Programs for partitioning a windows 10 hard drive. The best programs for partitioning (partitioning) a hard drive

Each owner of a new computer or laptop has to face the need to create several partitions on the hard drive. Ideally, there should be at least two of them: system C and D, which will store the data necessary for the user. Each of them can have their own file system, which will allow you to boot multiple OSes from one hard drive and not lose personal files if you need to reformat it.

Step by Step Guide on How to Create a Storage Drive in Windows 10

Partitioning a hard drive into logical partitions if you have Windows 10 installed is the easiest way using OS tools and without wasting time searching and installing special utilities. Let's see how to accomplish this task using built-in applications.

Step 1: Launch Disk Management

This utility has remained unchanged since it was introduced in Windows system 7. Work with it can be carried out in two ways through:

• "Control Panel";
• the Run window.

When choosing the first option, the utility is launched through the "Start" button. By moving the cursor to it, you need to press the right mouse button and select the line "Disk Management" in the list.

The window that opens will contain a list of your physical disks and the logical partitions they consist of.

The second way to call the utility is more efficient. When using it, the "Run" window is activated using the command interpreter with the key combination "Win + R". After that, “diskmgmt.msc” is entered in the “Open” line and the “OK” button is pressed.

As a result, the same window will open as in the first case.

Step 2: Create logical partitions using Disk Manager

In the application window, opened by any of the considered methods, information about all devices available in the computer for storing digital information is displayed.

Advice! The top lines of the list are occupied by the operating system. They store the files used to reset it to its initial state and the bootloader. You cannot touch them during the creation of a new disk.

All connected drives are listed below. Of these, you need to select a volume with a sufficient amount of free space and right-click on the line "Compress volume" in the window that opens.

This feature of the disk management manager is designed to create new partitions from existing and working ones, without losing the data stored on them.

In the window that opens, focusing on the capacity of the hard drive and the amount of unallocated space on it, enter the desired size of the created volume and activate the "Compress" button.

After a few minutes, the "Unallocated" mark will appear in the line with the freed area, and its size will be subtracted from the total disk space.

Created disc marked "Unallocated"

• placing the cursor on the space allocated for new disk, and by right-clicking on it, the user proceeds to the selection in the drop-down list of the line "Create a simple volume";
• if the allocated area is allocated for one partition, then it will occupy all unused space;
• when dividing it into several parts, the volume of the first of them is indicated in megabytes.

Step 3: Formatting a New Drive

Working with the Create Simple Volume Wizard begins with choosing the size of the new partition.

As a result of the work done, a new partition with its own file system will appear on the hard drive of the computer. This method allows you to divide the hard drive into two or more parts, depending on the free space on it and the needs of the user.

Sometimes you have to think not only about creating new volumes, but also about increasing the volume of one of the existing ones. To do this, there is an "Extension" function in the disk management manager. But using it, you should not count on the fact that you can resize a partition that occupies all free place on a physical medium.

It allows you to combine previously created volumes in order to return to one of the disks the space previously taken from it. It happens like this:

1. Having opened the "Disk Management" window, select the partition that you decided to merge in it.
2. A drop-down menu appears on a right mouse click. In it you need to select the line "Delete volume" and click "Yes" to confirm the operation.

Advice! Using this function, it should be borne in mind that along with the partition, all information on it will be erased. If you need the files stored there, then you need to copy them to another disk in advance.

After deleting the selected partition, a column marked "Unallocated" will appear in the Disk Management window.

Now it remains to hover over the disk, the volume of which it was decided to increase and, by right-clicking, activate the "Expand volume" command. This action will open the "Wizards" window. After confirming the size in it, press the "Next" and "Finish" buttons. The result of the expansion will be an increase in disk size due to unallocated volume.

Creating a new partition during OS installation

The hard disk of a computer that does not yet have an operating system can be partitioned into volumes during its installation.

But using this method involves formatting the hard drive when creating new partitions. Therefore, it is not suitable for drives containing sensitive information for the user.

In this case, creating a disk will consist of the following steps.

Video - How to create a disk on Windows 10

In this article, we will take a closer look at how to partition a disk in Windows 10. But before proceeding to the study of the main issue, I suggest that you first get acquainted with the reasons for the markup, and with the preparation before partitioning the HDD, SSD.

