Partitioning the hard drive into windows partitions. We use third-party software. Capabilities of the installed system

Many users personal computers and laptops are faced with the need for several parts. This can be useful for visually distributing the functions of individual parts: for example, one virtual disk will be occupied by the system and temporary files - cache, the second will host games and necessary software, and the third will become a media content repository. This article provides a guide on how to share your HDD partly using Windows 7 and third-party programs.

Allocation of a separate virtual (or physical) hard drive It is very convenient for the operating system. Firstly, you cannot accidentally “score” system disk files, which can slow down your computer. Secondly, if something happens to the Windows system and the partition has to be formatted during reinstallation, all your photos, movies, books, music and documents will not be affected, because they are not stored on the same disk with the system.

Also, if you intend to store a large amount of information different sizes, in order to optimize machine search, it is worth placing large and small files on different partitions of the hard drive. This will significantly speed up the search for the file you need.

Windows Installation Splitting

If you have not yet installed the system, this method is the most correct. Your hard drive will be partitioned before installing Windows on it using special utilities, stored in the installation image or on disk. The guide presented here is intended for users who already know how to install an operating system:

Boot from installation disk or flash drives;
Wait for the operating system installation to begin;
Select the installation language and click “Install”;
Read the terms and conditions license agreement, confirm your agreement with them and click “next”;
Select full installation Windows 7;

You have reached the point at which the process of dividing the hdd into parts begins. If the disk is already divided into several partitions, and you want to change their structure, the most the right decision will remove them first. It must be remembered that all data on the device will be irretrievably lost. If you purchased a new storage medium, you will have only one partition. It should also be removed.

Now you have the resources to mark up new partitions, it is called “unallocated space on disk 0”. Click the "create" button and select the size of the first partition. As a rule, it will be used as a system one and should be allocated 50-100 gigabytes, depending on your needs and the size of the physical hdd. Create the rest of the sections you need in the same way. However, keep in mind that Hdd with type MBR records cannot be divided into more than four parts.

Separation using standard Windows 7 tools

Before the advent of the “seven”, such actions were possible exclusively with the help of third-party software. In this version appeared system utilities For separation of hard disks into pieces. Using standard Windows 7 tools, you can divide a disk into several parts, change the size of these parts, delete or combine several into one. The procedure is presented in the manual.

First you need to perform defragmentation. There's no point in going into detail about this process, but roughly speaking, it will organize and sort all the files on your drive.

Go to “My Computer”, click right click mouse over the icon of your hdd, and select “Properties”.
Open the “Tools” tab and click on the “defragmentation” button. Wait a while for the process to complete.

Now you can proceed directly to the division:

Go to the Start menu, right-click on Computer and select Manage. Similarly, you can right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop.
In the computer management menu, select "Disk Management".
Right-click your hard drive and in the drop-down menu, go to the “Shrink Volume” option. Wait a while while the system calculates the space available for compression.
Specify the size of the compressed space - this is the space on the disk that you will take from system partition. 50-100 gigabytes is quite enough for the system, the rest can be safely compressed.
After compression, unallocated space has formed on the disk, you need to select it, right-click and go to “Create a simple volume”.
In the wizard that opens, you can configure the size of the future partition (all available space, if you need only one, or part of it, if you later intend to create more). Click Next.
Here you can select a name or letter for the future section. Indicate any one you like and click “Next”.
Select "Format Volume" and specify file system NTFS. Click Next.
Wait a while and complete the wizard using the “Finish” button.
If you need to create another partition, repeat steps 5-9.

Now your hdd is divided into several partitions. You can go to My Computer and see these sections in File Explorer.

Partitioning using Acronis Disk Director

This powerful utility, often used system administrators. Its functionality significantly exceeds standard ones Windows tools. To work with the program, you need to download and install it. IN this manual The sequence of actions for the Suite version is indicated:

When you first start the program, you will be prompted to select an operating mode. Specify manual mode.
In the menu at the top, select the “Masters” category, and in it the “Create section” item.
Specify the hard drive you want to partition and click “Next”.
Here you need to indicate from which existing parts the space for the new one will be borrowed. It is not recommended to touch the partition signed “Acronis Hidden” - this may damage your operating system. Click “Next” and wait while the system calculates the available space to borrow.
Use the slider to configure the desired size of your future partition and click “Next”.
Select "Logical" disk type and click "Next".
Here you need to specify the file system. You need NTFS. Click Next.
In this step you can select a letter for your partition. Select the one you like and click “Next”.
Click "Finish" and wait for the process to complete.

