Compared with the system partition (C:), the D drive is less likely to run out of space, but many administrators still encounter this issue. In that case, nothing could be better than increasing the D drive's free space without wasting time starting over. With safe partition software, you can shrink the C drive or another partition to extend the D drive without losing data. This article explains how to extend the D drive on Windows Server 2016/2019/2022/2025.
How to Extend the D Drive by Shrinking the C or E Drive (on the Same Disk)
Besides a few small system-reserved partitions, most servers have the C and D drives on the same disk. In some servers, the C drive is on the system disk, while the D drive and other partitions are on a separate data disk. Regardless of whether the D drive is on the system or data disk, as long as there is another partition with plenty of free space on the same disk, you can shrink it to expand the D drive easily.
Before extending partition D on a Windows server, it is highly recommended to back up your data and use safe partitioning software. Unreliable tools may pose a risk of system damage and data loss.
Better than other software, NIUBI Partition Editor has innovative technologies to protect system and data.
- Virtual Mode - All operations are listed as pending for preview; real disk partitions are not modified until you click "Apply" to confirm.
- Cancel-at-Will - If you apply incorrect operations, you can safely cancel the ongoing process without causing damage.
- 1-Second Rollback - If any error is detected while resizing partitions, it automatically reverts the server to its original state instantly.
- Hot Clone - Clone disk partitions without server interruption. You can clone the disk before performing operations or as a regular backup.
- It is 30% to 300% faster due to an advanced file-moving algorithm.
To extend the D drive on Windows Server 2016/2019/2022/2025:
- Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right-click either the adjacent C or E drive, and select "Resize/Move Volume".
- In the pop-up dialog box, drag the border to shrink the partition. If you are shrinking the C drive, ensure the unallocated space is created to its right.
- Right-click drive D and select "Resize/Move Volume" again, then drag the border to combine the unallocated space.
- Click Apply at the top left to execute. (All operations before this step only work in Virtual Mode.)
Watch the video guide on how to expand the D drive by shrinking other volumes.
How to Extend the D Drive Partition with Another Disk
In some servers, there is not enough free space in another partition on the same disk. In that case, you have two options:
- If both the C and D drives are almost full, you can copy the entire system disk to a larger disk.
- If you prefer not to copy the system C drive, you can copy the single D drive partition to another disk.
Whether you copy the entire disk or a single partition, you can extend the D drive with extra disk space. If there is no unallocated space on the target disk, you can shrink a partition to obtain it. The unallocated space must be larger than the used space of the D drive.
How to Extend D Drive by Copying Entire System Disk:
How to Extend Partition D with Another Disk:
How to Extend Volume D in RAID/VMware/Hyper-V
In most servers, there is available free space in another volume on the same disk, regardless of whether the disk is on a physical server or a virtual machine in VMware/Hyper-V. In such cases, simply follow the steps outlined in the first video guide. For any hardware RAID arrays (such as RAID 0/1/5/10), do not break the array or perform any operations via the RAID controller.
In a VMware or Hyper-V virtual machine, if there is no available free space on the disk, you can expand the virtual disk directly. The additional space will then appear as unallocated space at the end of the original virtual disk. Finally, follow the steps to move and merge the unallocated space into the D drive or other partitions.
In Summary
To extend the D drive in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022/2025, back up your data first and use safe partitioning software. Due to its powerful data protection technologies and fast file-moving algorithm, NIUBI Partition Editor is the best choice. Besides shrinking and extending partitions, it helps you perform many other disk partition management operations.
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