Partition or Volume - Create New

How to Create a New Partition or Volume in Windows 7​

   Information

This will show you how to create a new primary partition using Disk Management or Diskpart in Windows 7 from a empty unallocated partition or volume.

   Note

A primary partition is a type of partition created on a hard drive that can have a operating system installed on it. A primary partition functions as though it were a physically separate hard drive.

By default on a basic MBR disk, you can create a maximum of 4 Primary partitions, or 3 Primary partitions and 1 Extended partition with up to 128 logical volumes in the extended partition on a single hard disk.

*You must be logged on in an administrator account to be able to do this tutorial.

   Warning

If you disable the Disk Defragmenter service, then you will get the error below when you try to do anything in Disk Management. If you get this error, then make sure that the Disk Defragmenter service is set to only Manual.

OPTION ONE

Create Primary Partition using Disk Management

1. You will first need to shrink a partition or volume from the free space on a disk to create unallocated space on that disk to use to create the new partition or volume with on the same disk.

   Note

If this is a disk that is unallocated, then skip this step and go straight to step 2.

2. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click on the Administrative Tools icon. then close the Control Panel window.

3. Click on Computer Management in Administrative Tools, then close the Administrative Tools window.

4. In the left pane under Storage, click on Disk Management. (See screenshot below)
5. In the middle pane, right click on the empty unallocated partition or volume and click on New Simple Volume. (See screenshot above)

6. Click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
7. Type in how many MB (1 GB = 1024 MB) you want to use from the unallocated partition to create the new partition with, then click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you want to use all of the unallocated partition to create the new partition with, then type all of the maximum disk space shown for the unallocated partition. If you do not use all of the maximum disk space, then you can use the left over space from the unallocted partition to create another new partition with.
8. Select an available drive letter that you want to be assigned to the new partition in Computer, then click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
9. Type in a volume label name that you want for the new partition, check the Perform a quick format box, and click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
10. Click on the Finish button. (See screenshot below)

   Warning

If you get a pop-up with the message below, then click on No. You DO NOT want to convert the disk to dynamic. Doing so could render Windows 7 unbootable. A clean install of Windows 7 would be the only way to fix this afterwards if you were to click on Yes.

The operation selected will convert the disk to dynamic... are you sure you want to continue?

11. The new primary partition or volume has now been created with the assigned unallocted partition space (step 7). (See screenshot below)
12. Close the Computer Management window. (See screenshot above)

OPTION TWO

Create Primary Partition using Diskpart in Elevated Command Prompt

1. You will first need to shrink a partition or volume to create a unallocated partition to use to create the new partition or volume with.

2. Open an elevated command prompt, or a command prompt at boot.

3. In the elevated command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
4. In the elevated command prompt, type list disk and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This is to help you ID the disk number that has Free unallocated space that you want to create a new partition with. For example, Disk 1 with 80 GB of free space.
5. In the elevated command prompt, type select disk # and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You would substitute # for the disk number listed that you want to create a new partition with the free unallocated space there. For example, I want to create a new partition with the 80 GB of free space, so I would type select disk 2 and press Enter.
6. In the elevated command prompt, type create partition primary and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will create a new blank RAW partition with selected disk (step 5) that contains the unallocated partition free space.
7. In the elevated command prompt, type list volume and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Look for the volume number that has the same Size as from the Free space in step 4. For example, Volume 3.
8. To Format the Partition or Disk as a NTFS File System
NOTE: This would be good for using with a HDD as an example. A) In the elevated command prompt, type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Having quick added at the end of the command will do a quick format instead of a full format on the new blank RAW partition (step 6) to make it a new partition.
B) Go to step 10.
9. To Format the Partition or Disk as a FAT32 File System
NOTE: This would be good for using with a USB key drive as an example. The FAT32 file system has size limitations. You cannot create a FAT32 partition greater than 32 GB. In addition, you cannot store a file larger than 4 GB on a FAT32 partition. For more information, see Comparing NTFS and FAT file systems. A) In the elevated command prompt, type format fs=fat32 quick and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Having quick added at the end of the command will do a quick format instead of a full format on the new blank RAW partition (step 6) to make it a new partition.
10. When it is finished formatting, type exit in the elevated command prompt and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
11. Close the elevated command prompt.

12. The new primary partition has now been created. You can now see the new partition in Computer with a drive letter.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create Extended Partition / Logical Drives Where Needed
• Data Partition
• How to Shrink a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Extend a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Delete a Partition or Volume in Windows 7
• How to Create and Attach a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Unattach and Delete a Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Fix Missing Vista Hard Disk Partition Letter in Windows 7
• How to Convert a FAT or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows 7
• How to Convert a MBR Disk to a GPT Disk
• How to Convert a GPT Disk to a MBR Disk
• How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
• How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
• How to Clean or Clean All a Disk with the Diskpart Command
• How to Quick Format a HDD or USB Drive
• How to Mark a Partition as Active in Windows 7
• How to Mark a Partition as Inactive in Windows 7 and Vista

 

[sachin007]

thanks brinks,
it works now i have 2 drives in my system

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Sachin. I'm happy to hear it.

