How to add unallocated space to C: partition?

Used Hasleo Backup Suite to image a 1TB SSD and restored to a 4TB SSD which replaced the 1TB SSD. I am still trying to figure out what the difference between Resize a partition vs extending a partition as neither of them worked when I tried Minitool Partition Wizard.

Can the allocate free space when it's the C: drive in question be done when Windows is online?

Can someone give me an idea of how to allocate the free space to C: as in my case the free space is not immediately before or after the C: drive so resize allow a max of 949.7GB and Extend would allow only borrowing from the Windows RE tools(3) partition as far as Minitool Partition Wizard is concerned.

Thanks!

 

you never can work on c drive from a running windows, you need to boot from other medium. stick or dvd.
curios that hasleo cannot extend partition on recovery, other backup software can do.

 

Thanks, just wanted to confirm. What free partition software can do it? As for Hasleo, I had two choices, use original partition layout which means I can't edit it or if I did not check that box, it will only let me adjust the size up to 949.7GB and any size below it. I have Macrium Reflect X as well but I wanted to make Hasleo a better product as in the Hasleo Backup Suite thread, you will see it took 3 fixed versions before I was able to backup and restore the DELLSUPPORT unlocked Bitlocker partition so I never tried Macrium Reflect X to see if it allows using the unallocated space when restoring or not.

 

You should be able to do it with a Hasleo restore. In order to get the FREE space next to the partition you want to expand, you need to move the partitions next to your OS partition out to the end of the end of the FREE space, then expand the OS partition. I believe you can do this during the restore operation (I just did this 2-days ago).

During Step #4 on this Guide Page, you can select each partition and either change their size or their location prior to the restore. Of course when you do this, the DELTA RESTORE feature will not be available (it will do a FULL restore).

 

That was the exact guide I followed when doing the restore but step #4 which is only available when the Keep partition layout option is unchecked would only allow me to use any size that is smaller or equal to 949.7GB. How would I do the moving of the partitions part just for future reference? That was something that I didn't do and I couldn't do another restore as I already added new things to the restore drive that I may know or not know about after the new drive was swapped and the system is connected to the internet again.

 

@Almighty1 - I don't have a drive bigger than 1tB to try your exercise but it should work just fine... there's no 1tB intrinsic limit in partition sizes. That being said, lemme go over what I would do...

When you get to that step, the process will map your multi-partition image into all the space available on that target, including any partitions that are still there (you will lose them if you go on from that step). Typically, it will map all your partitions correctly except for the last one which it will have take up all the remaining spice on your target drive. You don't want that, so the 1st thing you need to do at that window is select that last partition (probably the Recovery Partition) and shrink it from the left to the size it should be.

(Helpful tip: if it really is the Recovery Partition, I would shrink it to no smaller than 1gB <orig size prob 600-800mB>. This will save you from the infamous repartitioning that Windows does on some major updates/upgrades, causing imaging programs to either fail or do a new FULL image due to the new geometry created by the Windows upgrade process)

That will create a bunch of unallocated space to the left of that last partition. Now you can select the left adjacent partition and move the whole thing to the right until it hits the partition you just shrunk... the unallocated space now moves to the left. Keep doing moves until all the unallocated space is to the right of your OS partition. At this point, expand the right size of your OS partition to fill all your new unallocated space. That's how it should work.

Give it a try but don't commit from that step until you see what you like . At that point all your previously unallocated space should be part of your OS partition. As you know, the expansion is done with the handles at either end of the partition, the move is done by using the CrossBar handle available between the expansion handles.

Lemme know what you see (feel free to send pics if the above doesn't seem to work as described)... remember, don't commit until you're really ready to try this. Step #4 will show you what your final restore will look like without actually doing it.

 

When you're ready to do this for real, I would do it from the Emergency Disk, not from your LIVE process (although that should BOOT into your Emergency WIM anyway).

It's just a bit safer and more controlled this way.

Now here's all my hedges ... that last partition in your image is a stupid DELL Support partition, BitLockered as well. I don't know what will happen when Hasleo tries to expand that in its initial Step #4 layout. If it can't, it may let you move it instead... no idea. That may be where you have an issue with this process (honest declaration here... I hate DELL System configurations ... I never know what they're trying to accomplish/prove).

