Windows 10: Can OS (C:) and Data (D:) Be Merged Into One?

So I have been fighting my laptop now for a least a year when it comes to saving space on my C drive. I can barely keep it at 15GB free and it feels like it fills up just by clicking it. My D drive on the other hand is mostly empty. I have moved everything I can that is not important to D: Games, Adobe Products, Etc. New programs are saved to D and all saved files for anything are saved to D. C isn't used unless the program gives me no option. Yet it still seems to fill. I sometimes find copies of files I saved to D in C as if it was making a copy to keep safe or something.

So here is my question. If I factory reset my laptop (after moving anything from D I care about onto a external drive for safe keeping of course), could I make my Laptop like my Desktop and merge the two drives into one big C drive? Or just one big drive in general? It would make managing.

I don't know what else to do as it feels like all of the random files in C are important to keep the laptop running and I am afraid to delete anything.

:)

 

how to merge c drive and d drive

It depends on a couple things.

If you have two separate physical C and D drives, you can't merge them.

If the D drive is a partition (not a drive) and its to the right of C:\ in Disk Management, you can right click C:\ then click Extend.

Press Windows key + X

Click Disk Management

Take a screenshot then post in a reply here.

If the layout is similar to how I described it, try the following. Make sure important data is backed up if there is any.

Select the D:\ partition

Right click the ‘D:\’ in Disk Management, on the contextual menu, click the ‘Delete Volume’ option. Click ‘Yes’ when the warning dialog appears.

The Volume you deleted will now appear as ‘Free space’, you will also notice that the disk icon no longer appears in the list of volumes.

Right click the Free space partition, and click Delete, click Yes on the Disk Management warning that appears.

The volume will now appear as Unallocated. Our next step is to merge back that unallocated free space with the system partition (C:\). Right click the System volume and click the ‘Extend Volume’ option on the contextual menu, click ‘Yes’ when the warning appears.

A wizard will now begin that will guide through the steps to merge back the unallocated space with your system partition.

The wizard provides a simple procedure to merge back the unallocated space with the system drive. Once you have selected the space, click Next, at the end of the wizard, you will see the amount allocated.

 

No C: but D: drive has all the data

Hi Austin,

To help you with your concern regarding the data on the drive C:, you're seeing the drive "C:" as the drive "D:" because you're booting your computer outside Windows. When booting your computer outside Windows, the system is reading the recovery partition
as drive C: and the data in the drive C: \ are listed on the drive D: \. Try to boot your computer and try to check again the data in the drive C: \ and see if the data are listed.

Regards.

 

How to add D drive to C when it is an SD card


Found this on the community site. You can merge the existing C & D drive partition without any third party tools. Here are the steps: Assume D is just a data partition and doesn't contain the page file, boot files or a second operating system. If so, merge the partition by removing D and extending C, as follows:
1. Back up to and external devise any important data on D, optional, move the same important data from D to C.
2. Right click computer >Manage >Storage>Disk Management, then right click the graphic of the D partition an select Delete. The partition returns to Unallocated for a Primary Partition or free space if it's a Logical Diver within an Extended Partition. Delete the partition if it is a extended partition.
3. Now right click the graphic of the C partition and select Extend.

My D drive as stated before is an SD card, no page file, boot files or a second os. 16mb unallocated 58.23gb ex fat healthy (primary partition). Trying to enlarge C: on a Nextbook tablet.

Does anyone see a problem with this method?