3 Ways to Extend Volume in Windows Server 2012 R2 Safely

Networking
1

To extend partition in Windows Server 2012 r2, there are 3 kinds of tools: diskpart, Disk Management and 3rd party software.

  1. Diskpart has been added from Server 2003. It works from command prompt and is able to do basic and advanced partition management operations such as shrink and extend volume. However, command prompt is difficult for many computer users.
  2. From Windows Server 2008, Microsoft added new “Shrink Volume” and “Extend Volume” functions in Disk Management with graphic interface. However, the same with diskpart, Disk Management has many restrictions when resizing partition. You’ll encounter many problem when extending partition in Server 2012 r2.
  3. Third party software is much more powerful than the native tools. However, there’s potential system/partition damage risk with unreliable software. Therefore, you’d better make a backup in advance and run the safest partitioning software.

Way 1 – extend Server 2012 partition with Diskpart cmd

  1. Press Windows and R to open Run, type CMD and press Enter.
  2. Type Diskpart in the command prompt window.
  3. Type list disk, press Enter, and then type list partition. (This operation is to view your existing disks and partitions.
  4. Type select disk 0, then select partition 1 (Select the disk volume to work on, typically this should be disk 0 and partition 1)
  5. Type extend size=XX (XX is the amount of space, 1024MB=1GB, if you do not specify the size, the command will extend partition with all available space.)

Note: this method only works when you delete the adjacent partition on the right and add space to the left partition. For example: before extending C drive in Server 2012, you must delete the contiguous partition D in advance.

Way 2 – extend Server 2012 volume with Disk Management

As I said above, Disk Management and diskpart work in different way, but they have same restrictions. Before extending a partition, you also need to delete the contiguous on the right. Furthermore, the 2 partitions must be the same Primary or Logical. If you don’t want to delete partition or if your partition layout doesn’t meet the requirements, jump to the next section.

How to extend volume in Windows Server 2012 R2 with Disk Management:

  1. Move all files in the contiguous partition on the right (such as D:) to other place.
  2. Press Windows + X keys together and click Disk Management in the list.
  3. Right click the partition on the right (such as D:) and select “Delete Volume”.
  4. Right click the partition on the left (such as C:) and select “Extend Volume”. Follow up the wizard.

To use the 3rd method click below