What's the best way to partition a hard drive? A program for dividing a hard drive into partitions. What is the best way to partition a 1 TB hard drive.

Read, how to partition an HDD or SSD disk using the tools built into Windows 10. Detailed step-by-step instructions. The hard drive is one of the main elements modern computers, allowing you to record, process and store all information from the user and the computer control system. For user convenience, space on the internal hard drives segmented (“split” into sections). Partitioning is usually used to separate operating system files from other user files.

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Hard disk partitions

Perhaps yours internal hard the disk already has two or three partitions. Computer specialist initially did all the work of creating the partitions for you. But there are times when you need to change the configuration of an existing partition or split it into two or more partitions. As it may seem at first, this is a very complicated process, but it’s not like that. And although the procedure hard section disk requires special care and caution, it is still simple enough that any responsible user can perform it. It also does not require installation third party applications, which makes it more convenient to use.

Device Manager has a built-in feature called "Disk Management", which allows you to divide your disk into partitions, and is quite easy to use. If you are using the Windows 10 Creators Update or higher version of the operating system, then you can use the function "Disk Management" to partition a USB drive or SD card. However, in this article we will only talk about the separation method hard drive.

So using our algorithm you can separate both internal and external hard disk. If you have a solid state installed HDD(SSD), it can also be partitioned in the same way.

Prerequisites

To partition a hard drive into "Windows 10" you must have administrator rights and have access to hard drive connected to your operating system. If you plan to partition your external hard drive, make sure it is placed comfortably on a surface that will prevent it from accidentally being disconnected during the partitioning process.

Understanding Concepts

A hard drive is a mechanical element. To understand the principle of partitioning a hard drive, let's draw an analogy with an apartment. Imagine a studio apartment in front of you, when the entire space around is one large room and an adjacent bathroom. This is a blank hard drive when it is not yet partitioned, representing one large amount of storage space with one small partition for the recovery drive.

Suppose now you decide to turn this one-room studio apartment into a regular apartment, that is, add additional rooms. Essentially, what you have decided to do is to divide your apartment into different parts, similar to dividing your hard drive into partitions. When you start laying walls to divide your studio apartment space, you have complete freedom of choice to decide where the first wall will go, that is, how big or small your first section will be. Once you have successfully partitioned your hard drive into two partitions, your options for partitioning your hard drive are reduced. And you need to be careful when you divide the next section.

Please remember that there is a limit to the number of partitions you can create. If your hard drive has a way of storing disk partition information "MBR", you can create up to four partitions and no more. If your disk's storage method is "GPT", then you can create an infinite number of partitions.

Check how disk partition information is stored

To determine how disk partition information is stored, follow these steps: On your desktop, right-click on the shortcut "This computer" "Device Manager".

In the dialog box that opens, select the section "Disk devices". You will see a list hard drives installed on your computer. Check required disk and right-click on it, select the link in the menu that appears "Properties".

In the dialog box " Properties" In chapter "Tom" click the button "Fill in".

All available information about your disk will be listed in the section "Disk Information". Review the line to see which disk partition information storage method is used on your drive.

Hard drive partitioning

To begin, on your desktop, right-click on the shortcut "This computer" and select the link from the pop-up menu "Control".

A dialog box will open in front of you "Computer Management". Select a section from the side menu on the left side of the screen "Disk Management".

In the middle pane of the dialog box, you will see a list of all partitions on the selected hard drive. In our case, we will create a section in an existing section "E". If you have a disk without partitions, then follow the same algorithm for it. Click on your unpartitioned drive (in our case, partition "E") right-click and select the link. Computer Management Service "Windows 10" will check what is the maximum amount of disk space you can use to create a new partition. It does this to ensure that none of your files are lost after the splitting procedure is complete. The newly created partition will not contain any files.

For example, if you have a 1 TB hard drive with 800 GB of stored files, then you cannot and should not attempt to make partitions of 500 GB each. Computer Management Service "Windows" will not be able to shrink the volume beyond the area where the non-movable files are located. Therefore, after receiving the results of the available space for compression, select the size of the future partition, taking into account the proposed options. It's best if you don't have any saved files on disk, although this isn't always the case (as in our case).

Be careful when choosing the partition size - this is really the only tricky part. Make sure that the size of the new partition does not exceed the dimensions specified in the line "Space available for compression (MB)". Next, the whole process is no longer difficult, click the button "Compress" to launch it.

