How to Manage Your Hard Disk Drive Partitions

Open HDD

The hard disk is the hardware part where the data is kept. Basically, everything you store on your pc is there: the operating system, applications, files, etc. A partition is a logical division of the disk drive that is capable of acting like an individual entity. on paper, you can have only one single partition on a hard disk however that is terribly harmful as anytime you'll need to format the drive (and it'll happen), you will lose all the information. 

This is why knowing a way to create, delete, extend or shrink partitions is very helpful. Here's what you need to know:

windows control panel

Managing Disk Partitions with Windows administrative tool.

Windows ships out with its own partition management tool so you do not have to be compelled to install another software if you do not need to. 

This guide is created for Windows 7 because it is the most popular in the world at the moment, however, if you've got a different version of the operating system, things are not very totally different. in order to access the partition manager, you will have to go to 

control panel --> administrative Tools and a new window will be automatically launched. Once there, click on the Disk Management button in the Storage category (in the left column).

 After a brief period of your time, during which the tool identifies your hard disk and its partitions, you will have full access to manipulate with anything you wish. 

However, do not fiddle with drive C: (or whichever other partition you utilize to boot) as you may lose the software system alongside all the data on it. 

Moreover, having a bootable recovery disk at hand could also prove to be prudent.

Windows Computer Management

While in the Disk Management window, right-clicking on a drive allows you to shrink, extend, delete, format or modify the letter of that respective partition:

• Shrinking a partition can decrease the amount of space on it while the excess left will be remodeled into unused space (which is afterward transformed into a brand new partition)
• Extending a partition permits you to extend the storage area of the desired drive, however, requires you to have unused space at your disposal,
• Deleting a partition will utterly remove the individual drive and all the data stored on it, transforming into unused space.
• Formatting a partition is a process that makes the individual drive "usable" for Windows. It transforms unused space into an area that the operating system can work with. In most cases, you will have to make a choice from FAT32 and NTFS (modern operating systems utilize the latter).
• Changing the letter is self-explanatory. It lets you modify the letter of the individual partition. just in case you have a large number of drives, this might help you easily distinguish between the ones you use for booting, for applications of for movies. Certain letters could also be reserved for specific devices so you will not be able to use them.

One fact to remember is that each operating system will steal space when making partitions. What I mean is that if you've got 500GB of unused area, partitioning it will result in a drive with a slightly smaller capacity. The more partitions you create the extra space will disappear (will be reserved by the software system, rather) and while the proportion of the space that goes missing is insignificant, if you work with huge amounts of space (>TB), you'll notice a few of missing GB.

Managing Disk Partition with third-party Applications.

paragon partition manager

Paragon Partition Manager is another reliable option. Although the link I provided says shareware, the application has a free trial version called Paragon Partition Manager 14 Free. What is very cool about this application is that it had been designed to assist users manage their partitions without risking data loss, thanks to its proprietary technology. Partition Manager 14 Free only offers basic functionality (creating new partitions, deleting existing ones, resizing drives and formatting them), however, regular users will not need much more than that,  Adding to that its well-designed interface and the many wizards that will assist you in your tasks, and you have got a free partition manager that anyone can use.

EaseUS Partition master

The free version of EaseUS Partition Master (called Home Edition) is one of the most effective solutions that you will find. Besides the usual functions, like making new partitions and deleting, resizing or shrinking them, this tool may also perform a couple of neat tricks, like moving or hiding and unhiding your drives (all without risking data loss). Furthermore, this tool offers a copy wizard which will provide you with a very simple way to extend a partition while additionally keeping all of your files intact. EaseUS Partition Master will simultaneously work with 32 storage devices, supports drives of up to 4TB and is even capable of performing operations on partitions specific to Linux system} operating systems (EXT2/EXT3).

MiniTool Partition Wizard

Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition another efficient partition manager. This tool can assist you create, extend, shrink, delete, format, modify drive letters and replica disk partitions. Another really fascinating feature is that the application is capable of converting your FAT32 drives into NTFS partitions. Additional functionality includes the ability to test the disk surface, rebuild the Master Boot Record (MBR), and a 1GB data recovery tool.