How to Use GParted to Merge Partitions Step by Step?

• User case
• How to merge partition via GParted?
• A better freeware than GParted to merge partitions in 3 steps
• Summary

User case

“Hello. I have a partition with 100 GB size and it is free. I want to merge it with another partition with 300 GB size that has some data on it. How can I do this via the GParted tool? Can this process remove all data on the second partition? Thank you!”

How to merge partition via GParted?

GParted is a free partition editor for managing the disk partitions. With GParted, you can resize partition, copy partition, and move partitions without data loss. To merge two adjacent partitions, you have to delete the second partition that is next to the first one. Below are the specific steps:

Step 1. Download GParted ISO files and burn them to a CD or USB flash drive. And boot your computer from the bootable media containing the GParted image files.

Step 2. Once you boot to GParted, you’ll get the below screen. Choose the default setting and press Enter.

Step 3. In the subsequent several screens, you can select the default settings until you enter into the GParted main console. Here we take merging “/dev/sda/5” and “New Partition #1” partitions as a demonstration.

Step 4. When you right-click the “/dev/sda/5” partition and select “Resize/Move”, you will find there is no any free space preceding and following to the selected partition, so you are unable to directly merge those two partitions.

Step 5. Then you need to delete the following partition “New Partition #1”. Right-click it and select “Delete”. Before that, you can back up the partition to keep data safe.

Step 6. After deletion, it will turn into unallocated space. Now you can right-click the “/dev/sda/5” partition and select “Resize/Move”.

Step 7. In the pop-up window, you can drag the slider to the right side to add into the unallocated space. When it is done, click “Resize/Move”.

Step 8. In the main interface, you will see the two partitions have become one. Finally, click on the “√” icon to commit the pending operation.

Besides, GParted allows you to merge a partition unallocated space as long as they are next to each other. If the unallocated space and the to-be-extended partition are separated by another partition, you can move the blocking partition to the right side and make unallocated space adjacent to the target partition.

A better freeware than GParted to merge partitions in 3 steps

From above, we learn how to merge partition (with unallocated space) using GParted tool. Apparently, the whole procedure requires at least 8 steps and is too complicated. Moreover, most users even stuck with booting their computer into GParted tool. Therefore, here we would like to introduce another advanced tool, which can merge partitions more easily than GParted and only needs 3 steps.

That is the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. This freeware is able to merge two adjacent partitions into one without deleting any one of them. Besides, it can even merge partition with unallocated space that is not in the adjacent preceding and following side of the target partition. You can download the freeware and check out the below instruction.

▌1. Merge two adjacent partitions

Before you do, you should note:
▸You can only merge 2 partitions at one time, and the two partitions must be adjacent. The system boot drive cannot be merged into data partition.
▸"System Reserved" partition could not be merged. System partition or boot partition cannot be merged with the front partition.
▸It is not recommended to merge two nearly full partitions since that might cause data loss.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right-click the target partition and choose “Advanced” and select “Merge Partition”. Here we choose the C drive as an example.

Step 2. In the next window, tick the adjacent partition (D: drive) and click “OK”.

Step 3. In the main interface, click “Apply” and “Proceed” to commit the pending operation.

▌2. Merge partition with unallocated space

Step 1. Right-click the target partition, choose “Advanced” and select “Merge Partition”.

Step 2. Tick the unallocated space and click “OK”.

Step 3. Click “Apply” to commit the pending operation.

Summary

After reading this post, you must know how to use GParted to merge partitions with unallocated space or not. If you are not familiar with GParted and cannot boot computer into GParted environment, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a great alternative. Actually, it comes with many other features that GParted does not have, such as cloning hard disk, wiping hard drive, wiping a partition and so on.

If you upgrade to Professional edition, you can enjoy more advanced functions, like aligning SSD partitions, securely erasing SSD drive, allocating free space from one drive to another, splitting a partition into two partitions, migrating OS to SSD without boot issues and more.