Then grant Computer Management permission to assign the new partition, that is, assign the partition letter designation. And also answer the service’s question about the need to format the newly created partition. It is better to format it right away to fully prepare the partition for work. Upon completion, a new section will appear in the middle menu bar "Computer Management" next to existing sections.

If the new partition appears as space "RAW", right-click on it and select format from the context menu. This completes the hard drive partitioning procedure. If you want, you can divide the disk space of your hard drive into as many partitions as you need. However, remember that the number of partitions you can create directly depends on how you store information on your hard drive (no more than four partitions for "MBR" and an unlimited number of sections for "GPT").

This material will discuss how to partition a disk in the Windows 7, 8, 10 operating system. Many people prefer to perform this operation using third-party applications, but this is much easier to do with standard tools. This statement is true for some operating systems. For example, Windows 7, 8 and 10. XP does not have standard tool to partition the disk. The main advantage of this option is that all actions take place in the explorer, that is, you do not need to buy, download, or install anything.

This material will be especially useful for people who recently bought a laptop or computer that has one disk with installed Windows. At the end of the article, instructions will be given on how to partition a disk using a third-party utility, Partition Master Free. It will come to the aid of those who, for some reason, cannot split the disk into the required number of partitions using standard tools.

There can be many reasons for this - ranging from simple convenience to security. For example, if there is a need to reinstall the operating system Windows system, then for clean install it is necessary to format the disk, and this will entail deleting all data. Of course, you can transfer all important data to other media, but, firstly, this is not very convenient, and secondly, it is not always possible. In other words, storing everything in one place is not rational.

The most correct option is to create a small system disk on which the operating system and programs will be stored in the future. It is also important to create additional disk, on which all basic data will be stored: photos, documents, videos, music, etc.

How to correctly split disk D into 2 parts when installing the system?

The easiest way to partition a disk is when installing an operating system. To do this, you need to load a disk or flash drive, select the required language, accept the terms of the agreement and select “ Full installation" In the window that opens you will see whether there is free place, which is not used by any partition. There will also be a “Disk Setup” button that you need to click. After this, a panel with tools for working with disk space will appear.

The panel allows you to format, create new and even delete old partitions. For example, if there was unallocated space on the disk, you can turn it into a partition using the “Create” button. Next, the user will only need to enter the size of the future partition and click on the “Apply” button.

If there is one large partition from which you need to create two separate ones, then you need to separate the necessary volume from it, which will be transferred to unused space. And then you will need to make a new partition from this space and click “Create”.

There is nothing to describe in more detail here, because Windows developers They made this tool outrageously simple. For clarity, we suggest watching the video:

What should I do if the disk is not formatted and I cannot create a system partition on the unused space?

If a disk partition refuses to be formatted or changed, then most likely this indicates bad sectors. Victoria program, which can be downloaded, allows you to evaluate bad sectors. The latter usually appear due to distortion of the reception and transmission of various types of information. In addition to detecting defects, the utility allows you to hide them using three available tests (in the program you must select the “Remap” option in the “Tests” section). Not always, but in some cases the program allows you to bring the hard drive back to life by correcting this situation.

Partitioning a hard drive in Windows 7, 8, 10 using standard means

To do this, go to Start - Computer - Management or right-click on the icon My Computer – Manage – Disk Management. Next, the user will be presented with a picture typical of many computers - the system has only one drive C (it can be labeled D, E, F, it doesn’t matter) and a second partition, System Reserved. The last disk is for storing files Windows boot. It is hidden from the user and there is no point in performing any manipulations with it.

Disk Management

Here you can see all the information about the hard drive. Standard tools for working with disks allow you to perform the following tasks:

• divide a disk from one into several partitions;
• increase the size of existing partitions;
• shrink, attach and delete volumes.

The functionality of the standard tool is comparable to most features third party programs. The illustration shows that the disk has a size of 250 GB and two partitions. With an MBR entry, you can only make four partitions: the three key ones will be marked in a dark bluish color and the last, additional one, will act as a logical one.

Using drive C as an example, all operations will be performed. Please note that before dividing it will be important to defragment it.

