Connect the external hard disk, press command + space then type: disk utility then hit Enter. In the Disk Utility inspector window, you will see all your drives and attached storage. Step 1: Highlight your drive and click “Partition” in Disk Utility. Open the Disk Utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Make sure you select the disk icon right under “External”. If you select the one below it, the Partition option will be greyed out and become unclickable. In the extended partition, the user can create logical drives (i.e. Create the impression that there are several smaller-sized hard drives). Primary partition A primary partition must be logically formatted and have a file system appropriate to the operating system installed on it.
From within Mac OS X Lion: To restart your MacBook in Windows, click System Preferences in the Dock and click the Startup Disk icon to display the settings you see here. Click the Windows partition you created in the list to select it (the folder icon will bear the Windows logo, and it will be labeled Windows as well). Click Restart, and then. Partitioning hard drive does not only assist in managing of files but also prevents loss of files when the drive is damaged. In this article you will learn how to partition your hard drive on windows and Mac using different methods. Part 1 How to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 10 Below is a guide on how to partition a hard drive on Windows 10.
Partitioning a hard disk means having the ability to split the disk into multiple units so you can, for example, install multiple operating systems on the same computer, store sensitive data in an independent disk area and so on. In this new guide of today, we will explain in detail how to partition hard disk on Windows and Mac in a very simple and without too many concussions.
Content index
How to partition hard drives on Windows
The latest versions of the Microsoft operating system have an integrated tool that allows you to manage the partitions of an HDD in an easy way. It is a tool that contains only the main functionalities to better manage the unit compared to specific software available online. The tool in question is called Disk Management.
Partition A Hard Drive For Windows And Mac Os
Let’s see how to use it:
- To access the Windows utility simply right-click the Start button at the bottom left and choose Disk Management from the menu that appears. The new window will show you a complete list of the units installed or connected to the computer via USB and a graph representing the various partitions.
- At this point, to create a new partition it is necessary to reduce the size of the already existing ones and then exploit the free space that is obtained.
- First, zoom out a partition by right-clicking on the graph of the one you want to reduce and choosing the Reduce Volume item from the menu that appears.
- After this, indicate the amount of space you want to reduce in MB in the appropriate field and click on Minimize to make the change. Please note that the resizing of a partition does not absolutely lead to the loss of the files saved on it but in any case we always recommend that you make a backup to be more secure. If you do not know which procedure to follow, we suggest that you read our dedicated guide for backing up and restoring files in Windows 10.
- In the next step, proceed with creating a new partition by right-clicking on the unallocated space graph and choosing New Simple Volume from the menu that is shown.
- Now, click on Next, indicate the dimensions always in MB and the letter to assign to the unit (eg A :), choose the file system (eg NTFS or FAT32) and assign a name to the volume (ie the one that appears in This PC).
- Complete the operation by pressing first on Next and then on End.
If your intent was to extend an existing partition because you have unallocated space, then follow the steps listed below:
- Right-click on the partition chart you want to extend and choose the Extend Volume option from the menu that opens.
- At this point, click on Next and specify the amount of MB you want to add to the partition in the appropriate field.
- Complete change before pressing on Next and then Finish.
In case of errors, do not despair because you can delete a newly created partition or an existing one in a very simple way. Just right-click on the volume graph you want to delete, choose Delete Volume from the menu that opens and click Yes to confirm the operation. To delete a real partition and turn it into an unallocated space, instead, you must right click on the available space box, choose Delete partition from the menu that appears and confirm by clicking on Yes.
How to partition hard drives on Mac
As seen on Windows, macOS also integrates a utility that allows hard disk partition and other units in a very simple way. The instrument included as standard by Apple can be found in the Other folder of the Launchpad.
Let’s see how to use it to create a partition:
- After opening the Disk Utility tool, select the disk name from the sidebar and then press on Partition you find at the top.
- At this point, click on the + at the bottom left and move the two levers of the partition chart you want to create.
- In the next step, assign a name to the new partition, choose the file system you want to use from the Format drop-down menu and save the changes by clicking Apply.
If the + button can not be clicked, it means that macOS can not create a new partition on the drive without proceeding with formatting. So, in this case, if you want to continue, we recommend that you first back up all the data as these will be completely erased. If you do not know how, refer to our guide on how to backup to iCloud.
If your intent is to resize a partition, then you simply need to move the levers through the mouse of the existing partitions and press the Apply button at the bottom right to confirm the changes.
To delete a partition, instead, select the chart of the one you prefer with the mouse, click on the – place on the bottom left and confirm by pressing on Remove.
How to partition hard drives: other solutions
As reported a few lines ago, in addition to the standard tool Disk Management and Disk Utility for Windows and MacOS, there are programs specifically created for this purpose that offer, however, the additional features. Find a list below.
- Paragon Partition Manager Free (Windows)
- EaseUS Partition Master Free (Windows)
- MiniTool Partition Wizard Free (Windows)
- DiskGenius (Windows)
- Paragon Hard Disk Manager (macOS)
Have you partitioned your computers hard drive? If not, they you could be inviting trouble to your life. The answer could be No, since you do not know how to format or the knowing its importance. Partitioning hard drive does not only assist in managing of files but also prevents loss of files when the drive is damaged. In this article you will learn how to partition your hard drive on windows and Mac using different methods.