Now your disk is divided into 2 partitions and you can use them as you wish.

The computer hard drive is small device, located inside system unit or laptop case. But, despite its integrity, in the operating room Windows system it can be displayed as several disks, each of which is assigned its own letter of the English alphabet. This is convenient for the user, as it allows you to logically divide the information stored on the computer, quickly access it and search.

But when buying a computer or new hard disk You get an information keeper, displayed as one solid logical disk in Windows. At this point, the task often arises of splitting one disk partition into several partitions, usually two or three. For example, the first (disk C) is where the operating system is installed, and the second is where personal documents, photos, music and videos are stored. This is convenient from the point of view of safety of information and access to it in case of failure of the operating system, because you can reinstall Windows. Even if you format the C drive, your personal files stored on other logical drives (D, E, etc.) will remain intact.

Attention: before partitioning the disk, close all running programs!

Partitioning using Windows 7

Windows 7 has its own management capabilities sections of hard disk: creating a partition, compression (shrinking a partition), deleting a partition, changing a letter. In Windows XP you cannot do this.

Right-click the Computer icon on your desktop or Start menu and select Manage. You will need system administrator rights.

In the Computer Management window that opens, go to Disk Management. In the central part of the window you will see lists of physical disks, logical partitions and their parameters.

Let's consider the most popular task - splitting logical drive C into two partitions. To do this, you first need to separate some of the free information from drive C, and then create a separate partition from the free space. Click right key mouse to drive C and select “Shrink volume...” from the context menu. Thus, we will reduce the size of the C drive to free up free space.

You will have to wait a bit, Windows will analyze the C drive being partitioned and display a window with partition options. Set the size of the compressed space (i.e. the amount of free space that needs to be taken from the disk) and click on the “Compress” button.

Wait for Windows to partition specified drive into two parts. The process takes a few minutes.

After compression of drive C is completed, you will see another one appear among the partitions, marked as “Not distributed”. Next, in this free space you need to create new section. Right-click on the unallocated partition and select “Create simple volume...” from the menu.

The Create Simple Volume (Share) Wizard window will open. Click "Next".

The wizard will ask you to specify the size of the partition to be created. The window will indicate the minimum and maximum dimensions, and by default section being created will be maximum possible size. In most cases, you won't need to change anything here, so click Next.

On next step you will be asked to assign a letter of the English alphabet to the new section, or skip this action. It is convenient to assign a letter right now. Leave Assign Drive Letter (A-Z) selected and you can change the default drive letter if you wish. Click "Next".

At the fourth step of the wizard, you need to specify formatting parameters for the new disk partition. This is necessary so that data can be saved to the newly created partition. Initially set parameters(File NTFS system And quick formatting) leave unchanged. Fill in only the “Volume Label” field, come up with a name for it, and click “Next”.

On last step Volume Creation Wizard You can view all the selected options for creating a new disk partition and confirm them by clicking the “Finish” button.

Creating a partition will take a few seconds and a new one will appear among the list of volumes in the Computer Management window.

The new drive should also appear among the drives in the Computer window. You can use it.

Partitioning using MiniTool Partition Wizard

If you have another Windows version, other than Windows 7, for example Windows XP, then you will need a special program to partition your hard drive. Well-known programs in this area are: Partition Magic And Acronis Disk Director. But you have to pay to use them. Therefore, below the text suggests a way to partition a hard drive based on a free program MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition.

The task remains the same - to split the C drive into two drives.

Today we’ll look at how to partition a disk in Windows 10 without resorting to third-party software, because virtually all users of the new operating system have this need.

No matter what supporters of specialized programs say, if the operating system has the appropriate functionality, there is no point in using them. Therefore, we will take a closer look at how to partition a hard drive using the Windows 10-integrated storage tool.

What is important, we will work from under the operating system itself, without even resorting to using the installation drive with the Tens distribution kit.

First of all, dividing the drive into volumes is necessary if you purchase a new device, it does not matter whether it is a laptop, a computer or a larger hard drive. This is done for several reasons, the main ones being ease of use and safety.

Imagine what will happen to hard drive by 500-1000 GB, if you format it during reinstallation of the operating system in order to get rid of all the files of the old OS. Install new system over the old one, it makes little more sense than simply updating it from under Windows itself: all the garbage will remain, which will soon affect the performance of the computer.

And it's easier to store Various types data on different volumes (games on one, video collection on another). Operating system with software should be located on the first logical drive due to the nature of HDD operation.

