On a Windows Server 2016 machine we have multiple partitions for separate segments of a website. However, more storage space is needed for one of the partitions, so I would like to transfer some space from the default C: drive to another partition (G:). Using the built in Disk Management program on Windows, I am unable to transfer the unallocated space obtained from C: to G: because the unallocated space is not to the right of G:. How would I go about extending the partition? The company policies are restrictive on installing unknown third party programs to manage the infrastructure, and I'm not able to find a free partition manager that works on Windows Server 16 anyways. I cannot use a bootable partition manager in order to minimize downtime
Windows – Extending partition on Windows Server 2016
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I would echo what @Chopper3 says-- what you've got should work.
Fire up
diskpart. At theDISKPART>prompt enterlist diskand look down the list of disks for the one you want to create the partition on. (If you have multiple disks this can be a challenge. The ordinal number on the disk is the same as shown in 'Computer Management' and is probably 0 in the case of your question. Better safe than sorry, though.)Enter
select disk #substituting the ordinal of the disk that you want to parition for #.You can do a
list partitionto see the partitions already on the disk.Enter
create partition primaryto create another primary partition.Enter
list partitionagain to see the results of your changes.Assuming a partition gets created you can enter
select partition #(substituting in the ordinal for the partition you created for #) andassign letter=x:(substituting in whatever drive letter you'd like assigned to the partition for x).You can format the partition in
diskpartusing theformatcommand (format fs=ntfs quick) or your favorite format command.
If this acts up post the output of list disk and list partition as an edit on your question.
Your Windows installation seems to use the legacy MBR for partitioning, which means you can allocate at most 2 TB (which is in-line with your C + D total allocated space).
You need to reinstall Windows with GPT partitions, or do an in-place conversion to GPT. After that, you can expand your D partition to cover all available disk space.
As a side note, I strongly suggest creating two virtual drives: a ~80 GB one for Windows (with classical MBR) and a second one, with GPT formatting, covering all the remaining space. This second drive can be configured and brought online directly from Windows disk management utility (which give more control options compared to the install screen).
Best Answer
Doing this naively from Windows is not possible. Whatever program you use you'll end up with downtime as moving/resizing partitions is best done while no active processes accessing the disk, keep that in mind while I suggest the below.
Because you have too many restrictions in place I suggest that you use a bootable partition manager such as https://gparted.org, I know you don't want to have a downtime, but you'll face that wall whatever you do.