Solved Want to merger Unallocated space into C Drive


GregS

Well-known member
Member
Local time
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Location
Traverse City, Michigan
OS
Windows 11
I did a clean install on my Alienware R13 desktop computer today. As background information, the issue I had with the installation was the fact that the C Drive wasn't shown when prompted to decide where to install Windows 11. I learned that the C Drive was set to RAID (in the bios) and was the reason I couldn't see it when asked where to install.

I found that I could change drive from RAID to AHCI and so the install completed without issues.

My problem is during the installation, I suspect I should have deleted ALL the partitions, but I didn't. I only deleted the 2 partitions created from RAID. I could only pick one to install so now I have 1TB of unallocated space, besides C Drive.

1. Is there utility in Windows that I can use to merge it with C Drive to extend the available space where Windows is installed?
2. Do I need to purchase a utility that will fix my issue?
3. Or lastly, do I need to reinstall Windows again, but delete all the partitions to create one large unallocated space?

I've posted an image from Disk Management and circled the space that I'm trying to address.

Greg

Screenshot 2024-11-23 192910.webp
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware R13
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9 12900KF
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 10GB GDDR6X
    Graphics Card(s)
    64GB Dual Channel DDR5 at 4400MHz
    Sound Card
    Dell Sound Bar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell UP2716
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
    PSU
    Alienware(TM) 750 Watt
    Case
    Alienware Clear Side Panel
    Cooling
    Alienware Cryo-tech(TM) Edition CPU Liquid Cooling
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Wired
    Internet Speed
    Spectrum Gig/40
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
C: is on disk 1.

The 931.39 GB is on disk 0.

C: can be extended on its disk (disk 1) provided there is free space on disk 1.

Disk 0 can be converted from unallocated space to partitions and used as a storage drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
C: is on disk 1.

The 931.39 GB is on disk 0.

C: can be extended on its disk (disk 1) provided there is free space on disk 1.

Disk 0 can be converted from unallocated space to partitions and used as a storage drive.
I have D Drive for storage so storage is not an issue.

Granted I'm not savvy in this area, but disk 0 and disk 1 are part of the same physical drive.

My hope was to add the space from disk 0 to C drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware R13
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9 12900KF
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 10GB GDDR6X
    Graphics Card(s)
    64GB Dual Channel DDR5 at 4400MHz
    Sound Card
    Dell Sound Bar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell UP2716
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
    PSU
    Alienware(TM) 750 Watt
    Case
    Alienware Clear Side Panel
    Cooling
    Alienware Cryo-tech(TM) Edition CPU Liquid Cooling
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Wired
    Internet Speed
    Spectrum Gig/40
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
@GregS


Your computer has TWO 1TB physical disks.. When RAIDed, they "acted" as one disk.
When you changed the setting in the BIOS to AHCI, you now see the "two" physical disks.

So... if I were you, I would reinstall Windows again, but this time, do it like this...



1. Make the USB stick install media. Make sure the setting in the BIOS is still set to AHCI.
2. Disconnect the 1TB 7200rpm hard drive..
3. Then install Windows to the NVMe drive.
4. You don't "need" to use the whole 1TB NVMe drive for Windows, but during install just let Windows do it's thing.
5. Then, when you get to the desktop (after install), use a 3rd party app like Minitool Partition Wizard, to make some partitions.
6. Maybe use 1/2 of the 1TB NVMe drive for Windows, then use the other half for a storage space (D:)
7. NOW hook up the 1TB 7200rpm drive. You can use Minitool to partition that as needed.

For example, look how I set up my drives...

000000 Disk Management 3.webp

D: is just for download.
F: is for copies of installed programs.
G: is for my backups of the Windows install.
H: is for music, pics, movies, etc.
I: is for my TV Series collection



TIPS...

The smaller your actual C:\ "partition", the faster your backups and restores will be. I have approx. 40GB "used space" on my 200GB C:\ partition. My backups take one and a half minutes, and my restores, only two and a half minutes.

The speed of the backups and restores makes the 3rd party backup software, very useful for doing things, like "testing" unknown software. If anything goes wrong... I can just restore from a backup in under three minutes.

On my system, I only install smaller things like 7-zip, Foobar2000 and VLC Media player on my C:\ partition.
I install larger things on my storage drive(s).









Best of all, I gave you ten reaction points, just for filling out your computer specs.
You can't believe how helpful that is for us, when you ask a question or post a problem.
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26100.3775 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦24H2 ♦♦♦non-Insider
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 5002)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 15 years?
but disk 0 and disk 1 are part of the same physical drive.
Unfortunately, no. Every disk is a separate, independent physical disk. However, you can group disks together using something like RAID or Storage Spaces, or third-party utilities like StableBit Drive Pool, etc.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self-built
    CPU
    Intel i7 11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A MB
    Memory
    64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
    3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
    1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
    5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
    Cooling
    Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.

    Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
@GregS


Your computer has TWO 1TB physical disks.. When RAIDed, they "acted" as one disk.
When you changed the setting in the BIOS to AHCI, you now see the "two" physical disks.

I went back and looked at the original specs when I ordered the PC and you are correct. There are 2 physical drives plus the hard drive.

I need to rethink about this and I'll look at your and others suggestions.

thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware R13
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9 12900KF
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 10GB GDDR6X
    Graphics Card(s)
    64GB Dual Channel DDR5 at 4400MHz
    Sound Card
    Dell Sound Bar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell UP2716
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
    PSU
    Alienware(TM) 750 Watt
    Case
    Alienware Clear Side Panel
    Cooling
    Alienware Cryo-tech(TM) Edition CPU Liquid Cooling
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Wired
    Internet Speed
    Spectrum Gig/40
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
I went back and looked at the original specs when I ordered the PC and you are correct. There are 2 physical drives plus the hard drive.

I need to rethink about this and I'll look at your and others suggestions.

thanks again.



No we can relax, knowing that you're going to do well with computers.
You have those rare talents called: patience and thinking ahead.

You're gonna be a "regular" soon. Welcome to the club. ^^



This is us relaxing...

Sleepy Time Bear.webp
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26100.3775 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦24H2 ♦♦♦non-Insider
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 5002)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 15 years?
An additional option is to use disk 0 for dual boot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
You're gonna be a "regular" soon. Welcome to the club. ^^
Hope you do not mind, I amended the above slightly :-D.

Welcome to the BEST club.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)

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