In this article, I will tell you how to create a partition on a hard drive in windows 7.
Hard disk partition- This is the part of the hard disk on which information can be stored. Sections can be created, compressed, formatted, deleted. A partition is created to separate user files from operating system files. Usually, it is enough to have two hard disk partitions on a computer: Local Disk C and Local Disk D.
On Local Disk CWindows operating system files are stored, as well as installed programs. On another section of the hard drive (it may be called differently by you), you can store your important documents, programs, photos, videos, music. In the event of a failure of the operating system, the data on this local drive is preserved, as the system will be reinstalled on the Local C drive.
Previously, it was possible to partition a hard drive into sections only with the help of third-party programs. For example, Partition Magic, Acronis Disc Director. Now, with the advent of new operating systems, this procedure can be done using the built-in tools of windows 7.
So, let's start creating a partition on the hard drive. To do this, you need to follow the instructions below.
Step 1 . Right click on my icon computer and from the context menu choose Management.
Step 2. In a snap in section storage devices select Disk Management.
Step 3 . Next, click onLocal drive C or another disk , which you want to compress (If you have only one hard disk C, then you have no choice, you will have to compress it, if there are other partitions, then the choice is yours from which disk you want to "take away" memory). Disk compression is necessary to provide free space for creating a new partition. In the context menu window that appears, click Shrink volume...
Step 4 . A process will begin to determine the available space for compression. You'll have to wait a bit... After a few seconds, a dialog box will appear in which you need to configure drive C for compression.
In field Size of compressible space (MB)specify the size by how much you want to compress the disk. (The compressible size is the size of the future created partition). After you calculate what size you need, click the button Compress.
Step 5 After the compression process is complete, an unallocated black partition will appear. Right click on it and press Create a simple volume...
Next window will appear Create Simple Volume Wizard to help you create a simple disk volume.
A simple volume can only reside on one disk.
Click to continue Further.
Step 6. Next you need specify the size of the created partition. In line Simple volume size enter the maximum size in MB or leave it as it is (by default, the size of a simple volume field is set to the maximum size).
Click to continue Further.
Step 7. In the next window Simple Volume Wizards assign a drive letter to the partition from A-Z by clicking on the dropdown list (indicated by the arrow) and then clicking Further.
Step 8. In a new window, you have to complete.
In order to save data on this partition, it must first be formatted.Formatting is the process of creating a file system.Set the switch in the section Format this volume as follows and select:
- File system - FAT or NTFS. Choose NTFS.
- Cluster size- the choice of cluster size depends on what files you will store on the disk, if the files are not large, then select a small cluster, if the files are large, such as photos, videos, music, then select a larger cluster.
- volume label- enter the name of the disc (for example: music, video, photos, programs, documents, etc.).
Uncheck the boxes Quick Format and Apply folder and file compression. Click to continue Further.
Step 9. The Create Simple Volume Wizard completed successfully. This window displays all the selected options. If you want to change something click Back if everything suits you, then click Ready.
Step 10. After the formatting process is completed, a new primary partition will be created, highlighted in blue.
That's all, a new partition in the windows 7 operating system has been created. Go to My computer. In chapter Hard drives you will see the section created. You can start filling it with information.
In this article, I will tell you how to create a hard drive partition in windows 7.
Hard disk partition- This is the part of the hard disk on which information can be stored. Sections can be created, compressed, formatted, deleted. A partition is created to separate user files from operating system files. Usually, it is enough to have two hard disk partitions on a computer: Local Disk C and Local Disk D.
On Local Disk CWindows operating system files are stored, as well as installed programs. On another section of the hard drive (it may be called differently by you), you can store your important documents, programs, photos, videos, music. In the event of a failure of the operating system, the data on this local drive is preserved, as the system will be reinstalled on the Local C drive.
Before partition hard drive It was possible only with the help of third-party programs. For example, Partition Magic, Acronis Disc Director. Now, with the advent of new operating systems, this procedure can be done using the built-in tools of windows 7.
So let's get started creating a hard drive partition in windows 7. To do this, you need to follow the instructions below.
Step 1 . Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Manage from the context menu.
