How do I partition a disk in Windows 10 when installing the system?

The breakdown of the hard disk into logical partitions, if not at all, for most users of Windows-systems is very popular and in demand, as it provides more opportunities for work and information storage. Let's see how to partition a hard disk into partitions in Windows 10 without losing data in different situations.

Why do I need to partition the disks, and how does it work?

As you know, logical volumes are convenient to use in that if the system fails and its subsequent reinstallation, the information is erased only in the system partition, that is, where Windows is installed. From the logical volume, it does not go anywhere and remains untouched. Of course, the programs installed earlier will have to be installed again, but the documents that correspond to them will be preserved, and in the future they can be opened without problems.

The logical partitions themselves, although they are virtual, are actually the same hard drive, on which a certain space is reserved, which is not affected even in the process of formatting the system volume.

As for how to partition a disk in Windows 10 into partitions, there may be several options for actions. Among the main ones are the following:

• Partitioning the disk when installing the system;
• Creating partitions in an already installed system;
• Partitioning, if the hard drive has unallocated space.

Based on this list, you can define the order of actions that will be used in each specific case.

How to partition a hard disk into partitions in Windows 10 when installing the system?

The simplest situation is the initial installation of Windows. How do I partition a disk in Windows 10 during the installation phase? As easy as pie! If you carefully look at any installation distribution, regardless of the version of the system, at the stage of selecting disks for installation, it will offer to format the hard drive. In this case, you can use two options: full formatting without partitioning to volumes and formatting with the creation of a system partition (where it will later be installed) and logical volumes (one or more) as desired by the user.

In this case, the solution to the problem of how to partition a disk in Windows 10 is limited to choosing the second option. First you need to use the Create New Partition button in the installer window and specify its size. So you can create several volumes, repeating the operation as much as necessary, not forgetting about the total volume of the hard drive.

Next, you need to format the created partitions. This is done by selecting one of the created partitions with the further push of the start button of the process. To continue the installation at the next stage, a choice will be offered: which of the partitions will be the system partition, that is, where to install Windows? We select the desired volume and wait for the installation to complete. As a result, the user will receive a broken hard disk with system and logical volumes.

How do I partition a hard disk into partitions in Windows 10 after installation?

With the installation of everything is simple. But here some users are wondering about how to partition a drive in Windows 10 when the system is already installed. Probably, at the stage of installation the partition was skipped by the user, at least because the formatting takes a lot of time.

But few people know that starting with Windows 7, systems have their own tools that allow you to split the hard disk in already operating OS without losing information. This is called the Disk Management tool.

You can access this utility from the Control Panel, where you then have to select the security, administration, creation and formatting sections, that is, go in a roundabout way. In the "top ten", the easiest way to access this tool is to use the right-click on the "Start" button (the corresponding line will appear in the menu that appears).

If you need to partition the system partition, you must first disable system protection. This is done from the volume properties menu, where the settings button is used in the properties window on the security contribution. Select the system volume and use the line to disable the protection, after which we confirm our actions.

Now suppose that we currently have two sections: C - system, D - logical. We need to create a third partition. How do I partition a disk in Windows 10 in this case? First you need to decide on a partition that has a larger volume (usually it's volume D), although this is not very important. Click on it with the right mouse button (mouse), and then select the compression command from the menu. We will have to wait a little while the process is completed (this can take up to several tens of minutes). At the end of the window "Explorer" will be specified a new size.

When the volume polling is finished, you need to specify the amount of disk space that we want to reserve for the new volume. Pressing the "Compress" button will start the corresponding procedure. The fact that it is active, you can judge only by the rotating circle of the cursor when you hover it on the program window. The process can only be terminated if a black bar appears at the bottom of the window, indicating the unallocated space of the previously specified size.

Please note that the size of the new volume should be specified in megabytes. For example, to create a 50 GB partition, you must specify 51200 MB. At this point, the partitioning of the disk is still running out.

Creating partitions from unallocated space

In the next stage, from the unallocated space, you need to make a full logical partition on which you could save information or install another operating system other than Windows 10.

To do this, on the unallocated space, the right-click calls the menu, which selects the command to create a simple volume. In the launched "Master" we follow his instructions. You do not need to change the size. This is done only if it is intended to create several sections from the unallocated space. The next step is to assign a Latin letter (for example, X) to the new section, after which it will be suggested to format the new section. Leave the default settings and activate the process by clicking the "Finish" button. Now it remains to wait for its completion. All! A new partition has been created. For the system volume, the actions are the same, only the C drive is selected as the source.

Third-party utilities

If one of the users does not want to use the built-in tools of the system, the problem of how to partition a disk in Windows 10 can be solved with the help of highly specialized programs, exclusively for this and developed.

One of the most powerful and popular utilities are programs like Partition Magic and Acronis Disk Director. They have their own "Master", which facilitates the passage of all stages in the process of creating new sections. However, at some stages, the steps above are the same (for example, specifying the size of the volume). The process itself is almost completely automated.

Conclusion

Finally it remains to add that there is nothing complicated in the processes of partitioning the hard disk space in all the above situations. Questions related to what to use, the owner of a computer or laptop decides. Inexperienced users can advise the use of automated utilities, but administrators or advanced users still need to turn to the built-in tools of the system.