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extending partition size
**NOTE this doesnt work on a system volume!
@#%@#%@#%@#% thats what I need to increase the size of but I though it might interest
someone here.
Microsoft has a tool named Diskpart.exe which can be used to increase the size
of an existing data partition.
Ever ran out of disk space on a particular partition / volume with ample of free
space in the server? If yes, the only options are to either backup the data, break
partitions, and recreate them again with more appropriate size, or to figure out
ways in which the existing partition which is running out of space can be extended.
There have been non-Microsoft tools available in the market to extend the partition.
A similar tool from Microsoft was much desired for uniformity of the tools by a single
manufacturer.
Diskpart.exe is a tool introduced by Microsoft, to extend the data volumes in
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003.
It is a command line utility to extend the existing partitions by using the unallocated
space displayed in Disk Management.
Diskpart.exe can be used to extend both Basic as well as Dynamic partitions.
When extending a NTFS partition, Microsoft recommends to perform the action in
Safe Mode or Active Directory Restore Mode in order to prevent the open handles
to the drive from causing to fail the process.
There are some requirements for extending the partitions by using the Diskpart.exe
utility with the ‘extend’ command:
Following are the steps to extend the partition using Diskpart:
1. At a command prompt, type diskpart.exe.
2. Type list volume to display the existing volumes on the computer.
3. Type Select volume volume number where volume number is number of the volume
that you want to extend.
4. Type extend [size=n] [disk=n] [noerr] . The following describes the parameters:
size=n
The space, in megabytes (MB), to add to the current partition.
If you do not specify a size, the disk is extended to take up all of the
next contiguous unallocated space.
disk=n
The dynamic disk on which to extend the volume. Space equal to size=n
is allocated on the disk. If no disk is specified, the volume is extended
on the current disk.
noerr
For scripting only. When an error is thrown, this parameter specifies that
Diskpart continue to process commands as if the error did not occur.
Without the noerr parameter, an error causes Diskpart to quit with an error code.
5. Type exit to quit Diskpart.exe.
Diskpart will notify about the successful completion of the command and the space
will be added to the existing partition.
There is a special condition when extending a Simple Volume on a Dynamic Disk in
Windows 2000 and Windows XP. If the volume was created originally in the Basic Disk
and then the disk was upgraded to a Dynamic disk, the volume cannot be extended.
However, if the disk was already Dynamic when the volume was created, then
Diskpart can be run successfully. The above condition applies only to Simple
Volumes and not the Striped Sets and the rest. This condition was removed from
Windows 2003 and does not apply in its case.
Diskpart comes built-in with Windows 2003 and Windows XP. However, for
Windows 2000, the utility needs to be downloaded from Microsoft’s web site.
Diskpart can also be used to perform other disk related tasks like adding disks
to or breaking a mirror, making a particular partition active, assign drive letters
to partitions, converting basic disks to dynamic and empty dynamic disks to
basic and more.
@#%@#%@#%@#% thats what I need to increase the size of but I though it might interest
someone here.
Microsoft has a tool named Diskpart.exe which can be used to increase the size
of an existing data partition.
Ever ran out of disk space on a particular partition / volume with ample of free
space in the server? If yes, the only options are to either backup the data, break
partitions, and recreate them again with more appropriate size, or to figure out
ways in which the existing partition which is running out of space can be extended.
There have been non-Microsoft tools available in the market to extend the partition.
A similar tool from Microsoft was much desired for uniformity of the tools by a single
manufacturer.
Diskpart.exe is a tool introduced by Microsoft, to extend the data volumes in
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003.
It is a command line utility to extend the existing partitions by using the unallocated
space displayed in Disk Management.
Diskpart.exe can be used to extend both Basic as well as Dynamic partitions.
When extending a NTFS partition, Microsoft recommends to perform the action in
Safe Mode or Active Directory Restore Mode in order to prevent the open handles
to the drive from causing to fail the process.
There are some requirements for extending the partitions by using the Diskpart.exe
utility with the ‘extend’ command:
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The volume must be formatted with the NTFS file system.
PHP Code:
For Basic volumes, the unallocated space for the extension must be the next
contiguous space on the same disk. For example, consider F: needs to be extended
and there are 3 Hard Disks on the server. F: is on the second disk and the unallocated
free space is on the third disk. This does not satisfies the condition for running the
Diskpart utility with the extend command. Also if the F: and the unallocated space
are in the same drive, but there is another partition created in between them,
does not meet the requirement.
PHP Code:
For Dynamic Volumes, the unallocated space can be any empty space on any
Dynamic disk on the system.
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Only the extension of data volumes is supported. System or boot volumes may
be blocked from being extended, and you may receive the following error:
Diskpart failed to extend the volume. Please make sure the volume is valid for extending
PHP Code:
You cannot extend the partition if the system page file is located on the partition.
Move the page file to a partition that you do not wish to extend.
1. At a command prompt, type diskpart.exe.
2. Type list volume to display the existing volumes on the computer.
3. Type Select volume volume number where volume number is number of the volume
that you want to extend.
4. Type extend [size=n] [disk=n] [noerr] . The following describes the parameters:
size=n
The space, in megabytes (MB), to add to the current partition.
If you do not specify a size, the disk is extended to take up all of the
next contiguous unallocated space.
disk=n
The dynamic disk on which to extend the volume. Space equal to size=n
is allocated on the disk. If no disk is specified, the volume is extended
on the current disk.
noerr
For scripting only. When an error is thrown, this parameter specifies that
Diskpart continue to process commands as if the error did not occur.
Without the noerr parameter, an error causes Diskpart to quit with an error code.
5. Type exit to quit Diskpart.exe.
Diskpart will notify about the successful completion of the command and the space
will be added to the existing partition.
There is a special condition when extending a Simple Volume on a Dynamic Disk in
Windows 2000 and Windows XP. If the volume was created originally in the Basic Disk
and then the disk was upgraded to a Dynamic disk, the volume cannot be extended.
However, if the disk was already Dynamic when the volume was created, then
Diskpart can be run successfully. The above condition applies only to Simple
Volumes and not the Striped Sets and the rest. This condition was removed from
Windows 2003 and does not apply in its case.
Diskpart comes built-in with Windows 2003 and Windows XP. However, for
Windows 2000, the utility needs to be downloaded from Microsoft’s web site.
Diskpart can also be used to perform other disk related tasks like adding disks
to or breaking a mirror, making a particular partition active, assign drive letters
to partitions, converting basic disks to dynamic and empty dynamic disks to
basic and more.
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