Partitioning your hard drive in Windows 11: A step-by-step guide

Good data organization on a hard drive involves using at least two partitions. This guide shows you how to divide a hard drive into smaller, virtual parts in Windows 11.

Whether a computer is used for private or business purposes, it is a good practice to have at least 2 and preferably 3 partitions, provided the hard drive's capacity allows it. This scheme offers the convenience of managing and organizing data within the data storage.

For example, the first partition can be the system partition, the second one can be for software, and the third one can be used to store important documents or multimedia. By utilizing such a partitioning scheme, the user does not lose either software or valuable files in the event of an operating system failure. Damage to data on one partition does not affect files stored on another.

A partition is a dedicated part of a hard drive that operates like a separate logical unit. It allows for the organization of data, installation of different operating systems, and better disk space management.

Each partition can have different file systems, labels, and names, affecting how data is stored and accessed. In Windows, each partition is visible as a separate drive, and you can use it as such. For instance, formatting one partition does not result in data loss on the others.

To partition a hard drive in Windows 11, external software is not required. Before starting, it is advisable to carefully plan this operation, including making a backup of your data so you don’t lose access to important files if something goes wrong.

To start partitioning the drive, launch the Disk Management tool. To do this, press the Win + R key combination and type diskmgmt.msc in the Run dialog box, then click OK. You can achieve the same result by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Disk Management.

To partition the drive, you first need to shrink the existing partition. To do this, right-click on it and select the Shrink Volume option from the menu. Then, in the window that appears, enter the amount of space to shrink (in MB) and confirm by clicking the Shrink button.

Next, right-click on the Unallocated section and select New Simple Volume. The new partition wizard will be launched. Follow the on-screen instructions to define the partition size, its label in the system, file system, etc., and then confirm by clicking Finish.

There are many methods and solutions for partitioning a drive in Windows 11, and using the Disk Management tool is one of the simplest. Creating new partitions can also be successfully done using applications like AOMEI Partition Assistant and MiniTool Partition Wizard Free.