How to Partition a Drive on Windows

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: January 21, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to partition a hard drive when you’re logged into your Windows PC.

Steps

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This opens the Windows search bar.
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A list of search results will appear.

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This opens the Disk Management utility.
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A menu will appear.
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The Shrink tool allows you to reduce the size of one partition to create space for another. ^{[1]
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6
Type the amount of space the new partition should have. This goes into the “Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB” box. Be sure to enter the amount in MB (megabytes).
- For example, to create a 100 GB partition, you would type 102400.
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Now you’ll see a new area near the bottom of the window called “Unallocated.” It has a black bar at its top edge.
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A drop-down menu will appear.
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It’s the first option in the menu. This opens the New Simple Volume Wizard.
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You can keep the default option if it looks good to you.
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This is how the new partition will be identified.
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13
Select Format the volume with the following settings . If you want to give the volume a name, you can type it into the “Volume Label” field. The default is “New Volume.”
- For example, if you’re going to be using the partition for music, you may want to call it Music.
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Your hard drive will now be partitioned with the selected settings. When the process is complete, you’ll see a message that says “You have successfully completed the New Simple Volume Wizard.”
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You can now start using your new partition.

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How to Partition a Drive on Windows

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