7 Ways on How to Expand or Extend Partition in Windows 7/8/10 without Data Loss

On this page, Qiling software will help you expand partition in Windows 7/8/10 successfully with 3 tools with 4 practical methods. Most solutions can also be applied to expand the system partition.

Go through this page and find the best method to extend partition in Windows 7/8/10 on your own:

Applies to: Extend Windows 7 partition with adjacent unallocated space, expand partition with non-adjacent unallocated space or even without unallocated space.

Why Do You Need to Extend Partition in Windows 7

It's sad that many Windows 7 users can no longer get new updates from Microsoft. When problems that occur to Windows 7 become more complex to get the issue resolved.

Fortunately, Qiling software has never stopped supporting all Windows users. To keep your Windows 7 computer running with high performance, it's recommended that you leave enough space on your computer.

It will also save your PC from the following issues:

• C drive is out of space
• Low disk space warning pop up in Windows 7
• Windows 7 computer becomes slow

Note: Normally, it's recommended that you leave up at least 40% free space on your system partition so as to keep your Windows 7 computer running smoothly.

Continue reading and pick up the easiest or the most suitable way to extend your system partition in Windows 7 or Windows systems immediately.

Tool 1. Extend Partition in Windows 7 with Qiling Partition Master

• Difficulty Level: Easiest
• Pros: No data loss;
• Best for: All levels of Windows 7/8/10 users, beginners best choice.
• Applies to: Extend system partition, expand data partition in Windows 10/8/10 with or without unallocated space.

As a matter of fact, most Windows 7 users also know very little about how to partition a hard drive on their computers. This is why we would like to pick up the easiest partition manager software - Qiling Partition Master to help you extend the partition with ease.

It fully works to extend a partition to unallocated space regardless of whether the space is next to your target partition. Even if there is no unallocated space, you may still use it to extend a target partition successfully.

Option 1. Extend Partition in Windows 7 with Qiling Partition Manager Software

If the unallocated space on your hard drive is not next to your target partition, don't worry. Qiling Partition Master with its "Resize/Move" feature breaks the limit, allowing you flexibly extend the partition:

Step 1. Locate the Target Partition.

To start extending partition, you should first locate the target partition and select "Resize/Move".

Step 2. Extend the Target Partition.

Drag the partition panel rightward or leftward to add unallocated space into your current partition and click "Proceed" to confirm.

Extra Option: Get Space from Another Drive

If there is not enough unallocated space on your disk, click on a big partition with enough free space, select "Resize/Move" to shrink it.

Then select the target partition that you want to extend at the allocate space to column.

If your C drive is out of space, and you want to extend it, check this video to learn a smarter way with Qiling Partition Master.

Option 2. Extend Windows 7 Partition without Unallocated Space

When there is no unallocated space left on your computer drive, you can use the "Resize/Move" feature in Qiling Partition Master for shrink neighbor partition.

Here, we'll take how to move space from D drive to C drive to show you the whole process:

Step 1. Click on the D: partition with enough free space and select "Resize/Move".

Step 2. Drag the partition panel leftward to shrink D: drive and click "Proceed" to confirm.

Step 3. Select the target partition - C: drive. Then click "Resize/Move".

Step 4. Drag the partition panel rightward to add the free space from D: drive to C: drive. Then click "Proceed" to start the process of moving free space from D: drive to C: drive.

Bonus Tip: How to Partition Windows 7 Hard Drive

After this, you've successfully extended Windows 7 partition with or without unallocated space. If you want to re-partition Windows 7 hard drive, such as resize partition, merge partitions, etc., Qiling Partition Master can help you.

Tool 2. Extend Windows 7 Partition with Adjacent Unallocated Space in Disk Management

• Difficulty Level: Medium
• Pros: Free; Cons: When the unallocated space is not next to the target partition, the Extend volume option will greyed out.
• Best for: Experienced Windows 7 users.
• Applies to: Expand data partition in Windows 10/8/10 with adjacent unallocated space.

In this part, we'll show you how to extend Windows 7 partition with existing unallocated space - Disk Management. See the detailed steps on how to expand your partition with adjacent Disk Management:

Step 1.Right-click My Computer and choose "Manage", click "Storage" and then select " Disk Management".

Step 2.Right-click on the partition that you want to extend, and choose "Extend Volume" to continue.

Step 3.Set and add more size to your target partition and click "Next" to continue. 

Step 4.Click "Finish" to complete the process.

If there is no unallocated space, you'll need to right-click a neighbor drive and select "Delete volume " or "Shrink volume" to free up unallocated space. Back up data first if you intend to do so:

1. Open Disk Management, locate the partition next to your target one, and check its state:

2. If the partition is empty, right-click on it and select "Delete Volume" > Click "Yes" to confirm.

3. If the partition is not empty but has big enough space, right-click on it and select "Shrink Volume" > Enter the amount of space that you want to shrink and click "Shrink" to confirm.

Then repeat steps as shown above to extend partition with shrunk unallocated space in Windows 7 Disk Management.

Tool 3. Increase Windows 7 Partition Size with DiskPart

• Difficulty Level: Hard;
• Pros: Free; Cons: Can't extend volume if the unallocated space is not behind target partition; Easy to lose data with false operation.
• Best for: Experienced & advanced Windows 7 users.
• Applies to: Increase partition size when the unallocated space is behind the target volume.

Some advanced Windows users and administrators prefer to use DiskPart command lines to extend their hard drive partition. This might be easy for them but complex for ordinary users. Also, any false operation may cause a serious result.