Running a utility to change disk layout

Working with partitions begins by launching the Disk Management program, which has remained virtually unchanged since its introduction into the Windows 7 operating system. The tool is launched in several ways.

Control Panel

1. Open the Control Panel via Start, Win→X (by holding down the appropriate key combination) or a shortcut in a convenient place.

2. Change the visualization style of window icons to “Small icons”.

3. Call the “Administration” applet.

4. Launch the last utility in the list “Computer Management”.

5. Expand the “Storage devices” section in the left vertical menu.

6. Click on the “Disk Management” item.

Command interpreter

The second, and more effective, method to call the tool for partitioning the hard drive into volumes is to use the capabilities of the Run window.

1. Call up the dialog for quick execution system commands and opening resources using the Win+R key combination.

2. Enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”.

3. Launch it using the “Enter” key.

As a result, the same window will open as in the previous version, but without unnecessary elements interface.

How to use the built-in disk manager

The application window displays a list of all detected storage devices digital information, including those operating using flash memory technology (solid-state drives and flash drives).

The first in the list are the partitions reserved by the operating system, where the files necessary to reset the operating system to its original state and its boot loader are stored. These volumes of 100-350 (sometimes more) megabytes in size should not be touched in any way.

1. In the main frame or panel below, select the hard drive or its volume that needs to be divided into nth quantity sections.

The main thing is that there is a sufficient amount of free space on it, which is at least slightly larger than the size of the partition/partitions being created. And if it splits system volume, you should leave at least 10 GB of free space on it. It will be needed for storage temporary files and installation of missing software.

2. Call the context menu of the selected object and select “Compress volume...”.

This operation will allow you to “cut off” the specified number of gigabytes from the partition and form a new partition or several in this place, but their total size will not exceed the amount of data allocated for this.

3. In the parametric window that opens, set the volume of compressible space.

This is exactly how many megabytes will be freed (turned into unallocated area) in order to subsequently mark it up in the desired way.

After specifying all the information, click “Compress” and wait. Depending on the size (and the degree of damage to the hard drive - this factor primarily affects the speed), you will have to wait from ten seconds to a couple of minutes until the application completes the task of reassigning free clusters of the unallocated area.

Upon completion of the operations, an unallocated space of the specified volume will appear on the diagram; this area is distinguished by the presence of a black stripe at the top.

4. Through the context menu of this space, call the command “Create a simple volume...”.

By default its size will be equal to unused space, which is relevant for the formation of one volume in this area. If you need to create several partitions, enter the size of the first one in megabytes (taking into account that 1 gigabyte equals 1024 megabytes, not 1000).

5. In the creation wizard simple volumes select the file system. Set the cluster size and label.

It is better to choose NTFS as the file system. Even with its many shortcomings, it is the best solution from Microsoft. Cluster size: if small files will be stored on the disk, it makes sense to set it to 2096 KB or less for the purpose optimal use space, and for storing video collections and images it is better to use larger size cluster. Nothing depends on the volume label, and it can be easily changed through Explorer at any time.

As a result, the file system of the new partition will be formed and appear new volume on your hard drive. When creating several partitions with an unallocated area, you will have to do the same as in steps 4-6.

Volume breakdown during Windows 10 installation

If your computer does not yet have an operating system, you can also crash your hard drive while installing it. The difference between this option is the impossibility of dividing the drive into logical volumes without formatting, and this method is not suitable for hard drives with important information.

1. Boot from the installation distribution using the Boot Menu.

2. We get to the stage of selecting a disk for installing “ten”, choosing the “Custom” option.

3. Remove unnecessary volumes to make them an unallocated area.

4. As before, select this space and create sections of the specified sizes in it.

This article will talk about how to correctly partition a computer’s hard drive into partitions, as well as how to correct incorrect broken disk without loss of information. Methods for partitioning a hard drive for Windows XP and Windows 7 are somewhat different due to the peculiarities of the operation of these operating systems, so I will talk about them separately.

At first glance, it may seem that partitioning is not a particularly important process and does not require much attention. But an incorrectly partitioned disk can cause a lot of inconvenience in the future.

Pros of partitioning hard drives

Why do you need division into sections? Firstly, this will allow a clear distinction between the system and the user’s files. That is, Windows will live, for example, on the C: drive, and documents, movies and music on D:. Thanks to this, it will be possible to back up the entire system partition, and in case of failure, simply restore it all. If the process Reserve copy will, along with the Windows operating system, also duplicate your files, which often include music and movies, occupying hundreds of gigabytes, then there will not be enough space. And so you will always have an image of the system partition at hand, ten to one and a half gigabytes in size. And your own documents can be copied to a spare drive at any time.

