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

 

[anders7]

Hi again,

After many hours of hard work I finally got back to initial state (6 hours today only, with different programs to clean an reformat HD and a couple of calls to HP support).



So this time I want to check first with you guys in this forum.

My plan is the following (please feel free to comment or correct for optimal solution):

1. Defrag C: for best shrinking abilities
2. Delete Recovery partition
3. Extend C: (automatically to the deleted Recovery - which should now be unallocated volume
4. Shrink the New C:
5. I should now have SYSTEM , C: (so small that Windows Disk management allows me to) , Unallocated Volume (big size) and as the 4th partition HP TOOLS
6. Rightclick on the big unallocated Volume and choose what?
7. Hopefully I will end up with 4 primary partitions

Are there better solutions, please tell me.

I Hope for your patience and suggestions

All the best
Anders

 

[Dwarf]

That should be OK. You have already created your recovery disks, and have proved that they work. When you defrag your C: drive, do so from within an http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html using the following command: defrag C: /H /U /V /X. Note that this will take some time, depending on the state of the drive.

To answer your point 6.

In the Tutorial at the beginning of this thread, follow the instructions from Step 5. onwards in METHOD ONE.

 

[anders7]

Thank you for your input Dwarf,

There is only a couple of questions that comes to my mind:

1. When I read the "method one" there is something important at the beginning.
3 Primary Partitions + 1 Extended Partitions

If I understand you and the guide correct, there will be absolutely NO risk with my suggested list (above)? I mean, If I delete the recovery partition it will go black and turn into unallocated volume, right?

Then in the next step if I rightclick on C: and choose "EXTEND" , does that mean that C: automatically turns into this "Extended Partition" mentioned in method one? (I don't want to put me in the same situation as before....)
The current state is, when I open "Disk management", that all 4 of my partitions is PRIMARY.
None of them are an "EXTEND Partition" right now.


2. Does it matter that the last partition (HP TOOLS) is to the right of C: and Recovery ? I can shrink and extend no matter what with C: ?

Best regards
Anders

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Anders,

The partition will be automatically created as type Primary.

 

[anders7]

Ok. I presume that everything will be fine if I understand you correct.
I will now defrag C: from your description above (Might take a while)

None of the partitions have been defragmented before, but I suppose it does not matter. I also presume that the "recovery disc" that I am going to delete does not need to be formatted or defragmented before proceeding with all operations I mentioned above.



My plan is to have a big partition for all my documents. I am also planning using VMware for testing different OS on that partition too.

And maybe in the nearest future I want to be able to create a dual boot next to Windows 7, but I recon I must then again go into Disc Managment and create another structure for my partitions?


Sorry for all these questions.

Thanks for all your help.

I will be back and check here after I defragmented C:

All the best
Anders

Update:
Hm.... Nothing change. C: is still 3% fragmented after defragmentation.

I'll guess it's time for partitioning.... Wish me luck.


Here is before and after defrag:

 

[whs]

Have a look here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html

Thanks!!

I spoke to HP support and they suggested me to use my recovery DVDs I made 2 days ago.

Hopefully this cover everything, restore disc and partitions as they where from the start.

/Anders

Should that not work, ask HP to send you an installation disk. They usually do that for a S&H charge ($20 last time I checked).

 

[anders7]

Hi there,

Here is how far I got. Look right, doesn't it?

Would appreciate some comments before proceeding.

1. My defragmentation of C unsuccessful (still 3 % fragmented)
2. Delete Recovery - Success
3. Extended C: Success

Look at picture below.

Is it wise to try to perform a new defrag of C: before shrinking it?






All the best
Anders

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Anders,

That looks OK. Don't worry about the fragmentation report. The reason for doing this is to consolidate the free space, which is done when the /X switch is specified. You can now shrink C: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html and create a new partition in the unallocated space.

 

[anders7]

Thanks Dwarf,

I really appreciate your support here.

I can not shrink so much as I want to, but I suppose there is nothing I can do about that?

( Current state only allows me to shrink C: from 476 GB to 234 GB )

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Anders,

No, there is nothing you can do about that. You can only shrink a partition as far as disk management says you can. What you can do is to shrink the partition, temporarily leave the newly created space as unallocated and then repeat the operation on the newly shrunk C: (restart your system after shrinking). Repeat the defrag command I mentioned earlier and then see if you can shrink C: any further.

 

[anders7]

Finally done!

Here is the result. It did get a logical volume, but nothing else happened to the other partitions. Thanks for all your help!!




Best wishes
Anders

 

[Dwarf]

You're welcome, Anders. It looks OK to me.

 

[gnuga]

Thx a lot Anders for keep updating your effort.
I also have the similar problem.
One of my friend bought a new HP pavillion dm1.
It also has 4 primary partition and I have tried many ways to create a new partition.
Even we did go to the store to do it for us and they can't. They used two technicians to try to do it but no result.
I guest I can follow your experience and get no problem as the laptop is still a baby, 1 day old, and my friend is a totally noob stuff like this.
I just don't want to create more hassle & problem for her .

Lets hope this will be good forever.
thanks also to Brink, dwarf and whs for the great assistance

 

[Brink]

Hello Gnuga, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you post a screenshot of your Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) so we can see your drive layout?