Part 1How to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 10
Below is a guide on how to partition a hard drive on Windows 10.
Method 1. Using Computer management tool to partition
Step 1: After you have opened your computer, click on File Explorer button then right click This PC icon.
Step 2: From a small menu box that appears, click on manage.
Step 3: On clicking manage, another window pops up, from there click Computer Management then below it click storage button to get disk management.
Step 4: From Disk management, click on letter C, then Shrink volume. Double click on Drive C to shrink it.
Step 5: At the bottom of the new window, click on unallocated area that you would like to create partitions. Click on New Simple Volume from the small menu box that shows up.
Step 6: From the New Simple Volume Wizard window that appears, just specify or give appropriate size of the volume that you want to assign the partition.
Then click on Next button at the bottom of the window.
Step 7: From Assign Drive Letter or Path window, assign a letter you would like to use for access. Then click on Next button.
Step 8: Here you give format partition specifications, select the file system, volume label, and size. Thereafter click on Next button.
Step 9: Completing the New Simple Volume Wizard window appears displaying the partition specifications. Click on Finish button at the bottom of the window and the partition will have been created successfully.
Part 2How to Partition a Hard Drive using EaseUS Partition Master Free Software
Where you may not want to partition your hard drive using disk management, you may use EaseUS Partition Master Free software to partition freely and easily.
Partitioning hard drive with this software only require simple few clicks. Here is how to do it.
Step 1: Run EaseUS Partition Master Software on your computer.
Step 2: After you have opened the program, select any drive like drive E and shrink it using 'Resize/Move Partition.
Step 3: Thereafter, let the unallocated space be behind drive C by dragging drive E towards the right side of the program window.
Step 4: Select drive C and enlarge its space with resize/move partition
Step 5: finally click Apply and the hard drive partition will be complete.
Part 3Partitioning a Hard Drive on Mac using Computer Management Tool
It is always a good move to partition hard drive on your Mac computer to enable you organize your data with ease. It also promotes proper management of your data.
Here is a procedure on how you can partition your hard drive with computer management tool. All you require is a Disk Utility feature.
Step 1: After you have logged in to your computer, get to Finder then click on Applications. From applications, get to utilities then click on Disk utility icon.
Step 2: In the new window, click on your hard drive which will be highlighted blue on the top left side.
Partition A Hard Drive For Windows And Mac Osx
Step 3: click on partition button that will appear in the middle of the window.
Step 4: The next window that pops up gives the partition layout. Here you only give the name and number of partitions you would want and the volume size. After providing this information, you can then click on Apply button at the bottom of the window.
Step 5: The following window displays the partitions you have chosen. A confirming message pops up and after you have confirmed on the partitions, click on partition.
You may want to partition your Mac's hard drive to enable you run multiple versions of similar operating system from one disk. Where you may not want to perform your hard drive partition on Mac using computer management tool, you can still partition it using any free software. In this article it shows how to partition hard drive using Stellar Partition Manager
All you need to do is to download the software freely then follow the steps on how to partition.
Part 4How to Partition with Stellar Partition Manager
Step 1: First Run Stellar partition manager software on your Mac computer then click on continue button at the bottom right of the window.
Step 2: Select a hard drive in which a new partition is to be created. Choose from the left pane.
Step 3: Click on Add button in the tool bar and a small dialog box pops up where you give the name of the partition you want to create and move the slider to give the size of the partition.
Step 4: After giving the name and size, now click on OK button.
Step 5: In the next window that appears, the new partition will be added to the task to do list. Click on Start button in the tool bar to begin partitioning.
Step 6: A warning message is displayed on a message box. Confirm that the partition selected has sufficient back-up protection for your important data. After you are sure about it then click on continue to add the new partition.
Step 7: On completion, a window appears which shows the new partition in the middle pane along with other partitions. Finally, the program will indicate it that the partitioning process is completed. From there you can now mange your files on the created partitions.
With above guide, one cannot miss how to partition a hard drive at any given point. You can either use computer management tool or partition software.
Part 5How to Recover Lost Data from Partition Hard Drive
When you partition a hard drive always comes along with data lost from your partition hard drive, under this circumstance, you will need a partition hard drive data recovery software to help you retrieve you lost data back.
- Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely and completely.
- Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera and camcorders.
- Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.
- Preview before recovery allows you to make a selective recovery.
- Supported OS: Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista, Mac OS X (Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8, 10.9, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.10, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra) on iMac, MacBook, Mac Pro etc.
Wondershare Data Recovery is capable of restoring deleted/lost files or formatted partition from hard drive (HDD and SSD), external hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, digital camera, camcorder, iPod, Music Player and many kinds of mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry phones and Phones with older Android OS than ICS). While offering the advanced recovery modes like Raw Recovery or Deep Scan Mode, it`s pretty easy to use:
Simple steps to Recover Lost Data from Hard Drive
Step 1: Select the type of files you want recover and click 'Start' to recover lost data from hard drive.
Step 2: Select the location where you lost your data. If you are not sure where the location, you can go to select the option 'I can't find my partition' to start scanning lost data.
Step 3: Select a partition to scan files.
If quick scan can't get your lost data, you can go to deep scan which will deeply search your lost data.
Step 4: Preview the lost data from partition hard drive
Note: Please do not save these recoved files to the partition hard drive which you recovering, it will overwritten.