How to combine local disk and resize

All the instructions are suitable for traditional hard disk drives (HDD), and for solid-state drives (SSD).

We recall that the physical disk is displayed in the system in the form of virtual volumes, also known as local disks or partitions.

How to modify the partitions in Windows

regular means

In Windows, you can combine disks without third-party programs, but this method has a major drawback. You will lose all the data of one of the merged partitions. Therefore, important files, you must first move him to another partition or a third-party carrier.

The process of merging of local disk consists of two stages. First you completely remove one of them, along with all its contents, and then liberated are giving way to the second disk space.

You will need a standard utility "Disk Management". To start it, use the key combination Windows + R, type in the command window that appears, diskmgmt.msc and click OK. In the bottom of the "Disk Management" displays hard disk partitions.

Run the utility, right-click the disk that you intend to delete (for example, conventional drive D), and select "Delete Volume." With the system volume, in which

Windows is installed, This can not be done, since the procedure deletes all files stored in the section.

Now right click on the adjacent section (conventional drive C), which you wish to transfer the liberated space, and select "Extend Volume."

When the master volume expansion, double-click "Next". As a result, the selected partition (in our example - C) remote receive the entire volume.

With the help of third-party programs

There is a free third-party software, which greatly simplifies the management of local disks. For example, MiniTool Partition Wizard program allows you not only to quickly integrate volume, but also easy to change their size. However, it stores all the data. But if the computer have important files, you still make them backups - just in case.

So to combine the disks with the help of MiniTool Partition Wizard, run the program and click on that (let it be C), to which you want to connect another partition (conditional D). In the context menu, select Merge ( «Merge").

In the window that opens, click on the same section (C) and click Next.

Now click on the section (D), which is going to join the already selected. In the bottom half of the window you will see a field with the name of the folder: merged_partition_content. The program will create it on the target partition, and copy all the files from the remote. If you want to rename this folder. Click Finish.

For the changes to take effect, in the left corner, click Apply ( «Apply") on the toolbar. If prompted to restart the computer, click OK, and wait until Windows is restarted. As a result, the conductor will be displayed disc equal to the size of two joined partition.

If your goal - to unite the wheels, but only increase the size of one of them (say, D) at the expense of another (let it be C), it can be done in two simple steps. First you need to reduce the one sectionAnd after transfer to a second vacant place.

To reduce the volume of the disk (C), highlight it in MiniTool Partition Wizard main menu on the left panel, click on the Move / Resize Partition button ( "Move / Resize Partition"). In the window that appears, move the slider so that the figure is close to the Unallocated Space After setting consistent volume to which you want to reduce the highlighted section. Confirm the change.

Next, select the disk in the main menu that you want to increase (D). Again, use the button Move / Resize Partition and expand the volume of the section with a slider.

Click the Apply button on the top panel, and wait for the program to remap the entire volume. This may require a reboot.

MiniTool Partition Wizard →

How to modify the partitions in macOS

If you have a Mac, you will need a preset program "Disk Utility" to manage storage volumes. It is located in the Finder menu → «programs» → «Utility». Before manipulation of the media, please back up important files.

Running the "Disk Utility", select the hard disk partitions where you want to edit in the left pane, and click on the button "Partition".

A window will appear in which you will be able to merge the selected volume or resize them. utility interface is very intuitive: HDD It is displayed in a pie chart, and its sections - in the form of sectors.

To merge partitions, you must first delete one of them. To do this, select it and click the minus below chart. Remember that all data will be erased. After that, when in place of a remote section displays a blank sector, expand any neighbor is pulling the cursor over its border. And in order to redistribute the size of the volume, simply move the boundaries of the respective sectors.

When will make all the necessary settings, click "Apply" and wait for the change to take effect.

see also

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• What should I do if my computer does not see the internal hard disk →
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