I suspect that it's your OEM recovery partitions causing issue with being able to create another partition since they may be out of order in trying to create them. The screenshot will help determine this or not though.

 

[whs]

Thx a lot Anders for keep updating your effort.
I also have the similar problem.
One of my friend bought a new HP pavillion dm1.
It also has 4 primary partition and I have tried many ways to create a new partition.
Even we did go to the store to do it for us and they can't. They used two technicians to try to do it but no result.
I guest I can follow your experience and get no problem as the laptop is still a baby, 1 day old, and my friend is a totally noob stuff like this.
I just don't want to create more hassle & problem for her .

Lets hope this will be good forever.
thanks also to Brink, dwarf and whs for the great assistance

If you have 4 primaries, you have to get rid of one primary and create an extended partition. Then you can have more partitions.

 

[anders7]

Thx a lot Anders for keep updating your effort.
I also have the similar problem.
One of my friend bought a new HP pavillion dm1.
It also has 4 primary partition and I have tried many ways to create a new partition.
Even we did go to the store to do it for us and they can't. They used two technicians to try to do it but no result.
I guest I can follow your experience and get no problem as the laptop is still a baby, 1 day old, and my friend is a totally noob stuff like this.
I just don't want to create more hassle & problem for her .

Lets hope this will be good forever.
thanks also to Brink, dwarf and whs for the great assistance

You are welcome Gnuga. I am happy that you found your way here, and read this before anything happened to your friends computer, like in my case. Just like Brink and whs says, please post your layout here first. But it's very likely you have to get rid of one of your primary partitions first.

If you delete recovery partition, I suggest you use quality DVD media for burning out recoverydiscs (and also maybe test these first so they are all good). To find good DVD-media (with good media-ID )that goes well with your burner is also a pretty big world by itself. I have sticked to Verbatim (mostly) and Taiyo Yuden because I have had good experience with them (No, I am not a salesman). I am confident that there are many other Brands that will work too. But be aware, sometimes the media-ID differ from batch to batch and the media-ID is very important in relationship to your DVD-writer. I don't mean to put more burden on your shoulders, but in my world I have also experienced the importance of finding the right media (CD/DVD) for my burner.

Anyway, I think you can get recovery disc from HP if your discs turns out to be unreadable.


I am lucky that my recoverydisc worked, so I can not emphasise strongly enough that you burn those disc before you do anything with the computer.

I wish you all good luck!

All the best
Anders

 

[gnuga]

Well thanks to your experience everything goes well!

Also thanks for the advice to burn the recovery disc.
We have done that right away after we bought it. That was the advice of the salesperson and we did follow his advice.
I use 3 TDK discs to burn the recovery discs. Again this is the advice from the salesperson as we don't have many options here in this part of the world. Haven't used them though so cannot share experience.

FYI, I did follow your step to delete the recovery partition as I do not know what the HP tools partition is for.
I just follow all your step:
1. Delete the recovery partition
2. Expand the C partition
3. Defrag the C (using disk defragmenter from Windows)
4. Shrink the C partition
5. Created two partitions from the remaining space: one is for DATA and the other is for MULTIMEDIA files.
6. DONE & success.

Sorry I cannot post the screenshot, the laptop is now already in my friend's hand.

Thanks everybody

 

[Brink]

Gnuga,

The HP recovery partition, was the partition used to do a factory restore of Windows 7, or whatever was originally installed on the computer, with. Without that partition, your friend will not be able to reinstall his/her Windows 7 unless he/she had created a HP recovery disc before you deleted it to use instead.

 

[provlima]

Clarification needed re libraries an user files??

Thanks for your excellent tutorial!!

If I shrink the C drive and use it for W7 and program files and use the remaining logical partition/drive for all my data files-
Would the transfer of data files be a simple matter of cutting and pasting the libraries files from the C drive to the new D drive???
I am confused about what the difference is between the libraries folder and its subfolders (docs, pictures, music and videos libraries) and the users file subfolders. ( my docs, my pictures, my music, and my videos) Are these data files actually the same identical files found in different folders (Libraries and My Documents?
Aside from the above folders/libraries what other data files should be on the “data partition/drive”?
Thanks for your help!

 

[whs]

Thanks for your excellent tutorial!!

If I shrink the C drive and use it for W7 and program files and use the remaining logical partition/drive for all my data files-
Would the transfer of data files be a simple matter of cutting and pasting the libraries files from the C drive to the new D drive???
I am confused about what the difference is between the libraries folder and its subfolders (docs, pictures, music and videos libraries) and the users file subfolders. ( my docs, my pictures, my music, and my videos) Are these data files actually the same identical files found in different folders (Libraries and My Documents?
Aside from the above folders/libraries what other data files should be on the “data partition/drive”?
Thanks for your help!

You bettter not move your data with cut/paste. The system will lose the path. You have to use the folder Properties > Location tab > Move. But make sure, you move them to a defined folder in your data partition and NOT to the partition itself. This is important - else you get a mess. What you do is define folders in your data partition like Documents, Music, Videos, etc and then you move Documents, Music Videos, etc. to the corresponding folders (with Move in Properties). Any folder that has a Location tab can be moved that way. If you want to have more instructions, view my 12 minute video that I made for the purpose.
As far as Libraries go, they cannot be moved. They are just an index of the folders in the system. Libraries themselves do not contain any data.