How to add more disk space to the local drive?

Question

I am using Windows 8 Single Language 64 bit. I have > 350 GB Unallocated space in my hard disk. I want to add this > 350 GB unallocated space to C: drive where Windows is installed. I have checked using 'Extend Volume...' in 'Disk Management', which is currently disabled. Is there some simple way to do this? Kindly don't answer like backup your data and format your hard disk/drive, use third party software, etc. Kindly help me and ask for any further clarifications if needed.

Answer 1

In this case, I transferred my files back to C: drive, deleted E: drive, extended C: drive and created E: drive again (with the space remaining). This is because a partition can only be extended if there is space next to it (contiguous).

Answer 2

If your unformatted space is next to the formatted space the partition can usually be expanded to encompass it.
If you can't do what you need to do in the Disk Management Console you can try using the command line.
This page explains it, but the gist is to:
Open command line, may need to run as administrator.
type diskpart and hit enter.
type list volume and hit enter.
type select volume
volumenumber here is the existing partition that you want to expand.
now type extend and hit enter.
if you specify a size it will expand that much, but if you leave the size parameter out it will fill the empty space.

Answer 3

If your Unallocated space is the is contiguous with your C partition, meaning that it is the part of the same disk and that you don't have any other partition except C. If this is the case than you can use Extend volume, via Disk Management.

Right click on C partition and select the Extend volume and click on Next. Select the all available space. Click on Next then Finish

Answer 4

So, you've got two issues:

The first is that you're trying to extend your boot partition, and as stated on this Microsoft page (emphasis added):

For logical drives, boot, or system volumes, you can extend the volume only into contiguous space and only if the disk can be upgraded to a dynamic disk.

Note that contiguous space means that the free space must be directly adjacent to the partition you want to grow.

If this was not your boot partition, you would first need to convert to a dynamic disk (as opposed to basic):

For other volumes, you can extend the volume into noncontiguous space, but you will be prompted to convert the disk to dynamic.

While you stated you didn't want to use third-party tools or backup to another disk (which is good practice to do anyway before futzing with partitions), I don't think you have any other options.

Answer 5

I am not sure whether you really mean that you don't want to use 3rd party software, or you just don't want to spend money on it. In any case, you need software that can move the partition that is between your "C:" partition and the free space. The free space for expanding a partition must be adjacent in virtually any scenario.

So if you don't mind -free- 3rd party software, Easus partition manager is great. It's reliable, really free, and can help you move the intervening partition, say, to the end of the disk, so the free space will be adjacent to C: and then you can expand it. The other reason I'd recommend Easus is that it has a very simple-to-use GUI; most of the other free options are far less user-friendly.