How To Shrink & Extend A Partition (Volume) In Windows 7

There was a time when we used to install create, delete, extend and shrink partitions in Windows XP. Unlike Windows XP, modern Windows operating systems Vista and Windows 7 packs-in decent set of tools to create, delete, extend and shrink partitions without having to use third-party tools.

With the Disk Management tool present in Windows 7 you can accomplish most of your hard disk partition related tasks such as create, attach and detach VHD easily. It’s much powerful than the XP Disk Management tool.

 

Few weeks back, we had covered how to formant a drive in Windows 7 and also how to create a new partition in Windows 7. This time, we will show you how to shrink and extend a partition in Windows 7 without using third-party partition tools.

Users who’re looking for advanced partition tasks can go for the excellent Partition Wizard software. We suggest you go for the free edition of Partition Wizard as it packs-in the all the advanced tools you would use on Windows 7.

Note: Please backup your crucial data before starting the procedure.

Here is how to shrink a volume in Windows 7:

Step 1: Open Windows disk management by typing diskmgmt.msc in Start menu search box and hitting enter.

Step 2: Now right-click on the volume that you want to shrink and select Shrink Volume option.

Step 3: Enter the amount of disk space to shrink in MB.

Step 4: Click shrink button to start shrinking the volume.

Step 5: You are done.

If you want to extend a volume by adding space from one or more additional disks, you can use Extend Volume feature present in disk management.

How to extend a volume in Windows 7:

Step 1: Again, open disk management by typing either disk management or diskmgmt.msc in start menu search box and hitting enter.

Step 2: Right-click on the volume that you want to extend and select Extend Volume option to open extend volume wizard. Click next to continue.

Step 3: Enter the amount of disk space that you want to add the current partition from available free space.

Step 4: Click next to start extending your partition size.

Step 5: Done.