Partition external hard drive under Windows 7, 8 and 10 - how it works
Related Videos: Windows 10 - How To Partition Hard Drives [Tutorial] (May 2024).
Hard disk partitions can be created easily under Windows 7, 8 and 10 and without additional software. This is how you divide your hard drive.
Windows 7, 8 and 10: shrink partition
To partition your external hard drive, you must first shrink the existing partition.
- Press the "Windows" and "R" keys simultaneously so that the "Execute" command opens.
- Enter "compmgmt.msc" here and confirm with "OK". Then the computer management starts.
- Go to Disk Management on the left to view all available hard drives and their partitions.
- Right-click on the hard drive you want to shrink and select "Shrink Volume".
- Now specify how far you want to shrink the partition. However, you can only shrink the partition to the extent that there is free space on the hard disk. This means that if you have a 300 GB hard drive with 200 GB occupied, you can only shrink the partition by a maximum of 100 GB. Windows will automatically give you the maximum value in megabytes.
- Confirm with the "OK" button. Then the partition is reduced.
Create new partition in Windows 7, 8 and 10
If the partition is shrunk, the removed area is shown as "Unallocated". Now create a new partition in it.
- Right click on the "Unallocated" area and select "New Volume".
- Follow the wizard's instructions and specify how big the new partition should be and which file system you want to use.
- The new partition is then created and is available under a new drive letter.
Shrink partition with software
Alternatively, you can partition a hard drive with the Aomei Partition Assistant.
The fastest hard drives for your system
To be able to quickly copy individual data back and forth between your new partitions, you need a fast hard disk. You can find the currently best models with 3.5 inches and 2.5 inches for laptops in our leaderboards. By the way, you are even faster with an SSD.
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In the next practical tip, we will show you how to format a hard drive under Windows. If you need individual help for partitioning, please contact the experts in the CHIP forum.