Fixed: There Is Not Enough Space on the Disk in Windows 7, 8 or 10

The error: There is not enough space on the disk

You may encounter an error “There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation” while doing some operations such as create/shrink/extend/format partition, and convert to GPT disk or dynamic volume and so on using Disk Management in Windows 11/10/8/7. Well, what does this error mean?

Generally, this type of error can emerge while creating a new simple volume, shrinking partition, or converting to dynamic disk. Here, I’ll list them in the following one by one.

☞ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation create partition."

This error occurs when you delete partition and get free space instead of unallocated space. In that case, you need to delete free space and create partition with unallocated space. Besides, you can create partition with a partition manager.

☞ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation while shrinking partition."

If the volume you want to shrink containing unmovable files in the middle of the disk, you cannot shrink volume. Also, if there are page files or unmovable/locked system files at the end of drive, you will receive there is not enough space on the disk error.

☞ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation convert to dynamic disk."

You can’t convert to dynamic disk if you do not have at least 1MB unallocated space at the end of disk which is used to create the database for the dynamic disk. This space is reserved when you create a partition or volume in Windows 2000 or XP Professional. But it does not work in other operating systems.

To fix the error, you need to shrink the last partition and create a space for database. Besides, you still use partition manager to directly convert basic disk to dynamic disk.

▪ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation extend partition."
▪ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation format partition."
▪ "There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation delete partition."
▪ "There is not enough space when converting to GPT disk."

What does there is not enough space mean? In general, it means you have insufficient disk space for operations, the hard drive is almost full and Windows is unable to perform further actions. Then, what can you do to fix it?

Fix there is not enough space available on the disk effectively

In Disk Management, there are many limitations than you can expect. You cannot waste time on solving problems continuously. You are supposed to turn to some free third-party partition tools like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, helping you finish all the tasks in Disk Management and fix problems caused by Disk Management.

Note that errors that happen under different circumstances require different solutions.

▶ Fix the error that occurs while creating partition

If you use Disk Management to delete partition and get free space, you will receive an error - There is not enough space on the disk to complete this operation when creating a partition.

To fix this error, you can delete free space and create partition with unallocated space.

Step 1. Press Win + R to summon the Run window, type diskmgmt.msc in the box and hit OK to open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the free space, click Delete Volume, and then follow the wizard until the last step.

Step 3. Right-click the unallocated space, click New Simple Volume, and then follow the wizard to finish the rest of the steps.

▶ Fix the error that occurs while shrinking partition

If you receive not enough space error while shrinking, you can try Rescan disks to reload disks and see if it works.

Step 1. Open Disk Management, click Action at the top, and then select Rescan Disks from the list.

Step 2. Shrink volume again after the disk is reloaded.

Besides, you still can use free partition manager AOMEI Partition Assistant to resize partition. It’s much easier.

▶ Try disk defragmenter to free up disk space

Sometimes, fragment pieces at the end of volume may cause this problem. You can run disk defragmenter to fix it. Note that it is not suggested to perform disk defragmenter on SSD disks.

Step 1. Type disk defragmenter in the search box and select it from the searching result.

Step 2. Choose disk you want to defragment section, click Analyze disk button, and check fragment percentage. If the percentage exceeds 10%, you should run the defragment.

Step 3. Click the Defragment disk button to start the process. Type password if the operation requires.

▶ A tested way to solve there is not enough disk space on your drive thoroughly

Now, I’ll show you how to fix not enough space error with free alternative software AOMEI Partition Assistant. As mentioned above, it can help you finish all tasks that you cannot complete in Disk Management.

You are supposed to download free partition manager – AOMEI Partition Assistant first and then select the feature as shown in the following picture based on your error.

For partition or volume, you can right-click the volume and then click Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition, Resize Partition.  For disk, you can right-click the disk and select Convert to GPT Disk or Dynamic Disk Converter.

Next, I’ll take Convert to GPT Disk as an example to show you the detailed steps.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the disk you want to convert to GPT disk, and select Convert to GPT Disk from its context menu.

Step 2. Click OK to confirm that you want to convert disk from MBR to GPT disk.

Step 3. Click Apply and then Proceed to start the pending operation.

Tips: To convert system disk to GPT without losing data, please upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and higher.

Summary

Usually, Disk Management is a great tool in managing hard drives and partitions in Windows 10/8/7. Nevertheless, you may get the type of “There is not enough space on the disk” error while performing some specific operations, like shrinking or converting.

In those cases, it is a wise move to turn to other powerful equivalents like AOMEI Partition Assistant. It would help you avoid many unnecessary troubles. The free edition, Standard, is more than adequate for basic operations.

However, if you’re an administrator of a company or an expert that wants to do more advanced operations, it is welcome to upgrade to Professional or Unlimited edition to try.