How to Merge Partitions in Windows 10/8/7

Merge Partitions Windows 10 Quick Navigation

Reducing the number of partitions on computer hard drives is a hot trend, which makes merging partitions a real need for users. You may wonder can you merge partitions in Windows 10 without losing data? If yes, how to merge partitions in Windows 10/8/7? There are largely three situations of merging partitions in Windows 10. And you can combine two partitions without losing data by using EaseUS partition tool.

Applies To: Two or multiple partitions, no matter whether they’re adjacent or not.

Tool You Need: EaseUS Partition Master or Windows 10 Disk Management

Check what your specific need is and carry out the exact way to achieve your goal.

1. Merge Two Adjacent Partitions in Windows 10/8/7

There are two choices for you to merge Windows partitions. Honestly speaking, using third-party software is much simpler than using Disk Management is such a case. Get to know the details below and you will know I’m not overstating.

Option 1. Merge Partitions with EaseUS Partition Master

Merging two successive partitions is pretty easy for the effective partition manager — EaseUS Partition Master. It is an all-in-one partition merger that can be perfectly compatible with almost all 32/64-bit Windows operating systems including Windows Vista/XP/7/8/10 and Windows Server 2003 — 2019. More importantly, it helps merge 2 partitions without losing any data.

Unlike Disk Management, EaseUS Partition Master won’t require you to delete a volume to create a new space. Instead, as long as the source partition and the target partition (or unallocated space) are adjoining partitions, you can combine them directly.

Step 1: Select the target partition

Right-click on the partition which you want to add space to and keep, and select «Merge».

Step 2: Select a neighborВ partition to merge

Select one partition next to the former selected partition and click «OK» to continue.

Step 3: Execute operation to merge partitions

1. Click the «Execute Operation» button at the top and then click «Apply».
2. The program will merge space and add files from the second partition to the first partition.

The following video tutorial shows how to partition a hard drive with EaseUS Partition Master. You can learn how to resize partition, create a partition, and delete the partition.

Option 2. Combine Partitions in Disk Management

Whether the partitions you want to merge is adjacent or not, using Disk Management demands you to delete the target partition first to create unallocated space. Because Disk Management merges partitions by extending the source partition with unallocated space. Therefore, you should back up your partition data in advance before the deletion if you choose to use Disk Management. To make the backup, you can either manually copy files or let the free backup software help. After backing up your files, now you can follow to merge partitions in Windows 10 via Disk Management.

Step 1. Right-click on «This PC» and choose «Manage» > «Disk Management».

Step 2. Right-click the target partition and choose «Delete Volume». In the prompt, click «Yes».

Step 3. Right-click the source partition and choose «Extend Volume».

Step 4. In Extend Volume Wizard, click «Next».

Step 5. Set the amount of space and click «Next». (You may feel confused in the «Select Disks» window. To your information, the maximum available space means the total size of the unallocated space in the current disk.)

Step 6. Click «Next» > «Finish» and wait for the process to complete.

2. How to Merge Two Non-Adjacent Partitions

Both EaseUS Partition Master and Windows built-in Disk Management can merge two partitions that are not next to each other. Using Disk Management to combine non-adjoining volumes is the same as combine two adjacent ones, which you can refer to Option 2 (delete the target partition and then extend the source partition). The way to merge non-adjacent partitions with a professional partition merger varies depending on what is between your source partition and target partition. I’ll explain it in detail.

If there is unallocated space between your source partition and target partition, you can directly merge the partitions without deleting any existing volume and the unallocated space in between will be added to the combined partition, too. For example, you can directly merge C drive and D drive in the picture above. (Refer to Option 1 for details.)

However, if there is(are) partition(s) between these two volumes you want to merge, you must delete the target partition with Disk Management. You don’t have to delete the partition with the help of EaseUS partition magic. You can also merge non-adjacent partitions with the «Allocate Space» feature. The «Allocate Space» feature doesn’t merge the two partitions but moves all the free space from one drive to another. The data still exists in the old partitions. Follow the steps below to allocate Windows 10 partition space even if they are non-adjacent.

Step 1. Right-click on the D: partition with enough free space and select «Allocate Space».

