Abstract: This article aims to tell you how to merge C and D partition without losing data in Windows 10, 8, 7. The free partition manager called AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can make it as easy as A, B, C.
Why need to merge C and D drive?
Similar to previous Windows operating system, the Windows 10 C drive can quickly run out of space since many types of data are writing into C drive continuously such as Windows updates, third-party applications, program data, Windows installation caches, Windows pc backup and restore point, or lots of files on the desktop and in the Recycle Bin.
When C drive is almost full, you will be unable to install new crucial Windows updates, especially those important to computer security. What’s worse, you will find your computer runs much slower, stuck now and then, or even freeze. To make the C drive bigger than now, you can re-install the OS from scratch and create a new C drive with more space, but it will cost much time and efforts. Moreover, you have to re-install all programs and applications. So, many users wonder if it is possible to add D drive space into C drive, namely, merge C and D partition to get a larger system partition.
Can Windows 10 Disk Management merge C and D drive?
When the time comes to reallocating disk space, the first choice of most people might be the Windows native Disk Management tool. However, is it able to help merge two partitions in Windows 10? It is well-known the Disk Management provides users with “Extend Volume” and “Shrink Volume” features to help adjust partition size. However, both features only work on NTFS and RAW partition; besides, the “Extend Volume” only functions when it is followed by an adjacent unallocated space. Meanwhile, when you create unallocated space by shrinking another volume, it will be generated behind the partition you just shrink and you cannot move it.
So, to combine C drive and D drive via Disk Management, these two partition must be adjacent and you have to delete the D drive first to create a contiguous unallocated space, then use the “Extend Volume” to extend C drive with D drive space. But deleting D drive means removing everything on it, so it is necessary to make a backup in advance.
How to combine C and D without losing data?
From above, we can know it is necessary to delete D partition in order to merge C and D drive. So, is there any way to combine C partition and D partition without losing data in Windows 10? Luckily, the free partition manager named AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can help you realize that. It offers a feature: Merge Partitions, which can merge two adjacent partition without damaging inside data. All data in the second partition will exist as a folder in the first partition after the combination. Besides, this feature is also able to merge unallocated space into another partition no matter whether they are adjacent or not, making up the limitation of Disk Management. To combine C drive and D drive in Windows 10, refer to the following steps:
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right-click C drive and select “Merge Partitions”.
Step 2. In the pop-out small window, you can see the C drive has been ticked automatically. Now you just need to tick D drive and then click on “OK”.
Step 3. Back to the main interface, you can preview the result: all space of D drive has been transferred into C drive and C drive is bigger now. If there is something you are not satisfied with, you can click on “Discard” to do it again. If everything is right, you can click “Apply” and “Proceed” to commit the pending operation.
With this free partition tool, you can merge C drive and D drive without data loss by 3 clicks. If there is nothing important saved on the D drive, you can use the Disk Management to delete this partition and add the generated unallocated space into the C drive. If it contains many vital files or folders, the free partition manager AOMEI software is a better choice.