Hi- I have a BitLocker encrypted system partition on a Nvme drive (Raid0, Win10x64), which I would like to extend.
The present layout of partitions is EFI - Windows Bitlocker encrypted - Recovery - 5x VeraCrypt encrypted partitions - Unallocated.
My plan is to delete the VeraCrypt partitions; however, this will still leave the Recovery partition between the system partition and unallocated space. So, really 2 questions:
- Can the Macrium PE (currently set to auto-unlock bitlocker) extend the space?
- Can the space be extended without altering the Bitlocker encryption?

Btw, I tried to upload a small image (12KB); however, the resolution was so poor as to make it unreadable. 

Are you planning to perform this extension as part of an image restore of your Windows partition, or do you just want to extend the partition without restoring it from a backup? Both are possible, but the procedure will differ for those two scenarios. And yes a BitLocker partition can be extended and even shrunk without affecting the encryption, so long as the partition is unlocked at the time.

+x

 

jphughan - 26 November 2021 8:34 PM

Are you planning to perform this extension as part of an image restore of your Windows partition, or do you just want to extend the partition without restoring it from a backup? Both are possible, but the procedure will differ for those two scenarios. And yes BitLocker partitions can be extended and even shrunk without affecting the encryption, so long as the partitions are unlocked at the time.

I was planning to do a restore, because I thought it was the only way. So, if it can be extended without restoring, that would be great. I assume will still need to boot into Macrium PE though?

Btw. when I enter 'Macrium' into the thread it gives a spelling error.

I think the spellcheck function is part of your browser, not this forum. I don’t get spelling corrections when I use Firefox here.

Anyway, you don’t need to restore your Windows partition to resize it, nor do you have to be in Reflect PE. There are a variety of ways to achieve what you’re trying to do, including repartitioning tools, but if you want to use Reflect for this, here’s what I’d suggest:

1. Make sure you have an image backup that includes the small Recovery partition after your Windows partition. If you don’t already have one, you can make an image backup of only that partition.
2. Using Reflect running in Windows if you’d like, choose to restore a backup that includes that Recovery partition.
3. In the first step of the restore wizard, select your Windows disk as your destination, then for the existing Recovery partition and the VeraCrypt partitions, click them and select “Delete existing partition”. This will not immediately delete them, but it will allow you to “stage” a restore that will not preserve them. Once you’ve done this, your staged layout at this point should include nothing but empty space after your Windows partition.
4. Now drag the Recovery partition from the Source row down into your Destination disk layout view. After that, select it and click “Float Right”. At this point you should have a bunch of empty space BETWEEN your Windows partition and the future location of your Recovery partition.
5. Run this restore.
6. After that completes, you should be able to extend your Windows partition using Windows Disk Management.

+x

 

jphughan - 26 November 2021 9:01 PM

I think the spellcheck function is part of your browser, not this forum. I don’t get spelling corrections when I use Firefox here.

Anyway, you don’t need to restore your Windows partition to resize it, nor do you have to be in Reflect PE. There are a variety of ways to achieve what you’re trying to do, including repartitioning tools, but if you want to use Reflect for this, here’s what I’d suggest:

1. Make sure you have an image backup that includes the small Recovery partition after your Windows partition. If you don’t already have one, you can make an image backup of only that partition.
2. Using Reflect running in Windows if you’d like, choose to restore a backup that includes that Recovery partition.
3. In the first step of the restore wizard, select your Windows disk as your destination, then for the existing Recovery partition and the VeraCrypt partitions, click them and select “Delete existing partition”. This will not immediately delete them, but it will allow you to “stage” a restore that will not preserve them. Once you’ve done this, your staged layout at this point should include nothing but empty space after your Windows partition.
4. Now drag the Recovery partition from the Source row down into your Destination disk layout view. After that, select it and click “Float Right”. At this point you should have a bunch of empty space BETWEEN your Windows partition and the future location of your Recovery partition.
5. Run this restore.
6. After that completes, you should be able to extend your Windows partition using Windows Disk Management.

Ok, thanks a lot!