How to connect two drives into one without loss of information? I have a C: drive and the operating system is installed on it. There are two more drives E: and F:, these are the ones I want to combine into one drive, but both drives have information. This means that I cannot do this using the built-in tools of Windows 7. Or I can, but I need to transfer information from the F: drive and delete it, then attach the resulting unallocated space to the E: drive, as a result I will get one large E: drive.

In short, there is a lot of information on both disks and it is quite difficult to transfer it anywhere; I don’t have a portable hard drive. I found articles on your website about the free section manager "", these articles have almost everything: how to create a section, increase, decrease and most importantly, all this happens without losing information, that is, before working with the program, information does not need to be transferred anywhere. You just don’t have an article on the topic of how to connect two disks into one, I think the large audience of your resource will be grateful to you for such an article. Gleb.

How to connect two drives into one

Hello, friends! As our reader correctly noted, for these purposes you can use the free program "EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition". Using this program, you can combine two disks into one without losing information on these disks.

Our article is suitable for operating systems: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Let's return to today's article. The content of the article:
1) Connect two disks into one using the "EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition" program quickly and easily, naturally without loss of information.

2) We connect two disks into one without resorting to any programs, that is, using the tools built into Windows 7. I think this part of the article will also be useful to someone. But we will have to transfer data from the disk that we want to delete, otherwise there is no other way.

3) Friends, we also have an article on how to connect two disks into one using the program. This program is the leader among hard drive managers, but unfortunately it is paid.

How to connect two disks into one using EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition

Let's go to the official website http://www.easeus.com/download.htm. Select " EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition" and click Download

Freeware Download

Download Now

The program installer is downloaded. Let's launch it. Installing the program is simple, but there are a few points you need to pay attention to.
If you don’t need the TuneUp Utilities 2013 optimizer, uncheck the box and click Next.

It is not necessary to indicate your email

Before starting the program, go to Disk Management. We will not touch drive C:, but we will connect drive E: (59 GB) and drive F: (59 GB), so we will end up with one drive E: (119 GB).

Let's launch the program.

In the main program window, left-click once on the E: drive and click on the Merge tool,

In the window that appears, indicate the drive with which we want to merge the E: drive, this is the F: drive, check the F: box and OK.

Our program works in deferred operation mode, click the Apply button and OK,

Yes.

The disk merging process has begun.

Go to Disk Management and look at the result. Instead of two drives E: and F:, we now have one drive E: (119 GB).

All the data that was on the F: drive moved to the E: drive, into the folder Local Disk F.

How to connect two disks into one using the operating system itself Windows systems 7, Windows 8 without resorting to any programs

Let's say that some users do not want to install additional software on their computer and will try to make do with the tools built into the operating system.

Let's go to Disk Management. To connect drives E: and F:, you must first transfer all the data from drive F: to a portable hard drive or flash drive, or to drive E:, then delete drive F:, right-click on it and select Delete volume, agree Yes.

Once again, right-click on the “Free” space and select Delete Partition.

Are you sure you want to delete the partition? We agree Yes.

Unallocated space of 59 GB appears. We attach this unallocated space to the E: drive. Right-click on drive E: and select Expand Volume.

Ready.

All. I would be very glad if I helped someone.

Do you need to get rid of extra disks on your home or work computer? We present to your attention a simple step-by-step instruction on combining them in the Windows 7 operating system. Follow simple tips and you will succeed!

How to merge drives in Windows 7?

Stage 1. Save data from disks!

In previous versions operating system It was not possible to carry out the procedure for merging local disks using built-in utilities. But starting from version 7 of the product, this can be done simply and quickly.

Attention, the merging procedure will delete all information from the disk that you are removing for subsequent merging! Therefore, make sure that you do not have to part with the necessary documents on this disk. Save and transfer everything you need before you begin.

Stage 2.

So, on your desktop, open the Start menu. In it you will see the “Run” option.

When you click on it, a new window will open with a field for writing commands. Switch the keyboard layout and enter the following command in the field: diskmgmt.msc, confirm your choice with the “Ok” key. You are now in the Windows 7 built-in utility menu: Disk Management.