Step 2. Select the target partition — C:В drive andВ drag the partition panel rightward toВ add theВ free space from D: drive to C: drive. Then click «OK» to confirm.

Step 3. Click the «Execute Operation» button and click «Apply» to start the process of moving free space from D: drive to C: drive.

3. How to Merge Two Cross-Disk Partitions

The precondition for cross-disk combination is that your disks are dynamic disks. Only dynamic disk supports cross-disk volumes like spanned volume and striped volume. Hence, if you intend to merge partitions that are not one the same disk, you must make sure the disks are dynamic disks, or you need to convert basic disk to dynamic disk first.

Also, you can combine two partitions on different disks either using EaseUS Partition Master or Disk Management. A complete guide to merge disk 0 and disk 1 has been provided already. Visit that guide for detailed instructions.

Additional Information: Reasons to Merge Partitions in Windows 10

Merging partitions is the behavior of combining two partitions into a bigger one. It’s increasingly popular nowadays since it is convenient. You can enjoy merging partitions on one or more hard drives. According to the needs of users, there are three main reasons for them to merge partitions in Windows.

• To Increase Free Space

It’s quite common that you find one or more partitions on your computer hard drive is out of space, especially the C drive. To extend the system partition or data partition, the first method that comes into your mind is to merge partitions, which enables you to add more free space to the source drive.

• To Save Files More Conveniently

Users, especially game players, prefer not to partition a hard drive for saving the game data, which is always measured by gigabytes, more easily one a single hard drive. However, most of the hard drives on computers are pre-partitioned by the manufacturers. Therefore, most of them decide to merge partitions.

• To Locate Files More Quickly

Actually, even if you divide your hard drive into several partitions, you seldom save your files accordingly as you expect. Instead, you store your data randomly on the partitions. That always makes it difficult for you to find the specific file or folder you currently need. To shorten the time you spend searching for files, it’s a good choice to decrease the number of volumes by combining partitions.

Is your intention to merge partitions in Windows 10 the same as one of the three reasons? Whether your answer is «Yes» or «No», as long as you attempt to resize your partitions by adding one to another, you can follow the methods above to get it done.

Extra Tips: How to Utilize Disk Space Better

To fully and efficiently utilize your disk space, there are some helpful tips you may be interested in.

Learn how to resize your partition: Common resizing operations (merge/extend/shrink partitions) are useful to make free space. You can use the newly created free space for data storage on your computer, which will balance the usage of the partitions on your computer hard drives. For example, when a partition is out of space, you can either merge it with another one or extend it by using the unallocated space; Even if there is no unallocated space available, you can shrink a partition to get the storage. By doing so, there will be no out-of-space partition nor completely blank partition on your hard drive.

Clean the junk files and useless data on your disk: Don’t let the useless files take up your disk space. Never hesitate to remove the items you don’t need or junk files produced by the programs from your computer storage, or you will find your computer hard drive is loaded with data and your Windows 10 is getting extremely slow.

Defragment drives regularly: Defragmentation is a process of putting a file that is spread across the hard drive back together. It organizes your disk data in a better way and will improve the read and write speed of the file. To defragment disk partition, you can:

Step 1. Input defrag in the search bar.

Step 2. Choose «Defragment and Optimize Drives» in the search result.

Step 3. Choose the hard disk you want to optimize and click the «Optimize» button.

The Bottom Line

Now you know two tools that help to merge partitions into a single larger one. After carefully reading, you should notice that there are some noticeable differences while applying the third-party software and the Windows inbuilt program. For example, if you want to merge adjacent partitions, using EaseUS Partition Master will free you from deleting your target partition, which is not supported by Disk Management. Besides, even if the third-party software requires you to delete a partition, you can use free backup software to back up your files more effectively. Pick up one partition management solution that works best for you according to your own needs.

FAQs — Merge Partitions Windows 10 Without Losing data

If you still have some questions, you can read these frequently asked questions and solve your problems now.

Can you combine partitions without losing data?

Yes, you can merge two partitions without losing data if you use the professional partition manager – EaseUS Partition Master! Here is how to make it:

Step 1. Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master on your PC.

Step 2. Select partitions to merge.

Step 3. Merge partitions.

