How to partition a hard drive. How to partition a hard drive - detailed instructions. How to delete a partition on your hard drive

24.08.2024

Convenient distribution of disk space on a computer is one of the fundamental steps for comfortable operation and performance of the operating system. After purchasing a new PC or reinstalling the operating system, the question arises - how to properly partition a hard drive? The standard division into two volumes C and D will not be enough for a large hard drive. 100-150 GB are usually allocated for system files; the rest of the disk space will be correctly divided into several parts. This simple action will guarantee the performance of the OS by reducing the rate of fragmentation of the system volume. There are three simple ways to partition in the Windows operating system:

Installation of separate software.
Using internal Windows services.
Separation when installing/reinstalling the operating system.

When using a separate program to partition a disk, you need to prepare, namely:

make a backup copy of important personal files;
free up additional space on your hard drive;
check the hard drive for possible errors.

Protecting your personal files from loss during further work is the user’s primary task. Photos, contacts and other files should be copied to an external storage device (hard drive, flash drive) or use a file storage cloud on the Internet. After backing up your data, you should make sure you have free space to create a new partition. To do this, just go to “Control Panel” - “Add or Remove Programs”. View the list and remove unnecessary software, which will provide additional disk space.

Once you have enough space for the new partition, you need to check the hard drive for errors. Go to “My Computer”, select the desired drive and go to “Properties”. Then select the “Service” tab and click “Run check”, check both boxes and wait for completion. At the end of the check, the OS will ask you to restart the PC - confirm. The disk properties interface in Windows 7 and XP is identical, so there will be no difficulties.

Working with partitioning programs

The program interface is configured mainly to solve one problem - how to divide the hard drive into convenient parts. Most of the software works with different versions of Windows 7 and XP; there are both paid services and for free use. It would be more correct to use programs for free use with a Russian interface.

The following are very popular: “Partition Magic”, “Acronis Disk Director”, “Aomei Partition Assistant”. Each uses a standard menu for working with the disk. All that remains is to select the disk that needs to be divided into parts. Then set the volume for the new partition, its name and file system. Any of the programs will offer two file system options: FAT 32 and NTFS. The first is installed when working with Windows 95/98 or Millinium Edition. Starting from XP, NTFS should be selected. For stable operation of the OS, a prerequisite is that all hard drive partitions must be formatted under the same file system.

How to partition a hard drive without installing software

The ability to divide the hard drive into partitions using system services is provided in versions of Windows 7 and higher. To do this, find the “Management” item, located in the “My Computer” folder. In the “Computer Management” menu that opens, open the “Disk Management” tab. A list of disks that are on the PC will appear, as well as a hidden section “System Reserved” - a recovery system disk. Select drive C or the one that we will divide into two or three parts - additional containers. Open the list of disk functions: right button - “Volume compression”. In the window that appears, select the location where you want to compress the disk. Provided that the hard drive was not previously divided into separate parts, the system will offer to divide it into parts approximately equal in volume. You can set the desired value. If a miscalculation is made, you can return the partition to its previous sizes by selecting “Uncompress volume” in the disk functions. The system disk will be compressed and a new partition will be displayed called “Unallocated”. Open the list of functions and click “Create a simple volume...”. The “Create a Simple Volume Wizard” window will appear on the screen and prompt you to designate the new partition with a letter and give it a name. This is followed by the process of formatting into a file system. Having decided on the option, click “Continue”, and in a few minutes the work on creating a new section will be completed.

Partitioning the hard drive when installing or reinstalling the operating system

Partitions should be created at the moment when the OS installation reaches the point of selecting the partition in which it should be installed. Next steps:

Create a partition for the OS, let it be drive C, and enter its size. If the hard drive initially has 1 TB of memory, you can allocate 100-120 GB for the operating system - that’s enough.
Next, the computer will ask you to allocate a little more space for backup files, you need not to skimp, but click the “Agree” button.
Create a second partition: look for the line “Free disk space”, click “Create”. Next we set the size for it. We call it drive “D” and the button “Apply”. So, there are already two sections.
To create the third partition, proceed in the same way as described above: “Free disk space” - “Create”. We indicate the entire size remaining from the original one.
Click on the “C” drive, which is allocated for the OS and click “Next”. The installation of your Windows 7/8 continues.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is nothing complicated about dividing a hard drive into several departments. Even a novice user can handle this simple process. The main thing is to carry out everything clearly according to the written points, and you will succeed. If done correctly, you will have several disks, in each of which you can store certain folders, files, etc. This will eliminate the problem of constantly searching for the necessary information on the computer.

The second important advantage of partitioning the hard drive is that when reinstalling the OS, for some reason, all information during the formatting process can be destroyed. And if the computer has the OS on one disk and all the files on others, the process of destroying the contents will affect only one partition of the hard drive. And the speed of the system itself will be faster, the computer will not freeze, thanks to less “cluttered” departments. Ideal option: two to four sections, depending on the size of your hard drive.

