How To Split A Drive In Windows 10 During System Installation

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

Why partitioning disks is required, and how does it work?

As you know, logical volumes are convenient to use because in the event of a system failure and its subsequent reinstallation, information is erased only in the system partition, that is, where Windows is installed. It does not disappear from the logical volume and remains intact. Of course, the programs installed earlier will have to be reinstalled, but the documents corresponding to them will be saved, and in the future they can be opened without problems.

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

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

• disk partition during system installation;
• creation of partitions in an already installed system;
• partitioning if the hard drive has unallocated space.

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

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

The simplest situation is the initial installation of Windows. How to split a disk in Windows 10 at the installation stage? 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, he will offer to format the hard drive. In this case, you can use two options: full formatting without dividing into volumes and formatting with the creation of a system partition (where it will be installed later) and logical volumes (one or more) at the request of the user.

In this case, the solution to the problem of how to split a disk in Windows 10 comes down to choosing the second option. First, in the installer window, use the button to create a new partition (New) and specify its size. So you can create several volumes by repeating the operation as much as necessary, without forgetting about the total volume of the hard drive.

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

How to partition a hard drive in Windows 10 after installation?

Installation is simple. But here are some users wondering how to split a drive in Windows 10 when the system is already installed. Probably, at the installation stage, the partition was skipped by the user himself, if only for the reason that 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 drive in an operating system without losing information. This tool is called Disk Management.

You can access this utility from the “Control Panel”, where then you will have to choose the sections of security, administration, creation and formatting, 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 be indicated 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 protection tab. We select the system volume and use the line to disable protection, after which we confirm our actions.

Now suppose we currently have two sections: C. system, D. logical. We need to create a third section. How to split a disk in Windows 10 in this case? First you need to decide on the partition that has the largest volume (usually this is volume D), although this is not very important. We click on it with the right button of the manipulator (mouse), and then select the compression command from the menu. You will have to wait a bit until the process is completed (this can take up to several tens of minutes). At the end of the window “Explorer” will indicate the new size.

When the volume polling is completed, you need to specify the size of the disk space that we want to reserve for the new volume. When you click on the “Compress” button, the corresponding procedure will begin. The fact that it is active can only be judged by the spinning circle of the cursor when it is hovering over the program window. The completion of the process can only be determined when a black bar appears in the lower part of the window, indicating the unallocated space of the previously indicated size.

Please note that the size of the new volume must be specified in megabytes. For example, to create a 50 GB partition, you must specify a value of 51200 MB. This is where the disk partitioning ends.

Creating Partitions from Unallocated Space

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

To do this, on an unallocated space, right-click the menu in which the command to create a simple volume is selected. In the launched “Wizard” we follow its instructions. No need to resize. This is done only if it is supposed to create not one but several partitions from the unallocated space. The next step will be to assign a Latin letter to the new section (for example, X), after which it will be proposed to format the new section. We leave the default settings and activate the process by clicking the “Finish” button. Now it remains to wait for its completion. All! A new section has been created. The actions for the system volume are similar, only drive C is selected as the source.

Third Party Utilities

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

Some 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 similar (for example, indicating the size of the volume). The process itself is almost completely automated.

Conclusion

In the end, it remains to add that there is nothing complicated in the processes of partitioning the hard disk space in all the above situations. Issues related to what to use are decided by the owner of the computer or laptop. Inexperienced users can be advised to use automated utilities, but for administrators or advanced users it is still better to turn to the built-in system tools.