 

[hospitaldoctor1]

You can shrink your C: partition in step 1 of this tutorial on the first page by how much you want the D: partition to be. Afterwards, you can follow the rest of the tutorial to create the D: partition from the unallocated space that your shrunk from the C: partition.

Hi Shawn,
Sorry, I am confused. I am not a computer expert. What steps would I follow exactly? What do I do?
Also, how much would I want the D partition to be? What do you mean? What is a good amount?
Thanks

Btw, on my computer management, I dont have an unallocated volume (black). It's all blue.

Sorry,

You can follow the steps step by step, with using the links in them for more information, on the first page of this thread for how.

I would leave at least 40GB for the C: drive, but this depends on how much you want to install on it and on the D: drive for how much space you want to have on each one though.

on my computer management, I dont have an unallocated volume (black). It's all blue. what do i do please?
I have a 650GB C drive... how much space should I allocate for the D drive?
So follow these steps is the same as what i had before?
Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hospitaldoctor1,

Looking at your screenshot of Disk Management here, you will need to shrink the C: partition by how much space you want for the new D: partition using the link in step 1 of this tutorial on the first page. Afterwards, that will give you the black unallocated space to then create a simple new volume with as the D: partition.

 

[kpb]

hi,
i just got my new computer with 7 pro installed.

says that my os (c is 434 gb free of 451 gb.
i want to make another partition, D: to store all my music and stuff.
what do i enter to make each partition have the equal amount of space? my hd is supposed to be 500gb so i was planning on having each partition be 250gb big. thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello KPB, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The hard drive may say 500GB, but it true life it will only be 465.76 GB instead with 451 GB of it for the C: drive total due to the way manufacturers advertise the size.

Anyways, you can use the link in step 1 in METHOD ONE to shrink the C: drive by how much you want the D: drive to be. Afterwards, use the rest of the steps in METHOD ONE to create the new D: partition.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[kpb]

hi shawn,
thanks for the reply and welcome.
i dont wish to sound like a noob , but can you help me on how much exactly i need to enter to shrink it and to create a new partition?
thanks.

here's a screenshot

 

[Brink]

No problem. If you want to split the C: drive in half say to 225 GB for the D: drive, then that would be 230400 MB (1 GB = 1024 MB).

 

[kpb]

so i'll need to shrink c: right?

 

[Brink]

Correct.

Be sure to see METHOD ONE in the tutorial on the first page of this tutorial for more detailed instructions on how though.

 

[kpb]

thanks
is this right?

 

[Brink]

Yes sir. That's looks perfect. Job well done.

It's a lighter blue bar (logical partition) since after you have 3 primary partitions (Dk blue/Navy), the rest will be logical. This is normal.

 

[kpb]

ah ok. thank you so very much, appreciate it

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome KPB.

 

[Devil]

Thanks

So, now I came back. Shrinking the volume didn't help at all because my computer got stuck all the time when my windows was on slave disk. Now I know that S-ATA hard drives don't have the jumpers and thats why I didn't find them but they can be changed from bios (not in my case) or they are in wrong positions on motherboard (there is exact place for the channel 0 master and slave etc.). You must think I'm an idiot. Well at least I feel like one. So I changed the cables on the motherboard and got it fixed but now my windows hard drive might be corrupted because it makes the unexpected i/o error before it boots and everything on the windows hard drive is slow (like when I go to a folder with pictures, it might take almost a minute to create the icons). And about an hour ago when I restarted the computer I got the I/O error and did a startup repair with windows repair disk and in the diagnostics there was something like this: "Root cause (or error) corrupted windows volume (i don't remember the error code) fixed" and immitietly then it started.

Thanks Shawn for these great advices. I'll just buy a new hard drive before some testing and thats all.

 

[Brink]

Devil,

I hope that fixed your I/O error for good.

 

[travelizard]

Hello there,
I've actually shrink ed my volume C (with windows 7 on it) and then I've created a new partition with yours tutorial. The problem is that the OS doesn't starts anymore. It appears only a black screen with the underscore on it ): What should I do);
thank you!

 

[Brink]

Hello Travelizard, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If all you did was shrink the C: partition and create a new partition with the unallocated space in Disk Management, then I'm not sure why you would be getting this. Did you make any other changes that you know of?

Try booting from you Windows 7 installation disk to run a Startup Repair to see if that may be able to help.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[travelizard]

I only got 3 dvd's of mine back up files I think that are..would it work?

OK, I put my windows 7 installation disk in the cd/dvd drive, and how I say to him not to install win7 but just to do the Startup Repair?

 

[Brink]

Clicking on the Startup Repair link above will take you to a tutorial that will show you step by step on how to do this.