How to partition a hard drive on a laptop with Windows 8 operating system installed? The laptop was purchased a week ago. What confused me! Firstly, a new and unfamiliar operating system. Secondly, I went to Disk Management, the 750 GB hard drive is divided into four partitions, and if you go to the “Computer” window, you can see only the C: drive. What then is on the other sections, why are they not assigned letters? And how can I share the hard drive of a new laptop without messing up? I wish I had two discs! The first drive is C:, with Windows 8 installed, the other drive is D:, for storing files? And lastly, I heard that almost all new laptops now come with hard drives of the new style of placing GPT partition tables. What kind of animal is this?

How to partition a hard drive on a laptop

Hello friends, the question has been accepted and now we will figure it out. For example, let’s share the hard drive on a laptop, which is now sold in many computer stores. Since most laptops are now sold with hard drives in the GPT partition table style (which has many advantages over the old MBR), we will partition just such a hard drive. If it turns out that your hard drive uses MBR, then I will give you a link to another article.

Note: If this article does not help you, for example, you cannot separate enough space from the C: drive to create a D: drive, then know that the hard drive on a laptop can be divided not only using the Disk Management utility built into the operating system.

There is also a good free program, EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition, which has more powerful capabilities than Disk Management. Read our new article “” Or you can use a paid program.

Let's return to our article.

Right-click in the lower left corner of the desktop and select Disk Management from the drop-down menu.

And right-click on our disk, select “Properties”,

Then we go to the “Volumes” tab and see that our hard drive has a Partition Style: GPT (GUID Partition Table).

If you have the Partition Style specified in the “Volumes” tab: Master Boot Record (MBR). This means you need to act exactly as written later in the article. If something doesn’t work out for you, describe your situation in Disk Management in a comment and I will tell you the answer or give you a link to another article.

So I'll show you how to partition a hard drive on a laptop using the built-in Windows Disk Management utility.

First partition: hidden, 1.00 GB in size, healthy (Recovery partition), this is a service partition of the laptop, do not touch it under any circumstances.
Second partition: hidden, volume 260 MB Healthy (Encrypted (EFI) system partition) belongs to the operating system, do not touch it either.
Third partition: volume 687 GB, installed Windows 8 operating system, that is, drive C: in person. So we will divide it into two sections approximately in half. Drive C: we will leave 350 GB, and the rest of the space (also approximately 350 GB) will be allocated to drive D:, on which we will store all our files.
The fourth partition: hidden, with a capacity of 10.75 GB, Serviceable (Recovery partition), this partition contains files with the factory settings of your Windows 8 laptop. We will not touch it either, we will need it later. But you don’t have to worry, no matter how much you want, you won’t be able to do anything with this section here, all the tools are not available in the control menu, only “Help” is present.

Right-click on the C: drive and select “Shrink Volume”

As we agreed, we will divide drive C: in half. Select the Size of compressed space (MB) 350000 and click on the “Compress” button.

Note: Unfortunately Disk Management in some cases it makes it possible to simply divide our hard drive in half. If you are not satisfied with this, use the free program EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition , link at the beginning of the article.

Unallocated space appears. Right-click on it and select “Create simple volume”

The “Create a Simple Volume Wizard” starts. Click “Next”

You can assign any drive letter, personally I’ll leave E:, click “Next”.

"Ready".

With the help of such a simple operation, we shared the hard drive on the laptop.

If you need another section, then in exactly the same way you can create another section, and even more than one, but it’s better not to get carried away with it, it seems to me that two or three sections are quite enough for the needs of a simple user.

When installing Windows, the hard drive is traditionally divided into at least two partitions - a smaller system partition with the letter C and a larger user partition with the letter D. This division was not just invented because of someone’s whim, it has important practical value. Firstly, partitioning the hard drive in Windows 7/10 allows you to save the user’s personal files when reinstalling the system, otherwise they would be destroyed during formatting; secondly, it’s just more convenient to work with data, not to mention the fact that This significantly reduces the risk of accidentally deleting system files.

However, some computers and laptops with a pre-installed system have only one partition - the system one, not counting the “System Reserved” area. In such cases, the user has to create additional volumes on the disk himself. This procedure is very simple, however, for beginners it can still cause certain difficulties, especially when it comes to partitioning the partition with the installed system. So how to properly partition a hard drive without losing data?

There are three main ways to partition a hard drive into volumes: using the standard disk management snap-in, using a command line utility Diskpart and with the help of third-party programs created specifically for these purposes. The first method has a number of limitations, the second may seem complicated, the most convenient is the third, using third-party software, but not all such programs are free. Let's consider all three options.