Let's start dividing the volume (drive C) into two parts. To do this, you need to right-click on it and click on the “Shrink Volume” item in the drop-down menu. After this, you will need to specify exactly what size you want to compress. If this is a 250 GB hard drive, then the response “available space for compression is 200449 MB” will be received. Here the user needs to be careful, because repeating this action may cause difficulties. If you specify a compression size of 150,000 MB, then approximately 149 GB will be taken from drive C for the new partition. For system disk in most cases, a volume in the range of 50-100 GB will be sufficient.

As mentioned above, “Compressible Size” is the size of the partition created by the user. Here you need to hover your mouse over the freed space and right-click on the “Create Simple Volume” menu.

The creation wizard will now open simple volume. You should click next and agree to everything that is asked. Here you can select the future drive letter. If the user has drive C in the system, then you can create drive D or F. In the process, it is strongly recommended to give preference file system NTFS. There is no need to worry about formatting the new partition, because all the existing data was left on the C drive, and not on the new one, which is just in the process of being born.

Partitioning a hard drive using Partition Master Free

The option described above allows you to partition a disk using standard tools. Unfortunately, it does not always work, so we offer you the option of partitioning a disk using Partition programs Master Free.

Ease Partition Master is a wonderful tool with a very good interface, but its main advantage is that it is distributed free of charge. If we talk about functionality, then everything is simple: the user can fully work with partitions, that is, format, split, resize, delete partitions, etc.

You can download the application from the official website http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm or Russian version http://files.wom.com.ua/E/EaseUSPartitionMaster/EaseUS%20PM%2010.0%20RUS.zip

As mentioned above, the program is distributed free of charge, but during installation the user will be asked to install paid software, which is unlikely to be needed. You should wait for the installation process to complete and click on the “Finish” button.

Completing the installationEaseUS. You need to launch the program and select “Ease Us Partition Master Free”. Now the user will see the program interface, as well as all available disks (in our case, the disk size is 150 GB).

The program shows that there is only one partition (C:\). Now you need to select it to take away the disk space from it (in our case it is approximately 90 GB) using the “Resize/Move” button. For most users, two partitions will be enough, but if necessary, you can create a maximum of four (it is worth remembering that you cannot create more on a disk with an MBR structure).

Afterwards, a window will appear where you need to pay attention to the parameters Partition Size (size of the compressed partition) and Unallocated After (size of the future partition). The “Optimize for SSD” item will also be present here. You definitely need to disable it if you plan to work with solid state drive(HDD).

After taking the space, a new partition will appear (unrecognized space) weighing approximately 90 GB. You should select it and click on the “Create” button. In the window that appears, the user needs to indicate the volume label, that is, the future name for the disk, and also set the drive letter. The remaining settings can be left unchanged.

Now a new section will appear in the program window. You should check all the settings, and if everything is satisfactory, then click “Apply”. After this, a window will appear in which it says that drive C will be compressed, and instead a new partition will be created from this space.

Now, if you open My Computer, you can see new disk Local with the letter E (approximately 90 GB in size).

That's all, the program did its job perfectly. That is, the size of the C drive was reduced and a new one was created from the freed space. However, the reader was familiar with only part of the opportunities offered free version Partition Master Free programs.

Partitioning a hard drive is a way to organize information storage, comparable to putting things on shelves in a closet.

In this article you will learn how to partition your hard drive and why.

Most users prefer to divide disks into 2-3 partitions for the following reasons:

• so as not to mix operating system and personal files in case of OS reinstallation;
• for the convenience of manual search for information;
• to install more than one operating system on a computer;
• so that each user, if there are several of them, has his own “corner” for personal files;
• to hide some information from other PC users (along with the section).

Note! When installing operating systems, service partitions are created - boot, recovery, for the swap file, etc., which are not visible in Explorer. These areas are hidden because changing or deleting their contents disrupts the operation of the OS.

Some people believe that it is necessary to partition the hard drive: this way, they say, personal files will not be damaged in the event of a system failure, will be less fragmented, and, therefore, will be opened faster.

In fact, the files will not disappear anywhere, even if the OS crashes completely. And this will not affect performance, especially since modern systems defragment themselves without user intervention.

On the contrary, the system partition tends to fill up quickly, and if there is not enough space on it, the computer will first slow down and then stop loading altogether due to the fact that the system has no room to expand.

Do you think you still need an additional section? Then read how to create it.

Two ways to divide a disk into partitions in Windows 7, 8, 10

Capabilities of the installed system

Starting with Windows 7, you can partition disk space using the OS itself, both during installation and after.

