What is a hard drive partition, and How to do it?

 A hard drive partition means creating several virtual drives to store files or folders and applications separately. While several physical drives are beneficial, the multi-terabyte hard drives have taken things to the next level. Partitioning a single drive is a great way to get multi-drive functionality along with lots of space on each drive on a system without needing a second drive. 



If you have a new drive and want to divide it, you will need to partition it before taking it into use. Whether you want to partition a new drive or an old one, you will have to follow almost a similar process. And it is straightforward to partition a hard drive on Windows 10. If you go through the step-by-step process, you will have multiple virtual drives from a single one in no time. 

During the entire process, we will use the term “hard drive,” but it doesn’t mean that this article is limited only to partitioning hard drives. You can use the same steps in the case of a solid-state drive. Moreover, let’s see how you can partition a hard drive on your Windows 10 PC.   

Use Windows Disk Management Tool

Partitioning a hard drive on Windows 10 is simple using the Windows native tool called Disk Management. While there are also some third-party tools available loaded with more features, this Windows tool is perfect for making new partitions on a hard drive. The steps mentioned in this guide are made for Windows 10 systems, but you can also go through this guide if you own 8.1. 

  • Find the Disk Management tool by searching through the Windows search bar. Then you have to choose the Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions option from the resulting options. Or use the shortcut Windows key + X and select Disk Management. 
  • Choose the hard drive that you have to create a partition for from the available drives. If the drive is new, jump to step 4. If the drive is old loaded with files and OS installed on it, first, you will have to make unmapped space by starting the partition. So do a right-click and choose Shrink Volume from the following dropdown. 
  • Now the computer will determine the free space on your system to create new partitions. Once the calculation process gets completed, you will be asked how much you have to use. If you want to utilize all the free space available on the drive, tap the Shrink button. If you only want to be specific, enter the amount of space in megabytes in the available field and then hit the Shrink option. The process of making partitions may take a few minutes. Once the process gets completed, a new unallocated space will appear near the lower half of the Disk Management interface’s corresponding hard drive. 
  • Do a right-click on the unallocated space and pick New Simple Volume from the following menu. 
  • Go through the onscreen directions and choose the size of the volume and drive letter. 
  • During making a new partition, it is the right time to format new and old drives. In the case of File System, select NTFS. For portable devices, you have to choose the ExFAT option. You can also give a name to volume. Avoid doing anything with the allocation unit size. Choose Quick Format if you have no time. 
  • Tap the Next button and click Finish to create the volume. That’s it. Now you will have new partitions on your hard drive. You can see everything about them on the Disk Management page. 

Try third-party alternatives

If you aren’t comfortable with the manual process, you can try third-party alternatives to partition hard drives on Windows 10. We have included third-party alternatives like EaseUS Partition Master Free, Minitool Partition Wizard Free, and GParted. They are one of the best tools for partitioning hard drives. 

Meta Description: Want to create virtual space on your Windows 10 hard drive but don’t know how to do so? Click here to partition a hard drive with third-party and native tools. 

Source :- What is a hard drive partition, and How to do it?

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