Search
  • For Individuals
      « Back
    • Windows Data Recovery

      Recovers lost or deleted Office documents, emails, presentations & multimedia files.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Mac Data Recovery

      Recovers deleted files, photos, videos etc. on Mac.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Photo Recovery

      Recover photos, videos, & audio files from all cameras and storage on Windows.

      Free Standard Professional Premium

    • Video Repair
    • Photo Repair
    • iPhone Data Recovery
  • For Business
      « Back
    • Email Repair & Converter

      Repair for Exchange Converter for EDB Converter for OST Converter for NSF Converter for OST MBOX Repair for Outlook

    • Database & File Repair

      Repair for MS SQL Repair for Access Repair for QuickBooks Software Repair for Excel Extractor for Windows Backup Repair for MySQL

    • Data Recovery & Erasure

      Data Recovery Professional Data Recovery Technician Mac Recovery for Technician Virtual Machine Recovery File Erasure Software Mobile Erasure Drive Erasure File Eraser Software File Eraser Software for Mac

    • Toolkit

      Exchange Toolkit Outlook Toolkit File Repair Toolkit MS SQL Toolkit Data Recovery Toolkit

    • Forensic

      Email Forensic Exchange Auditor Log Analyzer for MySQL Log Analyzer for MS SQL

  • Store
  • Partners
  • Services
  • Offers
  • Support

 

  • For Individuals
    DIY software for anyone who works with data.

    Windows Data Recovery Recovers lost or deleted Office documents, emails, presentations & multimedia files

    Free Standard Professional Premium

    Mac Data Recovery Especially for Mac users to recover deleted documents and multimedia files from macOS

    Free Standard Professional Premium

    Video Repair Windows Mac Repair multiple corrupt videos in one go. Supports MP4, MOV & other formats.

    StandardPremium

    Photo Recovery Windows Mac Recover photos, videos, & audio files from all cameras and storage on Windows.

    Standard Professional Premium

    iPhone Data Recovery Windows Mac Recover deleted photos, videos, contacts, messages etc. directly from iPhone & iPad

    Recover Erase Toolkit

    Photo Repair Windows Mac Repair multiple corrupt photos in one go. Supports JPEG & other formats.

    Standard Professional Premium


  • For Business
    • Email Repair
    • Email Converter
    • File Repair
    • Data Recovery & Erasure
    • Toolkit
    • Forensic

    Exchange Repair Repair corrupt EDB file & export mailboxes to Live Exchange or Office 365

    Outlook PST Repair Repair corrupt PST & recover all mailbox items including deleted emails & contacts

    OLM Repair Repair Outlook for Mac (OLM) 2011 & 2016 backup files & recover all mailbox items

    Exchange Toolkit Repair EDB & Exchange backup file to restore mailboxes, convert OST to PST, & convert EDB to PST

    Active Directory Repair Repair corrupt Active Directory database (Ntds.dit file) & extract all objects in original form

    EDB to PST Convert online & offline EDB file & extract all mailbox items including Public Folders in PST

    OST to PST Convert inaccessible OST file & extract all mailbox items including deleted emails in PST

    NSF to PST Convert IBM Notes NSF file & export all mailbox items including emails & attachments to PST

    MBOX to PST Convert MBOX file of Thunderbird, Entourage & other clients, & export mailbox data to PST

    OLM to PST Convert Outlook for Mac Data File (OLM) & export all mailbox data to PST in original form

    GroupWise to PST Convert GroupWise mail & export all mailbox items - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    EML to PST Convert Windows Live Mail (EML) file & export mailbox data - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    Office 365 to PST Connect to Office 365 account & export mailbox data to PST and various other formats

    DBX to PST Convert Outlook Express (DBX) file & export all mailbox data - emails, attachments, etc. - to PST

    SQL Repair Repair corrupt .mdf & .ndf files and recover all database components in original form

    Access Repair Repair corrupt .ACCDB and .MDB files & recover all records & objects in a new database

    QuickBooks Repair Repair corrupt QuickBooks® data file & recover all file components in original form

    MySQL Repair Repair MyISAM & InnoDB tables and recover all objects - keys, views, tables, triggers, etc.

    Excel Repair Repair corrupt Excel (.XLS & .XLSX) files and recover tables, charts, chart sheet, etc.

