How Do I Shrink a Partition Without Losing Data in Windows OS?
The concept of resizing a hard drive partition is an operation of altering the partition size using extending or shrinking options. You can also divide a partition into two partitions. The user can either increase or reduce the size of partition based on the requirement. Here in this blog, we will discuss how to shrink a partition without losing data in Windows operating system.
An indispensable demand for this procedure is that you need an NTFS file system in the system. Note that the FAT32 file system doesn’t work. The NTFS (New Technology File System) is a standard file system provided by Windows NT operating system which includes versions like Windows 2000, XP, Windows Server 2003, 2008, Windows Vista, 7, 8 & Windows 10. This NTFS file system is superior to the FAT file system in extensibility, performance, and reliability.
Table of Content:
Let us look into the table of content before going further in detail:
How to Shrink a Partition Without Losing Data Manually
“I am using Windows 10 operating system and now I want to expand C: Drive on Disk 0, by shrinking G: Drive on Disk 0. Is it possible to use Disk Management to shrink and extend the drives without losing any data? Or do I need to prefer any third party App for performing this easily? How do I shrink a partition without losing data easily? Thanks in advance.”
The user query is taken from one of the famous technical forum sites. Here the user is asking how to shrink partition in your drive effectively. No need to worry, the best solution is described here in this blog.
Instant Solution:- To shrink a partition in Windows OS issue & resolve the error, it is recommended to go with the SysTools Windows Data Recovery Software. This will permit the users to recover formatted data from hard drive. Users can download this utility any version of Windows.
Step to Shrink a Partition in Windows OS
Go through the step by step procedure given below to understand how to shrink a partition without losing data.
- Begin >> Right click on My Computer >> Press Manage.
- Locate Disk Management under Store on the left, and click to select Disk Management.
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Note: You can also directly open Disk management window by pressing Win + R and then type diskmgmt.msc in the command prompt. Click Ok. This will directly open Disk Management.
- You can view the disk partition in the disk management window.
- Now Right click on the partition which you want to cut >> select Shrink Volume.
- Fix size and enter the amount of space to shrink. The maximum value allowed by default is shown press Shrink.
- You can view the space that has been released in the name unallocated space. Now create a new partition in this space.
- Right-click on the unallocated space partition >> New Simple Volume.
- Now choose a volume size that is between the maximum and minimum size. Then press the Next button.
- Then it will provide an option to assign a drive name. Choose a name and click on Next.
- Then it will ask if you need to format the data or not. Choose accordingly and press Next.
- Press Finish Button. You can see the new partition created by shrinking a partition without data loss in Windows OS efficiently.
What if Data Loss Occurs while Shrinking?
The above-discussed solution helps you to shrink a partition without data loss efficiently. But there are cases reported where shrinking a partition caused data loss after the process. So what is the solution that can be applied in such scenarios? The major issue faced by many users is that, the lack of a reliable manual solution to recover lost data from a partition.
Recover Lost Data Automatically
After shrinking a partition, you face any data loss from your shrink drive, then one and the only solution is to go for a reliable application like SysTools Hard Drive Data Recovery software. The software provides options to retrieve missing data from a partition in Hard Drive efficiently. It supports effortless recovery of formatted and corrupted FAT, ExFat and NTFS File System data without any data loss. If you are facing data loss after shrinking a partition in Windows operating system, download the free demo version of the utility and understand all the functioning of the software.
Final Words
The blog discusses proper steps to create a new partition in your hard drive. It introduces how to shrink a partition without losing data in Windows 10, 8, 7, etc. Go through the proper steps to reduce the size of your partition. The blog also provides an efficient solution to recover data, in case if the manual steps to shrink a partition cause any data loss.
FAQ’s
You can resize a partition without losing data using the manual method which is mentioned above in the blog.
Users can shrink a Windows partition with the help of an above-mentioned blog. We have described the manual as well as an automated solution to resolved this error.