Cannot expand C drive to incorporate all unallocated space (HDD)

[scott.r.troyer]

I am attempting to upgrade to a larger HDD. I have cloned my 1 TB Western Digital WD Blue HDD to my new 4 TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD using Macrium Reflect (because it is free). Because I am running windows 10, my HDD has a recovery volume to the right of my C drive. This means that cannot use Macrium to extend my C volume to include the unallocated space. I have tried only cloning the system reserve and C volumes, but Windows will not boot unless I clone all three. I have already tried using a USB device to create a temporary recovery drive until I can get the Seagate drive set, and then let Windows create a new recovery volume to the right of the newly expanded C drive; however, Windows refuses to boot properly, and then wants me to reinstall, deleting all my programs, another headache that I would prefer not to have to deal with.
Currently, I am trying to use my trial version of EaseUs Partition Master to move the unallocated space to the left of the recovery volume. Unfortunately, the program will only allow me to move 1.07 TB of unallocated space into position. 1.66 TB remains to the right of the recover volume and will not move. Oddly enough, Windows disk management has been showing two blocks of unallocated space of the same size as well.
So, given my situation, how can I expand my main (C) drive to include all the unallocated space on my new HDD without deleting the recovery volume that windows will not operate without? (I will try to attach some screen grabs)
https://flic.kr/p/H7heXn
https://flic.kr/p/2217Bto
https://flic.kr/p/H7heWF

 

[ArtPog]

Something is amiss in your description of your drives' configuration So perhaps you may want to clarify it since it has a bearing on your situation.

From the screenshots you submitted it would tend to indicate that that the former boot drive, i.e., the 1 TB HDD had been MBR-partitioned and apparently was running the Win 7 OS. (I'm basing that on the existence of the 100 MB System Reserved partition - the typical size for Win 7 OSs).

Yet you state the cloned 4 TB HDD is running the Win 10 OS. Can you clarify this? Are you indicating that following the disk-cloning operation you upgraded the Win 7 OS on the 4 TB destination drive to the Win 10 OS? (This has a bearing on your basic question re utilizing the entire disk-space of the 4 TB boot drive.)

 

[scott.r.troyer]

Something is amiss in your description of your drives' configuration So perhaps you may want to clarify it since it has a bearing on your situation.

From the screenshots you submitted it would tend to indicate that that the former boot drive, i.e., the 1 TB HDD had been MBR-partitioned and apparently was running the Win 7 OS. (I'm basing that on the existence of the 100 MB System Reserved partition - the typical size for Win 7 OSs).

Yet you state the cloned 4 TB HDD is running the Win 10 OS. Can you clarify this? Are you indicating that following the disk-cloning operation you upgraded the Win 7 OS on the 4 TB destination drive to the Win 10 OS? (This has a bearing on your basic question re utilizing the entire disk-space of the 4 TB boot drive.)

Thanks for responding! The old drive was running windows 10. I had upgraded it from windows 7 to windows 10 a year ago. Is it possible that the upgrade left the Windows 7 partition on the old drive? All I have attempted to do on the destination drive is incorporate the unallocated space into the main volume.

 

[ArtPog]

1. OK. That explains it. I think you may be in luck.

2. I'm using your screenshot of Disk Management as the present configuration of your 4 TB boot drive.

3. Your initial problem is that the drive has been MBR-partitioned presumably because the 1 TB source drive whose contents were cloned to the 4 TB destination HDD was MBR-partitioned. Ordinarily (with most disk-cloning programs) the partitioning scheme is also cloned over to the destination drive, regardless of whether the latter had been GPT-partitioned prior to the d-c operation.

4. So the upshot of this is that currently the 4 TB boot drive is also MBR-partitioned, and as such, contains only about 2+ TB of available usable disk-space. The 3.63 TB of total disk-space on that drive is unavailable to the user because of the MBR-partitioning. Presently the 1678 GB of unallocated disk-space (note DM) will be unavailable.

5. Fortunately, because the drive contains a bootable Win 10 OS you will be able to convert the drive to the GPT-partitioning scheme without the loss of data. I'm assuming that your current Win 10 OS contains the recent updates to this OS. If not, ensure that it does.