    BKF Repair Repair corrupt backup (BKF, ZIP, VHDX and .FD) files and restore complete data

    Database Converter Interconvert MS SQL, MySQL, SQLite, and SQL Anywhere database files

    PowerPoint Repair Repair corrupt PPT files and restore tables, header, footer, & charts, etc. like new

    File Repair Toolkit Repair corrupt Excel, PowerPoint, Word & PDF files & restore data to original form

    Data Recovery Windows Mac Recover lost or deleted data from HDD, SSD, external USB drive, RAID & more.

    Technician Toolkit

    Tape Data Recovery Retrives data from all types and capacities of tape drives including LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, & others.

    Virtual Machine Recovery Recover documents, multimedia files, and database files from any virtual machine

    File Erasure Permanently wipe files and folders, and erase traces of apps and Internet activity.

    Standard Corporate

    Mobile Erasure Certified and permanent data erasure software for iPhones, iPads, & Android devices

    Drive Erasure Certified and permanent data erasure software for HDD, SSD, & other storage media Windows Mac

    Exchange Toolkit 5-in-1 software toolkit to recover Exchange database, convert EDB to PST, convert OST to PST, restore Exchange backup, and reset Windows Server password.

    Outlook Toolkit Comprehensive software suite to repair PST files, merge PST files, eliminate duplicate emails, compact PST files, and recover lost or forgotten Outlook passwords.

    File Repair Toolkit Powerful file repair utility to fix corrupt Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents created in Microsoft Office. It also repairs corrupt PDF files and recovers all objects.

    MS SQL Toolkit 5-in-1 software toolkit to repair corrupt SQL database, restore database from corrupt backup, reset database password, analyze SQL logs, & interconvert databases.

    Data Recovery Toolkit Software helps to recovers deleted data from Windows, Mac and Linux storage devices. Also supports recovery from RAIDs & Virtual Drives.

    Email Forensic Advanced email forensic solution for cyber experts to audit, analyze, or investigate emails & gather evidences.

    Exchange Auditor Exchange Server monitoring solution to automate audits, scans and generate reports ìn real-time.

    Log Analyzer for MySQL Analyze forensic details of MySQL server database log files such as Redo, General Query, and Binary Log.

    Log Analyzer for MS SQL Track & analyze MS SQL Server database transactions log files.

    STELLAR EMAIL FORENSIC

    Advanced email forensic tool to analyze and collect the mailbox data of email clients

    Learn More arrow


    All Products

    All Products

    All Products

    All Products

  • Our Partners
  • Lab Services
  • Trending Searches

    Data Recovery

    Photo Recovery

    Video Repair

    iPhone Data Recovery

    File Erasure Software

    Exchange Repair

    OST to PST

    PST Repair

    Raid Recovery

    MS SQL Repair

  • English Deutsch Français Nederlands Italiano Español 日本語 简体中文
  • Support
Windows Data Recovery - Standard 4 minute read

[Solved] Hard Drive Space Disappears After Partition Shrink?

Updated on February 24th, 2021
Isha Rikhi
Written By
Isha Rikhi
Rohit Arora
Approved By
Rohit Arora

Summary: Have your hard drive space disappeared after shrinking the partition? Do you want to know why this happened? Then read this post to have a clear view on this topic.

[Solved] Hard Drive Space Disappears After Partition Shrink?

Do you know that hard drive manufacturers consider 1GB = 1000 MB while your operating system measures 1GB = 1024MB. That’s why a 1 TB hard drive shows only ~931 GB usable storage instead of 1000 GB. It does not mean that you have lost 69 GB space or partition. In your hard drive, you can create multiple partitions and volumes by shrinking the hard drive using Disk management tool or during Windows installation. But sometimes, things go wrong and your system may fail to allocate space while creating a new volume from unallocated hard drive partition. As a result, your hard drive space disappears after shrinking. Some factors that can possibly lead to hard drive space disappearance are:

  • Virus attack,
  • File system error,
  • Internal hard drive errors,
  • Hard drive driver issue,
  • System files missing.

Below we’ve explained three different solutions that you can try to restore missing hard drive space or partition issue.