Therefore, follow the operations carefully:

Note that if the unallocated space is not behind your target volume, you'll have to use Disk Management to shrink or delete a neighbor drive in advance.

Step 1. Right-click Windows 7 icon and select "Search".

Step 2. Type cmd and right-click on "Command Prompt", then select "Run as Administrator".

Step 4.Type the following command lines one by one and hit Enter each time:

• diskpart
• list volume
• select volume x(Replace X with the target drive number. In my case, the target drive is Volume 1.)
• extend size =number (Replace the number with the size in MB that you want to add to your target drive.)

Bonus Tips. 4 Methods to Expand Partition in Windows 7/8/10

The above 3 tools are direct solutions that can help you expand partition in Windows 7. Here, in the next part, we also collected some practical methods that can help you free up disk space, getting more usable space in Windows 7. Let's see:

• #1. Clear Useless Large Files
• #2. Merge Two Disks as One
• #3. Upgrade Disk to A Larger HDD/SSD by Cloning
• #4. Delete Temporary Files, System Restore Image

Method 1. Free Up Target  Partition Space - Delete Junk Files/Useless Large Files

Works to: Free up partition space on both system and non-system drive.

The target of this method is to extend the current usable space without changing the partition state on your hard drive.

To do so, you can use a disk cleaner software or third-party tool or help. Here, you can directly use Qiling CleanGenius for help:

Note: During the cleaning process, please check the scan result carefully before you decide to delete them on Windows 7.

Step 1. DOWNLOAD and install Qiling Partition Master Suite for free and launch it on your Windows PC.

On the suite, hover your mouse on "PC Cleaner", click the Download icon to install and launch Qiling CleanGenius.

Step 2. On Qiling CleanGenius, select "Cleanup" on the main screen, and click "Scan" to start scanning.

Step 3. When the scanning process completes, select useless large files and click "Clean" to clean large files.

Step 4. When Qiling CleanGenius completes cleaning the files you choose, click "Done" to finish the process.

If it's a system drive, you can also use its System Drive Cleanup feature for help.

Method 2. Merge Two Disks - Extend Partition with Free Space on the Second Hard Drive

Works to: Extend non-system disk partition space by converting two disks to dynamic and extend partition with free space on the second drive.

Requirement: 1. You have two or more disks on Windows 7 computer; 2. You need to convert disk to dynamic disk(both two disks).

Limit:This method only works on a data disk. If you convert a system disk to dynamic, it may result in OS boot failure issue.

For a step-by-step guide, follow How to Merge Disk 0 and Disk 1 to complete the process.

Method 3. Clone and Replace Old Drive to A Bigger One

Applies to: Upgrade disk to a larger HDD/SSD so as to extend partition with more space.

Requirement: 1.  A new and bigger hard drive (remember to initialize the disk after installing it to Windows 7) 2. A reliabledisk cloning software

Advantages: 1. Faster reading and writing space in Windows 7; 2. Expanding partition with more available space.

To do so, you'll need to buy a new and bigger hard drive in advance. And then use a disk cloning software to clone and replace the old hard drive with the bigger one.

Here, we'd like to recommend you use Qiling Backup Free for help. You can check and follow the tutorial steps below to replace your hard drive to a bigger new one now: now:

Step 1. Open your Windows 7 computer case, install new hard drive to your computer via a SATA or ATA cable correctly.

(Make sure the computer can detect your new drive.)

Step 2. Follow the tutorial to clone and upgrade your old hard drive to a new bigger one:

Step 3. Restart Windows 7 if necessary and follow solutions in Part 1 to extend partition with free unallocated space in the new hard drive.

Method 4. Delete Temporary Files, System Restore Image

Works to: Free up space in system C drive

#1. Delete Temporary Files in Windows 7 C Drive

Step 1.Open My Computer, right-click the C drive, and select "Properties".

Step 2.Click "Disk Cleanup" in the disk properties window.

Step 3.Select temporary files, log files, Recycle Bin, and other useless files that you want to delete and click "OK".

#2. Back-Up Windows 7 To External Hard Drive and Delete System Image

Requirement: 1. Reliable Windows backup software, like Qiling Backup; 2. An empty external hard drive;rive;

If you created a Windows system image on your computer, it's suggested that you delete the system image as it would also take up certain disk space in the C drive. To protect your OS, we also suggest you create a backup of Windows 7 first.

Here are the complete steps:

Step 1. Back up Windows to an external hard drive via reliable Windows backup software.

Step 2. Open C drive or other partition where you saved the created system image.

Step 3. Delete the saved system image.

Sometimes, the system image may also be saved in a folder named Windows.old. All you need is to find it and remove it from the C drive.

After this, restart your computer. Windows 7 system drive will get a bigger free space by then.

To Sum Up

This page includes 3 direct tools to help you extend Windows 7 partition and other 4 reliable methods to free up disk space in Windows 7. With the provided solutions, you can easily make full use of Windows 7 disk partition size, getting a stable and fast computer

In conclusion, if you prefer the easiest way to extend partition in Windows 7/8/10, take Qiling Partition Master as your first choice. It supports to extend a volume regardless of where there is unallocated space on your hard drive.

However, Disk Management and DiskPart cannot extend volume when there is no adjacent unallocated space next to a target drive. Besides, in order to save your Windows 7 partition size, we also suggest that you save all large files and even the system backup image to an external hard drive.

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