How to Partition Your Hard Drive Windows 10/11

Partitioning a hard drive means breaking it up into smaller pieces (not physically—don’t worry, there’s no need to open your computer for this!). Learning how to create a partition in Windows 11 can improve organization and backup efficiency, and it’s the only way to make dual-boot setups possible. Let’s explore these key benefits and the steps to set up partitions easily.

Key Benefits of Partitioning Hard Drive

Organization is the primary benefit of splitting a hard drive into separate partitions, but there are a few other pros:

• Better organization: Separating your files into partitions allows for better organization by categorizing your data. For example, you can keep your operating system files, programs, and personal files in separate sections, which makes it way easier to locate something specific. Or maybe you want a gaming partition; the choice is yours.
• Simpler backups: Partitioning lets you back up specific sections of your drive. For example, say one partition holds files you don’t really access that often and another is for everyday items that you don’t want to lose. It’s much easier to tell your backup software to back up the important partition and leave the other one alone. This lets you create smart backups of only the data you want to keep safe.
• Dual booting: Multiple partitions are necessary if you plan to dual-boot your computer. Maybe you want to dual-boot Ubuntu and Windows or put Windows 11 on one partition and Windows 7 on another. Partitioning is the first step.

2 Ways to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 11

There are two primary ways to do this. Microsoft has included a partition manager in Windows 11, but there is another option that might be easier depending on your skill level.

1. Disk Management

This tool is built into Windows 11 and Windows 10. To use it for partitioning, you’ll first shrink the drive and then format the new partition.

1. Right-click the Start menu and choose Disk Management.

2. Right-click the hard drive from the section at the top and choose Shrink Volume.

3. Type the size you want to shrink the volume by (in megabytes). For example, to shrink it by 20 GB, you’d type 20480. (Take note of the total size before and after the shrink.)

4. Select Shrink.

5. Find the drive in the bottom portion of Disk Management, right-click the Unallocated section, and choose New Simple Volume.

6. Click through the New Simple Volume Wizard, answering the questions as they’re presented. These include the volume size, drive letter, file system, and volume label. It’s OK to accept the defaults, in which case just press Next until you get through all the steps.

7. Press Finish on the final screen of the wizard to start partitioning the drive.

8. Select Format disk when you see that prompt, and then Start > OK > OK when it’s finished.

2. EaseUS Partition Master Free

Another way to partition a drive in Windows 11 and Window 10 is with a third-party tool. Microsoft’s method works, but it is a bit more involved than it needs to be. For this method, we’ll use EaseUS Partition Master Free because, well, it’s free and it works great! Here’s how easy it is to use this program to partition a drive:

1. Right-click the hard drive and choose Resize/Move.

2. Type the size you want the existing partition to be. We’ve chosen 80 GB in our example.

3. Press OK.

4. Right-click the Unallocated space and choose Format > Yes > OK.

5. Select Execute 2 Task(s) > Apply.

6. Wait for the partitioning to complete.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I partition a hard drive? One big reason people partition hard drives is for organizing their files. Each partition can be designated (by you) for movies, software, music, or anything else that’s important to you.

How do I remove a partition on a hard drive? You can format a partition to remove its data, and then expand one or more of the other ones to fill its space. EaseUS Partition Master is one easy way to delete partitions.

Does Windows have a partitioning tool? Yes, the partition manager in Windows 11 is part of Disk Management. Search for that tool in the Start menu or open it from the Power User Menu to get started.