Windows 10 Disk Management – ​​The Most Helpful User Guide (2023)

Overview of Windows 10 Disk Management

Windows 10 is one of the most popular operating systems (OS) from Microsoft. It has greatly improved compared to Windows 8, e.g. B. adding the Windows 7 Start menu, a virtual desktop system, a voice assistant called Cortana, the Xbox app and stream, and the Edge browser.

Disk Managementis a Windows 10 built-in tool that is widely known among PC users. It can help you manage disk partitions without system reboot and without interruption. It is a handy tool for Windows 10 users.

Windows 10 Disk Management Help

As a Windows 10 user, you should know how to use Disk Management to manage your disk partition or solve some common problems like initializing a new drive.expand a basic volume, a basic volume reduction, etc. Here is what Disk Management in Windows 10 can help with:

How to open disk management in windows 10?

To know how to open Disk Management in Windows 10, here we illustrate the four most commonly used methods.

Camino 1Open Disk Management from This PC

◥Right-click "This PC" on the desktop and choose "Manage" from the content menu.

◥Then enter theComputermanagementwindow, select and clickDisk ManagementOn the left.

Way of St. James 2OpenDisk Managementvia "Run"

Simultaneously press the Windows key and the R key to open the Run window, type "Diskmgmt.msc" in the empty field and press Enter (or tap OK).

Way of St. James 3.Open Disk Management via "Search"

Click Search and type "Disk Management" in the search box and select "Disk Management" from the list.

Way of St. James 4.Or directly type "Disk Management" in the search box and select "Create and format disk partitions" from the results.

How to use Disk Management in Windows 10

Since we already know about Disk Management, let's talk about how to use it to solve the real problem.

Most Windows 10 desktop and laptop users have encountered the problemLow disk space warning, especially for the system partition. To solve this kind of problems, expanding the volume would be the most effective way. Now, how to extend volume with Disk Management in Windows 10?

Open Disk Management. It shows all disks and partitions on your PC. Right click the partition you want to extend and then select Extend Volume (e.g. partition C).

It is easy? Yes, and using Disk Management to initialize disk, create partition, shrink volume, wipe volume and format volume is as simple as extend volume: select disk or partition -> click Right click on it -> select the operation you want to perform and follow the instructions step by step.

However, in some situations, it cannot solve your Disk Management problem. You may have many problems, for example: “Extend volume grayed out“. Is there a problem with this tool? No, the reason is that Extend Volume feature in Windows 10 is only available when there is contiguous Unallocated space behind the partition you want to extend.

What can you do if you don't have unallocated space on your hard drive? If you insist to extend partition via Disk Management but there is no contiguous Unallocated space, the only solution is to delete the partition behind the volume you want to extend and then add the generated Unallocated space to the target volume by using You "Extend Volume". You may encounter other problems such as "Reduce volume grayed out', 'Disk doesn't show up in Disk Management', 'Cannot initialize disk', etc. What should you do when these bad things happened?

Best Disk Manager for Windows 10

Windows 10 Disk Management is a good utility for Windows 10 users. However, it has many limitations. So we're always looking for a better disk manager and we've found it.AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, a free and powerful disk management tool that can completely fix the lack of built-in disk partition manager in Windows 10. It is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and the latest version of Windows 11.

For example, AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you extend partition no matter there is Unallocated space right behind the extended partition in Windows 11/10/8/7, XP and Vista or not. Only when there is Unallocated space next to the partition, no matter on the left or right side, AOMEI Partition Assistant Resize/Move Partition can help you extend the partition with the Unallocated space.

What's more, you can even use AOMEI Partition Assistant to extend a partition with no Unallocated space. The following content shows you how to successfully extend partition with this disk manager in Windows 10 in two different situations.

▶ Case 1: Extend partition when there is non-contiguous Unallocated space [FREE]

In this situation, we recommend "Merge Partitions" of AOMEI Partition Assistant, which can merge two adjacent partitions or non-contiguous Unallocated space with another existing partition.

Before you do it:✎...

You can merge one or more pieces of Unallocated space into one partition.

The System Reserved partition could not be merged.

If applications are running on the partition to be served, AOMEI Partition Assistant will suggest you close it or run the operationPreOS-Modus.

If there is no Unallocated space on the hard drive, go to Case 2.

Step 1.Remove AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

Step 2.Install and run. Right click on the partition you want to extend (e.g. D drive) and selectmerge partitions.

Step 3.Check the box in front of Unallocated space and then clickOK.

Level 4.Now you can preview the Unallocated space added to C drive. To save the change, clickUsebutton in the upper left corner.

▶ Case 2: extend partition when there is no unallocated space [Advanced]

If there is no unallocated space on the hard drive, you can try Allocate Free Space to move free space from one partition to another directly.

Before you do it:✎...

If there are 4 primary partitions on an MBR disk and you want to split one of them, the partition to be split will become a logical partition automatically.

If a hard disk has four primary partitions, the program won't allow you to split the system partition or the boot partition unless you can convert one of the other partitions from primary to logical partition, and then the program will allow you to split them share system partition system. The newly generated partition will be automatically set as a logical partition.

To unlock the advanced feature, you need to upgrade AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard tothe professional edition.

Step 1.Open this software, right click on a partition with enough space (here is partition D), then selectallocate free space.

Step 2.Enter the amount of free space you want to add another partition (here is C drive) and then clickOK.

Step 3.Now you can preview that some free space has been allocated to C drive from D partitionUseto save the changes. Then partition C is extended.

Use:If the free space of C drive is not enough, you can also run Disk Cleanup on it orMove installed apps from there to another drive,etc.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro VSA Windows 10 Disk Management

AOMEI Partition Assistant should be an excellent Windows disk manager that can completely replace Disk Management in Windows 10. Here we compared AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition with Windows Disk Management:

Characteristics	AOMEI Pro Partitions assistant	Windows 10 Disk Management
Create partition, delete partition, format partition, change drive letter
Extend/shrink NTFS partition
Extend/shrink FAT32 partition
Merge partitions, merge Unallocated space, move partition
Allocate free space from one partition to another
Convert MBR to GPT / GPT to MBR without data loss
Convert dynamic disk to basic disk without data loss
Convert primary partition to logical/logical to primary without data loss
Convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting
Migrate OS to SSD or HDD
Create a bootable Windows PE disc
Recover lost/deleted partition
Clone disk/partition
move folder/ Applications
Schedule disk partition defragmentation
Hard Drive Speed ​​Test
Change serial number, change partition type ID

Obviously, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is more powerful than Disk Management in Windows 10, 8, 7 and the latest Windows 11. If Windows Disk Management couldn't solve your problem, why not choose this great disk management tool? Free download to try.