Partition e. Partitioning a hard drive. Partition resizing

Partitioning a disk into several partitions is a very common procedure among users. It is much more convenient to use such an HDD, since it allows you to separate system files from user files and manage them conveniently.

Partitioning a hard drive into partitions in Windows 10 is possible not only during system installation, but also after it, and it is not necessary to use third-party programs for this, since such a function is available in Windows itself.

In this article, we will discuss how to partition an HDD into logical partitions. This can be done in an already installed operating system and when reinstalling the OS. At its discretion, the user can use the standard Windows utility or third-party programs.

Method 1: Using programs

One of the options for dividing the drive into sections is to use third-party programs. Many of them can be used both in running Windows and as a bootable flash drive when it is impossible to partition a disk while the OS is running.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

A popular free solution that works with different types of drives is MiniTool Partition Wizard. The main advantage of this program is the ability to download from the official website an image with an ISO file to create a bootable USB flash drive. Partitioning a disk here can be done in two ways at once, and we will consider the simplest and fastest.

The letter of the new volume can later be changed manually via "Disk Management".

Acronis Disk Manager

Unlike the previous program, Acronis Disk Director is a paid option that also has a lot of features and is able to partition a disk. The interface is not much different from the MiniTool Partition Wizard, but it is in Russian. Acronis Disk Director can also be used as bootable software if you can't perform operations while running Windows.

EaseUS Partition Master

EaseUS Partition Master is a program with a trial period, just like Acronis Disk Director. It has various features, including disk partitioning. In general, it is similar to the above two counterparts, and the difference mainly comes down to appearance. There is no Russian language, but you can download a language pack from the official site.

Method 2: Windows built-in tool

To perform this task, you need to use the built-in utility "Disk Management".

Method 3: Partitioning the disk when installing Windows

It is always possible to divide the HDD during system installation. This can be done using the Windows installer itself.

Now you know how to split an HDD in different situations. This is not very difficult, and in the end will make working with files and documents more convenient. The fundamental difference between using the built-in utility "Disk Management" and there are no third-party programs, since both options achieve the same result. However, other programs may have additional features, such as file transfer, which may be useful to some users.

This article will discuss how to properly partition a computer hard drive into partitions (partition), as well as how to fix an incorrectly partitioned disk without losing information. Methods for Partitioning a Hard Drive for Windows XP and Windows 7 are somewhat different due to the peculiarities of the work of these operating systems, so I will talk about them separately.

At first glance, it may seem that partitioning is not a particularly important process that does not require much attention. But an incorrectly partitioned disk can bring a lot of inconvenience in the future.

Benefits of Partitioning Hard Drives

Why do you need division into sections. First, it will allow you to clearly distinguish between the system and user files. That is, Windows will live, for example, on the C: drive, and documents, movies and music on D:. Thanks to this, it will be possible to back up the entire system partition, and in case of failure, simply restore it all. If the backup process also duplicates your files, which often include hundreds of gigabytes of music and movies, along with the Windows operating system, then there will not be enough space. And so at hand there will always be an image of a system partition with a size of ten to one and a half gigabytes. And your own documents can be copied to a spare drive at any time.

In addition, after failures, checking a disk that contains only the operating system will take much less time than checking all the files on the computer (sometimes the number of files reaches hundreds of thousands and even millions). For the programs to recover deleted files, you will also need a second partition, to which the saved information will be copied.

This is how partitioning a hard drive into logical partitions looks like

Fly in the ointment or no minuses not done

The main disadvantage is that only the disk space of the current partition can be used, even if other partitions are completely free. That is, if the disk is divided into three sections, and each of them is free, say, 50 gigabytes, then it will not work to write a file of 120 gigabytes in size, although the total free space will be 150 gigabytes. In this case, you will have to transfer files from partition to partition until enough space is freed on one of them. In relation to this example, if there was only one partition on the disk, then a 120 gigabyte file could be written to it without any manipulations. Since disks usually don't fill up completely, the more partitions, the more "wasted space" there will be.