 

@TheRollbackFrog - I figured out what the problem was and it has nothing to do with the size of the drive. The issue is that while Hasleo Support even in their answer to me in the Hasleo Backup Suite thread on their forums at https://www.easyuefi.com/forums/thread-846-post-9466.html#pid9466 and even Macrium Reflect X and older versions at https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOWX/BitLocker Restore Outcomes will tell you that unlocked BitLocker partitions are backed up unencrypted,


that is not the case with Hasleo Backup Suite in reality as it actually is one of the only Backup Softwares that actually manages to actually be able to image a BitLocker partition and keep the encryption even when restored. From research from Googling, it appears other backup software can only keep the Bitlocker encrypted partition whether locked/unlocked exactly in the same encrypted status when the storage device is cloned which probably means a sector by sector copy. so in this case, either it's the unlocked encrypted BitLocker or simply being marked as a BitLocker partition is what is causing it to map all the partitions correctly including the last one because it's the last one being BitLocker or BitLocker unlocked encrypted that is preventing it from doing the normal thing of allowing it to take the remaining space on the target drive and not allowing using the space when restoring because even with Minitool Partition Wizard on the target drive, the DELLSUPPORT partition was unlocked but still marked BitLocker with encryption, I had to assign the partition with the drive letter Z:, turn off the encryption before that partition had the Bitlocker removed before the partition is allowed to be moved or resized:







So basically, in order to get the resize and moving functions to work which includes mapping all partitions correctly except for the last one which it will have take up all the remaining space on the target drive and the system has a BitLocker partition, it will have to be manually decrypted before doing the backup so it changes that partition back to a regular NTFS partition and then after restoring, if one does in fact want it as a BitLocker partition, one will have to turn the BitLocker back on and re-encrypt the partition and either have it locked/unlocked as desired. Macrium Reflect would not have this problem because as their documentation and the above screenshot indicates, the BitLocker partition is only backed up unencrypted so one would have to set AES security if they want the backup to be encrypted as a whole, including the non-Bitlocker partitions. One other thing is that with Macrium Reflect X, the AES protection is a lot more strict for the password as 128 bit is 8 characters minimum, 192 bit is 16 characters minimum and 256 bit is 32 characters minimum. With Hasleo Backup Suite, with my 21 character password, I have not
tried more or less, it works for both 128 bit and 256 bit.

As for the recovery partition, the DELLSUPPORT partition in question is not the Windows Recovery Environment, that would be the Windows RE Tools but the one here is for Dell Support Assist so the Dell SupportAssist's diagnostics will load whenever the system would not boot successfully or after forcing power down twice and it does get updated since the files have 2024 and 2025 timestamps and the system originally shipped in May 2019 with Windows 10 Home x64 and I am using Windows 11 Professional 24H2 Beta.

 

This, this right here is why Partwork for Windows. Things like this are so easy with it.

 

Maybe or maybe not. Does this involve a restore unlocked encrypted BitLocker partition?

When you look at Terabyte's own documentation at:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/kb-articles/disk-encryption-and-image-for-windows/

"
Restoring Images taken in the Encrypted State
Images created in the encrypted state (either from outside Windows or by using the PHYLock 1st method) cannot be successfully restored while in Windows. These types of restores must be done using Image for Linux, Image for DOS, or Image from Windows in TBWinRE/TBWinPE.

Some types of encrypted partitions cannot be restored to an alternate location. For example, they must be restored to the same sectors on the same drive. When the partition is moved, the encryption program will still look in the original location and decryption will fail.

It may be necessary to use certain restore options to allow the restore to be successful. Be prepared to do thorough testing to determine appropriate options needed or if this type of backup/restore is even feasible."

So you might have a unlocked BitLocker unencrypted partition which of course will work but you will not have a unlocked BitLocker encrypted partition that will work.

Noticed that I have a image created and restored in Windows that successfully restored while in Windows with the unlocked BitLocker but still encrypted and even Hasleo Support will tell you the backup/restore will be unencrypted to begin with.

It is the encrypted part that is preventing the restore from using more space when available on the target device and for the different Partition Management software from working because apparently, none of the software can resize/move partitions when it's labeled as BitLocker and encrypted even when it's unlocked. Terabyte already says that encrypted partitions cannot be backed up and restored without any risks.

 

Have you ever considered that this whole thing is just a waste of time, and that the Dell partition holds little value in you're already imaging your entire disk? Most likely, you can just delete it. Now in regards to Partwork, I was answering your initial comments on resizing/reordering. In short, this bitlocked Dell partition is not needed.

