How to Create or Modify a Partition in Microsoft Windows

Dell Technologies recommends Partitioning your hard drive after you install a hard drive and then Formatting it to use it to store data. Partitioning the drive in Windows means to section off a part of it and make that part available to the Operating System.

Choose your Operating System from the list below and follow the given steps:

• Windows 10 and 11
• Windows 8 and 8.1

Windows 10 and 11

Create a partition from unpartitioned space with these steps:

1. Right-click This PC and select Manage.
2. Open Disk Management.
3. Select the disk from which you want to make a partition.
4. Right-click the Unpartitioned space in the bottom pane and select New Simple Volume.
5. Enter the size and click next, and you are done.

Windows 8 and 8.1

Create a partition from unpartitioned space with these steps:

1. Hold the Windows key on your keyboard and press R.
2. This launches the Run the utility. Type diskmgmt.msc inside the text box and press Enter. This opens the Windows Disk Management utility.
3. To create unallocated space, shrink your hard drive. When you shrink your hard disk, the remaining space becomes unallocated.
4. To do this, right-click your main drive and select Shrink Volume.
5. Now enter the amount that you want to shrink the hard disk by in megabytes (MB).
6. After the Shrink is done, you will then see the region of unallocated space (shaded black). Remember, this space is not yet usable.
7. Right-click the region of unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
8. This launches the New Simple Volume Wizard and this guides you through the installation process.
9. Assign the disk a drive letter. You can choose any drive letter that is not currently in use.
10. Select a file system for the disk. The file system is the type of format or foundation that the storage device has. If you plan on installing a Windows operating system to the partition, select the NTFS file system.
11. Name the partition in the Volume Label text box. You can choose any name for your partition.
12. Now click Finish to create the new partition.

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