There is only one condition: when dividing an existing partition, it is important that there is no less free space in the part being divided than in the part that will be separated.

Let's look at how to divide a hard drive into partitions in a running Windows 10.

• Go to context menu Start button and launch Disk Management.
• Open the context menu of the section you will be splitting. Click “Shrink Volume”.
• The window that opens after this shows the total size of the compressed area and the space available for compression. From the last one, select a part that will be a new section.
  As you remember, it should not exceed half of the value specified here. Then click the “Compress” button.

• After compression, unallocated space will appear in the list of volumes - this will be your new partition. Right-click on it and select “Create Simple Volume”. The “Simple Volume Creation Wizard” utility will launch.

• In the wizard window, specify the size of the new volume. If you leave the default value (which is the entire area of ​​unallocated space), the entire area you separated will become a new partition.
  If you specify a lower value, one part will become a volume and the other will remain unallocated. Click “Next”.

• Assign a letter to the new volume if you want it to appear in Explorer, or mount it as a folder. If you decide to do this later, select “Do not assign drive letter or path.”

• Next, the wizard will offer to format the volume and assign a label to it. The label is short title section explaining what is there. If desired, leave this line blank.

After formatting, the unallocated space will become a full-fledged partition.

Creating a volume during Windows installation

Creating new partitions during Windows installations differs from the method we discussed above in that the shared disk will have to be deleted first, that is, completely cleared of information.

And then build a new partition structure from the unallocated space.

The breakdown is made at the stage when the program asks you to indicate the location where the OS will be installed. What to do next:

• In the “Where do you want to install Windows?” window Click the Disk Setup button.

• Mark the partition you are going to split and delete it. Instead, unoccupied space will appear.

We showed the process of creating logical volumes using the example of installing Windows 7. On Windows 8 and 10 this is done in exactly the same way.

During the installation of Windows, it is not necessary to allocate all the disk space; it is enough to select the area where the system will be located. You can mark out the rest of the free space later, whenever you want.

These are not the only, but only the most accessible ways to partition disks.

Own functions for working with disk space, which are found in all Windows versions starting with “seven”, it is enough in almost any situation, so the need to use third-party programs such as Acronis Disk Director or Paragon Partition Manager has already disappeared.

So you are faced with the question of how to partition your hard drive. The reasons may be different, for example, you purchased a new HDD to increase permanent memory existing computer or purchased new laptop, but without pre installed system, and you have to install the Windows shell yourself, or you simply don’t have enough space system partition disk for newly installed programs.

Basic ways to divide hard drive space

Regardless of the reasons that prompted you, you want to partition your hard drive yourself, but have little idea how this is done in practice. This is where we will try to help you by telling you not only about the basic ways to properly partition a hard drive, but also pointing out certain nuances and difficulties that you may encounter during this difficult work.

Let's look at how to divide a hard drive of any type (HDD or SSD) in three ways, namely using:

• standard utilities running Windows installed on your computer;
• special programs for working with various information storage devices;
• Windows PE boot shell.

So, let's get started and try to exactly follow the sequence of actions, otherwise, this may lead to either repeating operations for a new drive, or losing important data when working with existing storage media.

Partitioning a disk using a standard Windows utility

This method of working with drives is not very complicated and, most importantly, does not require third-party programs. It is suitable for partitioning both the main "C" drive and for partitioning external HDD into sections. This utility for working with storage media is available in all versions from Windows XP to Windows 10.

So, to work directly with hard drives, you need to open the standard Windows shell utility, and it can be called to the desktop in two ways:

In the window that opens " Disk Management» should be reflected all connected in this moment information storage devices, including flash memory, to your computer.

Move the mouse cursor over the desired section and right-click the context menu to of this disk. And here, depending on what we want to do, we decide on the team we need in the future.

Divide the disk into two

If this is one main drive “C”, then this is a simple way to divide the hard drive into two and not lose it with one hundred percent certainty system information. To do this, perform the following steps:

That's it, the main disk is divided into two partitions.

Partitioning the disk

But how to divide a hard drive into partitions, in the case of a new, just purchased drive, working with this standard utility, is also not difficult, but the algorithm of actions will be slightly changed. The sequence of actions will be as follows:

It is worth remembering here that the disk system MBR allows you to create no more than 4 partitions on one hard drive.

Working with disks using special utility programs

The following universal software utilities for working with various information storage devices have found the greatest popularity among users, namely:

• Acronis Disk Suite;
• Paragon Partition Manager Professional;
• AOMEI Partition Assistant Technician Edition.

