How to Fix New Simple Volume Greyed Out Error in Windows Disk Management
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Fix "New Simple Volume" |
Method 1. Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk without Losing Any Data...Full steps Method 2. Manually Change MBR to GPT with Disk Management...Full steps |
| Fix New Simple Volume Greyed Out |
Solution 1. Add Unallocated Space to the Existing USB Partition...Full steps Solution 2. Manually Try: Make New Simple Volume Available on USB...Full steps |
New Simple Volume Greyed Out on Hard Drive and USB Drive
There are times that you cannot select the "New Simple Volume" option in Disk Management when you try to create a new partition. You are faced with a New Simple Volume greyed out error. Here are two typical New Simple volume not working cases:
Case 1. Can't create a new partition with unallocated space on a 3TB hard drive
"I have a 3 TB hard drive, and I installed it on my Windows 10 computer. There are four parts on my hard drive, the system reserved partition, system partition, and two unallocated space. I want to use the unallocated space to create some new partitions to save my game data. However, when I right-click the last unallocated space, the New Simple Volume option showed gray as the following picture displayed."
Case 2. USB drive has unallocated space, but the new simple volume is unavailable
"Recently, I connected my USB to my computer and opened Disk Management. It turned out that my USB drive has 9GB unallocated space left. I tried to create a new partition on the USB, but the New Simple Volume was not available. Then I tried again to add the unallocated space to the existing partition, the Expend Volume option was still greyed out."
Don't worry when you tried to use Disk Management to create a new partition on your PC, but it wouldn't allow you to do so since the New Simple Volume option is greyed out. In the following, you'll find practical solutions on resolving this issue on your computer hard drive or external USB.
Part 1. Fix New Simple Volume Greyed Out on Windows 11/10/8/7 Local Hard Drive
To make the New Simple Volume option work again on your Windows 11, 10, 8, or 7 local drive, the best solution is to convert MBR to GPT (You can figure out why in Part 3). Here are two solutions that you can apply for help.
Method 1. Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk without Losing Any Data
Professional partition manager software - Qiling Partition Master enables you to effectively convert MBR to GPT without deleting any partitions or losing any data. This excellent software has many other great features:
- Flexibly adjust partition size by sliding the partition left and right
- Clone an entire disk to another wanted disk
- Merge Windows partitions easily to enlarge partition space
- Correctly align partitions on SSDs
Get this easy-to-use software and convert MBR to GPT without data loss.
- Important
- Qiling Partition Master is able to convert an MBR disk containing Windows operating system to GPT. But if you want to boot from the GPT disk successfully, you must know the following things:
- 1. UEFI mode should be supported and enabled.
- 2. Your operating system is 64-bit.
Method 2. Manually Change MBR to GPT with Disk Management
This method only works for the non-system disk as it requires deleting all partitions or volumes on the drive first. If the disk you tend to convert to GPT is a system disk, revert to Method 1 for help. In addition, if there are important files in the existing partitions, back up all valuable files to a big external hard drive first.
Step 1. Open Disk Management by right-clicking on This PC/My Computer > Manage > Disk Management.
Step 2. Right-click the partition on your MBR disk and then click "Delete Partition" or "Delete Volume" > Click "Yes" to confirm.
Then, repeat this step to delete all existing partitions on your MBR disk.
Step 3. Right-click the MBR disk which is now a whole empty disk, and select "Convert to GPT disk".
After this, you can reuse Disk Management to create new volumes on your disk again. On a GPT disk, you can create as many partitions as you need and the "New Simple Volume greyed out" issue won't come up on your computer again.
Part 2. Fix "New Simple Volume" Greyed Out on USB Drive
Applies to all removable devices
As you've known that if the Windows OS or the USB device itself doesn't support two partitions, you'll always see the "New Simple Volume" greyed out. To resolve this issue, you have two choices. One is to accept the current situation, adding unallocated space to the existing partition. The other one is to try manual ways to make the "New Simple Volume..." option available to create a second partition on USB.
Solution 1. Add Unallocated Space to the Existing USB Partition
When USB and Windows OS both don't support two partitions, your best choice is to add the unallocated space to the existing partition. You may find out that the Extend Volume option is also greyed out in Disk Management.
