Fix Cloned Hard Drive Not Showing Full Capacity Like an Expert [Beginners' Guide]

The reason that caused 'Cloned hard drive not showing full capacity' is straightforward. It happened because users cloned a small-sized disk to a larger new disk drive and the error occurred. When this error appears, calm down and do not worry, as the methods to eliminate this issue is easy and efficient.

Note: Provided methods also work to fix: SSD Not Showing Full Capacity After the Clone issue.

Cloned Hard Drive Is Not Showing Full Capacity. How Do I Fix It

So, if you are facing a similar problem as stated above, follow this tutorial and effectively use your hard drive space on this page.

Given below are the possible methods and follow a suitable guide to learn how to get rid of this issue:

1] Make Full Use of Disk Capacity with EaseUS Partition Master

The primary reason why a hard drive does not show its full capacity after cloning is that the disk cloning software or disk owner themselves forget to adjust the disk layout as auto-fit. Then, the disk is cloned the same as the source disk; extra free space is left unallocated on the target disk.

So, you can use the EaseUS Partition Master for help, as this software allows people to flexibly make full use of the free space on the cloned disk by extending the volume or creating a new partition on the drive.

Download the EaseUS Partition Master and follow the respective guide to accomplish the operation and eliminate this issue with just a few simple clicks.

#1. Extend Volume with Unallocated Space

Step 1. Shrink partition to free up space to extend partition.

If the hard drive has enough unallocated space to extend the target partition, jump to Step 2, and continue. If not, free up space first:

• At the Partition Manager section, right-click on a partition next to the target partition and select "Resize/Move".
• Drag the partition ends to free up space, leaving enough unallocated space behind the target partition, click "OK".

Step 2. Extend the target partition.

Right-click on the target partition you want to extend and select "Resize/Move".

Drag the target partition handle into the unallocated space to extend partition.

Step 3. Keep all changes.

Click the "Execute Task" button and click "Apply" to keep all changes.

If you love this method and now your disk is displaying full size on your PC, share this tool to help more people online:

#2. Create New Simple Volume with Unallocated Space

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master. On the main window, right-click on the unallocated space on your hard drive or external storage device and select "Create".

Step 2. Adjust the partition size, file system (Choose the file system based on your need), label, etc. for the new partition and click "OK" to continue.

Step 3. Click on the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button and create a new partition by clicking "Apply".

Watch the following video tutorial and learn how to create a partition in NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.

2] Use Full Capacity of the Cloned Disk with Disk Management

Windows Disk Management is a Microsoft Windows software application that provides a graphical interface for disk management. It is used in computer systems to manage disk drives and partitions. The primary purpose of disk management is to optimize disk space usage and system performance.

So, you can use Disk Management to unallocated space in the target disk to extend a neighbor volume. Follow the guide given below to accomplish the operation:

Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc, and click "OK".

Step 2: Right-click the partition in the Disk Management window and select "Extend Volume" from the context menu.

Note: If the Extend Volume option is grayed out on your PC, skip this method and move on to the next one to extend your disk drive's volume.

Step 3: Click Next and select the cloned disk.

Step 4: Modify the space where you want to increase the desired volume. Select Next > Finish. Adjust the space you wish to use to increase the desired volume.

If you tend to extend a non-adjacent volume with unallocated space, use the EaseUS Partition Master tool for help. Also, you can share this manual method to help some advanced users online:

3] Extend Cloned Disk to Full Capacity with Unallocated Space via CMD

Are you familiar with Windows computing skills? If so, you can use Command Prompt or CMD DiskPart to extend the unallocated disk space with command lines. It is a command-line tool for managing volumes, virtual hard disks, partitions, and disks. You can use certain command lines to manage volumes, partitions, etc. Follow the steps given below:

Step 1: Press the Windows key + R, type diskpart, and click OK.

Step 2: In the DiskPart window, copy and paste the command lines given below and press Enter after typing each command line:

• list disk
• select disk X (x refers to the target cloned hard drive, e.g., select disk 2.)
• select partition X (replace x with the disk number you want to shrink its volume, e.g., select partition 2)
• extend desired=X (replace x with the amount of space you need to extend in MB, e.g., extend desired = 100)

So, this is how to extend the target disk with unallocated space via Command Prompt diskpart.

Tips to Prevent Cloned Disk from Not Showing Full Capacity Issue

I want to remind everyone to follow the necessary tips given below to avoid the cloned disk from not showing full capacity issue again:

• ✔️Turn to reliable disk cloning software that allows auto-fitting disk space while cloning, regardless of cloning from a smaller disk to a bigger drive or from a bigger disk to a smaller one.
• ✔️Use EaseUS Partition Master as it has a Disk Clone feature available as a reliable tool for help.

• ✔️Do not disturb or interrupt the cloning operation, close all background apps, and stop using any files or data inside the source disk during the cloning process.

Conclusion

So, in this article, you will find answers to how to fix the issue of a cloned hard drive not showing full capacity. To sum up, you can utilize the built-in tools in Windows, such as Disk Management and Command Prompt to extend the partition volumes.

The issue of cloned hard drives not showing full capacity is not complex, and people can fix it like an expert.

If the two fixes mentioned above do not work for you, you can use the EaseUS Partition Master tool as the easiest solution to help you eliminate this error on all Windows computers.

FAQs About Cloned Disk Not Showing Full Capacity

Ask people to follow and find answers if they have further questions about this issue:

1. Why does a cloned hard drive have unallocated space?

If you use specific cloning software to clone a hard drive to a larger disk drive, the excess space that exceeds the size of the original hard drive may be recognized as unallocated.

2. How can I use the full capacity of my cloned hard drive

You can use the full capacity of your cloned drive via Disk Management. Follow the steps given below:

• Open Disk Management and select the volume to extend. You can see the storage devices linked to your computer in Disk Management.
• Select how much space you want to extend, click "Next", and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

3. Can I safely clone a disk drive and make full use of the capacity of the target disk?

You can safely clone a disk drive and use the target disk's capacity via EaseUS Partition Master. This software can add unallocated space to its partition, which is useful when you want to expand the storage space.