Stage 3.

The Disk Management utility in Windows 7 has a wide range of options for managing your computer's local disks. With this tool, you can partition your disk, change the names and volumes of volumes, delete and rename partitions. So, in the utility window that opens, you will see a list of volumes. Select the desired disk that you want to get rid of.

Call the section context menu with the right mouse button. The “Delete volume” item will appear in the list that opens. A warning window will appear about deleting information on the drive you selected. Click Yes. Before you agree, please double-check that you have saved all the information you need.

Confirm deleting the volume.

Stage 4.

After you remove the disk (volume) you selected, you can see that a green partition appears with the name “Free”. You need to delete it; to do this, select “Delete partition” in the context menu.

Now you have an unallocated partition that can be distributed among the remaining volumes. If you did everything correctly, then instead of the “Free” section a new one will appear - “Unallocated”.

Stage 5.

The disk you need can now be expanded using the Extend Volume Wizard, adding to it the same free disk space that resulted after deleting the volume (disk) you no longer need. To do this, select the one you need and right-click to bring up the context menu. Click on the "Extend volume" item.

Stage 6.

In a new window you will get a visual representation of the procedure you have completed. If you're interested in the details, review and click "Done."

So, using the built-in Windows 7 management utility, you increased the disk you need by the nth amount of memory and got rid of what you don’t need. In this way, disks are combined using built-in tools in the Windows 7 operating system.

Likewise, the same utility will allow you to split the disk into several separate partitions. However, it is worth remembering that a large number of volumes consumes more memory resources, which means it affects the performance of the system as a whole.

Let's remember what to combine Windows drives 7 without losing information from the disk being deleted with this utility it is impossible. Unfortunately, Windows has not provided this option to its users, but there are third-party tools for this. One of the most popular programs that allows you to carry out various manipulations with local disks, including merging them, is Acronis Disk Director.

Let's take a closer look at how to combine sections hard drive. If your HDD is divided into several sections, you can easily combine them using standard Windows tools or third-party programs.

In earlier versions of Windows, dividing the hard drive into partitions made it possible to structure the amount of information that users stored on their computers. And also, some system administrators create separation so that system files and other data are stored in different places.

This reduces the risk of damage from virus software or careless user actions.

In modern OS models, as a rule, only two divisions are used - the main disk and space for backup. Thus, if a serious failure occurs in Windows and everything stops working, your data will not be damaged, because you will always be able to make a recovery using the second disk partition.

If you have too many unused partitions on your PC and you want to remove them, use the following instructions from the article.

Preparing to delete a disk volume

Before you merge multiple volumes, there are steps you can take to help preserve your files. Any editing of a partition in Windows results in permanent deletion of files and folders in this volume.

We recommend that you create a backup copy of all files and move it to a removable USB drive. If the amount of information is too large, create a separate profile for it in cloud storage. In most of them you can use up to 20 GB of space for free (Yandex.Disk, DropBox, OneDrive and others).

Fig. 1 - schematic example of dividing a hard drive

Merging partitions in Windows 7

In Windows 7, users can merge disk partitions without downloading additional programs on their computer. All necessary settings can be changed as follows:

  • Go to the Start menu and open the Run window. In Windows 7 Home Edition, this key may not be available. In this case, just press Win+R to open the desired window or edit appearance Start menu in home screen settings;
  • In the window that appears, type diskmgmt.msc – a command to open the computer’s disk management window. Confirm the action by clicking on “OK”.

Fig.2 - command entry

  • The following window will open. At the bottom of the window, all hard drives connected to the system and their conditional division are displayed. Each division section is a separate volume. It is designated by a letter and has its own file system type and space;

Rice. 3 – display sections in settings

  • You need to select the section that you want to delete (merge with the main volume of drive C). Then right-click on it and click on “Delete Volume”. Next, a window will appear with a system message stating that all data on the volume will be deleted and you will not be able to restore it. Confirm uninstallation. Essentially, you're not deleting anything, just erasing the section. All space goes to drive C;

Rice. 4 – volume deletion

After deleting one volume, you can do the same with the rest, thus creating free partitions. An “Empty Volume” will appear in place of the previous object. Don't forget to attach it to the correct section. Click on the section into which all objects will be combined and click on “Extend volume” in the context menu.

