Thursday, April 16, 2015

To Merge Partitions on USB Flash Drive without Data Loss.

At the beginning of time, users might partition their USB flash drive to 2 or more partitions in disk utility, and then save different types of data to different partitions. Nevertheless, many users have met the situation where one of partitions is running out of space. At this time, some users plan to combine the partition which is short of free space with the partition that is full of unused space. It is indeed a solution. Well then, how to merge partitions on USB flash drive without data loss? Is Windows built-in disk management tool available?

As a matter of fact, there is no such function in Disk Management, and users had better turn to a third party partition manager, MiniTool Partition Wizard for example. Main reasons for using this partitioning software to merge partitions on USB flash drive are as follows:
1.Brings no influence or damage to data.
2.Several steps are needed and step-by-step prompts will be given.
3.Supports Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 and Windows Server 2000/2003/2008/2008 R2/2012.

After seeing the above introduction users would like to know detailed steps to combine partitions. Please look at the following demonstration.


How to Merge Partitions on USB Flash Drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard


Firstly, launch the partition manager to get its main interface and select a partition to unfold partitioning functions:

minitool partition wizard main interface

Then, choose the function “Merge Partition” from the left pane to combine partitions.

merge partitions on usb flash drive select the partition to expand

Next, select the partition that will be expanded and click “Next”. Then, select the partition that will be included and click “Finish”.

merge partitions on usb flash drive apply changes

Now we can preview 2 partitions have been combined to one, so please click “Apply” button to apply all changes made just now.

Note: both partitions should be formatted with NTFS. If not, convert them to NTFS via the function “Convert FAT to NTFS” in MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Do you also want to merge partitions on USB flash drive? Make use of the partition manager MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

How to Merge C Drive in Windows 10 to Enlarge the Boot Partition?

When running Windows 10 Technical Preview, users may meet different kinds of problems. Next, let’s see an example.
  • Problem: one of my laptops is running Windows 10 with all necessary programs installed on C drive. Since I did not allocate much space for this partition, now it is running in low disk space while D drive has lots of free space. So how can I merge C drive in Windows 10 with its neighboring partition?

    For lossless merging, users need a third party partition manager rather than system built-in disk management tool for the latter requires users to delete an exiting drive. Nevertheless, as Windows 10 is the latest OS of Microsoft, many programs haven’t got compatibility with it or can not run well in this operating system. Aiming at this situation, we suggest using the professional partitioning tool MiniTool Partition Wizard to merge C drive in Windows 10, because it perfectly supports Windows 10 Technical Preview and does partitioning operations perfectly.

    How to Merge C Drive in Windows 10 with MiniTool Partition Wizard


    Firstly, launch the partition manager to get the main interface which is shown below:

    minitool partition wizard main window

    Then, select a partition to unfold partitioning operations and choose “Merge Partition” from the left pane.

    merge c drive windows 10 select c drive

    Next, choose the partition which needs extending, namely drive C, and click “Next>”. Then, select one of the neighboring partitions and click “Finish”.

    Tip: both the partition which needs expanding and the partition which will be included should be NTFS. If not, convert them to NTFS via the function “Convert FAT to NTFS”; moreover, all files in partition E will be saved to a folder and then saved to partition C automatically.

    merge c drive windows 10 apply change

    Now, we can see E drive has been merged to C drive, so please click “Apply” button to execute all changes. After that, to merge C drive in Windows 10 will be completed.

    If your Windows 10 partition is also running out of space, extend it by merging it with the neighboring partition. And the partition manager MiniToo Partition Wizard can help realize lossless merging.

Friday, April 10, 2015

How to merge C and D drive Windows 7


Situation: with more and more data stored to C drive of Windows 7, my system partition is nearly out of space. Since there are not so many data on D drive, I am eager to know how to merge D drive to C drive of Windows 7.

Ways to Merge C Drive and D Drive in Windows 7

Here, we mainly introduce 2 ways to merge partitions. One is to use system built-in Disk Management, and the other is to ask third-party partition manager for help.

How to Merge C and D Drive by Using Windows 7 Disk Management

First of all, users need to backup all important data on D drive to other partitions, which can avoid data loss. Then, right click “Computer”, choose “Manage”, and click “Disk Management” to get its main interface:



Here, please delete partition D to release unallocated space.



Then, right click C drive and choose the function “Extend Volume…” from short-cut menu and perform the remaining operations according to prompts. After that, we can say D drive is merged to C drive.

