1

I converted my external hard drive named E: to NTFS. But why when I right-click on it, it still doesn't give me the options to click on "shrink volume" or "extend volume"? I am doing this in "Computer Management" >> "Disk Management" in Windows. My E: drive should be able to do this because it is now NTFS. Any suggestions or articles that might solve this problem?

Computer Problem

DSeals
  • 11
  • 2

1 Answers1

2

Why do you want to shrink the partition? You can't shrink the partition because Windows does not support reading multiple partitions on external drives and therefore shrinking the partition to make room for another one is a useless operation.

Aaron Franke
  • 1,243
  • 1
    Windows seriously only allows one partition, even for a giant USB hard drive? Do you have a source link for that? Seems like a really, really terrible design decision... I've used USB drives with 2+ partitions in linux for years, actually I think I've used the same devices on windows too (had trouble getting win to read ext) – Xen2050 Mar 18 '17 at 20:35
  • @Xen2050 I think it's true, I have experienced it myself. See comments and answer here (not a source link, I know). I suppose it depends on the removable bit. There is at least one more amusing design decision: compare this and this. – Kamil Maciorowski Mar 18 '17 at 20:46
  • Simply not allowed in Windows, it doesn't have that capability. The only way to fix a drive which has multiple partitions on it is either 1. use another OS 2. use diskpart or 3. use 3rd party software. This may provide more information: https://superuser.com/questions/145710/how-do-you-partition-a-usb-thumb-flash-drive – Aaron Franke Mar 18 '17 at 20:47
  • "Simply not allowed in Windows." Nonsense! I have an external hard disk (a Western Digital My Passport) and Windows allows me to shrink its partition. –  Mar 18 '17 at 20:52
  • @Xen2050, You all seem to know about a lot about this topic. Sorry if I confused anyone, but could anyone of you tell how I can get more disk space because thought if I shrink the volume it would partition the drive into 2 different ones. How can I get more disk space besides using disk cleanup on Windows? – DSeals Mar 19 '17 at 00:09
  • 1
    The total amount of space is the same. Splitting it into two pieces doesn't change the amount of space on the volume. – Aaron Franke Mar 19 '17 at 02:58
  • @DSeals If you do shrink the volume, and create a second partition, not only will you not get more space, you will loose some. Creating the second partition will mean formatting it too, and the creation of the file system on the new partition will use some of the space that could have been file space it you leave it as one partition. I'm not sure of the next part, but I think you can only shrink/expand volumes if the disk is a "Dynamic Disk" not a "Basic Disk". To convert it to have to Right-click on the disk name, not volume name, on the left-side of the lower pane. – Chindraba Mar 20 '17 at 08:13