Solution 1: Run SFC Scan

Sometimes, corrupted or missing system files can cause hard drive partition or volume to disappear. The System File Checker (SFC) tool is a utility provided by Windows that is used to scan and repair missing or corrupted system files. You can run SFC scan on your system by following these steps:

  1. Press ‘Windows+Q’ to open search bar and type cmd.
  2. Press ‘CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER’ to run cmd as Administrator or right-click on cmd and select “Run as Administrator”.
  3. Next, type sfc /scannow to run the SFC scan.

If SFC scan finds any problem with system files, it can ask for Windows installation DVD or media to repair corrupt and damaged system files.

Solution 2: Run ‘Chkdsk’ command

Chkdsk is an inbuilt disk error checking and repair utility in Windows. Chkdsk scans the hard drive partition for internal errors and fixes them simultaneously. The ‘Chkdsk’ utility repairs the file system metadata and logical file system errors that corrupts the hard drive partitions and make them disappear. To repair damaged hard drive partition with Chkdsk, follow these steps:

  • Type cmd in Windows search box and Press ctrl + shift + enter.
  • Click ‘Yes’ to grant Admin access. A cmd Window appears.
  • Type command chkdsk X: /f where X is the hard drive partition letter. Alternatively, you can type chkdsk X: /F /X /R for the rigorous scanning process.
  • Hit Enter and wait until ‘Chkdsk’ utility repairs the disk errors.
CheckDisk Command

After disk checking process completes, restart the system and then try accessing your hard drive partition from File Explorer. If you are able to access the partition, copy data from it and format the partition via Disk Management tool.

Solution 3: Restore the Missing Hard drive Space using Disk Management

Disk management is a tool that is used to create and manage hard drive partitions in Windows. You can use Disk management tool to restore the missing hard drive space by following these steps:

  1. Press Windows + R. In the box, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Disk Management window appears.
  2. Right-click on the unallocated hard disk partition and choose New Simple volume. New Simple volume wizard opens.
  3. Follow the wizard: specify the volume size, assign a drive letter, and choose NTFS from File System drop-down. Click Next to confirm followed by the Finish button.

The Disk management tool creates a new partition with allocated disk space. Alternatively, users can choose an active partition and extend its volume by adding unallocated space. Follow these steps to extend a partition volume with unallocated space:

  1. Press Windows + R. In the box, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. Disk Management window appears.
  2. Right-click on the ‘Active/Healthy’ hard disk partition and choose ‘Extend Volume’. Extend Volume wizard opens.
  3. Click ‘Next’. Add spaces from ‘Available’ box, and then click ‘Next’ followed by ‘Finish’ button.

This adds the unallocated space to the active primary partition and recovers the missing hard drive space.

NOTE: When you delete a partition while shrinking or extending volume, it erases all data from that particular partition. You are advised to take a backup of important data before partition shrinking and before you begin fixing “Hard drive space disappeared after partition shrink” problem.

In case there is no backup or backup is not possible, the only way to recover lost data from deleted partition is by using a professional Data Recovery tool. You can use Stellar Data Recovery- Standard for Windows that can help you recover data from the lost, deleted, and corrupt partitions. This Data recovery tool can recover all types of files based on their unique signatures along with files like movies, compressed files, images, music, documents, etc. Using Stellar Data Recovery- Standard, you can also recover Raw Data and other files from even a formatted hard drive partition.

Conclusion:

We’ve discussed reasons to why hard drive partition disappears after partition shrink and solutions to restore the missing hard drive space or partition. The solutions explained above can help you recover deleted partition in most cases. However, if you’ve deleted or formatted the partition during recovery or shrinking process, you can’t access the data as it turns inaccessible. A professional Data Recovery tool like Stellar Data Recovery- Standard can help you recover this lost data from the deleted and formatted partitions with ease.

About The Author

isha

Isha is a technical blogger and data recovery expert. She has experience in Windows data recovery. She writes about technical tips and tutorials.

Best Selling Products

Stellar Data Recovery Professional

Stellar Data Recovery Professional softw

Read More

Stellar Data Recovery Premium

Stellar Data Recovery Premium for Window

Read More

Stellar Data Recovery Technician

Stellar Data Recovery Technician intelli

Read More

Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit

Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit is an adva

Read More

15 comments

  1. Gavin says:
    March 10, 2022 at 11:28 am

    Hi,
    Thanks for sharing such an informative and amazing article.