These utilities are specially adapted to perform almost all basic operations with HDD, SSD and other storage media. They have a fairly clear interface designed to work with both specialists and ordinary users.

We will analyze how to split a disk into partitions using such universal utilities using the example program AOMEI Partition Assistant, which can be installed on your computer like standard application, or use it from portable mode.

And also for comparison, we will show the operation of the utility in two modes when dividing the main disk into two and partitioning new hard disk into several partitions.

We open the program and see a window with extensive information on all connected storage media and their sections.

Divide by two

The algorithm for partitioning the main hard drive “C” consists of a set of sequential commands:

After the reboot, having completed all the operations, the system will boot, but with the main disk divided into two parts.

Dividing a new disk

Typically, the new HDD will represent unallocated space and will only be visible in the program window.

First, be sure to clearly indicate the disk with which we will work by hovering the mouse cursor and obtaining the corresponding color gradation of the position. But if you make a mistake, you can lose everything important information on a randomly selected existing storage medium.

Algorithm for working with other universal resizing programs various media information is very similar to the example above. The only significant difference will be the program interface and menu layout.

Partitioning the main disk using the Windows PE boot shell

If you decide to install a new operating system or completely update the old one, and the existing partition sizes of the main HDD do not suit you or do not meet the necessary requirements, then it is better and easier to reformat by logging into the computer from a special simplified shell.

If desired, various versions can be downloaded from the Internet, and they are freely available there and are equipped with a set of all necessary portable programs for working not only with storage media, but also have a whole range of different useful utilities. For example, you can take the distribution kit from the site https://diakov.net/8305-adminpe-30.html, which does not require additional registration from the user.

Having loaded onto a USB or CD/DVD media, we boot the system using the key to call up the menu, in which there is a choice of boot device. Typically this is function key F11, after pressing which, we select our media.

After loading the portable desktop, a desktop will appear that almost completely replicates the familiar Windows shell, but with pre-installed software modules.

We open a universal program for working with various information storage devices and work according to the example given earlier in background and without unnecessary reboots.

The main advantage of the shell is that the software modules are in no way connected to hard drives, which allows you to perform everything possible operations by reformatting them in any way possible way without any restrictions.

Conclusion

In this article we learned how to partition a disk on a PC or laptop. different ways. Examples were considered: how to divide a hard drive into 2 parts, and how to create partitions on a hard drive. You can use similar methods to partition an external hard drive. Just connect it to your computer and do the same steps.

Video on the topic

Let's look at this thorny question today: into how many parts is it best to split a hard drive for convenient and safe operation? How to properly partition the hard drive of your computer or laptop?

Let's start with the most important thing - Yes, the hard drive definitely needs to be partitioned!

For what?

The answer is actually simple - so that in case of malfunctions in Operating system lose a minimum of files. The fact is that when reinstalling Windows OS, or any other OS, you need to completely format the area of ​​the disk where it will be located. That is, if you have only one area of ​​your hard drive allocated (for example, Disk C), then it will have to be completely formatted with the loss of ALL data.

Division options

I recommend divide the hard drive into 2-3 areas. But not more. After all, in fact, if there are more than 3 areas, then they will be small, and there will be little point in them when storing large data (unless, of course, you have a hard drive smaller than 500-700 GB). In what proportion? Look at your needs realistically: how much space do you need for videos, music, games, images, etc.? How much space do documents take? How many users with personal information?

Attention, this method Perfectly fits discs with a total volume

Divide the disk into 2 areas: one is system, and the second is everything else. And for system - 30-50 GB, so that not only the OS, but also programs fit there. But, you must admit, this is not always convenient.

I recommend the following method for hard drives with a capacity of 700+ GB!

Divide by 3 method: one is the system one, the second is a “multimedia disk” - a disk for music, movies and documents, the third is for games, images, temporary files and everything else. Wherein System one should be about 50-60 GB, because in addition to the OS there will also be programs. "Multimedia disk" - 150-200 GB. Everything else is on the third disc.

Personally, my disk is partitioned according to the second plan:

Those. 40 GB are allocated for the system + programs (+10-15 GB is possible), for “multimedia” - 150 GB - quite enough, and 460 GB for games, images + temporary files from the Internet are stored there.

So far there are no complaints! Good luck!

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