[3 Ways] How to Increase C Drive Space in Windows 11/10/8/7

This page introduces how to increase C drive space in Windows 10/8/7 so as to extend C drive, speed up PC, and optimize your computer's performance.

PAGE CONTENT:

1. Why need to increase C drive?
2. What is the best tool for extending C drive?
3. How to increase C drive space in Windows 10/8/7 for free?

Let's see how to enlarge your system C drive on your computers now.

Why Need to Increase C Drive Space

Accordingly, the reasons why people need to increase the C drive space are various. Mostly, it could be divided into the following two cases:

#1. C drive full, Windows warns with "Low Disk Space" message

One day, you may find the system partition (C: drive) does not have much free disk space left, and the Windows OS pops up a low disk space warning message, which states as: "You are running out of disk space on Local Disk (C:)..."

Please check if you have unallocated space on your computer disk. If you don't, follow our guide step-by-step. If you do, you can directly jump to Step 4 and continue.

#2. Windows slows down, computer performances goes down

As time goes by, Windows OS, installed applications and programs will generate some application data, cache files, which will take up huge space on your C drive. So it is to your personal user data.

With the C drive getting full, the running speed of Windows OS and the performance of your computer will go down. Problems like high CPU usage, high ram memory, Windows 10 update stuck, etc., come along.

If you are with one of the listed cases, the best resolution is to increase the C drive space on your computer. How to do it? You'll need a reliable disk partitioning tool that allows you to extend local disk C: drive.

3 Best Tools for Extending C Drive in Windows 10/8/7

In this part, we'd like to introduce 3 best disk management tools to you and you can pick up one of them to extend your system C drive in Windows 10/8/7 for free:

#1. Third-party Qiling Partition Master

#2. Windows Disk Management

#3. DiskPart CMD

Here is a comparison table that will help you to decide which tool suit your need the most in increasing C drive space:

Comparison	Qiling Partition Master	Windows Disk Management	DiskPart CMD
Increase C drive with adjacent unallocated space	Yes	Yes	Yes
Extend C drive space with non-adjacent unallocated space	Yes	No	No
Best for	All levels of Windows users, beginners' best choice	Experienced Windows users	Administrators

Note that if you prefer an easier solution, apply Qiling Partition Master - Partition Master to increase C drive space in Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista with success.

Free Download

Pick up one of the free methods and follow the respective tutorial as shown below to start extending your local disk C drive now. These methods also work to extend data volumes on your PC.

Method 1. How to Increase C Drive Space with Qiling Partition Master

Applies to: Increase C drive space, extend system partition in a few simple clicks, no data loss.

Qiling partition manager software is designed for all levels of Windows users with a simple and intuitive interface. It supports to free manage partitions, including increasing C drive space, shrinking or extending partitions, merging non-adjacent partitions, etc.

Step-by-step Guide: Enlarge C Drive Space in Windows 10/8/7

If there is unallocated space on your system disk, you may got to Step 2 and start by clicking C drive and select "Resize/Move":

Step 1: Free up unallocated space for C drive.

If there is no unallocated space on the system disk, click on a partition next to the C: drive and select "Resize/Move".

Drag left panel of the partition to shrink and leave unallocated space behind the system C: drive and click "Proceed".

Step 2: Increase C drive space.

1. Click on C: drive and select "Resize/Move".

2. Drag the system partition end into unallocated space so to add space to C: drive.

3. Click "Proceed" button to add space to C drive.

Method 2. How to Increase Space in C Drive with Windows Disk Management

Applies to: Extend C drive with manual operations, some operations may cause data loss.

Disk Management is a Windows built-in tool that supports to increase partition size with its "Extend Volume" feature. However, the program has some limitations in increasing disk space:

Extend Volume only works on NTFS and RAW partition. FAT32 and other file systems are not supported.
The Extend Volume will grey out if there is no adjacent unallocated space behind the target partition.

So, the ways to increasing C drive with or without adjacent unallocated space are different. Open the Disk Management, and follow the right tutorials listed below to extend the local disk C drive on your own now:

#1. Increase C Drive Space with Adjacent Unallocated Space

Step 1. Right-click This PC/My Computer, click "Manage", select "Disk Management" under Storage.