How to Merge C and D Drive in Windows 7 with Partition Manager

Firstly, we need to download an excellent partition manager from the internet. If users fear of downloading the software which has defects, try using MiniTool Partition Wizard. After downloading and installation, launch it to open its main interface:



In the main interface, select any partition to unfold action panel, and then click “Merge Partition” button.



Next, select the partition we want to extend (here C drive needs extending) and click “Next”.



Then, select the partition that will be included to the target partition and click “Finish” to go back to the main interface.



At last, click “Finish” button to apply changes to computer. After application, we are successful to merge C drive and D drive in Windows 7.

Comparing the 2 solutions above, we can find resorting to partition manager is the best way to merge partitions since users do not need to backup data in advance. Nevertheless, if users want to make partition merging realized, please download MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition because free edition does not support merging partitions.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

How to Make Windows System Partition Bigger without Losing Files

Question: since Microsoft says 32 bit Windows 7 requires 16GB hard disk space, I just allocated the Windows partition with 30GB space during installation. However, there is only 500MB space left now, so how to make this Windows system partition bigger without losing my important files?

Answer: You may either resort to system build-in disk management utility or ask third party partitioning freeware for help. Nevertheless, there must be contiguous unallocated space on the right side of system partition if users want to enlarge it in disk management. Of course, we can delete the right contiguous partition to release such a space, but data loss will emerge unless we make a backup in advance. Well then, is it a wise choice to enlarge Windows system partition by using third party software? After seeing how partitioning tool helps make Windows system partition bigger, users will get the answer.

There is partitioning freeware which extends a certain partition by taking unused space from other partitions or borrowing space from any unallocated space on the same disk, and MiniTool Partition Wizard is a good choice since it completes extending in easy operations and without data loss. Next, let’s see detailed steps.


How to Make Windows System Partition Bigger with MiniTool Partition Wizard


Step 1: launch the freeware to get its starting interface and choose “Launch Application” module to get the window below:

minitool partition wizad main interface

Step 2: select the Windows system partition which needs enlarging and click “Extend Partition”.

how to make windows system partition bigger take unused space

Step 3: choose an existing partition or unallocated space on the same disk to take free space to extend the target partition, and then drag sliding handle to decide how much space to take and click “OK” to confirm operation.

how to make windows system partition bigger apply changes

Step 4: click “Apply” button on the top to apply all changes. Note: since the system partition saves Windows which is running, users need to restart the computer, which is to protect data. Please do as told, and the partitioning freeware will enlarge Windows system partition in boot mode. Once all operations are completed, the computer will reboot, and then we will find the system partition has been extended.

If users want to get tutorial help on how to make Windows system partition bigger or want to get more details, please click Extend Partition.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

How to Extend Volume of SD Card to Get Missing Capacity Back

Scenario: the 16G SD card which is for camera loses about 1G space without knowing the exact reason. After opening Windows 7 built-in disk management utility I found the missing space becomes unallocated, so I was planning to expand the SD to it via the function “Extend Volume”. But disappointingly, “Extend Volume” is grayed out, so I really hope somebody could tell me how to extend volume of SD card so as to help me get lost capacity back.

Solution: Windows Disk Management utility will not allow users to do most partitioning operations on a SD card since the device is recognized as removable by system. Under this situation, if users want to get missing space back, the best solution is to make use of third party Windows partitioning freeware, and MiniTool Partition Wizard is worth downloading. Well then, how to extend volume of SD card by using this program? Please look at the following demo.

Note: MiniTool Partition Wizard is free for home users only. To use it in commercial environment, please download server edition or more advanced editions.


How to Extend Volume of SD Card with MiniTool Partition Wizard


After installing the partitioning freeware on Windows 7, please run it to get the starting interface, and then choose “Launch Application” to get the main interface below:

minitool partition wizard main interface

The main interface shows us all devices in both disk map and partition list, and Disk 2 is the SD card we are going to operate. Please select the volume on SD card and choose the function “Move/Resize Partition” from the left action panel to get the window below:

lengthen partition handle to extend volume of sd card

Then, drag the black triangle circled by red line to lengthen partition handle so as to expand SD card. Then, click “OK” to go back to the main interface:

how to extend volume of sd card apply change

Now we can see the capacity of SD card becomes 7.21G, and the unused space becomes 3.75G. At this time, please click “Apply” button to apply the very change. Once the application is finished, the SD will be expanded by Windows partitioning freeware.

Now users would know how to extend volume of SD card. If your SD card or other removable device loses capacity, try taking this way to get the missing capacity back.