My OS boot drive (SSD) has some unallocated space?

[BCipher]

I right click comp --> manage --> disk management. I see everything blue except my C drive, which is partitioned; says on the right (C: 111GB Healthy blahblah) and the left side shows a black utline with "unallocated" 351 MB. Is there a solution to this? I remember setting up OS onto ssd and having to partition it before installing win8. On all the tuts I have seen that left side or at least the whole boot drive isn't "unallocated". It's something bothering me beforeI create a syst image. Any help?
thnx

 

[HopelessNoob]

check in disk management you probably installed the OS while there was the unallocated space there

 

[dodger46]

You should be able to expand C into the unallocated space, but suspect that Disk Manager won't allow you to expand into the area prior to 'C'.
This can easily be accomplished by downloading and running EaseUs Partition Manager.
http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html
Go to the Main Screen and choose 'C' and 'Resize/move' Simply move the slider to the left of the pictorial representation of C until all the unallocated space is used. Click 'Apply' and the operation will begin, but will have to shut down Windows to complete.
It looks like this except you will be moving the left slider

 

[BCipher]

considering I do this, and that its an SSD, will there be any substantial harm done to it?

 

[dodger46]

Absolutely no harm to SSD, but in the unlikely event that something goes wrong it's always wise to back up any essential data. Also create a Recovery Drive if you haven't already, though by the sounds of it you have an Install disk which will get you out of trouble. Same Install disk should have set up all necessary partitions had you chosen Install onto a disk with pure unallocated space...

 

[dodger46]

Meanwhile I'll recreate the situation on my 'experimental' laptop to see if Disk Management can cope with expanding into that space...

 

[dodger46]

A I suspected, Disk Management can only shrink 'C', and can't expand into the unallocated space in that position. Easily achieved with EaseUs though, that's it just rebooted normally. (Be aware it will reboot a couple of times during the operation)
That was achieved on a 60Gb SSD without a hitch.

 

[BCipher]

A I suspected, Disk Management can only shrink 'C', and can't expand into the unallocated space in that position. Easily achieved with EaseUs though, that's it just rebooted normally. (Be aware it will reboot a couple of times during the operation)
That was achieved on a 60Gb SSD without a hitch.

So all I have to do is drag the right side of the bar left to the right side of the unallocated space? It stops me right on the right side. But it seems the number size is decreasing as I move it left. Thanks for testing on your labtop

 

[dodger46]

No! Drag the left side of the bar to the left end of the picture to expand 'C' into the unallocated space. The picture I showed you was an example of moving the sliders...

 

[BCipher]

No! Drag the left side of the bar to the left end of the picture to expand 'C' into the unallocated space. The picture I showed you was an example of moving the sliders...

Oh I see, on my page barely shows 351 MB compared to the 111GB, it was just a small slit on the left, so when I slide the whole bar left, it says :
Unallocated Space After: 351.0 MB (the 351 MB were on the "before" space b4.
K thanks, sorry for that misunderstanding

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Won't the SSD eventually use the unallocated space.I think if it's left alone it will also increase the endurance of the drive.

 

[dodger46]

Won't the SSD eventually use the unallocated space.I think if it's left alone it will also increase the endurance of the drive.

Not sure how it would be utilised, but as a percentage of the total space it's pretty insignificant!

 

[dodger46]

No! Drag the left side of the bar to the left end of the picture to expand 'C' into the unallocated space. The picture I showed you was an example of moving the sliders...

Oh I see, on my page barely shows 351 MB compared to the 111GB, it was just a small slit on the left, so when I slide the whole bar left, it says :
Unallocated Space After: 351.0 MB (the 351 MB were on the "before" space b4.
K thanks, sorry for that misunderstanding

Actually Windows 8 install sometimes creates a 350Mb 'System Reserved' Partition, perhaps that's what it is, wrongly labelled Unallocated Space... perhaps best left alone!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

My Windows 8 installs both left a small unallocated space.

 

[dodger46]

My Windows 8 installs both left a small unallocated space.

Seems that if you install W8 to a disk with unallocated space (ie no partitions) you will get a 350Mb System reserved partition, but if your drive is already partitioned you won't. It's purpose seems to be for Boot Manager Code, BCD and Bitlocker.