In the window that opens, select an available empty partition and add it to the main one. Continue this action until there is no unreserved part of the hard drive left on the computer.

Rice. 5 – volume extension in Windows 7

After completing the procedure, you must restart Windows, otherwise further work may lead to errors and data deletion.

Instructions for Windows 10

The instructions described in this section of the article are suitable for both Windows 10 and all Windows versions 8. You can merge partitions using built-in OS tools. As in the previous description of settings, we will need the Disk Management utility. Follow the instructions:

  • Go to the search box and enter the word "Management". The desired option will appear in the results. You can also press the Win + X key combination to bring up the quick access menu. It contains a link to access Disk Management;

Fig. 6 – hard drive settings window in Windows 10

  • Decide which sections you no longer use. For better orientation, they are designated by letters that correspond to the names of the drives in the “This PC” window;
  • If you only want to keep one volume, choose which volume you will attach the rest of the items to;
  • Then right-click on the object that you want to delete. And uninstall it;

Fig. 7 - deleting a partition in Windows 10

  • Confirm the action, agreeing to data loss;
  • Remove partition space;

Fig. 8 - freeing up space

  • Now you will see that the section has become empty, but its division remains. Since it is no longer used in the system, its name and other attributes are removed. The object can be combined with the main disk;
  • As a result of correctly performing all the actions, you will see that the following message appears in place of the disk section: “Not allocated.” Now you can start merging the sections.

Click on the main section - in most cases this is drive C. In the menu, select volume expansion.

Rice. 9 – element connection

The Settings Wizard window will open. With its help, you can easily divide free space or combine it into one system storage medium.

Fig. 10 - merging sections

Working with Acronis program Director

Often in the standard Disk Management window, users are faced with the fact that the “Delete Volume” button is unavailable or other functions cannot be performed. This occurs due to group policy restrictions. Perhaps the system administrator has prohibited such actions, or your OS version does not allow you to configure disk partitions and other system parameters.

Using third-party utilities will help solve the problem. Acronis Director is one of the best programs, which allows you to customize the disk configuration and bypasses all prohibitions on changing the settings of your computer.

We recommend working only with the bootable version of the program, because it will help to avoid errors that may appear while configuring system parameters. The main window of the utility contains all the necessary data about the hard drive. Partitioning information is also provided in this window.

Rice. 11 – main window in Acronis Director

To create one disk instead of several sections, simply select all the partitions that you no longer want to use and click on “Merge” on the left side of the window. Detailed settings of elements will appear in a new window. You must select a volume that will be the primary one and attach other objects to it one by one.

After completing all the steps, you must apply the settings. To do this, click on the “Apply” button, which is located at the top of the utility (on the toolbar).

Thematic videos:

How to merge hard drive partitions in Windows.

Simple Solution to Complex Errors

Merge hard drive partitions FAST!

I'll tell you how to merge hard drive partitions using a simple program Acronis Disk Director. If you still don’t know how to do this, then watch my short video tutorial, where I outlined everything in detail. You will need a few minutes of your time to merge the disks and the Acronis Disk Director application.

To work with hard disk partitions (dividing into partitions or combining them into one), the Windows 10 operating system has a built-in utility “ Disk Management" Its use, in my opinion, is preferable to installing any third-party tools. You can read how to split a hard drive using Ten’s own means or, conversely, combine its partitions in separate articles on this site: divide And combine. But sometimes situations arise when it is quite difficult to do without third-party tools.

This article was written in response to questions from site readers who had problems dividing a hard drive or merging its volumes. The Disk Management utility built into Windows 10, despite all its advantages, has its drawbacks: sometimes it does not allow you to create a partition the right size, from time to time it does not allow you to divide the hard drive at all, sometimes it is not possible to combine it into one required volumes. In these problematic situations (and only in them!) I recommend using a third-party one, even if free program for managing hard disk partitions in the "top ten". It is worth remembering that using any third-party tool to manage the operating system can be potentially dangerous. I am not inclined to dramatize the situation, but I believe that I am obliged to warn about it, even if the probability possible problems is one chance in ten thousand. Therefore, whenever possible, it is better to still use the Disk Management utility built into Windows 10, developed by Microsoft.