In addition, after a failure, checking a disk containing only the operating system will take much less time than checking all the files on the computer (sometimes the number of files reaches hundreds of thousands or even millions). For erased file recovery programs to work, you will also need a second partition to which the saved information will be copied.

This is what partitioning a hard drive into logical partitions looks like

A fly in the ointment or without some drawbacks

The main disadvantage is that you can only use disk space current section, even if other sections are completely free. That is, if the disk is divided into three partitions, and each of them has, say, 50 gigabytes free, then it will not be possible to write a file of 120 gigabytes in size, although the total free space will be 150 gigabytes. In this case, you will have to transfer files from partition to partition until enough space is freed up on one of them. Applied to this example, if there was only one partition on the disk, then a 120 gigabyte file could be written to it without any manipulation. Since disks usually do not become completely clogged, the more partitions there are, the greater the “wasted space” will be.

For small hard drives this is “wasted space” in percentage will be a decent amount. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether division into sections is necessary is not entirely unambiguous. But I can say absolutely clearly that to work in modern system Partitioning a disk with a capacity of less than 80-160 gigabytes, with rare exceptions, does not make any sense.

In what proportions to split? Windows XP vs Windows 7

If you still decided to partition the disk, then it is necessary to highlight Windows specific space in gigabytes, rather than dividing it proportionally “in half” or “one to two”. First you need to decide how much space you need operating system.

Windows XP is enough for 30-40 gigabytes. This size is taken with a small margin when taking into account large quantities installed programs. Of course, you can put it on a 10 GB partition, but the space may run out at the most unexpected moment. All other data should be copied only to the second partition.

Windows 7 itself requires a lot more disk space. In addition, hidden in its depths is a “magical” winsxs folder, which is growing by leaps and bounds. In this regard, it is recommended to allocate at least 70-80, and preferably 100 gigabytes for the “Seven”. By last reason It is better not to use SSD drives that have a small capacity (less than 64 gigabytes). We leave the remaining space on the hard drive for the second partition.

Manager Windows drives. You have to work very carefully.

How to partition a disk

Dividing into sections is not difficult. To do this, you can use the “disk manager” built into Windows (Right-click on the “My Computer” shortcut and select Manage, then select Disk Management).

A list of disks installed on your computer will appear in the window that opens. Now you can create and delete partitions. Please note that you will not be allowed to work with the partition on which the system is installed. To do this, you will have to use specialized software, which is discussed in the next chapter. The system partition itself is partitioned when installing Windows.
In addition, perform all operations in the above-described disk manager with extreme caution, since any actions in it hard data disks are destroyed, and it will not be easy to restore them later.

How to fix incorrect hard drive partitioning

The most common situation is when too little space was allocated for the first (system) partition. As a result, we have a completely clogged system partition when empty second. The simplest way is to reduce the second section, and due to the resulting empty space increasing the system partition. However, built-in Windows tools will not be allowed to do this.

Everything is very clear.

In such a situation it is better to use auxiliary tools. For example, Disk Director Suite from Acronis. Current Package will allow you to create boot disk, with which you can repartition the partitions of your hard drive at your discretion. All data on the hard drive will not go anywhere. However, it is recommended to save important data in a safe place before any manipulation. In addition, boot Acronis disk will help convert the file system to another format, delete and create partitions, check disks for errors and much more.

But it’s better to correctly plan the size and number of partitions right away than to spend a lot of time correcting errors at the most inopportune moment.

conclusions

My opinion, based on many years of experience, is this. There is no need to partition the disk. If it is inconvenient to store files on one partition, then instead of partitioning it is better to buy a second hard drive. On the one hand, this will allow you to separate the system and personal files, and on the other hand, it will divide the load on two devices. That is, system files will be opened from one hard drive, and user files from another, which will ultimately speed up the operation of the operating system and documents will open noticeably faster.

Partitioning will be required only when organizing a RAID array, when two or more hard drives a huge single space. It will still have to be broken.

If you are determined to partition your disks, use the above recommendations for choosing their volume. Incorrect partitioning can then backfire. And remember the main truth - perform any manipulations only if you have a backup copy important information. One wrong move and your entire life's work will be sent to electronic Valhalla.

UPD. With the advent of SSD, the issue of division resolved itself. The system is installed on solid state drive, and data that does not require high speeds, – on a traditional hard drive. In such a situation, as you understand, there is no need to divide the hard drive into partitions. At the same time, large volumes random access memory allow you to completely disable paging. Thus, the most optimal scheme is SSD + HDD, each of which has only one partition.

