Change or Resize Partition (NTFS, FAT or FAT32) Size in Windows

In Windows operating system since Windows Vista, including Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10, Windows Server 2008 / R2, Windows Server 2012 / R2 and Windows Server 2015 / 2016, it’s very easy to change the size of the partition or resize partition by using Disk Management Console, which also provides ability to change drive letters or paths. Partitions with NTFS, FAT32 or FAT file system can be resized with the Disk Management utility. And unlike Windows XP or Windows 2000, there is no third-party application program such as Partition Magic needed. Disk Management Console can resize the partitions without any data loss or the need to delete and remove the existing partition and recreate the partition with new size.

To resize partition size or change the size of partitions in Windows Vista:

1. Right click on Computer or This PC and select Manage to open and access Computer Management Console.
2. Navigate to and expand the Storage section, and click on Disk Management to access Disk Management Console.
   Alternative

   Type diskmgmt.msc in Run command to open Disk Management directly.

   In Windows since Windows 8, including Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2015 or 2016, you can also right click on Start button or bottom left corner to reveal the Quick Access Power User menu, and then select Disk Management (or Computer Management if follow steps above).

3. Disk Management Console display the details of all available volumes and disk drives in the computer configuration in the right pane.
4. Right click on any volume or partition that needs to resize or change the size, and select either Expand or Extend Volume (to increase the size) or Shrink or Shrink Volume (to reduce the size) to change the size of the partition.

   

   Note

   You can only expand a partition if there is free unallocated space on the disk.
5. Enter amount of space to expand or shrink in MB (cannot exceed the size of available expand or shrink space in MB).

   

   In newer version of Windows, a wizard is used when extending the size of partition to handle both simple and spanned volume. The concept is the same, so just follow the instruction wizard to complete the procedure.

6. Click on Expand or Shrink button when done.
7. Windows will reduce or extend the size of the partition online immediately, without the risk of data loss.