General information and causes of disk division

A partitioned hard drive is one physical disk, but in Explorer, the user sees divided areas called volumes. There are two types of hard drive layout:

1. One section. Some PCs contain a single partition, such as C, where Windows, programs are installed, and user files are stored.
2. Several sections. Some computers have two or more partitions, where OS and applications are stored on one (C), and personal information of the user is stored on others (D, E and others).

Reasons why you might need to partition a disk:

• The hard drive has one partition. Some laptops from the store come with one partition. In this situation, it is likely that you will want to split the disk into multiple disks to separate Windows from other files.
• Data organization. For many users, placing information on different volumes is a better way to organize data than on a single partition.
• Data backup and recovery. It takes less time and effort to back up specific information on one of the partitions than backup the entire disk.
• Multiple OS. Some users have several operating systems (Windows, Linux) on the computer, for each of which the user must create his own partition.
• Software failure protection. If the OS is installed on a separate volume and a severe failure occurs, the volume may need to be reformatted. At the same time, your data will remain safe on other sections.
• New HDD, SSD. It is more preferable to divide the volume of the new disk into sections while there is no information on it yet.

Preparing before partitioning a disk

If you finally decide that you will partition the disk, you need to do some preparation before this procedure. Use these tips:

• Create backup before splitting the hard drive. Power failures or sector errors on the volume can occur, resulting in data loss.
• Create a bootable flash drive.
• Download software and drivers. If you plan to reinstall the OS after partitioning into volumes, then prepare a set of programs and drivers for the correct operation of the PC.
• Download disk management software. Applications of this type are much more functional than standard means. There are many such programs on the Internet, below we will consider them in more detail.

Now that you have read the preparatory information, you can start partitioning the disk in Windows 10. Let's consider methods using OS tools and special software.

Partitioning a disk with standard tools in the OS itself

The division procedure is done in two ways: through the Disk Management component and Cmd. Let's look at them in more detail.

Method 1: In Run (Opening Methods), type diskmgmt.msc by clicking OK. This will open the Disk Management window. In the example, partition D is about 265 GB. Let's try to make two volumes out of it. Right-click on the shared drive (D) and select Shrink Volume from the menu. Wait until the compression location request is processed.

The second line shows how much space can be taken away from partition D in MB. Let's say you need a 30 GB volume. There are about 1024 MB in 1 GB, which means that in the third line we will enter the value 30720. At the same time, in the very last line you can see how many MB will remain on partition D. After setting your values, click "Compress".

Now you need to wait until the compression process is completed. The more MB you specify, the longer you have to wait. Then a free area is formed, right-click on it, selecting "Create a simple volume."

Next, set the partition size. If you want to use all the cut memory, leave the maximum value. Click "Next".

In the next window, set the drive letter, for example, G. Click "Next".

Now specify the formatting options. We left it as is, only changed the volume label by clicking "Next".

Look again at the list of selected options. If everything is correct, click Finish.

As a result, the new partition you created will appear in the Disk Management window. Also new volume will be available for work in the explorer.

Method 2: Open Cmd as admin (described). After entering each command (construct), press Enter. Enter the diskpart command. Then we print list volume. In Cmd you will see information on all volumes. There is a number next to the letter of each volume. Remember the number for the shared drive. For example, for volume C, the number is 2.

Select a volume, use a command like select volume X, where X is the number of the volume. Next, write a volume size shrink construct shrink desired=XXXX, where XXXX is the value in MB. Wait until you see a success message.

Enter list disk, this will display a list of hard drives with numbers. Then type select disk Y, where Y is the number of the hard drive that had the volume compressed. Use the create partition primary construct to create a volume from free space. Specify the format fs=ntfs quick construct, this will format the new partition in the NTFS file system. After formatting, you need to assign a letter to the partition, this is done with the command assign letter = G, where G is a free letter. Finally, use Exit, then you can close Cmd. Going to the explorer, you will see the created section.

Disk partitioning during OS installation

Divide HDD on partitions in Windows 10 (applies to SSD as well) when installing it, but this will lead to data loss. This the way is fine if you have a new PC without information or you have done full copy disk, and it is not a pity to lose this data.

