The low disk space issue is very common on a server, especially for the system partition and the drives used for exchange, database, and backup. It is much more complicated for the system partition C, because you cannot solve this problem by transferring files. Hard drive partitions are allocated while installing the operating system or by OEM manufacturers. Is it possible to repartition a hard drive on Server 2012 R2 without losing data? The answer is yes. This article introduces how to repartition a hard drive on Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022 with built-in tools and safe partition software.
Repartition Hard Drive with Windows Built-in Tools
To repartition a drive on Windows Server 2012 R2 and other versions, there are built-in tools: the Diskpart command and Disk Management. The major advantage of these built-in tools is that they can shrink and extend volumes without rebooting the server. On the other hand, they have many restrictions when resizing Windows Server partitions.
Diskpart works in the command prompt; if you prefer to use this tool, follow the steps below:
- How to shrink a partition with Diskpart in Windows Server 2012, 2016, and 2019
- How to extend a partition with Diskpart in Windows Server 2012, 2016, and 2019
The major restrictions of both the Diskpart command and Disk Management include:
- They can only shrink and extend NTFS (and RAW) partitions.
- They cannot extend a partition by shrinking other volumes.
As shown in the test 2012 server:
There is 18.96GB of unallocated space that is shrunk from the D drive. Extend Volume is greyed out for both the C: and E: drives.
This is because:
- Unallocated space can only be generated on the right side when shrinking a partition via the Disk Management "Shrink Volume" function and the Diskpart shrink command.
- Both the "Extend Volume" function and the Diskpart extend command can only merge unallocated space into the left adjacent partition.
After shrinking the D drive, the C drive is non-adjacent to the unallocated space, and the E: drive is on the right, so Extend Volume is disabled.
In short, both Diskpart and Disk Management can only shrink an NTFS partition to create a new volume, or extend an NTFS partition by deleting the adjacent partition on the right.
Repartition Server 2012 Drive with Safe Software
Compared with Windows native tools, third-party partition software such as NIUBI Partition Editor has more advantages, such as:
- It can shrink and extend both NTFS and FAT32 partitions.
- It can generate unallocated space on either the left or right side when shrinking a partition.
- It can merge unallocated space into either adjacent partition in 1 step.
- It can move unallocated space and merge it into any non-adjacent partition on the same disk.
- It is much easier; simply click, drag, and drop to operate.
Download NIUBI Partition Editor and follow the steps in the video to repartition the hard drive in Windows Server 2012 R2/2016/2019/2022.
When there is available free space on the same disk:
When there is not enough free space on the disk:
- On most servers, there is free space on the disk. Follow the steps in the first video to shrink a partition to release unallocated space, and then merge it into another one.
- When there is no available free space on the disk, no software can add space from another separate disk. Follow the second video to clone the disk to a larger one and extend the partition with the extra disk space.
- If you use any types of hardware RAID arrays, VMware, or Hyper-V, there is no difference when repartitioning the virtual disk.
Take Care of Data While Repartitioning Windows Server
There is a potential risk of system damage and data loss while repartitioning a server hard drive. Therefore, it is crucial to back up or clone the disk first and run safe disk partition software. Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor incorporates powerful data protection technology:
- Hot Clone - Clone disk partitions in Windows for backup, migration, and fast disk swapping.
- Virtual Mode - All operations are listed as pending for preview, and real disk partitions won't be modified until you click "Apply" to confirm.
- Cancel-at-Will - If you applied incorrect operations, you can safely cancel the ongoing operations at any stage before completion.
- 1 Second Rollback - If any error is detected while resizing partitions, it can immediately and automatically revert the disk partitions to their previous state.
- Advanced file-moving algorithm: Resize and move partitions 30% to 300% faster, saving significant time, especially when handling a large number of files.
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