How to Merge Hard Drives in Windows

Keeping multiple hard drives in a computer can make it difficult to find the files and folder quickly. Sometimes it becomes very difficult that the folder we are looking for remains unnoticeable while it is on the screen. Not only this, the multiple hard drives fill up quickly hence leaving less space for other application and programs.

Most of the users have complained that their C: drive is too small, but they don’t know how they should figure out the solution to expand the size. Whenever you ask for a solution to cope with the problem, tech-savvy people suggests third-party tools. But, before downloading a third-party tool would you like to try Windows inbuilt tool for that? Yes, Windows also has an inbuilt tool for Disk Management which will help you to merge the hard drives.

If your system is prompting you to merge the drives, then you must immediately act on it. If you don’t know about merging drives, then follow the guide to create a new spacious drive. The steps will show you to merge the drives without using any third party tools since the Windows inbuilt Disk Management tool is reliable enough to perform the task efficiently.

Here, how to merge the hard drives in Windows

Before going through any steps, you must back up the drives that you want to merge to restore the data later.

1. Right click on the Computer and select Manage.
2. Now, go to Storage and click to expand.
3. Select Disk Management.
4. In the Disk Management tab, you will see hard drive Volume.
5. Select and right click on it to open a drop-down menu.
6. Now, click Delete Volume from the menu.
7. You will be prompted to delete.
8. Proceed if you have a backup of the drive. If you are fine without a backup, then you can proceed.
9. Click Yes button to confirm the deletion.
10. Again, follow the same steps and select those drives that you want to merge.
11. Select the drives individually and delete the volume.
12. After deletion of volume, it will become Unallocated Space.
13. Again select a drive and right click on it.
14. If you are Windows 10 users, then select Stripped Volume or Spanned Volume according to your settings.
15. Select Extend Volume from the menu.
16. Now, the Wizard will appear on the screen.
17. Click Add and go to Next
18. Again, click the Next
19. Select NTFS from File System drop down menu and Default from Allocation unit size menu.
20. Now, click the Next
21. Click Finish, and you will be prompted again to convert the hard drive.
22. Click Yes to confirm the convert the hard drive from basic to dynamic.
23. Now, restart your computer.

When the process is done, and the system rebooted correctly, restore the data from your backup utility. You will see the space in the new merged Drive is enough for the programs, applications, and folders together. Now, there will less struggle in searching the data in your system.

Adam Jones is a self-professed security expert; he has been making the people aware of the security threats. His passion is to write about Cybersecurity, cryptography, malware, social engineering, internet and new media. He writes for Norton security products at office.com/setup