Let's assume that you have reached the stage of choosing where to install the OS. Select each partition and click Remove. As a result, you will have unallocated space, while your data will be deleted. Select the unallocated space by clicking Create. Specify in MB the volume for the system disk (I recommend setting more than 70 GB) by clicking "Apply".

The installer will ask for permission to create an additional partition for system files. Click OK. As a result, sections are formed: additional about 500 MB, the main one of your size, unallocated space (remaining space). If you wish, you can continue to divide the unallocated space or create a second partition by specifying the entire remaining size and clicking "Create".

Format the created partitions. Select each partition, and click "Format", when a warning appears, click OK. Specify the disk where the OS will be, and click "Next" to continue the installation.

Disk partitioning software

Specialized software performs not only the partitioning function, but also many other disk operations that are not available to standard tools. If possible, use these programs. There are even situations when standard tools do not work correctly, then third-party applications come to the rescue. These programs include:

• Acronis Disk Director;
• aomei Partition Assistant;
• Ease US Partition Master;
• MiniTool Partition Wizard
• Other.

For example, let's partition a disk with Aomei Partition Assistant. This is a free product with wide functionality and Russian language. Do the following:

These are the ways you can partition your hard drive into partitions in Windows 10 (and SSD). The markup is especially relevant for a disk with a single volume. We recommend the procedure special programs so it's more functional and safer.

Welcome to the next issue! The conditional division of a hard drive into two partitions C and D is what almost every user is used to, and mostly experienced users. The first disc is intended primarily for recording the OS and programs that the user works with.

The second is intended mainly for storing various files. Such partitioning of the device is very convenient, since if it is necessary to reinstall the OS, only data from the C drive is erased from the computer. In the material, we will pay attention to the question of how to split the hard drive into more large quantity partitions, which will allow you to distribute and organize your files, as well as increase their security.

Peculiarities hard separation disk into partitions in Windows 10

So, in what cases may it be necessary to partition a hard drive?

The first time you may need to partition your hard drive is when purchasing a new device. When you buy a computer, the hard drive usually has one shared partition. It is neither rational nor safe to burn the OS on one hard disk partition, therefore it is recommended to divide the hard disk into partitions immediately after purchasing the computer.

The second case when it may be necessary to split the hard drive is the need to organize the files stored on the computer: music, documents, photos. If all this data is stored in certain sections of the hard drive, and not in folders, then in this way their security will increase.

It's important to know ! In the material, we will consider how to partition a hard disk into sections in various ways. There are enough such methods, so we will analyze each option, after which we will choose the most optimal one..

Partitioning a hard drive using Windows 10 tools

Initially, we will pay attention to the consideration of the question of how to partition a hard drive when there is already a working OS with two drives C and D. Let's add another partition to these drives, which will store important photos. To break the hard drive, you do not need to use third-party software, so the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

The process begins with the fact that the user needs to become on windows icon on the desktop with the mouse arrow, then right-click to open a pop-up window. In this window, select the "Disk Management" item, as shown below.

This is the easiest way to call this option, but you can do it using the "Run" command by holding down two "Win + R" buttons at the same time, and then in the window that opens, enter the command to English language: diskmgmt.msc.

After that, information about all available partitions on the computer will appear in the window that opens. Here you can find out the volume of each section, system type, workload. In the lower part in the form of rectangles, you can evaluate the ratio of the sizes of each section.

You need to free up some space before partitioning. To do this, you can use partition D. It is this disk that will be divided into two partitions. In order to shrink drive D, you need to right-click on it, and then select the "Compress volume ..." command, as shown below.

After selecting this command, a window will open where you should carefully specify the volume of the partition to be compressed. The information in this box is indicated in MB. In this case, we will compress up to 10 GB by writing the value 10,000 MB in the “Size of compressible space” cell.

After that, the compression procedure begins, but no process progress bar appears. The compression procedure takes about 3-5 minutes, so you need to wait a bit.

Let's start creating a new section. To do this, right-click on the space that appears, and select "Create a simple volume."

