Overview of Create Partition
To create partition is actually to partition a hard drive. Only after you create partition(s) on a disk you can make use of the disk to save all kinds of data. All physical parameters of a disk are set when you create partition(s) on it, including MBR (Main Boot Record) and the destination for storing boot record backup. For other information later needed for the management of file system and other operating systems, it will be achieved by later advanced format.
What are the advantages of creating partitions? Generally speaking, creating more than one partition enables you to have operating system separate from data, deploy multi-boot setups, and keep frequently used programs and data near each other. Therefore, you can manage your computer with ease. If there is only one partition (namely C drive) on the disk:
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When recovering the system, the whole c disk (the system disk) will be formatted. If all data are saved in c disk, they will all be wiped and cannot be restored.
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Too many other things on a system disk will slow down system running.
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If there are several partitions and each partition stores different kinds of data, it is convenient for users to manage them.
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After partition creation, the size of cluster will decrease, which improves the efficiency of data storage. (Cluster is the distributive minimum disk space to save files. According to the stipulation of operating system, a cluster can only be used to store one file. Therefore, the space occupied by files can only be integer times of the size of a cluster. However, if the size of a file is smaller than that of a cluster, the extra space in the cluster will be wasted. Thus, generally speaking, a small cluster is better.)
Consider all the reasons above, it is necessary to create more than one partition on a hard disk.
How to Create Partition
Before You Do
- Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant on a Windows computer.
- There must be unallocated space on the drive. If there is no unallocated space, you can first shrink a partition with the feature "Resize Partition" to get unallocated space. Or, you can use the paid feature "Split Partition" to split an existing partition into more partitions.
- For MBR disk, please check how many partitions there are already on hard drive. Because MBR disk only supports creating up to 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition which may include one or more logical partitions. If the number of partitions reaches the upper limit, please visit how to convert to logical partition to change one primary partition to logical one and then you can create partition(s) on it. For GPT disk, you can create partitions without limitation. And you can have more primary partitions. However, the Windows implementation restricts this to 128 partitions.
How to Create Partition with Partition Assistant
1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click the unallocated space or an existing partition and select "Create Partition" in the right panel.
2. In the pop-up window, click "Advanced" to specify the information for the new partition, including partition size, partition label, drive letter, files system (NTFS or FAT), and partition type (logical or primary). You could also specify the size of the new partition by dragging the both edges. When all settings are completed, click "OK" to continue.
Tips:
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We suggest you set the partition file system as NTFS.
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If you set the drive letter as "None", the partition will be hidden, in other words, you cannot view it in "My Computer".
3. Now you can preview the new created partition. Click "Apply" on the toolbar to commit the "Pending Operations" and click "Proceed" to start the operation.
Conclusion
Following the above steps, you can easily create partitions on a drive to make full use of your disk space.
This feature is mainly used to partition your drive to some extent. It can be used in the below situations:
- Make full use of the unallocated space on a drive by creating a partition on it so that you can save data on it.
- Create more partitions to separately store and manage your data. For example, you can create different partitions for music, video, data, and so on.
- Make more partitions to reduce the risk of all data loss. If there is only one partition on the drive, a system recovery or reinstallation operation will overwrite all data on the drive.
Notes:
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If you create partitions on SSD (Solid State Drive), we suggest you tick the check box "SSD Partition alignment" to align the partition(s) on SSD option.
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If the disk where you want to create a partition is MBR style and has already 4 primary partitions, you cannot create a partition within the system partition. In this case, you can create a partition within other data primary partitions, but the data primary partition you choose will be automatically converted to a logical partition.
FAQs:
Q: Why the option "Create Partition" is greyed out?
A: The possible reason is that you select an existing partition to create a partition and the partition is BitLocker encrypted. In your case, you can try to first decrypt BitLocker encryption on the partition and then retry.
Q: How long will it take to create a partition?
A: It depends on the size of the partition you want to create. Normally, it will take seconds to create. If there are bad sectors, the operation will take longer.
Q: Can I create another partition on an MBR drive that already has 4 primary partitions?
A: Yes, you can still create another partition on the drive. But the newly created partition will be a logical partition only by default. If you want to create a primary partition, you need to first convert one existing primary partition to logical partition.