    Reply
  2. Sameer says:
    June 1, 2020 at 1:16 am

    Unallocated disk space is not showing after shrinking a drive

    Reply
    1. Ravi Singh says:
      September 2, 2020 at 9:31 am

      In such a case, use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free. The unallocated partition will be visible. Format it using the options to view it in File Explorer and Disk Management tool.

      Reply
  3. yaswanth says:
    May 19, 2019 at 8:30 am

    when i tried to shrink it said that it is not healty and i observed that the amount that i want to shrink is missing in my hard disk and an unallocated space is not there can you help what to do in this case

    Reply
    1. Satyeshu Kumar says:
      May 21, 2019 at 10:53 am

      Hello Yaswanth,

      Please tell about which command process have you applied to shrink the drive in order to assist you further. Thanks

      Reply
  4. Tom Newman says:
    March 11, 2019 at 3:17 am

    Thanks for this amazing & informative article Isha. The basic root cause is beautifully explained with possible 5 factors. As per my experience file system errors & virus attack are more frequent ones.

    Reply
    1. Satyeshu Kumar says:
      March 11, 2019 at 3:42 am

      Thanks Tom

      Reply
  5. Jester Alan` says:
    September 29, 2018 at 7:05 am

    i have the same problem regarding the missing partition, the problem is that it does not show in the device management in the unallocated. Can you help me pls

    Reply
    1. Isha Rikhi says:
      October 3, 2018 at 3:08 am

      Hello Jester,

      We recommend you to perform ‘Can’t find drive’ option in the Stellar Windows Data Recovery- Professional version software. Once the software finds the required volume/drive you need to start the scanning over the found volume. The file/folders would start listing once the scan proceeds. Check for the file preview if available.

      Reply
  6. Whitney says:
    July 17, 2018 at 7:00 am

    I have used the software to recover files from a lost partition and it worked really well!

    Reply
    1. Isha Rikhi says:
      July 18, 2018 at 5:07 am

      Thanks Whitney,

      Thanks for using the software.

      Reply
  7. Nick Hide says:
    May 9, 2018 at 2:23 am

    Can Stellar Data Recovery software provide free version of above mentioned software. Since I have only handful of images to recover?

    Reply
    1. Isha Rikhi says:
      May 9, 2018 at 3:12 am

      Hello Nick,

      Yes, you can download the Stellar Free Data Recovery from the below link to recover desired images.

      Download Link: https://cloud.stellarinfo.com/StellarDataRecoveryFree-B.exe

      Reply
  8. Mike Stella says:
    April 17, 2018 at 10:36 am

    In the absence of backup, Stellar Windows Data Recovery is a great tool to recover lost video files.

    Reply
    1. Isha Rikhi says:
      April 17, 2018 at 10:47 am

      Hello Mike,

      Many Thanks for the feedback.

      Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  +  40  =  48

Table of Contents    

Categories

Related Posts

Solutions to recover deleted Google Drive files
Windows Data Recovery - Standard

How to Recover Deleted Google Drive Files?

Stellar Author Ashutosh Kumar March 2, 2022 Read More
recover-deleted-files-in-outlook
Windows Data Recovery - Standard

How to Recover Deleted Outlook Emails on Windows 10/11?

Stellar Author Mansi Verma January 28, 2022 Read More
Windows Data Recovery - Standard

How to Find Hidden Recycle Bin on Windows 10?

Stellar Author Ashutosh Kumar January 19, 2022 Read More

Stellar Official Website

Stellar Data Recovery Inc.
48 Bridge Street Metuchen,
New Jersey 08840,
United States

ALSO AVAILABLE AT

About

  • About us
  • Career
  • ISMS Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • License Policy
  • Refund Policy
  • End User License Agreement

RESOURCES

  • Blog
  • Articles
  • Product Videos
  • Knowledge Base
  • Case Studies
  • Whitepapers
  • Software Catalog

NEWS & EVENTS

  • News
  • Events

PARTNERS

  • Affiliates
  • Resellers
  • Distributors

Useful Links

  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • Special Offers
  • Student Discounts
  • Awards & Reviews
  • Downloads
  • Store
  • Sitemap
Follow Us

Stellar & Stellar Data Recovery are Registered Trademarks of Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd. © Copyright 2022 Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd. All Trademarks Acknowledged.

DMCA.com Protection Status
We use cookies on this website. By using this site, you agree that we may store and access cookies on your device Read More Got it!