 

Deleting it will prevent Dell Support Assist from working so there goes the hardware diagnostics when needed or why when with Secure Boot enabled, the exact reason why it will not boot or things like Alert - TPM Device not detected. All those tools are part of the DELLSUPPORT partition. The DELLSUPPORT partition is updated from time to time from the date/timestamps as if it wasn't, it would not have dates after 2019. So it holds more value than you think as when Hasleo Backup Suite didn't work on August 10, 2025 - I did examine all the contents of the partition which is why I know exactly what files are updated and changed over time. As for Partwork, you can replace Partwork with any tool out there and the same answer would apply and work and I only knew about the BitLocker encryption bit after I wrote the initial post. Before responding as you didn't quote what you were responding to, it assumes you read the entire thread.

Read this thread and you will see what I mean for a example instead of having Windows not telling me what is wrong and just go Windows is attempting to fix your system but doesn't tell what the problem is which would even cost way more time than if I had the Dell Pre-Boot diagnostics working:
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/how-t...m-loader-failed-signature-verification.29175/

I am not keeping the DELLSUPPORT partition for the OS Recovery portion which seems to be what a majority of people think is what the DELLSUPPORT partition actually is but that is only partially true but this entire portion will be missing which is not in any of the other partitions so there is value, just not in the OS Recovery portion, the later I would agree would have little value:
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/...t-diagnostics-supportassist-epsa-epsa-and-psa

And have you considered that I am an NASA Astrophysicist and I prefer to actually try to fix the problem regardless how much time it takes and trust me, my time at $555-$2500 per minute of income is worth the trouble as it is still learning something and adding to the experience. If everyone just avoided challenging problems and just deleted or just format the computer for every problem that exists, no one would gain any knowledge either.

 

It has value. It contains winre.wim which is used to create recovery media.

 

You need a wim file, not necessarily the partition.

 

You are thinking of the Windows Recovery Environment partition which is Windows RE Tools on my system that contains a up to date Winre.wim file matching the build of my Windows 11 24H2 Professional Beta build which is not the same as the DELLSUPPORT partition. WinRE.wim is the same file that reagentc /enable which on my system would be in:
\\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim'
and /disable moves it to C:\Windows\system32\Recovery\winre.wim so it is just the file as @n8chavez mentioned and can either be in the main C drive or in it's own partition. DELLSUPPORT is partition5 on my system which would be Windows 10 Home if you exclude the Dell Support Assist.

winre.wim is needed for Safe Mode to work. My current Winre.wim does not work because between March 28, 2025-May 28, 2025 - the system will reboot without warning anywhere from a few seconds to minutes or hours until the capacitor burned down right under the F5 key on the keyboard so I will have to do a in-place repair install of the latest Beta build from UUPDump after I get the C: partition larger as the 64GB RAM upgrade from 32GB also caused the original C: to be out of space due to the pagefile and hibernation file being larger as it's based on the amount of installed RAM.

 

If you are worried about moving the SUPPORT partition you could create a 1 to 2 TB Data partition after the SUPPORT partition. Then move your non OS files from the C drive into this partition. For example, pictures, video, documents, You could uninstall any large apps and install them into this data partition. If necessary. This will free up space in the C drive and your SUPPORT partition will still work.

 

My objective is to make the C the existing size + the unallocated space so I want to avoid another partition if necessary. In any case, I got what I wanted... Using Ventoy, the Sergei WinPE May 22. 2025 version does not work correctly as both the Win11 and Win10 will BSOD with Kernel Security Check Error while booting. I had to use Hiren's BootCD and used EaseUS and AOMEI to do the moving of the partition as they both could not get the partition size back to the original size I had it for the WinRE and DELLSUPPORT partitions. Then I used DiskGenius to resize them back to the original size. I also used DiskGenius to resize C: and gave it the maximum size. I could not figure out how to move partitions in DiskGenius because there is only a Resize option but no Resize/Move like in EaseUS, MiniTool, AOMEI. So all is well. MiniTool I could not figure out how to do the Move either but that was while logged into regular Windows and not a WinPE like the others. MiniTool also has another issue, it will not allow partition sizes smaller than 1.23GB even when I type in 1.06GB. So DiskGenius is better at more accurately setting the size to exactly what I wanted. It took a total of 5 minutes including booting and opening and closing DiskGenius, AOMEI and EaseUS. I will provide a screenshot of what it looks when I am actually using the other machine. So I am not worried about moving the partition, the thing is I could not figure out how to do the move while I was still in Windows 11 as DiskGenius does not seem to have a move option and MiniTool Partition Wizard even when selecting the Resize/Move, it did not seem to have anything to drag where I wanted the partition, only setting the size.