Using Disk Management

So, you have a computer that has only one volume on its disk, not counting the reserved area. First, let's look at how to split a hard drive into two partitions using the built-in Disk Management snap-in. By pressing Win + X Call the context menu of the Start button and select “Disk Management” from it.

In the window that opens, right-click on the area of the system partition with the letter C and select the “Shrink Volume” option from the menu.

After the volume is polled for allocated space, specify the size of the new partition in megabytes in the “Size of compressed space” field and click “Compress”.

As a result, you will get unallocated space highlighted in black. Right-click on it, select “Create simple volume” and follow the wizard’s instructions.

During the creation of the partition, you will be asked to specify the volume size, assign a letter, select a file system (NTFS is needed) and assign a label, that is, the name of the volume displayed in Explorer.

After clicking the “Finish” button, the section will be created.

Partitioning a hard drive in Diskpart

Now let's look at how to divide a hard drive into 2 parts in Windows 7/10 using another standard tool - a console utility Diskpart. Unlike Disk Management, which has a graphical interface, it has a large set of functionality; in addition, you can partition a disk into partitions in Diskpart from under bootable media, even in a non-working system. So, open a command prompt or PowerShell console as an administrator and run the following commands:

diskpart
list volume
select volume 1
shrink desired=102600
list disk
select disk 0

The first command launches the Diskpart utility itself, the second command displays a list of partitions available on the physical disk, the third selects the partition number corresponding to drive C, the fourth compresses it to the specified size in megabytes. The fifth command displays a list of all physical disks, the sixth command selects the disk to be partitioned (if there is only one on the PC, its ID will be 0).

Let's continue.

create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
assign letter=G
exit

The seventh command creates a new partition, the eighth command formats it into the NTFS file system, the ninth command assigns the specified letter to the new volume, and the tenth command terminates Diskpart.

As you can see, the algorithm of actions has much in common with how the partition was created through the built-in Disk Management snap-in. Now, if you go to the “This PC” section, you will see a new logical partition there.

Dividing a disk into parts in Acronis Disk Director

You can also use third-party tools to create custom disk volumes. One of them is Acronis Disk Director– a powerful program for partitioning your hard drive and more. The procedure for partitioning a hard drive in this program is very simple. After launching the application, select the disk to be shared with the mouse and select “Split Volume” from the operations menu on the left.

A dialog box will open in which, using the slider, set the size of the new partition.

If there are user files on the source disk, you can transfer them to the new volume you are creating, however, this can also be done later in Explorer. But system files cannot be transferred, otherwise Windows may not boot. After setting the procedure parameters, click first “OK” and then “Apply pending operations”.

If the system asks you to reboot, give it permission. The program will do the rest itself, you just need to wait for the operation to complete.

How to partition a hard drive in Paragon Hard Disk Manager

Another powerful program for working with disks and partitions. It also has its own wizard for disk partitioning. After launching the application, switch to the “Partition Operations” tab in the main menu and click on the “Partition Wizard” link.

At the next stage, the program will prompt you to decide on the size of the new partition. Use the marking slider or enter the desired size manually. Assign a letter to the volume, click Next and confirm the operation.

Clicking “Finish” completes the wizard.

Now, to apply the planned action, click on the button of the same name on the left side of the Paragon Hard Disk Manager window and once again confirm your intentions to partition the disk.

After this, the re-partitioning procedure will start. If the disk is a system disk, you will need to restart the computer.

Disk partitioning in AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition

And finally, let's see how to partition a hard drive in a free program AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition. There is no separate partitioning wizard in this program; re-partitioning is performed in two stages. First you need to get some free space. Right-click on the shared disk and select “Change partition size” from the menu.

Drag the slider to set the new partition size and click OK.

As a result, unoccupied space will be created. Select it with the mouse and select the “Create section” option in the menu on the left.

In the window that opens, if necessary, adjust the layout parameters (you can change the size, letter, file system type and partition type) and click “OK”.

Now, to start the staking procedure, click the “Apply” button.

Since you are working with the system disk, you will need to restart the computer.

All of the above methods allow you to partition a hard drive without losing data, however, when performing this procedure, especially using third-party software, you should be careful, since the risk of losing information, although very small, is still present.

Today we will talk about how to partition a hard drive in Windows 10: why it is needed, as well as several ways to do it. Increasingly, an advanced computer user, when installing the Windows operating system, decides to split the system or hard drive into several partitions. What is this for? The main goal is ease of use, and most importantly, the separation of working operating system files and personal data, which we in no case want to lose. And this can happen if the system suddenly crashes. Additionally, partitioning your hard drive will help your Windows 10 to run faster.

So, here are some ways to partition your hard drive in Windows 10:

Using standard operating system tools
When you install Windows 10
Using special programs

Now let's look at each of the methods in more detail.