Step 2. in a snap Computer management In chapter storage devices select Disk Management.
Step 3 Next, click on Local drive C or another disk that you want to compress (If you have only one hard disk C, then you have no choice, you will have to compress it, if there are other partitions, then the choice is yours from which disk you want to "take away" memory). Disk compression is necessary to provide free space for creating a new partition. In the context menu window that appears, click Shrink Volume...
Step 4 A process will begin to determine the available space for compression. You'll have to wait a bit... After a few seconds, a dialog box will appear in which you need to configure drive C for compression.
In field Size of compressible space (MB) specify the size by how much you want to compress the disk. (The compressible size is the size of the future created partition). After you calculate what size you need, click the button Compress.
Step 5. After the compression process is completed, an unallocated black partition will appear. Right click on it and press Create a simple volume...
Next window will appear Create Simple Volume Wizard to help you create a simple disk volume.
A simple volume can only reside on one disk.
Click to continue Further.
Step 6. Next you need specify the size of the created partition. In line Simple volume size enter the maximum size in MB or leave it as it is (by default, the size of a simple volume field is set to the maximum size).
Click to continue Further.
Step 7. In the next window Simple Volume Wizards assign a drive letter to the partition from A-Z by clicking on the dropdown list (indicated by the arrow) and then clicking Further.
Step 8. In a new window, you have to complete. Formatting is the process of creating a file system. It is also necessary to save data on this partition.
Set the switch in the section Format this volume as follows and select:
- File system - FAT or NTFS. Choose NTFS.
- Cluster size- the choice of cluster size depends on what files you will store on the disk, if the files are not large, then select a small cluster, if the files are large, such as photos, videos, music, then select a larger cluster.
- volume label- enter the name of the disc (for example: music, video, photos, programs, documents, etc.).
Uncheck the boxes Quick Format and Apply folder and file compression. Click to continue Further.
Step 9. The Create Simple Volume Wizard completed successfully. This window displays all the selected options. If you want to change something click Back if everything suits you, then click Ready.
Step 10. After the formatting process is completed, a new primary partition will be created, highlighted in blue.
That's all, new partition in windows 7 operating system created. Go to My computer. In chapter Hard drives you will see the section created. You can start filling it with information.
Hello! I’ll probably start from the very beginning, but if you are not very interested, and you know what this article is written for, then you can safely move on to the next heading, lower on the page. I decided to install Windows 8, I want to test the new system, and I haven’t written instructions for installing Windows 8 on the blog yet. I don’t really want to install it on a virtual machine, I want to demonstrate to the visitors of my blog a real installation on a real computer. Everything would be fine, but I’m not ready to give up Windows 7 yet, especially since not very good reviews are walking around the network about the eight, and if people say, then most likely it’s true :).
So I decided to install Windows 8 on one computer next to Windows 7. I think I'll see what and how, and then if you like the eight, you can install it instead of the seven. There is only one little thing left, you need to create a partition on your hard drive to install Windows 8 as a second system. It's not even a problem, I thought to take a boot disk from Acronis Disk Manager, take some space from the local drive D and create a partition for Windows 8.
But then I realized that not everyone who reads my blog, in particular this article, has a ready-made boot disk with Acronis Disk Director. Therefore, I decided to write an article in which to tell in detail and with pictures how to create a partition on a hard drive in windows 7, we will do all this from the working system with a standard utility "Disk Management".
I need to create another partition on my hard drive to install a second operating system. You may have another reason, for example, you installed Windows and were too lazy to make only one system drive C, under which all the hard drive memory was allocated. I have met with this, and it is very inconvenient. Therefore, in this way, you can take some memory from a single partition and create another one or two local disks for storing photos, videos, etc.
How to create a partition on a hard drive from under Windows?
As I wrote above, we will create another local disk using the utility "Disk Management", first we need to run it. We go to "Start", "Control Panel", choose "Administration", a window will open in which run "Computer Management". In the window that opens, on the left you need to select "Disk Management". Wait for a while while the system collects information about the partitions on the hard disk.
