If you are using Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you may find there are some improvements in Disk Management (compare with Windows 2000/2003/XP). In other words, you can resize partition with the functions - "Extend Volume" and "Shrink Volume". However, there are some limitations, please read on.
Why extend volume greyed out?
To illustrate that, let me take one example: your Windows Server 2008 R2 has C drive and D drive on a disk. Some day you find C drive is running out of disk space, but D drive has a large amount of unused space. In this case, the first thing that comes to your mind is to take some free space from D drive and add to C drive. Open Windows 2008 Disk Management, right click D drive and select "Shrink Volume" in the drop-down menu, and type the amount of space to shrink as shown below:
Click "Shrink" button, there will be 20GB unallocated space behind D drive. Then, right click C drive and you will find the "Extend Volume" greyed out:
Why extend volume is greyed out even though there is unallocated space on the same disk? That’s because "Extend Volume" function only works with contiguous unallocated space on the right side of the partition you would like to extend, e.g. [C drive][unallocated space][D drive]. To make unallocated space locate behind C drive, you have to move partition, however, there is no such feature in Disk Management. Then, how to make extend volume not greyed out or how to extend partition when there is non-contiguous unallocated space?
How to resolve "Extend Volume Greyed out" problem?
As Partition Magic alternative, Partition Assistant is reliable and fantastic tool to partition hard drive. It is especially designed for Windows 7/Vista/2008 users to resolve extend volume greyed out problem by resizing and moving partition. Besides, it also perform other basic and advanced features to maintain computer performance, such as merge adjacent partitions into a bigger one, allocate free space from one partition to another, extend NTFS system partition without rebooting, split partition into two or more, sector by sector clone hard drive to upgrade disk without reinstalling Windows and applications, clone partition to another disk for migrating system volume and backup important data, create partition, convert primary to logical partition and vice versa, convert FAT partition to NTFS, etc.
With its easy-to-use interface, resize/move partition or merge non-contiguous unallocated space is very safe and simple. First, choose the right version, install and launch it. Then, right-click the partition and select "Resize Partition", in the pop-up window, change partition size by dragging slider and move partition by dragging partition. To save changes, you have to click "Apply" on the toolbar. Below is the main window of Partition Magic for Server - Partition Assistant Server Edition.
With several mouse clicks and drags, you can resolve extend volume greyed out problem. Why not free download partition magic demo version and have a try before you buy full version.
Learn more detailed information:
Tip: Choose the right product based on your operating system and requirements
- To solve Disk Management extend volume greyed out in Windows 7/Vista, you need to choose Pro Edition, which works well with Windows 7 (SP1 included), Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000 Professional (all editions).
- To solve Disk Management extend volume greyed out in Windows Server 2008, you need to choose Server Edition, which works well with Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Small Business Server 2003, 2008, 2011 and Windows Home Server 2011 (all editions).
- For Enterprise users, Unlimited Edition allows unlimited usage within one company to save time and money, in other words, you can install it on unlimited servers and PCs in your company to maximize business productivity whilst minimizing the total cost of management.
Related Articles:
Partition Magic Software 