How to create partitions on your hard drive using Windows 10

The main condition in this method of dividing a hard drive into partitions in Windows 10 is that there is enough free space (so that it is no less than what you decide to define for a new one).

Press the Win+R keys and in the “Run” window enter diskmgmt.msc
The loading of a special management utility has begun
After loading it, right-click on the partition that corresponds to the disk we are working with
Next, select “shrink volume”
In the window that opens, in the “Partition of compressible space” column, indicate the size that we are going to allocate for a new disk or logical partition
Select “compress”
Unallocated space should appear on the right, right-click on it
You need to select “create simple volume”
The resulting volume will have a default size that is equal to all free space. We can specify a lower value if, for example, we want to create several logical drives
Specify the letter of our new drive
Define the file system (set a new one or leave it as is) and click “next”
That's it, if the steps were followed correctly, our disk is divided into two

Splitting on the command line

You can also change the disk size in Windows 10 using the command line. This method also applies to the tools of your operating system. Please note that this method will only work when you divide the only system partition into two - for system data and your personal ones. And here's how to create a new volume on your Windows 10 hard drive this way:

Open command prompt as administrator
We begin to enter commands in this order: first diskpart
Then list volume. When this command is executed, pay attention to the volume number that corresponds to drive C
Enter select volume N. N is the volume number from the previous paragraph
Next is the command shrink desired=size. Instead of the word “Size”, enter the number in megabytes by which we will reduce drive C in order to divide it into two
Then list disk. When executing this command, remember the number of the HDD or SSD disk where there is partition C
The next command is select disk M. M is the number that we remembered in the previous paragraph
Next, enter these commands in order: create partition primary
Format fs=ntfs quick
Assign letter=desired_drive_letter
The process is complete. You can look in Explorer at the disk partition we created

Acronic Disk Director

This program will also help us expand or reduce the size of the railway. How to use it:

When you first start the program, select the “manual” operating mode
A window will open in which we select the section that we will split
Right-click on it and select “split volume”
Set the size, then click “OK”
Click “apply pending operations”
Restart the computer and click “Ok” again

This article talks about how you can divide your hard drive into partitions without using third-party programs. And also the reverse process of deleting an unnecessary section or sections.

Hard disk partitioning involves creating several logical disks on one physical disk, which are defined by the operating system as separate physical disks.

What is this for?

The main thing for security is that the majority of virus attacks are directed specifically at the system disk, where the operating system is usually installed.

If you have to reinstall the OS, then drive “C” will be formatted, which means that all your data that is there will be lost.
But not all users agree on the need to split the hard drive into sections; there are many discussions on this issue on the Internet, and opinions are divided.

But the purpose of this article is not to impose your personal idea, but to show how to partition a hard drive, and whether he needs it is up to everyone to decide for himself.

On my own behalf, I can add that having two disks on one of which is the system, and on the other all my files: photos, music, games, etc. create for me certain convenience and order on the computer.

How to properly partition a hard drive

To do this, we will use the basic Windows utility.

In or on, move the cursor over the computer by right-clicking. In the context menu that appears, select the Management tab.

In the window that opens, find the Disk Management item.

In the next window we can see all the disks that are on this computer, including service ones that are not used by the user in any way and are usually hidden.
I’m showing with my example, it may be different for someone, in any case, we don’t pay attention to them, but right-click on the “C” drive and select Shrink Volume in the context menu.

We wait some time until compression processing takes place and available space is determined.

After this, a window will appear where you will need to select the size; for example, I chose 1500 MB, which is equal to about 1.5 GB, then click the compress button. Leave about 100 gigabytes on “C”, provided you don’t install anything on this system drive. (note the size is indicated in megabytes, 1 GB = 1024 MB)

After that I had an unallocated area of 1.46 GB. Right-clicking on it, I select “Create a simple volume”.

Here just click Next.

Here, too, we leave everything as is, click Next.

Assign any letter, Next.

And here we leave everything as it is.

To complete the procedure, click Finish.

And finally, a new volume has been created!

We go into my computer and see if there is a new disk. If it is not there, it will definitely appear after a reboot.

How to delete a partition on a hard drive?

Knowing how you can divide a hard drive into partitions, let's look at the reverse deletion process. Since my “C” drive was already divided earlier, and I don’t need another partition, I’ll delete it.

We go back to the computer management program, right-click on the created disk, and in the window that pops up, select the Delete volume tab.

We agree.

Now right-click on the “C” drive and select the Expand Volume tab.

Click next.

We don’t change anything, just click Next.

Click Finish.

That's all, in a few steps we returned to the original state!

As you can see, there is nothing complicated; any user can divide a hard drive into partitions without resorting to outside help, as well as in the reverse process.

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