How to Partition a Hard Drive?

How to Partition a Hard Drive?

An Open Disk Management tool is included in all versions of Windows and will let you partition your drives, along with a number of other activities. The Power User Menu lets you start Disk Management in the easiest possible manner. You can also use the command-line argument which is compatible for all versions of Windows.

Below are certain steps you can follow to use the Disk Management technique to partition your drive:

1. After launching the Disk Management, you will see the Initialize Disk window and the message, “You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it.” From here, you will need to select a partition style for your new hard disk drive. Simply select GPT if your HDD is bigger than 2TB, else, select MBR then tap OK.

2. Browse and then identify the hard drive that you wish to partition at the bottom part of the window. You will not be able to see the non-partitioned drive from the drive list on the upper part of the window. If the drive space that you wish to partition is already included in some existing drive, you will see the Unallocated option next to the other existing partitions of that drive.

3. Choose New Simple Volume and keep clicking Next and specifying the details of type, size,
   
   path as required.

4. Click the Finish button to start partitioning your hard drive. Windows will attempt to open a new drive. Remember that unless formatted, you will not be able to use the drive so you will be prompted with “You need to format the disk in the drive before you can use it. Do you want to format it?”

   Tap or click Cancel and then move on to the new drive from My Computer. You will see the partition made.