Why is Extend Volume greyed out? Due to the limitation of the Extend Volume feature in Disk Management, it is now only available on the internal and external hard drives. USB flash drive with its unique USB port and structure also disable this feature in extending partition. So the best way to resolve this issue is to use the Resize/Move feature in Qiling Partition Master to easily add unallocated space to the existing USB partition with ease:
Step 1. Shrink partition to free up space to extend partition.
If the hard drive has enough unallocated space to extend the target partition, jump to Step 2, and continue. If not, free up space first:
- Click on a partition next to the target partition and select "Resize/Move".
- Drag the partition ends to free up space, leaving enough unallocated space behind the target partition, click "Proceed".
Step 2. Extend target partition.
Click on the target partition and select "Resize/Move".
Drag the target partition handle into the unallocated space to extend partition.
Step 3. Keep all changes.
Click the "Proceed" to keep all changes.
Solution 2. Manually Try: Make New Simple Volume Available on USB
Step 1. Update your Windows system to the latest version or new versions after Windows 10 1703.
Since Windows 10 version 1703, all new versions of Windows 10 support multiple partitions on removable disks, especially on an external hard drive or USB flash drive.
Step 2. Format the USB to NTFS first.
Step 3. Open Disk Management to right-click on the unallocated space to create a new partition by clicking "New Simple Volume".
Step 4. Set a new drive letter, file system, and size, etc. for the new partition on USB, and follow the on-screen guidelines to finish the process.
If this still doesn't work, it is your USB itself that doesn't support to create two or more partitions. We suggest you to follow solution 1 to add all space in one partition on USB, making it the best state for saving data.
Part 3. Why Does the New Simple Volume Show Up as Greyed Out
Although, the Disk Management tool is a powerful partition management tool in Windows PC, supporting to create a new partition, shrink volume or extend partition, etc. However, some users may have encountered the "New Simple Volume" greyed out issue while trying to create a partition on unallocated space on a local hard drive or external USB drive.
If you are having the same questions as listed below, read on to find the answers and apply the right solutions to get rid of this issue.
Why does the New Simple Volume option show as greyed out on your computer hard drive
The basic reason is that your disk is MBR disk. Generally, due to the two limitations on MBR disk, it stops you from creating a new volume in Disk Management:
- There are already 4 primary partitions on the disk.
- The MBR Disk capacity is 2 TB and you cannot create new partition beyond 2TB.
For the first situation, you can find the solution here: convert primary partition to logical so to create more than 4 partitions on MBR. About the second situation, you'll need to convert MBR to GPT with methods on this page so as to break the limit, creating more new simple volumes.
Why is the "New Simple Volume" greyed out on USB drive in Disk Management
Due to the Windows system and USB device limitations, usually, users are not allowed to create two partitions on a USB external hard drive or USB flash drive. Even if you managed to create two partitions on the computer, Windows may not display your second partition in Windows File Explorer.
Nowadays, only Windows 10 (1703 or later versions) and very a few new USB drives support creating two partitions. Solutions towards there two different devices with "New Simple Volume" not available issues can be easily solved in Part 1 and Part 2.
Conclusion
These solutions above can solve the "New Simple Volume greyed out" issue on an internal hard disk or an external device like a USB flash drive or SD card. After fixing unable to create a new simple volume error, you can make full use of your hard drive or USB drive with Qiling Disk Management tool. With it, you can create a partition, merge unallocated space, and so on.
New Simple Volume Greyed Out FAQs
In addition to the solutions and instructions, many people want to know more about New Simple Volume not working. Here are some hot topics on New Simple volume. Read on if you want to get additional help.
Will creating a new simple volume erase data?
Yes, it will erase the data. Use something like Qiling Partition Master to recover the partition.
Why is extend volume greyed out?
Here are the reasons:
- The MBR Disk capacity is 2 TB and you cannot create new partition beyond 2TB.
- Users are unable to create two partitions on a USB external hard drive or USB flash drive because of the USB and Windows limitations.
What is a simple volume partition?
Simple volumes are the dynamic-disk equivalent of the primary partitions and logical drives found on basic disks
How do I create a new hard drive volume?
Step 1. Install and launch Qiling Partition Master.
Step 2. Shrink the partition size.
Step 3. Create a new partition.
Step 4. Set the size, partition label, drive letter, file system, etc. for the new partition and click "OK" to continue.
Step 5. Apply the changes.
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