How to Merge C and D/E Drive in Windows Server 2016

There are 2 main benefits to merge partitions in Windows 2016 server: reduce partition number and expand a partition by transfer free space from the other one. This article introduces how to combine D and E drive, merge C and E drive or merge C and D drive in Windows Server 2016. If you want to extend a partition by merging another one, it is better to resize partition rather than merging them together.

How to merge D and E drive in Server 2016 without software

If D and E are contiguous and on the same disk, you can combine drive E to D without any software. Windows Server 2016 Disk Management has no merge volume function, but it can realize indirectly with another "Extend Volume" function.

Steps to merge D and E drive in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022:

1. Transfer all files in drive E to D.
2. Press Windows + X together on the keyboard and click Disk Management in the list.
3. Right click E: drive and select Delete Volume.
4. Right click D: drive and select Extend Volume.
5. Simply click Next till Finish in the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard windows.

It is easy to combine D and E drive in Server 2016/2019/2022 when they are contiguous, but there are some limitations to merge partitions with Disk Management:

• There should be plenty of free space in drive D (or other volume) to save all files of E.
• Disk Management can only merge 2 adjacent partitions. In addition, it can only combine the right partition to the left one.
• Drive D must be formatted with NTFS file system.
• D and E must be the same Primary or Logical drive. (On MBR disk)

With NIUBI Partition Editor, there are no such limitations, you can merge 2 contiguous partitions via several clicks, no matter the partitions are NTFS or FAT32, Primary or Logical. In addition, you don't need to transfer files manually. Files in a partition will be moved to a folder in root directory of the other one automatically.

How to merge C and D drive in Server 2016 when they are adjacent:

1. Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right click either C or D drive and select "Merge Volume".
2. Click the check-box in front of both C and D drive.
3. Click OK and back to the main window, click Apply on top left to execute, done.

Watch the video how to operate:

How to merge C and E drive when they are nonadjacent

If C and E drive are contiguous in your server, follow the steps above to combine these partitions. But if C and E drive are nonadjacent, no software can combine them directly. You need to delete E drive manually and then merge unallocated space to C drive.

Consider resizing instead of merging C and D drive

If your aim is to extend C drive, it is not suggested to merge C and D drive in Windows 2016 server. There's better method with NIUBI Partition Editor. You can shrink D, E or any partition on the same disk to get unallocated space, and then add this unallocated space to C drive. In this way, you won't lose any partition. Operating system, programs and anything else (except size) keep exactly the same with before.

How to extend a partition by shrinking another one:

Better than other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor has innovative Virtual Mode, Cancel-at-will, Hot-Clone and 1-Second Rollback technologies to protect system and data. Besides merging partitions in Windows Server 2016/2019/2025/2003/2008/2012, it helps do many other disk/partition management operations.

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