Question Moving data before deleting partition

[WitheredRose]

I have 2 partitions on my SSD and I want to delete the D drive and move everything to system C drive, however I don't have any means of doing a backup.

(I will call a D drive partition 2 and system C drive partition 1)
So I want to know if something like this is possible: using windows 10 disk management I'll shrink as much as I can 2nd partition and extend 1st partition, then I'll move all the files the storage will let me from 2nd to 1st partition and repeat it until all files from 2nd partition is moved to 1st and all volume is shrinked from 2nd(I'll be able to delete it then, right?) and extended for 1st partition. With current storage on both partitions I'll need to do that 2-3 times(shrinking/extending, files moving)

Can I do it?

 

[Tech Junky]

Sure, it just takes longer with the reboots to resize things. Disk manager might not resize part1 but should be able to shrink part2.

If you want cheap and easy make a Linux boot drive and use gparted and do all of the file moves from there and resize between moves since Windows system won't be in use.

 

[In2Photos]

Speaking from experience you should consider copying the data rather than moving it. Once copied, verify that it is all there before deleting it on the original partition.

 

[Tech Junky]

@In2Photos

While copying is preferred it's not likely an option with limited spaced as inferred from the question. If It were me I'd clone the drive before making drastic changes but, from he sound of it they don't have a spare drive for this sort of maneuver.

The safest option is moving the files from a LiveCD w/o Windows being in use to prevent issues with sliding the partitions around. It's not the best or fastest but, it will work. The less space on the drive the longer it takes to move the partitions each time. If time is of the essence picking up a spare drive would make things go faster and you would have a backup while doing it.

Ultimately getting a larger drive to replace this small / ineffective drive and then cloning it over to the larger drive and expanding the storage partition would / should be the goal.