This article describes how to use the Diskpart.exe
command-line utility to extend a data volume into unallocated space.

You can use the Diskpart.exe utility to manage disks,
partitions, and volumes from a command-line interface. You can use Diskpart.exe
on both Basic disks and Dynamic disks. If an NTFS volume resides on a hardware
RAID 5 container that has the capability of adding space to the container, you
can extend the NTFS Volume with Diskpart.exe while the disk remains a Basic
disk.

Use the extend command to incorporate unallocated space into an existing volume
while preserving the data.

The following are the requirements for the
extend command:

• The volume must be formatted with the NTFS file
  system.
• For Basic volumes, the unallocated space for the extension
  must be the next contiguous space on the same disk.
• For Dynamic Volumes, the unallocated space can be any empty
  space on any Dynamic disk on the system.
• Only the extension of data volumes is supported. System or
  boot volumes may be blocked from being extended, and you may receive the
  following error:
  Diskpart failed to extend the volume.
  Please make sure the volume is valid for extending
• You
  cannot extend the partition if the system page file is located on the
  partition. Move the page file to a partition that you do not wish to
  extend.

To extend a partition or volume, you must first select the
volume to give it the focus, and then you can specify how large to make the
extension. To extend a volume, follow these steps:

1. At a command prompt, type
   diskpart.exe.
2. Type list volume to display the
   existing volumes on the computer.
3. Type Select volume volume
   number where volume number
   is number of the volume that you want to extend.
4. Type extend [size=n] [disk=n]
   [noerr] . The following describes the parameters:
   size=n
   The space, in megabytes (MB), to add to the current
   partition. If you do not specify a size, the disk is extended to take up all of
   the next contiguous unallocated space.

   disk=n
   The dynamic disk on which to extend the volume. Space equal
   to size=n is allocated on the disk. If no disk is specified, the volume is
   extended on the current disk.

   noerr
   For scripting only. When an error is thrown, this parameter
   specifies that Diskpart continue to process commands as if the error did not
   occur. Without the noerr parameter, an error causes Diskpart to quit with an
   error code.

5. Type exit to quit
   Diskpart.exe.

When the extend command is complete, you should receive a message that states
that Diskpart successfully extended the volume. The new space should be added
to the existing drive while maintaining the data on the volume.

Note
In Microsoft Windows XP and in Microsoft Windows 2000, you cannot use
Diskpart.exe to extend a simple volume on a Dynamic disk that was
originally created on a Basic disk. You can extend only simple volumes
that were created after the disk was upgraded to Dynamic disk. If you
try to extend a simple volume on a Dynamic disk that was originally
created on a Basic disk, you receive the following error message. This
restriction was removed in Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

Note
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP include Diskpart.exe as part of the base operating
system.

To download the Diskpart.exe command-line utility
for Windows 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Note
The link to download Diskpart.exe is only for Windows 2000. For Windows
Server 2003 and for Windows XP, use the Diskpart.exe tool that is built
in to these operating systems.

Note We recommend that you contact your system vendor
for updated BIOS, firmware, drivers, and agents before you convert to
Dynamic disks.