When I was preparing this article, I spent several hours of time to find a truly completely free, reliable and reputable program for dividing a hard drive into partitions(or their combinations). There are a lot of outright lies and dubious programs of unknown origin in this area. A separate point in my search was the question that what was found software it was not only free, but also had a Russian-language interface and it also turned out completely compatible with Windows 10. The last question is far from idle - the fact is that on the Internet you can find information about how some disk partitioning programs created for Windows 7 or 8 ruined the hard drives of Windows 10 users.

So, as a result of a long and thorough search, I finally found and tried the program myself AOMEI Partition Assistant. In general, its full version, the Professional Edition, costs from $59 and much more. But don’t let this scare you, because the functionality of its free Standard Edition branch is quite enough to:

  • Divide the hard drive into partitions
  • Merge hard drive volumes into one partition

In general, the presence of a paid version speaks only in favor of this software. After all, this indicates the seriousness of the intentions of its authors. Those who create programs for money probably make decent solutions for free, albeit with somewhat limited functionality (especially since it’s quite enough for us). Another proof of the authority of AOMEI Partition Assistant, in my opinion, is the presence of an article about it in Wikipedia. By the way, if you doubt the reliability and safety of a particular program, always check through a search engine whether Wikipedia writes about it. This, of course, is not a 100% guarantee, but still, since this electronic encyclopedia strives for maximum objectivity, in articles about software there you can find information about the possible “pitfalls” of a particular program. It is there, on Wikipedia, that it is better to take a link to the official website of the program. The fact is that the first places in search engines are often not the official websites of certain programs.

On the official site AOMEI Tech I found it right away section dedicated to the Partition Assistant program. Let's go down a little on this page to the second screen. There for download free version of the program we need to manage the hard drive, find the item Partition Assistant Standard Edition and (of course) click “Download”. Don't be alarmed that the site is English language, the program itself has an official Russian-language localization. Please note that there are several options for downloading this program for different needs on the page - for free home use, choose the version Standard Edition.

The installation process of the program is not at all complicated. First, you are asked to select a language, then traditionally accept the usage agreement, and, if necessary, select the folder where the program will be stored - that’s basically all. After installation, the program will automatically launch if you leave the “Run this program” checkbox at the last stage.

I will not consider all options for using AOMEI Partition Assistant to manage a hard drive. I will only examine in detail the question of how this can free program to split your hard drive into several partitions in Windows 10. Everything else (including merging volumes) is done by analogy.

Dividing a hard drive into partitions using the free AOMEI Partition Assistant program in Windows 10

When the program starts, all the physical hard drives installed on your computer or laptop, as well as the partitions that exist on them, will be displayed at the bottom. In order to divide a disk into several volumes, you first need to “pinch off” a piece of space from an existing partition. To do this, stand on the donor volume and, right-clicking on it, select “ Resize partition».

A new window will appear in which you need to specify what size you want to leave the existing volume. All remaining space will be freed up for the new partition. I left the C drive with 150 GB. Click OK.

Now we see that we have free space labeled " Unoccupied" We need to create on it new section(volume). To do this, right-click on it again and select the item “ Creating a section».

The pop-up window appears again. We leave everything in it as default and click OK.

After this, a new section will appear on the program screen. It would seem that you can rejoice. But it was not there. Turns out, no changes have been made to the hard drive itself yet! For the operation to be completed, you need to click the button at the top. Apply».

Typically, you will need to restart your computer to complete the operation. This is exactly what the new window in the AOMEI Partition Assistant program tells us. Click “Go” on it. It is better to leave the checkbox next to the “Check partitions before execution” item. This will allow the program to check the partitions for errors before dividing.

After this, a new window will appear again warning you to restart your computer. We agree and click “Yes”.