After loading the information, we will see our entire hard drive and the partitions that have already been created. So we need to create another partition, but I only have 47 MB of free memory (see the picture below, light green area). So you need to take some space from one of the already created partitions, look at which we have the most free space, select it, right-click and select "Shrink volume ...". As you can see, I chose local disk D for compression.
We need to wait a little while Windows 7 determines how much space can be squeezed out of this partition :).
A window will appear in which you can see what the total size of the partition is before compression, and how much space is available for compression. In my case, 20140 MB could be taken from the D drive, which is great for Windows 8. But you can prescribe how much space you want to take from a particular local disk. Click "Squeeze".
We wait a bit, and again look at the table. As you can see, the area with free memory (light green area) has increased. You can create a partition from this free area. Right click on it and select “Create a simple volume…”.
The Create Simple Volume Wizard opens. Click "Next".
Based on the free area, the system will show us the maximum and minimum size of the partition to be created. And it will prompt you to enter the size for the new partition. For the new logical drive, I used all the free memory, so I just clicked “Next”.
Next, we need to assign a letter to the created drive. Therefore, we leave a mark opposite "Assign drive letter" and choose a letter, or you can leave the prepositional system. We press the button "Next".
The next step is formatting the partition. I advise you to immediately format the local drive. Against "File system" I advise you to install NTFS, “Cluster size” so we leave it by default. Where “Volume Label” we indicate any name, since I am creating a partition for installing Windows 8, I named it that way. Check mark opposite “Quick Format” and click "Next".
We check the information and click "Finish".
All is ready! I have another logical partition "H" with the name "Windows 8". Now you can install an operating system on it, or just save information.
If you go to "My computer", then you can see the partition we created, even without any reboots.
Conclusion
To be honest, this was the first time I created a new partition on a hard drive using a standard tool in Windows 7. Usually I always use a boot disk, or a standard manager during the installation of the operating system.
But if you have Windows 7 running, and you just need to create another partition and take some memory from the existing one, then all this can be done in a few minutes using the method described above, and there is no point in downloading and burning all sorts of boot disk images.
I wrote about how to increase one logical partition at the expense of another using a boot disk in the article, read it, it may come in handy. Here is another article on the topic of partitioning a new hard drive during the installation of the operating system,.
Perhaps someone will say that this method is bad, and it is best to create new partitions using special programs. This is not the case, I did not have a single problem both when creating and when using this section. I installed Windows 8 on it without any problems next to the already installed Windows 7, but this is a topic for the next article. Good luck friends!
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Create a partition on a hard drive with a standard tool in Windows 7 updated: February 14, 2013 by: admin
Partitioning a hard drive using Windows 7
Partitioning drive C:\ in Win7
When buying a new computer or laptop with pre-installed Windows 7 operating system, many users are faced with the problem of dividing a hard drive into several partitions.
Partitioning a hard disk into several partitions is important both in terms of ease of use of the system interface and the ability to save data after reinstalling or restoring the operating system.
Main partition C:\
As you know, when you reinstall the operating system, all data located on the C:\ drive is lost, while the data on the remaining sections of the hard drive remains intact. All important files can be easily used even after system recovery.
Partitioning a hard disk is also convenient because programs and applications are installed on the C:\ system partition. If the C:\ drive is the only one, then when you add all kinds of files and folders to it, confusion arises between system files and regular folders added by the user. In this case, it is easy to get confused in the files and inadvertently delete some important system file. Therefore, partitioning the hard disk is necessary.
In order to partition a hard drive in Windows 7 into several partitions (logical drives), many use specialized programs like Partition Magic and the like. With the help of such programs, you can split the disk into several partitions. But Windows 7 provides the ability to split it using system utilities. In this case, the need for third-party programs is completely eliminated.
To partition a hard drive in Windows 7, you need to go to the computer control panel.
You can do this in two ways:
It is clear that the first way is easier.
In the "Disk Management" tab, you can view all the information on our HDD and its partitions. In addition to the main C:\ partition, it is possible to find a hidden recovery partition.