For small hard drives, this "wasted space" as a percentage will be a decent amount. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether division into sections is necessary is not entirely unambiguous. But I can clearly say that to work in a modern system, it makes no sense to partition a disk with a capacity of less than 80-160 gigabytes, with rare exceptions.

In what proportions to break. Windows XP vs Windows 7

If you still decided to partition the disk, then it is necessary to allocate a certain space in gigabytes under Windows, and not divide it proportionally “in half” or “one to two”. First you need to decide how much space the operating system needs.

Windows XP is enough for 30-40 gigabytes. This size is taken with a small margin, taking into account the large number of installed programs. Of course, you can put it on a 10-gig partition, but the place can run out at the most unexpected moment. All other data is copied only to the second partition.

Windows 7 itself requires a lot more disk space. In addition, the “magic” winsxs folder is hidden in its bowels, which is growing by leaps and bounds. In this regard, for the "Seven" it is recommended to allocate at least 70-80, and preferably 100 gigabytes. For the latter reason, it is better not to use SSD drives that are small (less than 64 gigabytes). The remaining space on the hard drive is left for the second partition.

Windows Disk Manager. You have to work very carefully.

How to partition a disk

Division into sections is not difficult. To do this, you can use the "disk manager" built into Windows (Right-click on the "My Computer" shortcut and select Manage, then select Disk Management).

The window that opens will display a list of drives installed on your computer. Now you can create and delete partitions. Please note that you will not be allowed to work with the partition on which the system is installed. To do this, you will have to use specialized software, which is discussed in the next chapter. The system partition itself is marked out during Windows installation.
In addition, perform all operations in the above disk manager with extreme caution, since any actions in it destroy the hard disk data, and it will not be easy to restore them later.

How to fix incorrect hard drive partitioning

The most common situation is when too little space has been allocated for the first (system) partition. As a result, we have a completely clogged system partition with an empty second one. The simplest way is to reduce the second partition, and due to the resulting empty space, increase the system partition. However, the built-in tools in Windows will not allow you to do this.

Everything is very clear.

In such a situation, it is better to use auxiliary tools. For example, Disk Director Suite from Acronis. This package will allow you to create a boot disk, with which you can repartition your hard disk as you wish. All data on the hard drive will not go anywhere. However, it is recommended to save important data in a safe place before any manipulations. In addition, the Acronis boot disk will help you convert the file system to another format, delete and create partitions, check disks for errors, and much more.

But it’s better to plan the size and number of partitions correctly right away than to spend a lot of time fixing mistakes at the most inopportune moment.

conclusions

This is my opinion, based on years of experience. You don't need to partition the disk. If it is inconvenient to store files on one partition, then instead of splitting, it is better to buy a second hard drive. On the one hand, this will allow you to separate the system and personal files, and on the other hand, it will divide the load on two devices. That is, system files will be opened from one hard drive, and user files from another, which will ultimately speed up the operation of the operating system and documents will open much faster.

Partitioning is required only when organizing a RAID array, when a huge single space is created from two or more hard drives. It still needs to be broken.

In case you are determined to partition your disks, use the above recommendations for choosing their volume. Wrong partitioning can then go sideways. And remember the main truth - to perform any manipulations only if you have a backup copy of important information. One awkward move and your life's work will go to electronic Valhalla.

UPD. With the advent of the SSD, the issue of division was resolved by itself. The system is installed on a solid state drive, and data that does not require high speeds is installed on a traditional hard drive. In such a situation, as you understand, it is not required to divide the hard drive into sections. However, large amounts of RAM allow you to completely disable paging. Thus, the most optimal scheme is SSD + HDD, each of which has only one partition.