 

n8chavez mentioned Partwork for Windows. I setup a drive with an identical partition structure to Almighty1's. Partwork for Windows moved the BitLocker partition and the Windows RE partition to the end of the drive and then resized the Windows partition to it's full potential size. All done in 2 minutes.

PartWork for Windows also has an Undelete ability.

 

I did everything in less than 2 minutes closing and opening three programs with the same results. My issue was figuring out how to do the move in the different programs and not so much on the actual program itself so doing it more as a first timer as the only time I used partition software in recent times was to delete the 2 Windows Recovery partitions and then receate it as one while doing the reagentc /disable and reagentc /enable. Other than that, the last time used a Partition Manager was in the 1990s and 2000s with Partition Magic and things like BitLocker did not exist, at least there is a difference between a BitLocker partition that is locked and encrypted and one that is unlocked which is usually unencrypted. Because this was not assigned a drive letter, only Macrium Reflect showed it was unlocked but it was hard to tell if it was unencrypted or encrypted. Besides, it's not about the 2 minutes, even with Partwork for Windows, I would still have to learn how to do the move as that takes time, resizing is easy since you just put in a number but unless you know where to drag, it is not that easy since it's not like in my above screenshot where one can just click on the C and then drag it to the end as even when I did it earlier, there was nothing to tell where exactly it went and in what order the partitions will be until after it's done. Even if you look at the last screenshot in post #8, you will see the top bar does not really self explain much either as it shows a yellow bar and then it's all grey on the right hand side, what happened to all the partitions on the left of DELLSUPPORT, if it was there like how it shows the map of the partitions like my post above, then it would have been a lot easier to understand. Besides, other than @TheRollbackFrog who actually explained how things were done, everyone else only talked about how easy it is to do something but never illustrated or said how it's done. If I used PartWork before I did what I did with Hiren's BootCD, I would not even know how to do it in PartWork even though Slide is the same thing as Move. The other thing is while you may have the same partition structure, it still has not been seen if you can do 2.34GB exactly for the Windows RE partition. EaseUS had no problems with keeping 1.06GB but the 2.34GB even when entered correctly ends up as 2.35GB when done, I think 234 is a cool consecutive number so I wanted to keep it that way and only change the size of C. Besides, easy or hard depends a lot on that individual and the program in question. I might see something as easy and somethings as hard while someone else may see it completely opposite. But regardless, usually when I ask something, I end up solving the problem myself at the end even in this case since no one here taught me how to move a partition with any partitioning software, about the only real thing I learned today is that the unallocated space has to be after C: without anything in between. It's not about creating new partitions or cloning partitions as the objective is how to do the moving regardless what program it is.

 

When you Slide (move a partition) in PartWork, only data is moved. Some partitioning apps move all sectors in the partition and this is time consuming. A BitLocker partition does need to have all sectors moved so a slide isn't as fast as a normal partition slide. Even so, your BitLocker partition was only 2.3 GB and the slide took 10 seconds.
In PartWork for Windows you can manually drag a partition to perform a slide but my preference is to put 0 in Free Space After. Or 0 in Free Space Before if you are sliding backwards.

 

EaseUS and AOMEI were very fast as I believe it took like 10 seconds max to move the 2 partitions. DiskGenius had something called allocate free space and then basically you chose to add the free space at the beginning or the end which seems to actually do the movement of the two partitions first and then resize C to use the unallocated space. I ended up just using resize since it is way simpler to just type in how much total space I wanted which was 3.7xTB, forgot the exact number. The DiskGenius included in Hiren's BootCD is a older version as the C: when viewed in the current version of DiskGenius under Windows seems to be 3.6TB. Is there any difference in performance if the free space was added before versus after? But it seems with all these programs, Minitool has the smallest bar which was why I couldn't figure it out as it is only the size of a grain of rice on a 15" 3840x2160 UHD 4K display on a notebook and one thing I didn't know is what features were included in the free version as AOMEI claims that moving is only on the Pro version even in the Hiren BootCD version but I was still able to do the move. I know Minitool Partition Wizard can create a NTFS partition but it seems there is no way to mark it as a Windows Recovery partition so I had to use DiskGenius to do that part which I only selected because it seems like it even supports FreeBSD, NetBSD filesystems as well as a lot of filesystems that Minitool Partition Wizard and AOMEI did not. EaseUS from Sergei's WinPE is the one that fixed my boot so Secure Boot worked again after I reset the secure boot keys back to default.