How to Partition an External Hard Disk in Windows 10/11 – Guide
- You can have a separate partition for your operating system, applications and data.
- You can have a separate partition for your music, movies and pictures.
- You can have a separate partition for your Documents and Settings folder, which is where you set up your personal settings like passwords and account information.
When you want to reset your computer, you can recover all of your data by formatting the drive the operating system is installed on. Additionally, installing programs and games on the same drive where your operating system is located can slow down your computer. If you have a big enough hard drive, you should create partitions for each application and game.
How to Partition an External Hard Drive in Windows 10/11
Open Disk Management lets you partition drives on your computer. It can also help you find and delete partitions, as well as create new partitions.
If you have not initialized a disk, you will see the message “The disk is in use by another application or service.” Disk Management will not allow you to initialize the disk. ..
This hard drive is going to be formatted in a new partition style. Choose GPT if the newly installed hard drive is 2TB or larger, MBR if it is less than 2TB.
If you choose “OK,” the system will continue to work as it has before. If you choose “Cancel,” the system will close and you will not be able to access your account or files. ..
The Disk Management window provides a list of all drives on the computer. You can see which drive is your hard drive by clicking on it in the list. If you want to partition your hard drive, you will need to first locate the hard drive in the drive map at the bottom of the window.
New Simple Volume: To create a new volume, select the space you want to partition and then tap and hold or right-click anywhere on the volume and choose New Simple Volume.
In the New Simple Volume Wizard window that appeared, I chose Next.
In the Specify Volume Size step, you can confirm the size of the drive you are creating.
Next, in the Assign Drive Letter or Path step, select the drive letter or path you want to change to.
Do not format this volume in the Format Partition step and select Next >. ..
The Completing the New Simple Volume Wizard screen asks you to choose a new volume name.
To partition a drive, choose Finish and Windows will partition the drive for you. This process usually takes a few seconds on most computers. ..
Windows will try to open the new drive automatically, but as it is not yet formatted and cannot be used, you will see this message: “You need to format the disk in drive F: before you can use it.”
If you’re using Windows 11, 10, 8 or 7, you may not be able to see the “Windows Update Error” message. This is because the update process is not working on those versions of Windows. To fix this, you will need to use one of the following methods:
- Skip to the last step below if you are using one of these versions of Windows.
- Use a different computer or device.
Cancel.
Final note
This guide will show you how to partition an external hard disk in Windows 10/11. If you have any query about this article, please ask us. Additionally, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.
