clip_image001About Expanding a Mirrored Volume

In the process of using computer, when a certain partition on basic disk is short of free space, we may think about extending it for further use. Then, for volume on dynamic disk, if its space almost runs out, we also need to enlarge this volume. As we all know, there are five kinds of volume types on dynamic disk, including simple volume (it is like partition on basic disk), mirrored volume, spanned volume, stripped volume and RAID 5 volume. Here we will focus on the mirrored volume.

Mirrored volume is also named RAID 1 volume. It achieves data redundancy through disk data mirroring, resulting in mutual data backup on separate disk pairs. Sometimes, like partition on basic disk, mirrored volume may also be lack of free space. So, we need to realize expanding a mirrored volume at once.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mirrored Volume

Creating mirrored volume can protect data safety, because it will make mutual data backup on two hard disks. In this way, if the data on one hard disk are damaged, computer will directly read data from mirrored backup on the other disk.

However, using RAID 1 volume will waste hard disk space, because it needs to take advantage of two volumes with the same size to realize mutual data backup. Data written on one hard disk will also be written on the other one at the same time. This will greatly occupy hard drive space.

Because RAID 1 volume is easy to run out of space, expanding a mirrored volume should be carried out as soon as possible. Surely, users may plan to extend mirrored dynamic volume with the help of Windows built-in small tools, such as disk utility and diskpart.

Nevertheless, users have to be informed that they can’t extend mirrored dynamic volume by using disk utility or diskpart. At this moment, we would like to advise them to use partition software, such as MiniTool Partition Wizard to smoothly achieve expanding a mirrored volume. Next, we will show them the simple steps in the following content.

Extend Mirrored Dynamic Volume with Partition Software

1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.

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2. Right click the mirrored volume which needs to extend in dynamic disk from the disk area and choose “Move/Resize Volume” in the pop-up menu.

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3. In this pop-up small window, we need to drag the right black small triangle rightwards to extend volume or inputting the certain values in MB in the text box. To specify location of the chosen volume, we can drag the whole partition handle leftwards or rightwards. Then, users should click “OK” to go back to the main interface of this partition software.

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4. Click “Apply” to perform all pending operations.

Users can learn about what mirrored volume in dynamic disk is and how to extend mirrored dynamic volume from this essay. Now, we believe that users can perform expanding a mirrored volume on their own by using partition software.