A computer hard drive is a small device located inside a system unit or laptop case. But, despite its integrity, in the Windows operating system it can be displayed as several drives, each of which is assigned its own letter of the English alphabet. This is convenient for the user, as it allows you to logically divide the information stored on the computer, access it faster and perform searches.

But when you buy a computer or a new hard drive, you get an information keeper that appears as one single logical drive in Windows. At this point, the task often arises of partitioning one disk partition into several partitions, mainly into two or three. For example, the first drive (C drive) installs the operating system, while the second stores personal documents, photos, music, and videos. This is convenient from the point of view of the safety of information and access to it if the operating system fails, because you can reinstall Windows. Even after formatting the C drive, your personal files stored on other logical drives (D, E, etc.) will remain intact.

Attention: before partitioning a disk, close all running programs!

Partitioning with Windows 7

Windows 7 has its own hard disk partition management features: creating a partition, shrinking (reducing a partition), deleting a partition, changing a letter. In Windows XP, you cannot do this.

Right-click on the "Computer" icon on the desktop or in the "Start" menu and select "Manage". You will need system administrator rights.

In the Computer Management window that opens, go to Disk Management. In the central part of the window you will see lists of physical disks, logical partitions and their parameters.



Consider the most popular task - to split the logical drive C into two partitions. To do this, you first need to separate some of the free information from the C drive, and then create a separate partition from the free space. Right-click on drive C and select Shrink Volume... from the context menu. Thus, we will reduce the size of the C drive with the release of free space.



You will have to wait a bit, Windows will analyze the partitioned drive C and display a window with partitioning options. Set the size of the space to be compressed (i.e. the amount of free space that needs to be taken away from the disk) and click on the "Compress" button.



Wait while Windows splits the specified disk into two parts. The process takes several minutes.

After the compression of disk C is completed, you will see how one more partition will appear among the partitions, marked as "Unallocated". Next, on this free space, you need to create a new partition. Right-click on the unallocated partition and select "Create Simple Volume..." from the menu.



The New Simple Volume (Section) Wizard window opens. Click "Next".



The wizard will ask you to specify the size of the partition to be created. The window will indicate the minimum and maximum sizes, and by default the partition created will be the largest possible size. In most cases, you don't need to change anything here, so click Next.



In the next step, you will be prompted to assign a letter of the English alphabet to the new section, or skip this step. It is convenient to assign a letter right now. Leave "Assign Drive Letter (A-Z)" selected and you can change the default drive letter if you wish. Click "Next".



At the fourth step of the wizard, you must specify the formatting options for the new disk partition. This is necessary so that data can be saved to the newly created partition. Leave the default settings (NTFS file system and quick format) unchanged. Fill in only the "Volume Label" field, giving it a name, and click "Next".



At the last step of the volume creation wizard, you can review all the selected options for creating a new disk partition and confirm them by clicking the "Finish" button.



It will take a few seconds to create the partition, and a new one will appear among the list of volumes in the Computer Management window.



The new disk should also appear among the disks in the Computer window. They can be used.

Partitioning with MiniTool Partition Wizard

If you have a version of Windows other than Windows 7 installed, such as Windows XP, you will need a special program to partition your hard drive. Well-known programs in this area are: Partition Magic and Acronis Disk Director. But you have to pay to use them. Therefore, the text below suggests a way to partition a hard drive based on the free MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition program.

The task remains the same - to divide the C drive into two disks.

Sometimes the hard drive (HDD) of a computer or laptop consists of only one partition. Initially, this does not bring any inconvenience: all data is stored in one space, search is easier, etc.

However, over time, the root folder becomes more and more branching, and sometimes it is impossible to find the desired file.

And as soon as many different files accumulate on the hard drive: images, videos, documents, etc. it happens that you need to split the C: / drive into one or more independent partitions.

Why share hard drive space?

However, why still share the railway. When there is only one partition on the computer, there are no situations with a lack of free space for recording the necessary programs, there is no need to waste time and move information from one disk to another, etc. But there are also positive aspects.

