Increasing Partition Size Not Working
I'm upgrading a Dell G5-15 from a 256gb NVME M.2 to a 1TB M.2. I backed up the original drive to a tibx. Normally, I restore the partition and recover the boot, starting with Track 0, then the EFI, then the recovery, and finally NTFS. However, this one has me stumped. When I try and restore the Windows 11 NTFS partition (215gb) to the unallocated space, I normally increase the size to cover all unallocated space. The source partition is greyed out and will not allow expansion. I tried using the minitool to create a 930gb NTFS partition and restore the 215gb partition to it but again the source is greyed out and will not allow increases. I tried Acr2021 and the CyberhomeProtect bootable flash drives but they all act the same. Any clue why the source will not allow expansion into the unallocated area? I took off secure boot as well. The initial drive was setup as a RAID in the BIOS, why I don't know, and I set to AHCI for the new drive. There was nothing to RAID it to. It was not an Optane, just a KIOXIA 256gb 2230 small drive. What I'm going to do now is restore the 215gb to the unallocated space and then try and expand it, do another tibx and then restore again. Thoughts?
That's why I do Track 0, EFI, Recovery, and then the NTFS and expand it to cover all unallocated. I've done this dozens of times on other machines and it works fine. When W11 updates Win10, it throws another recover position in back of the NTFS. This is why I do it the way I do. This is the first time I have not been able to increase the size of the NTFS. There is nothing after it. Just unallocated space. The question is why does it grey out? I can move that partition anywhere in the unallocated but the blue partition moves as a whole and will not increase drag or allow me to change the location. It says 0 bytes before and 680gb after. I tried doing 0 bytes after but just moves the 215gb partition.
I tried to upload a file (84k) but it wouldn't let me. Just a jpg. ??
What I want is [trk0][EFI][Recovery][NTFS - 930gb]
What the 215gb has is
[trk0][EFI][Recovery][NTFS 215gb][Recovery][Dell Support][Recovery]
I can recover the first 3 OK but the NTFS will not expand into the unallocated area.
What I end up having is
[trk0][EFI][Recovery][NTFS 215gb][Unallocated 680gb]
That 215gb is greyed out and will not expand into the unallocated area. I'm eliminating the other 2 recovery partitions and the Dell Support partition.
Sorry Anthony, I tend to do things differently by recovering using the top Disk option that doesn't require me to have to configure each individual option, then make changes using MiniTool rather than trusting Acronis to resize partitions automatically.
It still doesn't resolve why Acronis will not increase the size of a partition into the unallocated space. It's a new Samsung 980 drive. I'm running a backup to a 2.5 inch SSD from an external NVME reader to see if there is an NVME problem, perhaps with the TPM chip.If I can restore from the 2.5 then I'll know where the problem lies. But my intention is to restore it, get it booting, then use minitool/Gparted to either extend or merge the partitions and see what happens. Never seen this happen before.
Anthony,
Did you use the Add New Disk Wizard to initialize the Samsung 980 before attempting to apply the partitions in question?
Normally it is best to place the recovery partition as the last on the disk. I do this religiously because it conforms with the MS Standard partition layout for GPT disks and I find that performance improves when doing so.
Are you stuck on having the Dell recovery and support partitions on the new disk? If not (I never am) then you might try this:
- Initialize the 980 disk
- Select track 0, EFI, and NTFS/OS partitions
- Then proceed with the recovery.
After the recovery is completed then use the command prompt to run diskpart and shrink the NTFS/OS partition by 1 GB then, restore the Windows 11 Recovery partition of the backup to it. Done!
Anthony Cimorelli wrote:It still doesn't resolve why Acronis will not increase the size of a partition into the unallocated space. It's a new Samsung 980 drive. I'm running a backup to a 2.5 inch SSD from an external NVME reader to see if there is an NVME problem, perhaps with the TPM chip.If I can restore from the 2.5 then I'll know where the problem lies. But my intention is to restore it, get it booting, then use minitool/Gparted to either extend or merge the partitions and see what happens. Never seen this happen before.
Hello!
There could be several reasons why the source partition is greyed out and won't allow expansion. One possibility is that the partition is not aligned correctly, which could cause issues with expanding it. You could try using a partition alignment tool to check if the partitions are aligned correctly and to realign them if necessary.
Another possibility is that the file system on the source partition is not compatible with the target drive, or there could be issues with the target drive itself. You could try running a disk check or a disk repair utility to check for any errors or issues with the target drive.
It's also worth checking if the source and target drives are using the same partition scheme and if the BIOS settings are configured correctly. The fact that the initial drive was set up as a RAID in the BIOS could be causing issues when restoring to a new drive set to AHCI. You could try changing the BIOS settings back to RAID and see if that resolves the issue.
If all those solutions won't solve the issue, please contact our support with the results of those steps for further troubleshooting: https://kb.acronis.com/content/8153
Hope this helps.
Have you tried the suggestion by @Steve Smith to use Minitool Partition Wizard Free to resize the partitions. Like Steve I have found it works well.