6. Win 10 now contains that MBR2GPT conversion tool. It's a built-in utility to simply convert the drive from MBR to GPT. That will be your first step. You should do a Google search on "using the Windows 10 MBR2GPT conversion tool" for details on this process. Generally it's quite simple. The basic command from an Admin Prompt is...mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 /allowfullos (assumes the 4 TB HDD you are converting is Disk 0)

But read about that conversion utility before using it.

7. Now after the drive has been GPT-partitioned and the entire disk-space is available to you, the next step is to delete the 450 MB Recovery Partition. The likelihood is you will not be able to do so by simply using Disk Management although sometimes for reasons unfathomable to us DM doesn't balk at the normal deletion process. But the likelihood is you will need to use DiskPart to delete that partition. I would hope you're familiar with that valuable Windows utility. The final DiskPart command (after selecting the Recovery Partition) is: "delete partition override". (no quotes). If you're not familiar with DiskPart, do a Google search; it's a utility you should be familiar with.

8. So after the deletion of the RP you will be able to use Disk Management to extend your C partition to encompass whatever portion of the unallocated disk-space you desire...all of it if that's what you want.

9. I trust in the days & months ahead you will use whatever backup strategy you prefer to COMPREHENSIVELY back up your system from time-to-time so that you always have the means to return your system to a functional state in the event disaster strikes in the form of a defective boot drive or a corrupted OS. We generally employ a disk-cloning program for this purpose; use whatever type of program/process suits you.

 

[scott.r.troyer]

1. OK. That explains it. I think you may be in luck.

2. I'm using your screenshot of Disk Management as the present configuration of your 4 TB boot drive.

3. Your initial problem is that the drive has been MBR-partitioned presumably because the 1 TB source drive whose contents were cloned to the 4 TB destination HDD was MBR-partitioned. Ordinarily (with most disk-cloning programs) the partitioning scheme is also cloned over to the destination drive, regardless of whether the latter had been GPT-partitioned prior to the d-c operation.

4. So the upshot of this is that currently the 4 TB boot drive is also MBR-partitioned, and as such, contains only about 2+ TB of available usable disk-space. The 3.63 TB of total disk-space on that drive is unavailable to the user because of the MBR-partitioning. Presently the 1678 GB of unallocated disk-space (note DM) will be unavailable.

5. Fortunately, because the drive contains a bootable Win 10 OS you will be able to convert the drive to the GPT-partitioning scheme without the loss of data. I'm assuming that your current Win 10 OS contains the recent updates to this OS. If not, ensure that it does.

6. Win 10 now contains that MBR2GPT conversion tool. It's a built-in utility to simply convert the drive from MBR to GPT. That will be your first step. You should do a Google search on "using the Windows 10 MBR2GPT conversion tool" for details on this process. Generally it's quite simple. The basic command from an Admin Prompt is...mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 /allowfullos (assumes the 4 TB HDD you are converting is Disk 0)

But read about that conversion utility before using it.

7. Now after the drive has been GPT-partitioned and the entire disk-space is available to you, the next step is to delete the 450 MB Recovery Partition. The likelihood is you will not be able to do so by simply using Disk Management although sometimes for reasons unfathomable to us DM doesn't balk at the normal deletion process. But the likelihood is you will need to use DiskPart to delete that partition. I would hope you're familiar with that valuable Windows utility. The final DiskPart command (after selecting the Recovery Partition) is: "delete partition override". (no quotes). If you're not familiar with DiskPart, do a Google search; it's a utility you should be familiar with.

8. So after the deletion of the RP you will be able to use Disk Management to extend your C partition to encompass whatever portion of the unallocated disk-space you desire...all of it if that's what you want.

9. I trust in the days & months ahead you will use whatever backup strategy you prefer to COMPREHENSIVELY back up your system from time-to-time so that you always have the means to return your system to a functional state in the event disaster strikes in the form of a defective boot drive or a corrupted OS. We generally employ a disk-cloning program for this purpose; use whatever type of program/process suits you.

It worked! Thank you so much for taking the time to help!