Step 2. Locate and right-click on the local disk C drive, and choose "Extend Volume".

Step 3. Set and add more space to your system C drive and click "Next" to continue.

Step 4. Click "Finish" to complete the process.

Note that if that unallocated space on your system disk is not behind the C drive, you can't extend C drive in Disk Management. In this case, you can turn to Qiling Partition Master with tutorials as shown in Method 1 for help.

Free Download

#2. Extend C Drive without Unallocated Space or No Continuous Unallocated Space

Step 1. Right-click on This PC/My Computer, select "Manage" > "Disk Management".

Step 2. Right-click the adjacent partition next to the C drive (it would be D drive by default), choose "Shrink Volume".

Step 3. Enter the amount of space to shrink, click "Shrink" to confirm.

Step 4. Right-click on local disk C drive and select "Extend Volume".

Step 5. Follow the on-screen instructions to add more space to the system C drive.

Method 3. How to Extend C Drive Space with DiskPart CMD Commands

Applies to: Extend C drive space with command lines, false operation may cause serious problems.

The third free method to extend system partition space is to run CMD command using DiskPart. It's an administrator tool that might be a bit complex for normal Windows users. Therefore, you should be very careful with this process.

#1. Extend C drive with Contiguous Unallocated Space

Step 1. Open Diskpart prompt window

Press Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type cmd and hit Enter to open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Type diskpart and hit Enter to open DiskPart.

Step 2. Type CMD command lines and hit Enter each time to extend C drive

list disk
select disk x (Replace X with the disk number of your system disk.)
list volume
select volume x (Replace X with the partition number of your C drive.)
extend size =number (Normally, the default size unit is MB.)
exit

After this, you can restart PC and you'll get a larger C drive on your computer.

#2. Extend C Drive When There Is No Unallocated Space Behind

If there is no adjacent unallocated space behind your system C drive, you'll encounter this error as shown below:

"Virtual Disk Service error: There is not enough usable space for this operation".

In this case, you have two options: 1. Revert to Method 1 and extend C drive space using Qiling Partition Master; 2. Delete the adjacent drive behind C drive to get an unallocated space.

If you prefer the 2nd option, remember to back up all useful data to another location first. Now, follow the steps below to extend C drive for free:

Step 1. Open Diskpart prompt window

Open the Run dialog, type cmd and hit Enter to open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Type diskpart and hit Enter to open DiskPart.

Step 2. Type command lines below and hit Enter each time:

list disk
select disk x (Replace X with the disk number of your system disk.)
list volume
select volume x (Replace X with the partition number that you want to delete.)
delete volume
select volume x (Replace X with the partition number of your C drive.)
extend size =number (Normally, the default size unit is MB.)
exit

After this, you can restart PC to keep all the changes, later, you'll see that your C drive is larger and the computer is running faster than before.

Bonus Tips for Increasing C Drive Space

Besides the above-presented methods, here we also have some bonus tips that can help you fix the C drive low space issue and optimize computer performance.

Follow the tips below to get an even larger C drive and a faster computer:

1. Back-Up Big Data to An External Storage Device

If you have a certain number of big files saved on your C drive but you don't need to use them frequently, we suggest you back up those files to an external storage device.

You may apply reliable Windows file backup software for help.

2. Delete Useless Large Files in C Drive Regularly

Deleting the old or unnecessary files on system drive will free up space to ensure the normal operations of the Windows system. Follow to see how to locate and delete large files in Windows 10/8/7.

3. If Extend Volume Greyed Out, Turn to Qiling Partition Master

When you can't extend a volume using Disk Management, it's highly possible that there is no unallocated space behind your target volume. And Qiling Partition Master can resolve this issue effectively with its Resize/Move feature. You can also apply this tool to partition the hard drive.

Free Download

Sum Up

On this page, we explained why do people need to increase C drive space and introduced the 3 best disk management tools for Windows 10/8/7 users to extend the system C drive and other partitions.

If you are a Windows server user, you may also refer to the listed methods as shown above to enlarge a hard drive partition.