Extend System Volume (C: Drive) on Dynamic Disk for Windows 2003

Windows 2003 built-in Disk Management only allows users to extend simple volume and spanned volume. If you try to extend system or boot volume on dynamic disk, an error message will pop up, stating "The selected volume is a system or boot disk or was created on a basic disk in an earlier version of Windows and cannot be extended". In such case, AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager is your best choice.

How to extend dynamic system volume with AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager?

Tips:

1. This instruction not only applies to Windows 2003, but also all Windows Operating Systems, including Windows 2000/XP/Vista/2008/2011/2012 and Windows 7, 8.
2. To begin, you need to download the demo version of the software: Free Download AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager (File Size: 14.4MB)

If there is already some adjacent unallocated space, please follow the steps below. Otherwise, you need to shrink or move other volumes in advance

Step1: Launch AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager. You can view your disk configuration form the volume list or graphics view. Then, right-click system volume (C: drive) and select "Resize/Move Volume".

Step2: In the pop-up window, drag the right slider rightwards to merge unallocated space into C drive. Then, click "OK".

Step3: You can preview the increased system volume. Click "Commit" -> "Proceed".

Note: In order to extend system partition on dynamic volume, there must be some adjacent unallocated space. AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager provides two methods to generate adjacent unallocated space for system volume.

How to generate adjacent unallocated space for system volume?

As a full-featured software, AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager provides two methods to generate adjacent unallocated space:

>Method 1: Take free space from other volumes

This method applies to the situation when there is enough free space on the same disk.

Step1: Right-click volume D and select "Shrink Volume".

Step2: In the pop-up window, drag the left slider rightwards to generate unallocated space. Then, click "OK".

Step3: After completing the steps above, there is some adjacent unallocated space behind system volume. Now, you can right-click C drive and select "Resize/Move Volume" to extend system volume on dynamic disk. Do not forget to click "Commit".

>Method 2: Move other volumes to another disk.

This method is very useful and convenient when other volumes are also full, namely, there is no free space on the same disk. However, this method is available when there is unallocated space on other disk, besides, the unallocated space must be equal or larger than the volume you move.

Step1: Select volume D. Then, click "Move Volume Slice Wizard".

Step2: Skip the first pop-up window, and select volume D. Then, click "Next".

Step3: Specify the volume slices that you want to move. Then, click "Next".

Step4: Select the destination disk.

Step5: After completing the steps above, you will preview that the volume D has been moved to Disk 4 and an adjacent unallocated space has been generated. Now, you can right-click C drive and select "Resize/Move Volume" to extend dynamic system volume. Do remember to click "Commit".

Apart from extending dynamic system volume, AOMEI Dynamic Disk Manager also enables you to increase striped volume, enlarge mirrored volume, expand RAID-5 volume, convert dynamic disk to basic, convert GPT disk to MBR, etc.