Primary C:\ and Hidden Recovery Partition
The recovery partition is used to store information to restore the operating system in the event of a serious failure when the system does not boot. It is not marked with a letter. It is worth noting that the amount of memory used for recovery files can reach several gigabytes (usually about 15GB). Also, besides it, there is a partition on the disk System Reserved , 100 megabytes. These sections are official, since they are not used by the user in any way and serve for the normal functioning of the operating system.
So, let's turn our attention to the C:\ drive, which is to be partitioned into sections - additional logical drives.
In order to split it, we click on the conditional image of the disk with the right mouse button. In the drop-down menu, select " Shrink Volume…”.
Item "Shrink Volume..."
After the request is completed, a window will appear in which the compression parameters will be specified. If the disk has not been partitioned before, then by default the utility will offer to split it approximately in half. If the original HDD had a memory capacity, for example, 1.8 Terabytes, then after splitting, two partitions are formed with a volume of approximately 900 GB each.
The window that appears shows the size of the C:\ volume before compression (in megabytes) and the size of the space to be compressed. The size of the compressible space is the amount of memory of the new partition that will be created. The total size after shrinking is the size of the C:\ volume after shrinking. It will be slightly larger than the newly created one. As already mentioned, the system will offer to divide the available memory approximately in half.
If there is a desire and self-confidence, then you can indicate your numbers and divide the disk according to your needs. In any case, it will be possible to carry out the reverse procedure - volume expansion and return everything to its original state.
After reviewing the splitting options, click the “Compress” button. After a short process, another partition will appear on the HDD with the inscription “Unallocated”.
Item "Create a simple volume..."
The "Create a Simple Volume Wizard" will start. Click "Next". The “Specify volume size” window will appear - click “Next” again. In the next window, select the letter of the new volume in the item “ Assign drive letter". You can choose any letter you like.
Assigning a letter to the new section
We confirm the choice and in a new window we specify the file system. In step " Format this volume as follows:” specify the file system NTFS , leave the cluster size as default. Put a tick in the checkbox " Quick Format” and click “Next”. A window will appear with all the specified parameters. If everything is correct, then click the “Finish” button.
If you are not satisfied with the default settings set by the system, then, of course, you can set your own. But in most cases this is not required.
After a few seconds, the new HDD partition will be formatted, it will be given a letter, and “Healthy (Logical Disk)” will appear in the legend field. Now the C:\ drive will be divided into two.
New HDD Partition - New Volume (E:)
If you wish, you can change the name of the new section, and instead of “ New volume”, give another. You can do this in several ways:
1 .In the computer control panel in the disk management window, select the one whose name we want to change. Right-click and select " Properties". In the name field, enter a new name and confirm by clicking OK.
If you have a solid-state drive (SSD) instead of an HDD in your system, then the partitioning technique is similar.
And today, as promised, we will consider the process of creating a separate partition for storing data.
Open Control Panel> section Administration > Creating and formatting hard disk partitions. A window will open with the following content:
If during the installation of Windows 7 you left free space on your hard drive, then at the bottom of the window you can see this space, it will be marked as "Unallocated". Unlike existing partitions, free space on the partition map is indicated in black and is not displayed in the list of volumes.
So, to create a partition, right-click on the unallocated space image. In the menu that opens, select "Create a simple volume..."
Create Simple Volume Wizard
Specify the size of the partition to be created, or leave the value unchanged if you want to allocate all free (unallocated) hard disk space for the new partition. The partition is specified in megabytes.
Here you can assign a drive letter to the new partition:
At the formatting stage, a new section can be assigned a label (it will be displayed instead of the usual "Local Disk"), as well as set file compression, which will save disk space, but will reduce its performance. The file system type and cluster size should not be changed unless you know why you need it. By default, the Volume Creation Wizard sets the optimal values.
Select the marked options and click "Next":
If everything is correct, click "Finish":
Here you have to wait a couple of minutes and, if you did everything correctly, then the hard disk partition map should change and come to something like this:
That's all! As it turned out, there is nothing complicated in creating a partition in Windows 7.
The new partition will appear not only in the Disk Management snap-in (we launched it to create a partition), but also in the familiar list of local drives that you see every time you open My Computer.