The program will merge space and add files from the second partition to the first partition.

How do I merge partitions?

To Combine partitions in Disk Management:

1. Press Windows and X on the keyboard and select Disk Management from the list.

2. Right-click drive D and select Delete Volume, disk space of D will be converted to Unallocated.

3. Right-click drive C and select Extend Volume.

4. Click Next in the pop-up Extend Volume Wizard window

5. Click Finish to execute.

In a while, drive D is merged into C drive.

Can I merge C and D drives?

Many people may know that Windows built-in Disk Management can help to merge C and D drive in Windows 10 for free. But the program has its own drawbacks. It requires you to delete the other partition before merging the C and D drives since the Disk Management cannot directly resize the partition. You can easily merge C and D drivers without data loss. Just ask EaseUS Partition Master for help.

Does deleting a partition erase data?

To delete a primary partition, you’ll need to erase your hard drive and start over. Deleting a partition will permanently erase any data that is presently stored on it.

[FREE] 2 Ways to Merge Partitions in Windows 10 Effortlessly

If you want to merge and combine 2 partitions into 1 in Windows 10 without losing data, you can refer to this article to get step-by-step tutorial.

By AOMEI / Last Updated April 2, 2021

Why merge partitions in Windows 10?

Merging partitions refers to combine two partitions into one partition or combine a partition with unallocated space on hard drive to expand the space of a partition.В

For example, if your hard drive is not partitioned reasonably and C drive is getting full but Partition D has enough free space, you can merge C drive and D drive to solve this issue. Moreover, if there are too many partitions on hard drive, it is inconvenient to manage them; if you store different data on so many different partitions, when you want to open one of them; you may forget where the data are saved. So combing two partitions can help reduce the partition number.

Free Merge partitions with Windows Disk Management

Windows 10 Disk Management can help you merge partitions, but you can’t merge two partitions with the tool directly; you must delete the partition at first and then use Extend Volume in Disk Management.

1. Open Disk Management. (You can type «diskmgmt.msc» in the Run window, or right-click on This PC and then select Manage >Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management.)

2. Locate the two partitions you want to merge and then delete one partition. For example, to combine C: drive and D: drive, you have to delete D: drive. Right-click on D: partition and select «Delete Volume».

PS.: Be aware that all data stored on D: drive will be lost. You’d better create a backup before doing it.

3. Next, right-click on the system partition and select the «Extend Volume» option.

4. Follow the Extend Volume wizard and accept the default options to merge two partitions in Windows 10.

As you can see, this function is only available when the unallocated space is adjacent to the partition you want to operate. You are not allowed to combine two partitions directly or merge partition with a non-contiguous unallocated space.

Freeware: Merge Partitions in Windows 10 without Data Loss

If you want to merge two partitions or merge partition with unallocated space without data loss, you can employ a free partition manager – AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. It supports combining two partitions or adding non-adjacent unallocated space into one partition easily and effectively without losing data. Free download it and check out the following guide about how to merge two partitions in Windows 10 without data loss.

1. Install and run it. Right click the partition you need to merge (eg. Partition D) and choose Merge Partitions.

2. Choose the partition that you need to be merged (eg. Partition E) and click OK.

3. In the main interface, after confirming operation, click Apply and Proceed to commit it.

Notes:

в–Є Only 2 partitions can be merged at one time, and the two partitions must be adjacent, but merge two or more parts of unallocated space into a partition is available and no matter the unallocated is next to the partition you want to merge or not.

в–Є You can merge data partition into system boot drive, but you cannot merge system boot drive into data partition.

в–Є If you want to combine two partitions in Windows Server, you can try the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.

Conclusion

Now, surely you have realized how to merge partitions in Windows 10. If there is an adjacent unallocated space behind the partition you want to extend. You can combine the partition with the unallocated space within Disk Management. If there is no such unallocated space and you want to merge two partitions like C drive and D drive without data loss, it is recommended to apply AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

Apart from merging partitions, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can help you to make bootable media, migrate OS to SSD and so on. If you want to experience more advanced functions like converting dynamic disk into basic, recovering lost partition and converting system MBR disk into GPT, you can upgrade it to Professional version.