How to Partition a Hard Drive

By eHow Computers Editor

Partition your hard drive for special needs

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Hard disks can be partitioned to run separate operating systems on the same disk, or to break down a disk into manageable chunks for storage. Partitioning is performed on a new or reformatted disk. These instructions describe using FDISK for PCs using Windows XP or later.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

Partitioning Software
Hard Disks
Drive Management Software

Step1

Start the computer in Command Prompt Mode.

Step2

Type "FDISK." The partition window will appear with menu options.

Step3

Enter 5 if you're partitioning a second drive, and select the drive; otherwise, skip to the next step.

Step4

Enter 1 (Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive).

Step5

Enter 2 (Create Extended DOS) to create a partition.

Step6

Enter N when the program asks if you want to use the maximum available size.

Step7

Designate the amount of disk space to allocate to the second partition (the partition will be assigned the next drive letter).

Step8

Type a name for the new partition and press Enter. The partition menu will appear.

Step9

Repeat steps 5 through 8 to create additional partitions.

Step10

Press Esc to exit the partition command.

Step11

Format the newly created partitions (see "How to Format a Hard Drive").

Tips & Warnings

Be sure to allocate ample disk space (about 20 GB) on the C drive to hold Windows software and temp files created by other software programs.
Commercial products, such as Partition Magic, make hard disk partitioning much easier.
The FDISK procedure deletes all files on the hard disk. This action is not reversible. Be sure to back up any files you want to keep.
If the disk capacity displayed in the FDISK menu doesn't match your hard drive, then your system doesn't support larger disk drives. Use disk management software, such as Disk Manager or EZ-Drive, to provide support for larger drives.

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Comments

WebYankee said

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on 10/16/2007 This does NOT cover newer drives over 137GB which windows will not format without special changes. I would like to see this information given as I am having a hard time finding how to format my 500GB SATA drives in a new system with no operating system installed. I will be using Windows 2000 Pro when I do get to install one.