A simple volume creation wizard window will appear, where you need to agree with the system by clicking the "Next" button. The volume creation wizard will ask you to specify the volume that will be allocated for the new partition. You can specify the entire volume, which is indicated above under the name " Maximum size". The main thing is that the specified value does not exceed this value.

Now the system will definitely ask you to specify the name of the future volume in the form of a letter. Alphabetically, this will be the letter F, but the user can enter any letter.

After that, you will need to specify the file system type. Of course, the file system will be NTFS, and in the "Volume Label" section, you simply need to write the name of the volume.

As you can see, the procedure is quite simple, but it is necessary to take into account the fact that you should not compress the disk to the limit. This will affect its functioning for the worse.

Partitioning a disk using special applications

To partition a hard drive, you can use special applications. These applications include:

Acronic Disk Director;

Minitool Partition Wizard Free;

Aomei Partition Assistant.

There are other applications, but it is better to choose one of the suggested ones. Some of them are paid, but you can use the application with a demo version, which is exactly Acronic Disk Director. It is on the example this application Let's look at how you can partition a disk into partitions.

Initially, you need to download the application by downloading it from the official website, and then install it on your computer. After installing the file, you will need to run the application, after which the following window will appear.

After launching the application, you will need to right-click on the partition, and then select "Split Volume", as shown in the screenshot above.

Using the application slider, you can resize the two new partitions.

In order for the changes to take effect, you will need to click the button called "Apply Pending Operations", which is highlighted in the screenshot below with a red frame.

The changes will be applied, and the selected section will be divided into two parts. If the system disk is being partitioned, then for the changes to take effect, you simply need to restart the computer.

This application is quite easy to use, but its most important advantage is due to the presence of the Russian version.

Partitioning a drive during Windows 10 installation

You can also partition a physical disk during clean install OS Windows 10. This method suitable mainly for the category of users who have purchased clean computer and are going to markup during the installation of the OS. If you carry out the separation in this way, when files are stored on the computer, then all information will be erased during the markup process. This is important to consider before choosing this option.

If the user has decided that this option is suitable for him, then the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

To begin with, the installation process of Windows 10 OS starts. How this is done, you can read in more detail on the site. We start with the fact that during the installation process the following window will appear.

It is in this window that you can add as many sections as you need. To perform partitioning, existing disks must be removed. How this can be done is shown in the photo below.

After deleting all existing partitions, an entry with the name "Unallocated disk space" will appear. Such an entry can also be seen during the installation of the OS, if it was purchased new computer. To create a partition, select "Create".

In the next window, you need to specify the volume of the logical disk. Volumes should be specified depending on the total size of the hard drive. Since a 60 GB hard drive is selected for the example, we will create a C drive with a capacity of 40 GB, although Windows 10 requires at least 80 GB for normal operation.

After clicking the "Apply" button, a warning window will appear that additional partitions must be created to ensure correct operation. You just need to agree. After that, a window will appear with our created 40 GB partition. Now it remains to use the unallocated space, for which we again use the "Create" button.

The cell with the volume of the future volume will be automatically filled. After creating the disk, you will need to format them. To do this, select the appropriate disk, and then click on the "Format" item. We agree that the system warns of the loss of all data. If you do not format the disks, then the system will crash and error, so this procedure is mandatory.

After formatting the disks, you can continue with the further installation of the OS. After installation is complete and Windows startup you can see that the disks that were created during the installation phase actually appeared in the This PC folder.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that splitting a hard drive into volumes is not so difficult as it might seem at first. All that is needed to achieve the final goal is to decide on the methodology, as well as study each step. The risk of errors is minimal, but it is better to train on a computer where it is not stored. important information in one copy. It is believed that the most favorable way to partition a disk is to use third party applications. At the same time, the specialist claims that The best way for partitioning the hard drive, this is the execution of the procedure during the installation of the OS.

You can partition your hard drive into partitions in Windows 10. You can create four partitions on one disk, and each disk must have at least 15% free space. Split disk into windows partitions 10 is possible using the tools built into the system. To partition your hard drive, Windows 10 will need to open Disk Management. Launch Disk Management, and to do this, hover over the Start button and right-click, select Disk Management from the menu that opens.