There is a need to divide it into several sections. This process is called hard drive partitioning. In this article we will talk about how to partition a hard drive from the Windows operating system or using a boot disk.

Partitioning your hard drive can solve several common problems. First, disk partitioning makes working with files easier. Immediately after purchase there will be one on your disk large section. If you install Windows directly on this partition, the disk will be a complete mess of files. The operating system, programs, games, documents, movies, music and other files will all be located on one disk. Search necessary files, in such a situation, will become significantly more complicated. If you create separate sections for the operating system and your documents, then folder navigation and search the required document will not be difficult for you.

Secondly, partitioning the disk into partitions partially solves the problem with the limited length of the file name. In NTFS maximum length The file path is 255 characters. Therefore, if you nest many folders inside each other, sooner or later there will come a time when you will see a message that the file name length has reached the limit.

Third, partitioning your disk protects your data. If you store all your data on the same partition as the operating system, then if you reinstall the operating system, you will lose all information. Of course, before installing the operating system, files can be transferred to disk, but this is a very troublesome process.

How to partition a hard drive from a Windows installation disk

If you have just connected new hard disk and want to install Windows on it, the most convenient way is to partition the disk using . Insert the Windows disc into your computer's drive and start the installation process.

The installation process must reach the partition selection stage. In this window, you can split the disk into partitions; to do this, click on the “Disk Settings” link.

After clicking on the “Disk Setup” link, you will see a list of actions that you can perform with your disk. In order to split a disk into two or more partitions, you must first delete the old partition. Therefore, click on the “Delete” link.

After this, you can create new sections; to do this, click on the “Create” link.

After creating a section, you will see a prompt to create additional section for system files. Click “OK”.

That's it, one partition has been created. In order to finish partitioning the disk, you need to allocate unallocated space on the disk and create another partition.

As a result, you should get something like this.

Section 1 is an additional section under system files, partition 2 is your partition for the operating system, and partition 3 is the partition for your files. Select Partition 2 and continue installing the Windows operating system.

Partitioning a hard drive from a boot disk

If the operating system is not yet installed, and the disk partition from the installation Windows disk does not suit you, then you can use a boot disk with free program Partition Wizard. An image of this boot disk can be used.

Burn this disk image to optical disk and boot your computer from it. After the computer boots, a menu will open in front of you, in which you need to select “Boot from Partition Wisard Boot Disk”

After this the launch will begin Partition programs Wizard. In a few seconds the program will load and you can start working.

The interface of the Partition Wizard program on the boot disk is no different from the Partition Wizard interface for Windows OS. Below we will look at the process of partitioning a disk using the Partition Wizard program for Windows.

How to partition a hard drive in Windows

Like the boot disk, Partition Wizard for Windows is completely free. You can download it from and install it on your computer.

After launching the Partition Wizard program, we need to find a new, unbroken disk; it is indicated by a gray stripe and the words “Unallocated”. Right-click on the new disk and select “Create”.

After this, a window will open in which you need to enter the settings for the new section. At the top of the window, enter the name of the new partition, select the file system and the letter that will designate the new partition. At the bottom of the window you need to specify the size of the new partition. Moreover, here you have the opportunity to specify the amount of unallocated free space that will be left before and after the partition. In addition, you can specify the partition size using the slider. In this case, you do not have to manually enter the exact size of the new partition.

For example, we entered the following data:

Section name: Test
Partition type: Logical
Section letter: E
Cluster Size: Default
Partition size: 400 GB

Save the result using the “OK” button. After that, we got a new partition with a size of 400 GB.

In order to finish partitioning the disk, you need to create one or more new partitions on the remaining free space. This can be done by repeating the partition creation procedure.

After partitioning the hard drive is completed, the result must be saved using the “Apply” button, which is located on the program panel.

How to partition a hard drive without using third-party programs

It should be noted that in order to partition a disk from the Windows operating system it is not at all necessary to install special programs, such as Partition Wizard. The Windows operating system has very handy tool called "Disk Management". To open the Disk Management window, you need to open the Start menu (or start screen, if you are using Windows 8) and in search bar enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”.

Of course, Disk Management is not comparable in its capabilities to specialized programs. But, in many cases, the capabilities of this tool are sufficient.

Using the Disk Management tool, you can perform the following operations with disks: creating and deleting partitions, formatting partitions, creating dynamic disks, changing the drive letter, shrinking the volume, enabling the Active Disk function. More details about the possibilities of this instrument You can read our article about.