Question Extending Hard drive storage with another Hard drive. Error?

[jasperlini]

Hi,

I have a 16TB hard drive which is getting close to full capacity and i just purchased a 18TB hard drive hoping to use the Windows disk management feature "Extend Volume" to join them together. Now every time i attempt to join them together it gives me this error:

"There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation".

The 18TB hard drive is Unallocated non formatted so ideal for Windows to detect it for extension which it did fine, but i'm getting this error?

I have tried using a few 3rd party partitioning programs with no success (perhaps i am using them incorrectly?).

If anyone could give me any assistance i would be so grateful!

Thank you Kindly

 

[lvt]

You can't do it if your old 16TB drive is a boot disk (has Windows on it).

 

[jasperlini]

You can't do it if your old 16TB drive is a boot disk (has Windows on it).

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

The 16TB is just a storage drive, Windows is on a separate SSD.

 

[lvt]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

The 16TB is just a storage drive, Windows is on a separate SSD.

The you can try this:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-combine-multiple-hard-drives-with-windows-storage-spaces

 

[jasperlini]

The you can try this:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-combine-multiple-hard-drives-with-windows-storage-spaces

Many thanks for your helpful reply!

Although the easiness of using the "Extend Volume" would have been ideal i think the storage pool you suggested is the way to go.

Just a question regarding this... If i created a pool using the 18TB HDD and then transferred all the data from the 16TB HDD to it, then added the 16TB HDD to the pool, Would that delete the data from the 18TB HDD? or will it remain?

Thank you Kindly

 

[rgd1101]

and you have backup?

 

[jasperlini]

and you have backup?

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

No backup, I was hoping this would work but it sounds like i could lose all my data?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

No backup, I was hoping this would work but it sounds like i could lose all my data?

Absolutely.

In some maneuver like this, there is ALWAYS the possibility of everything going away.

 

[jasperlini]

Absolutely.

In some maneuver like this, there is ALWAYS the possibility of everything going away.

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm in an awkward position because i cannot afford to buy another Hard drive for backup, and as you know the 18TB i bought is not cheap and took me a while to save up.

Regarding the "Extend Volume" option in Windows Disk Management.. Is there a reason for it to not allow me to use it? Why is it even giving me the error when it's not true?

If i could get this option to work it would be the easiest without risking data loss from using a pool or purchasing another HDD to backup from the 16TB to use the pool without fear of data loss.

Thank you Kindly

 

[USAFRet]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm in an awkward position because i cannot afford to buy another Hard drive for backup, and as you know the 18TB i bought is not cheap and took me a while to save up.

Regarding the "Extend Volume" option in Windows Disk Management.. Is there a reason for it to not allow me to use it? Why is it even giving me the error when it's not true?

If i could get this option to work it would be the easiest without risking data loss from using a pool or purchasing another HDD to backup from the 16TB to use the pool without fear of data loss.

Thank you Kindly

We all understand the money/budget thing.

However....any procedure like this carries a significant risk of losing everything. That's just life.
I don't even turn my PC on without a known good backup of everything.

Even with a perfect set of instructions, in a perfect environment, there is always the 'oops' factor.

oops, the power went out
oops, my wife/kid/boss distracted me
oops, I clicked the wrong button
oops
oops
oops

See it here every single day.

In Windows, you can't "Extend" across 2 physical drives.
Storage Spaces is, I believe, the only native method to do this.

But, I really need to ask...WHY? Why the desire to extend across these 2 drives?
What is your use case for this?

 

[jasperlini]

The 16TB HDD is part of a FTPS server and everything is put into categories. So i wanted to add the 18TB HDD to it to increase the capacity.

If i have for example videos with different genres folders on the 16TB, i don't want to have to create another set of genre folders on the 18TB. This would be messy as it's more directories and not knowing what is on each hard drive.

I wondered whether there was software that would allow me to just mimic the 2 hard drives so what i put on one will also appear on the other, similar to a shortcut?

Thank you Kindly

 

[USAFRet]

I wondered whether there was software that would allow me to just mimic the 2 hard drives so what i put on one will also appear on the other, similar to a shortcut?

Something like FreFileSync or SyncBackFree would do that.
But that is not the same as what you were asking for originally.

Is this FTPS server under a Windows install?

 

[jasperlini]

Something like FreFileSync or SyncBackFree would do that.
But that is not the same as what you were asking for originally.

Is this FTPS server under a Windows install?

Hi,

I'm just trying to think of something that would allow me to do something similar to extending the hard drive because as you stated it cannot be done. (as you can tell i'm at a loss). but i really appreciate all your help!

The FTPS server is on Windows 10, with Filezilla Server running on a VM.

Thank you Kindly

 

[USAFRet]

So, the FileZilla Server (a Linux variant) , running in its own VM?
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=server

Windows can't manage those drives...they exist in and are controlled by a whole other OS.

 

[jasperlini]

So, the FileZilla Server (a Linux variant) , running in its own VM?
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=server

Windows can't manage those drives...they exist in and are controlled by a whole other OS.

The Filezilla Server in the VM is reading from a shared folder from the main PC 16TB HDD . Please ignore i said VM as it's irrelevant.

Basically i have full control of the disks on the main PC.

Any ideas?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

this seems to be a lot of work that also includes a lot of extra risk to the data.
and i imagine it would be a big deal if you completely lost all of this data?

your best bet would seem to be to just, save up if necessary, and build an external RAID storage server array sharing the space of all drives involved.

start with an adequate amount of backup space for all of your work and store this separately,
add enough drive space for the future of your work,
and then build this setup from there.

 

[jasperlini]

this seems to be a lot of work that also includes a lot of extra risk to the data.
and i imagine it would be a big deal if you completely lost all of this data?

your best bet would seem to be to just, save up if necessary, and build an external RAID storage server array sharing the space of all drives involved.

start with an adequate amount of backup space for all of your work and store this separately,
add enough drive space for the future of your work,
and then build this setup from there.

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes the data is important which is why i have managed to borrow a few hard drives to store my data for now while i start either a pool or some form of raid as you suggested.

Many Thanks for all those who have replied!

Great bunch of people here!