What is the disk partition?
The disk partition is an operation to divide the total storage of a hard disk or
other storage devices into different pieces, which are called partitions. In
this way, the operating system can manage information in each partition
separately.
Can you partition a hard drive with data on it?
The computer becomes increasingly important in the daily life or work. It can do a
great benefit for you. But it's not perfect. For example, If your hard drive
only has one partition, your data will lose forever once something unexpected
happens. Now, here comes a question: how to partition a hard drive without losing
data?
In Disk Management, you can shrink a partition to get some unallocated space, then
create a partition. But you are only allowed to shrink a partition to the location
of unmovable files. Sometimes, the space you are allowed to shrink is zero. Thus,
Disk Management is not a great choice.
To partition a hard drive without losing data in Windows 10/8/7, I recommend you free
partition manager AOMEI
Partition Assistant.
Why do you need to partition a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7
1. Ensure the security of your data.
If your computer only has one partition and you save both the operating system and
data on it, you may lose all once something bad happens. But if you have one more
partition, everything will be different. Even if your system partition
crashes, it does not affect your data partition.
2. Maximize the performance of your computer.
When you save more and more files o your computer, you may find your computer work
slower or already receive a
low disk space warning. Furthermore, In Windows 10, if your disk is out of
space, you are not allowed to use some programs. It's annoying.
To fix this problem, you can repartition the hard drive. After that, your
computer can work more efficiently.
How to partition a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7 without losing data?
Free partition manager: AOMEI Partition Assistant
Similar to Disk Management, AOMEI Partition Assistants a freeware. But it's more
useful. With it, you can repartition a hard drive without effort. What's
more, you can enjoy more features, such as Resize Partition, Move Partition, Merge Partition, Split
Partition, Convert NTFS to
FAT32, Copy Partition, etc.
Detailed steps:
In the following, I will take Split Partition as an example.
Before you start, you need to Download AOMEI
Partition Assistant Standard and install it first.
Step 1. Enter the main page of AOMEI Partition Assistant, click the
hard drive you want to repartition and select Split Partition.

Step 2. Specify a size for the new disk and click
OK. If your disk is SSD, remember to tick the checkbox at the
bottom of this window. It can accelerate the write and read speed of your disk.

Step 3. Preview the final result and click
Apply to execute the operation.

Step 4. This is the last step to repartition your hard disk. Just
click Proceed and wait for the result.

At the same time, you still can follow the steps above to partition an external hard
drive without losing data on Windows 7/8/10. The difference is, you should plug the
external hard drive into your computer before repartitioning and ensure it can be
recognized by your computer.
Summary
Want to partition a hard drive with data on it? You can use free partition manager
AOMEI Partition Assistant. It's very easy, even for a beginner. All the steps
can be finished in a few steps.
After you partition a hard drive with data on it, you will get more partition and
gain great performance. And you can save data on the different partition. Even if
something unexpected happens, your data are safe.
Aside by that, you still can enjoy more features in this software. You can create
partition, move partition, resize partition, migrate os to SSD,
etc.