When partitioning a disk:

• You can structure the data.
• Reinstall the computer system, but keep the data.
• Limit access to data.

How to split the C: / drive into two Windows 7 drives without losing data using external programs

Owners of laptops and PCs who want to change partitions of a hard drive often have a question: how to create a new partition, but at the same time save all the data. To date, several programs have been created to help solve this problem.

Acronis Disk Manager

The program helps not only to separate sections of the hard drive, but also to recover lost or damaged information. Acronis Disk Director is easy to use. A simple and intuitive interface, translated into Russian, allows you to quickly master the program.

Advantages:

• Installed under different versions of Windows;
• The program allows you to create, delete, copy and edit sections of the hard drive;
• The process of partitioning and compressing the disk takes place with the preservation of all data;
• With Acronis Disk Director, you can view data on hard drive partitions.

The program is freely available and absolutely free. You can also work with Acronis Disk Director from a USB drive.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

To help with the problem of partitioning the C: / drive in Windows 7 without losing data, the MiniTool Partition Wizard program will also help. It is designed to work correctly with HDD sections. The interface is designed for both advanced users and ordinary users.

Advantages:

• The program tests the work of the railway;
• Saving and backing up all data;
• Support for working with partitions of 2 terabytes or more.

Built-in Windows 7 utility

In addition to third-party programs, solve the problem of having how to split C:/ drive into two Windows 7 drives without data loss. A utility built into the software of the personal computer system will help to perform this complex operation.

First, open the control panel. This can be achieved in different ways:

1. Menu "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System and Security" - "Administrative Tools". In the window that opens, select among the options "Create and format hard disk partitions", and then: "Disk Management".
2. Open the My Computer pop-up menu with the right mouse button. Select "Manage" from the pop-up menu. In the Computer Management window, select Disk Management.

The window that appears will display options for how exactly the disk space is divided. For example, a split HDD looks like this:

In addition to the main partitions, disk C: / and E: /, there are:

• Hidden recovery partition, in this case it is 457 megabytes. The space of this partition is responsible for restoring the PC system after unexpected failures.
• System partition. A 500 megabyte space that stores system programs that are responsible for the normal launch and loading of the operating system.

The rest of the space is a place for information. It can be either one section or several. If there is a disk with a black bar in the list, then there is unallocated space on the computer.

Shrink volume and create a new disk

After the Disk Management menu has been opened, you will have to compress the desired volume and allocate space for the new disk. The operation is carried out in several steps:

Use a system utility or third-party programs to split or compress the hard drive space - everyone decides for himself. Programs may offer additional features, but changing the disk size through the "Control Panel" will help to avoid unexpected errors.

But it is worth remembering that before you start compressing a volume, you must:

• Transfer as much information as possible to external media and cloud storage.
• Separately save the most important data.

With a successful partitioning, it will be possible to freely reinstall the operating system, roll back Windows, install programs on a separate medium and not worry that any important information will be lost in the event of an unexpected breakdown.

Partitioning a Windows 7 disk is best done during Windows Setup. We will perform all disk operations using the Windows 7 installer.

And so you have a new computer or a new hard drive on which you want to install Windows 7. Perhaps the computer is not new, the disk is also not the first freshness, but you want to kill EVERYTHING old on the disk and install Windows 7 cleanly, from scratch. By the way, it is always better to install Windows cleanly, that is, after formatting the disk. To do this, go to the BIOS, make the installation "", insert the installation into the drive and restart the PC. If you want to install Windows from a USB flash drive, then first connect the USB flash drive, then turn on the computer, go into the BIOS, make the installation Boot PC from a USB flash drive or USB drive.

Select the installation type "Full installation"

The installation of Windows 7 begins. When it comes to the screen shown in the picture above with the inscription "Select installation type", select the second item with the inscription "Full installation". It is circled in red.

