Server with a 4GB C: partition and a 60GB D:. How can I increase the size of my C: drive to allow for Windows updates and installations?"

Case 3: "When I reformatted my computer, I created two partitions. Later I found the second one useless so I deleted it. Now how can I add unallocated space to C drive?"

There are many other examples of this. Running out of disk space is one problem that many users will encounter. After extended use, a message may pop up: “Low disk space – You are running out of space on System (C:). Free up space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary files. Click here…”

Your system partition doesn't have enough available space, and you need to increase the size of drive C:. If you're short on time, quickly learn how to add space to C: to make the drive larger:  

Can the C drive space be increased?

Yes, you can increase the C drive space. There are mainly two approaches: expanding the C drive in Windows 11/10 or freeing up space on the C drive in Windows 11/10. The ideal solution is to add space to the C drive, as cleaning up space might lead to data loss. You can do this by extending an existing primary partition or logical drive and merging them into adjacent unallocated or free space on the same disk. Generally, in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7, there are three methods to add space to the C drive. You can use tools like Partition Master, try the built-in Windows Disk Management, or utilize the command line.

Please read:

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Three Ways to Free Up Space on Your C Drive

To thoroughly solve the low disk space problem, we should allocate space from unallocated space or other partitions to C drive. Here come 3 methods to increase C drive space.

Solution 1: Add space to C drive with Partition Master tool

Adding space to the C drive is not an easy task for the average user who doesn't know much about disk management. Yes, you can use the built-in Disk Management tool in Windows to add space to the C drive, but only if there's unallocated space directly behind it. If not, you won't be able to move partitions around to free up contiguous space behind the C drive, as you can't in Windows Vista, Windows 2008, or Windows 7 Disk Management. The good news is that there's an easier way. You can use third-party software to add space to your C drive.

Partition Manager Software is a perfect professional partition manager that helps you move space to the C drive in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7.

Watch this video to learn how to easily and quickly resize your C drive with Partition Master.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use it:

Step 1: Identify the Target Partition

Please go to "Partition Manager" and select "Resize/Move Partition" for the target partition.

Select the partition to extend

Step 2: Extend the target partition.

Drag the partition panel to the right or left to add unallocated space to the current partition, and then click “OK” to confirm.

Resize partition to get free space from another drive

Extra option: Get space from another drive

If there isn't enough unallocated space, right-click on a partition with enough room and select “Extend Volume.”

Then, in the “Allocate to” column, select the partition you want to extend.

Select free space from another drive

Step 3: Perform the operation to expand the partition

Drag the partition you want to resize to the unallocated space, and then click “OK”.

Click the Run Task button, and then click Apply to save all changes.

Extra Tip: Resize C Drive with Low Disk Space Using Partition Master Tool

When you run out of space on your C drive, you can use the new feature in AOMEI Partition Assistant to resize disks with just one click. Here's a detailed tutorial:

Step 1: Click "Resize" to extend the C drive.

When the C drive is low on space, hover your mouse over it and you'll see a “Low disk space” warning on the Partition Master tool. Click “Resize/Move” to extend it.

Click "OK" to automatically extend the C drive space.

After clicking “OK”, Partition Master will automatically allocate free space from other partitions to C drive, thus solving the problem of low disk space.

Optional: You can also click "Customize" to manually expand C drive.

Select “Manually adjust size,” check the box next to “C:,” and drag the partition slider to the right to allocate more space to the drive. Click “OK” to confirm the change.

Step 3: Confirm that you've resolved the low disk space issue on the C drive

Click the “Run Tasks” button in the top right, and then click “Apply” to begin processing all of your changes.

With this tool, you can add space to the C drive on all Windows systems, for example:

Solution 2: Add Space to C Drive in Windows 11/10 Using Disk Management

You can also use Disk Management to increase the space on Drive C. You can only increase the space through Disk Management if there is unallocated space following Drive C. Otherwise, the Extend Volume option for Drive C will be disabled.

Step 1: Right-click "This PC," then select "Manage" > "Storage" > "Disk Management."

Step 2. Right-click on the disk that you want to extend and select "Extend Volume".

If there is no unallocated space, select the partition right next to C: and Shrink Volume to create some free disk space. Then, select the drive you want to extend, right-click it, and choose Extend Volume to add more space to the drive.

Solution 3: Add space to the C drive with the command line

If you're comfortable with the command line, you can resize your C: drive from there. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Open Command Prompt and type in diskpart.

Step 2. At the diskpart prompt, type the following commands:

• List volumes
• Select a volume
• Extend size

• List Volumes: Displays a list of basic and dynamic volumes on all disks. • Select Volume: Select the number of the basic volume to extend into contiguous free space on the same disk. • Extend: Extends the selected volume by the specified number of megabytes (MB).

In short

"Disk Management" can help us expand the system C drive within seconds. However, the drawback is that we have to format the other drive to allocate unallocated space from one partition to another. The command line has the same limitation. Therefore, the best way is to use the Partition Master tool to increase the C drive space. The software makes hard disk partitioning easy and allows us to make full use of the disk space. In addition to the partition manager, Partition Master also offers partition recovery and disk or partition cloning features.