How to partition HDD or SSD in Windows
MiniTool Partition Wizard is recommended for PCs to avoid headaches. Based on my personal experience, it’s far more efficient than Disk Manager – which is the native Microsoft tool that comes preinstalled on your system.
These steps will help you partition your HD and SSD in Windows.
- Backup your filesIt is essential to have backups in order to avoid data loss. This can be done on an external hard drive or on a cloud storage service like Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Google Drive.
- Get MiniTool Partition Wizard on the official website, and then install it.This software is free and works with Windows 10, 7, 8, and 8.1.
- Choose a partition that has no space.Are you a novice at partitioning the disk? This will allow you to choose the partition that contains your files, programs, and Windows. By default, this partition usually begins with the letter C.
In the sidebar, select Move / Resize Partition. To create a new partition you must first free up disk space. - Drag the sliders in the window to clear space.You can decide how much space you want for games, or for new operating systems.
- Click OK.You can click and be assured that it won’t begin partitioning the disk.
- Choose the space that you are able to use.It will be located just below the main partition that you have selected in the previous steps.
- Click on Create Partition.The system can then use the empty space.
- Give the partition a name in the window that opens and then click OK.You can also select the letter of the partition and its size – in case it is necessary to divide the space between two partitions.
- Click Apply in the lower left corner.You can click again without worrying, but the process still needs to be completed.
- Click Yes in the Apply Changes window.It’s now real!
- Restart your PC if prompted.
File Explorer will allow you to view your new partition.
Windows Disk Management: Why not?
Windows offers a tool called DISK Management which allows you to create, resize, and delete partitions. MiniTool Partition Wizard is recommended.
Disk Manager fails to clear space in the most efficient way. You may have 200GB of storage available, but the program will only allow you to allocate 50GB.
Your HD or SSD may store your files in fragmented ways. This could mean that some of your photos are stored at the beginning, while others may be at the end.
Disk Management can organize this but, as Microsoft explains, cannot move some items. This is true for the paging files, which are extensions of RAM memory. The program does not empty any space after the file.
The following warning is required when trying to reduce a volume of Disk Management:
It is impossible to shrink a volume beyond where non-movable files are located.
MiniTool Partition Wizard can gather all available space to create a partition. This is why I like it. Because I am a geek and like to try different operating systems, I have partitioned several disks from multiple PCs. I wanted to test Windows 10 on an old notebook running Windows 7 and tested Windows 11 on a MacBook.
How to partition HDD or SSD in macOS
Disk Utility is a tool that can be used to create a Mac partition. Although it is simple to use, Disk Utility hides any HD or SSD that you wish to partition.
It is therefore important to follow these steps to partition HDD and SSD on macOS.
- Backup your files on your Mac
- Use Command + Space to type Disk, and then select Disk Utility.
- Click Preview, and then select Show All Devices.
- In the sidebar, select the internal disk (in that case it’s called “APPLE SSD”)
- Click Partition in the top bar.
- To add a new Mac partition, click on the graphic below.
- Click on Add Partition. It’s the grey button.
- Enter the desired name and select the partition size.
- Select the file from the drop-down menu. This can be either Apple’s or APFS, ExFAT, or MS-DOS (FAT).
- Click Apply.