After the reboot, the actual physical division of the hard drive into two partitions begins. It occurs before the Windows 10 operating system boots in PreOS mode.

Personally, this process took me only a couple of minutes. Most likely, the fact is that on the shared hard drive I had nothing except the clean installed Windows 10 and several programs. Therefore, it did not take much time to move files. If the computer is weak and there is a lot of information on the disk, then the division process may take much longer. My computer rebooted twice and then started up normally. After this, a new section appeared in Explorer, and the existing one became smaller.

Let me remind you that, by analogy with this instruction in Windows 10, using the free AOMEI Partition Assistant program, you can combine hard drive partitions.

I foresee a question from some meticulous readers of my site about why I reviewed only one free program for managing hard drive partitions on the “ten”. Will explain. The fact is that the rest of the programs I studied did not suit me for various reasons: some of them did not have the Russian language (and for many this is important), others had too much functionality in the free version, others raised doubts about the plan security for the operating system and compatibility with Windows 10. In addition, I absolutely see no point in looking for something else to solve fairly rare problems. I believe that the software reviewed copes with the assigned tasks with a bang and has undoubted advantages over all others free programs which I have studied. So why then bother yourself and others with unnecessary information?)

Good afternoon! For those PC users who have partitioned their hard drive into sectors, let's talk about how to combine hard drive partitions. For example, I combined the partitions because I had very little space on the C drive. When I start watching movies online, the entire movie is loaded into the cache and the hard drive memory becomes smaller. Well, let me tell you what and why)

What is the advantage of dividing the disk into parts?

  1. each partition can contain a separate file system or a distinctive cluster size;
  2. each disk partition is separate and is not affected by operations performed on other disk sectors;
  3. this is the ability to save data even after reinstalling the operating system by separating system files from custom;
  4. Multiple hard drive partitions allow you to install more than one operating system.

What is a hard drive partition? This is a separate part of the drive that allows you to more conveniently and efficiently use the disk capacity. I won't lie, sometimes this creates some problems.

That's why today I'll show you how to merge hard drive partitions. For this we need special program, otherwise it will be impossible to merge sections. One such program is EaseUS Partition Master Free. It is completely free and easy to understand.


As soon as the merging process is completed, you will see the main program window in front of you, where the sections you have selected have already been merged. But this is still a long way off.


In time it ranges from several minutes to several hours. It all depends on the number of sections and their volume. The program will display a message in the form of a pop-up window when the merger is complete.

A new section will appear in the “My Computer” window, which will combine all previous sections, as well as the files and folders created in them. Its volume will be equal to the total volume of all combined sections. Here is a list of alternative programs for merging hard drive partitions:

  • Acronis Disk Director,
  • Paragon Hard Disk Manager,
  • Norton Partition Magic,
  • Active@ Partition Manager, etc. The only “but” is that most of them are paid programs.

Lastly, I invite you to subscribe to new blog articles. To do this, enter your email at the end of the article and I will send new articles to your email.

So, now you know how to combine hard drive partitions into one. I would be glad if I helped you understand this issue, and if something didn’t work out, ask your questions in the comments. I wish everyone health and goodness!

With UV. Evgeny Kryzhanovsky

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: 12 comments

  1. Badrudi

    Hello Evgeniy. Thank you for the article. We'll try to combine them if necessary. although I have a different problem now. How to thoroughly clean your hard drive.

  2. Oleg

    Hello, Evgeniy! I have a question: how to divide a hard drive into several parts. Initially, only the C: drive is installed, on which the operating system sits. I am not strong (yet) in computer matters, but I think I can solve this issue on my own with your help. All the best!

  3. Oleg

    Good afternoon, Evgeniy! Unfortunately, I did not find an article on your blog that was interesting to me. Could you please indicate a more precise title of the topic that reveals the answer. I'm currently working from a tablet, perhaps for this reason I can't find what I need. Thank you in advance!

  4. Oleg

    Hello, Evgeniy! Yes, I had a question about how to split a hard drive into two or more. But I already managed it on my own. By the way, the same program is used as the one you suggest for merging the disk. Good luck! And good luck!

  5. Peter Firsov