Issue: Not Enough Unallocated Space on Target Disk

Theo Lucia

Dec 16, 2024 • Filed to: Windows Computer Solutions • Proven solutions

You may have already tried downloading plenty of software and tools to solve the ‘not enough unallocated space on target disk’ issue. And, most of them couldn’t help you for sure because the concern is more of an internal matter than just running behind downloading different tools to solve the issue. First of all, we’d like to advise you to understand the scenario entirely and then proceed with any solutions available for the purpose. In this guidepost, we’ll take you through an exciting yet informative journey to fix the Not Enough unallocated space on target disk issue right from its overview to the tips to avoid such worst-case scenarios.

So, let’s begin with discussing what the whole problem looks like and its causes as follows!

Part 1: Overview on the ‘Not enough unallocated space on target disk issue’

Part 2: Solutions to fox the ‘Not Enough unallocated space on target disk issue’

Part 3: Tips to fix the Not Enough Unallocated Space on target disk issue

Part 1: Overview on the ‘Not enough unallocated space on target disk issue’

You have to worry when this issue is holding a portion of your computer storage. The general meaning of unallocated space means the space on the external storage device or hard drive hasn’t been partitioned yet. It means the space is unusable and can’t be used for any data storage or for any program to write data to the part of disk storage.

Below are some of the possible causes you are facing ‘Not enough unallocated space on target disk issue.’

• Right after initializing the disk, you will see the whole disk as unallocated in the Disk Management.
• The space left will be determined as unallocated when you create a partition on the storage device.
• Unexpected error while storing data.
• Improper handling of the drives while ejecting.
• Partitions were modified or made incorrectly.
• Issues with the hard disk driver software.
• Windows will label the unused portion space as unallocated if you shrink/delete a partition.
• A USB, hard drive, or SD card may become unallocated immediately due to virus attacks or other wrong operations.

What is the whole purpose of unallocated space?

Unallocated space is needed while trying to clone a disk, system, or Partition. In our case, your system is checking whether you have unallocated space. If you don’t have one, you will receive a message, “There is not enough unallocated space on the hard drive.” 

All in all, it’s quite a massive problem as you cannot store or use any data from the hard drive, especially when the entire disk shows as unallocated. 

Part 2: Solutions to fox the ‘Not Enough unallocated space on target disk issue’

So, this was the entire overview of how ‘not enough unallocated space on target disk issue’ looks like in the above section. Now, this section is all to discuss the possible solutions for the problem. 

Firstly, we’ll focus on converting the unallocated space to free space. And, you’re available with two options for the purpose as follows.

Way 1: Create a New Partition

Way 2: Add a Section to the existing Partition

Let’s discuss both of these methods in a bit brief!

Way 1: Create a New Partition

The most straightforward manner of creating a new Partition or section is by using Disk Management. You have to follow specific easy steps to do so.

• Right-click the mouse button and select This PC> Manage from the drop-down list.
• Choose the Disk Management tab and right-click the unallocated space.
• Select the New Simple Volume and wait for the Wizard to complete the process.

In this window, you must specify the volume size in megabytes. Enter the value between minimum and maximum and press the Next button to proceed.

You can restart the computer and check that the free space available on your computer has readily increased.

Way 2: Add a Section to the existing Partition

The next possible solution is to maximize the existing Partition. You can enlarge the current section using Disk Management. Click This PC tab and choose the required disk partition with the right-click of the mouse. Then, hit the Delete Volume> Yes button. 

With the right-click of the mouse button, select the original Partition and hit the Expand Volume tab. 

So, these are common and popular methods of converting the unallocated space to free space on the hard drive. However, there are specific other practical alternative solutions as well.

Alternative Solutions

Solution 1: Create a New Partition with Command Prompt

Make sure that you’ve already connected the external hard drive to the PC. Then, press the Windows and R keys together. Type cmd in the Run box, as shown below.

Then, enter diskpart in the following Run box.

In DISKPART, type VOLUME and hit Enter button.

Then, type SELECT VOLUMEX and hit Enter button.

Note that the Volumex is the drive data of your unallocated external drive.

Type DELETE VOLUME and hit Enter tab.

Type LIST VOLUME and hit Enter tab.

Check if the Disk Management tool cannot create new volume; you can continue with the following steps below.

Type SELECT VOLUMEX and hit Enter button.

Type DELETE VOLUME and hit Enter tab.

Type DELETE VOLUME OVERRIDE and hit Enter button.

Now, you’re required to navigate to the Disk Management and right-click the unallocated disk to create a new volume, and set the file system to fix the unallocated error. 

So, this is how you can fix the ‘not enough unallocated space on target disk’ issue.

However, this recently discussed method comes with its limitations. With this method, you can’t create a partition drive in the filesystem fat32 larger than 32 megabytes. 

Given below is another best method to try if the issue isn’t over yet.

Solution 2: Update Hard Disk Driver

To fix the issue, you can try to update or reinstall the hard drive driver. For this purpose, you need to follow the simple steps mentioned below.

• Type Device Manager in the Search bar and hit the Enter

• Right-click the unallocated disk and select the Update Driver

After updating the driver software, select Search automatically for the updated driver software option as shown below.

The step we’ll tell you is only applicable when the steps mentioned above don’t work for you. Here, you can try reinstalling the driver software.

Go to the Device Manager, right-click the unallocated hard drive and choose the Uninstall Device option as shown below.

These were the famous methods applying which you will know how to fix the Not Enough unallocated space on target disk issue. However, every process comes with its limitations, as we’ve already mentioned. These methods can lead you to the loss of data you’ve stored on the hard drive, which could be critical files as well. What you can do to avoid this data loss issue is to use third-party software. For this purpose, you can either opt for DiskInternals Partition Recovery software or Recoverit Data Recovery software by Wondershare. 

More Related: Partition vs Volume: What’s the Difference

Part 3: Tips to fix the Not Enough Unallocated Space on target disk issue

To avoid this issue, you can follow some of the best practices as given below.

• Constantly update your Windows and use antivirus software.
• Do follow the proper ejection rule of the hard drive.
• Always ensure to delete the unnecessary files from the hard drive.

The Bottom Line

Hopefully, you’ve managed to solve the ‘not enough unallocated space on target disk’ issue by now. We’ve discussed the entire scenario of the case right from how it looks to solutions to limitations and solutions to overcome the hurdles. Thus, first, you have to study the specific causes of the specified issue. Also, don’t forget to follow the best practices mentioned in the last to avoid such problems. 

People Also Ask

1 – How do I free up unallocated disk space?

To free up unallocated disk space, you can follow two standard methods of creating a new partition or adding a section to the existing Partition. The detailed steps of both these methods are already discussed above for reference.

2 – Why do I have unallocated space on the hard drive?

There may be specific common causes of the issue ‘not enough unallocated space on the target disk.’ The very usual reason behind the problem is that you’ve used up space. However, you can consider other causes if that’s not the case with you. We’ve discussed the ‘Causes’ of this solution in the Overview section.

3 – How do I fix the low disk space problem?

To fix the low disk space problem, you can try cleaning the junk files, large files, extending the drive with unallocated space, extending the low space drive on another drive, and transferring large files to an external hard drive.