Windows 11/10/8/7: How to Shrink Volume Using Diskpart Command Line?

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Why do you want to shrink volume?

The computer doesn't have a perfect disk partitioning when it starts to be used. The sizes of all partitions will not be accepted over time, even they are perfect in the beginning. Thus, you have to resize it till you are satisfied. Some of them, you want to extend because they are not big enough, while some of them, you would like to shrink to get good performance.

Sometimes, you need to shrink the partition for creating a new one to store your personal files. Or you may want to shrink one partition to extend another one. Yes, you could shrink a partition in order to get a better use of the whole space.

How to shrink a volume?

Shrinking a volume with CMD (DiskPart) is a straightforward process that involves using the `diskpart` command in the Command Prompt. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

DiskPart

To use DiskPart, you need to open the command line prompt first. Click Start, type "cmd" to find the cmd program, right click it and select "Run as Administrator", or press "WIN+R", type "cmd" and press Enter. Type "diskpart" to open the DiskPart command prompt.

Then, you can type the syntax to shrink volume, as the following steps.

1. Type: list volume. You should remember the number of the volume you want to shrink.

2. Then, type select volume n to select the volume you want to shrink.

3. Type shrink desired=size to shrink the selected volume. And you will shrink volume successfully with DiskPart.

However, you may be warned by a shrink error, which means you may meet some trouble when you shrink volume.

There may be some unmovable files like the page files or the shadow copy storage areas, which are not automatically relocated and you cannot decrease the allocated space beyond the point where the unmovable files are. So, you can only shrink the partition to the unmovable file point. If you need to shrink more space, you need to move the unmovable files to another disk or delete it. If there are a number of bad clusters detected, you cannot shrink the partition either. Besides, DiskPart can only shrink/extend volume in NTFS file system, and so, if your file system is FAT, the DiskPart shrink cannot use.

Fortunately, Qiling Disk Master 6.6 Edition can replace DiskPart to shrink volume more easily, and it can overcome all the trouble we mentioned above.

Alternative to DiskPart - Qiling Disk Master

Qiling Disk Master Standard is a freeware that can help you shrink a volume or partition to the minimum size without the obstruction of an unmovable file. It provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) to make the process easy and convenient. Here's how you can use it:

Step 1. Free download this software, install it to your computer in Windows 11/10/8/7, and launch it. Right-click the drive you need to shrink and then choose "Resize/Move Partition".

Step 2. Then, you can shrink volume/partition by dragging the bar or remount the volume.

Step 3. Here you can see the pending operations and if there is no problem, click Apply to submit the task.

Conclusion

How to shrink volumes with DiskPart command lines? In this post, you've learnt the way to use the Windows inbuilt utility DiskPart to shrink volumes correctly. However, as mentioned above, DiskPart has some limits and in this case, another more powerful alternative Qiling Disk Master is introduced to help you get it done more quickly and easily. Meanwhile, this software also contains 2 features for the volume shrink – "Resize Partition" and command lines. Which one to choose? It depends on you.

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