Next, a screen will appear that says "Select a partition for installing Windows." If you have a new disk or a computer with which no one has done anything yet, then you will not have a single created partition and only the inscription "Unallocated space" and the full volume of the disk.

Disk setup

To go to work with the disk, click the "Disk Settings" button. You will have several new buttons: "Delete", "Extend", "Format", "Create". See below.

Create a system partition

We press the "Create" button. And we have a line on the screen, consisting of the "Size" window and two buttons "Apply" and "Cancel".

Set the size of the system partition

If you do not change anything, but simply click the "Apply" button, then only one partition will be created, occupying the entire volume of the disk. You can't do that! In order to secure data and speed up the operation of the OS, we will leave only a small piece to Windows. This will be the system partition. And the rest of the space will be used to store our data. And so in In the "Size" window, delete the numbers and write, for example, 50,000, as in the picture below, and click the "Apply" button. (Why exactly 50 GB is described in the article " ). Or other numbers if you want to create a disk partition of a different size.

Create/Uncreate System Reserved Partition

A window appears with a suggestion and a warning: "To ensure that all of its features work correctly, Windows may create an additional partition for system files." If you want your Windows to work correctly, press the "OK" button, as shown below on the screen. This is what most people do and rightly so. (If someone suddenly wants their Windows to work less correctly, then you can click "Cancel". Then the partition for system needs will not be created and you will save only 100 MB of space on your huge hard drive. Well, I think there are none. Although anything happens in life.

If you clicked the "OK" button, then two partitions will appear on the screen at once: 1 - Reserved by the system exclusively for 100 MB system files and 2 - Main (this will be our system disk). And also there will be a significant piece of unoccupied space.

Create a partition for storing data.

Select the ruler with the unallocated area with the mouse and click the "Create" button.

You will again have a ruler with a "Size" window and "Apply" and "Cancel" buttons.

If you are not going to create additional partitions (and I do not advise you to create anything else without special need), then just without changing anything, click the "Apply" button.

Another section will appear on the screen and it will be highlighted. The partitions we have created are just allocated disk space. Now it needs to be formatted.

Formatting partitions

Press the "Format" button and the formatting of the highlighted partition will begin. And before that, the installer will display a message: "When formatting the disk, all information on it will be lost." This is a warning in case you want to format an already working data drive. And now we just need to format the prepared partition. Otherwise, we will not be able to write anything to it. Therefore, we press the "OK" button

The warning window will reappear. Click "OK".

This completes partitioning. You got three sections, but the first one is not yours, but reserved by the system. The second partition is the system partition, which is 50 GB - this one is for Windows. The third, with the remaining volume, is for your data. Your drives are formatted and ready to go. You can continue installing Windows 7. To do this, select the "second" partition, since the first one is reserved by the system. It is important not to make a mistake here. Otherwise, you can install Windows to another partition, and then dividing the disk will be completely pointless. Click the "Next" button. Windows installation will continue.

Deleting partitions

If the computer is not new and the disk is already partitioned, but not in the way you need, the picture will be somewhat different. In the second picture, you will have a picture that resembles the penultimate picture of this article. Then you will need to do so. Select the lower section and click the "Delete" button (When you delete a partition, all information on it is lost). You will have a ruler with the name "Unoccupied space". Mark the section above it and also delete it, and so on until you have only one ruler with an unoccupied space. And then we do everything as described starting from the second figure.

Partition resizing

If you are reinstalling Windows 7 - 10 and want to change the size of the C drive, but at the same time you have important information on the D drive that you are not going to delete, then you can perform the expand function.

All necessary sections must be created at once . Otherwise, unallocated space will not be available to the system. And you won't even know that you still have free disk space.

Well, if Windows works well, there is no need to reinstall it, but there is a problem with partition sizes and they need to be changed. How to be then? To solve this problem, there is an excellent program "". It will help you change partition volumes without reinstalling Windows.