How to partition a disk in Windows 10

When the Disk Control Panel opens, partitions will be displayed at the top of it, and the disks with the partitions in them will be displayed at the bottom. You will need to hover over the disk and press the right mouse button. A menu will open in which select the item Shrink Volume.

How to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 10

A window will open in which Compressible space size By default, you will be prompted to transfer all free disk space to create a new partition. In my case, I was asked to transfer 56877 MB, but I ordered to transfer only 20000 MB and pressed the button Compress.

How to partition disks in windows 10

At the bottom of the Disk Control Panel, you will see that the drive has been split into two partitions, but one partition is unallocated and therefore will not appear at the top of the window, nor in Explorer. In order for the second section to appear, you need to move the cursor over it and press the right mouse button, and select the item in the menu that opens. Create a simple volume.

To partition a hard disk into Windows 10 partitions, you will need to run the Create a Simple Volume Wizard

The New Simple Volume Wizard window will open, click Next.

Partitioning a disk in Windows 10

In the next window, you can set the size of the created disk, but you do not change anything, but click the Next button.

How to partition a hard drive on Windows 10

In the next window, you will be prompted to assign a letter to the created partition. You can select a letter from the pop-up list and click Next.

How to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 10

In the next window, you will need to choose which file system the partition will have. You can select a file system from the pop-up list and click Next.

Finish partitioning a drive in Windows 10

In the next window, click the Finish button and the New Simple Volume Wizard will begin its work.

Partitioned hard disk Windows 10

At the end of the wizard, a new section window will immediately open, which you can close. After that, in the Disk Control Panel, you can see that you managed to partition the Windows 10 disk, as a new partition will be displayed, which will also be visible in Explorer.

Now we will analyze the solution to one of the frequent user tasks after buying a new laptop: there is only one hard drive in the system, on which operating system, and the user needs to create another partition without data loss. This article describes how to split a partition Windows tools, i.e. how to partition a disk without using additional special software. The instruction is suitable for both classic hard drives, and for SSD on a stationary PC or laptop. You will be able to safely split drive C into 2 disks (partitions) without the risk of data loss, formatting or reinstalling the OS.

How to split drive C: into 2 partitions in Windows 10/8.1/7

Disabling system protection

Start File Explorer:

We called the window System. Click on the link System protection :

A window opens Properties of the system tab System protection. Select with the left mouse button system disk and press the button Tune :

Set selector to position Disable and press OK:

Click Yes to confirm your intentions to disable protection on this disk:

Dividing a disk into 2 parts

We opened the window Computer management. We see two sections: bootable without a letter and system under the letter C:.

Click right click on the system disk (the largest) and select the item Shrink Volume :

In the next window, we see a custom parameter. In fact, this will be the size of the free space after the partition C:, which you can use for other sections. And the meaning Overall size after compression is the size to which you want to reduce the existing system disk C:

We recommend allocating at least 80 GB for the system partition. Don't overdo it with compression. If you compress your system disk to 30-50 GB, then it is likely that it will run out of free space over time and you will have to increase its volume.

So ask Compressible space size(to create new partitions) with an eye to Overall size after compression(drive C) and press the button Compress:
(In our case, we free up about 239 GB and leave 80 GB for C drive)

After the compression procedure is completed, you will see two partitions on the card and unallocated space after them. The system partition no longer occupies the entire hard disk space, but only a part. In our case, 80 GB:

Now we need to create additional partitions (or one partition) using unallocated space. Click right click on the unallocated space to the right of the system partition and select in context menu Create a simple volume... :

The Create Simple Volume Wizard starts. Click Further :

At the stage Specifying the volume size we have several options:

1. leave the value unchanged - in this case, we will create one partition that will occupy all available free space;
2. decrease the value - in this case, we will have free space to create other partitions.

In our example, we want to create one partition that will take up all the remaining space on the hard drive. So just click Further :

Select a letter (it can be changed in the future) and press Further :

We ask volume label for a non-system partition, check the box quick format and press Further :

Click Ready to start partition creation and formatting:

After a few seconds, we see a new section on the map:

Entering the area This computer, we also see that we now have two disks: C: and E:

... put the selector in position Enable system protection and press the button OK.