How to Create More Than 4 Partitions on an MBR Disk - 2 Working Methods

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Sherly 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

Are you looking for how to create more than 4 partitions on an MBR disk? If there are already four primary partitions on your MBR disk, Disk Management will not allow you to create another one on the same disk. What should you do then? You can find the answer in this article. First, let's learn more about MBR disks.

Can we create more than four partitions on an MBR disk?

Sure. However, you may find the “New Simple Volume” option grayed out or receive a warning message saying “The disk contains an maximum number of partitions.” Why do these errors occur? How many partitions can Windows 10 have? Keep reading to find out.

There is a limit to the number of partitions you can have on an MBR disk ( Master Boot Record ) versus a GPT disk. A table can help illustrate the differences.

As you can see, MBR has serious limitations in terms of the number of partitions you can create. If you reach the maximum limit of partitions on an MBR disk, you will receive an error message. On the other hand, on a GPT disk (click to know what is a GPT disk), there's no distinction between “primary” and “logical” partitions, and you can have up to 128 partitions. If you want to learn more about the differences between GPT and MBR, this link will be inspiring.

MBR vs GPT | What Are the Differences and Which Is Better

MBR and GPT are two popular partition styles on Windows computers. They are standards for the layout of storage devices like HDDs or SSDs.

Back to today's topic, now that we know it's possible to create more than four partitions on an MBR disk, how can we achieve this? You could choose to convert MBR to GPT during the Windows installation to resolve this issue. But if you don't want to change your MBR disk, keep reading. The following section will provide you with two effective methods to create additional partitions without converting the MBR disk to GPT.

How to Create More Than 4 Partitions on an MBR Disk?

This part will introduce you to two effective ways to accomplish this task. You will learn how to create more than four partitions using the built-in Windows tool called "Disk Management" and a third-party tool called "Partition Master Professional."

Method 1: Create more than 4 partitions with Partition Master tool

Method 2: Create More than Four Partitions with Disk Management

If you're not sure which one to choose, read on and you'll find out Partition Master is the better option.

Since disk management requires that you delete a primary partition before you can create a new one, data loss is inevitable. Remember to back up your data, or use the Partition Master tool, which allows for more than four partitions on an MBR disk without any data loss. Let's see how to use it.

Method 1: Create More than 4 Partitions with Partition Master

AOMEI Partition Assistant is a professional disk management tool for all Windows users. It's user-friendly, and you can create more than four partitions on an MBR disk by simply converting the primary partition to a logical one. It helps you create more partitions without losing data and supports all Windows versions, including Windows 10/8.1/8/7, Windows Vista, and even Windows XP.

Now, download and create the partitions according to one of these two tutorials:

Tip 1: Convert Primary Partitions to Logical Drives

Step 1. Download and run Partition Master, and then enter "Partition Manager".

Step 2: Right-click the partition you want to convert and select "Advanced," then choose the conversion option:

• 1. Primary to Logical
• 2. Logical to Primary

Step 3: Click the Run 1 Task button and choose Apply to start the conversion.

0:00 - 0:30 Translate the major into the logical; 0:31 - 0:50 translate the logical into the major.

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Then you can locate the logical partition and create more partitions as described in the instructions below.

Tip 2: Create a new partition

Step 1. Launch Partition Master. On the main interface, right-click unallocated space on the hard drive or external storage device and select "Create".

Step 2. Adjust the size of the new partition, the file system (choose the appropriate one for your needs), label, etc., and click OK to continue.

Step 3: Click the Run 1 Task button, and then create a new partition by clicking Apply.

Watch the following video tutorial to learn how to create a partition on an NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.

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After going through this process, you will have created the partition you wanted. Let's see what else this tool can do for us.

"Features of Other Partition Master Tools"

• Extend MBR Partition
• Rebuild MBR or fix it
• Initialize disk as MBR or GPT
• Set partition style to MBR or GPT
• Convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11

So download the tool and give it a try. You'll love this handy helper.

Method 2: Create More Than Four Partitions Using Disk Management

What is Disk Management? It's also a built-in disk management tool in Windows system, but it can't help you determine whether the disk is MBR or GPT. However, you can create more than 4 partitions with it. If you have 4 primary partitions on an MBR disk, you need to delete one primary partition to create more logical partitions. Remember to back up data in advance.

OK, try using Disk Management now according to this guide.

Step 1: Right-click the “Start” icon and select “Disk Management.”

Step 2. Right-click the partition you want to delete and select “Delete Volume.”

Step 3: Click “OK” to confirm the deletion.

Step 4: Next, you should see the deleted partition as Unallocated space. Right-click on the “Unallocated” space and select “New Simple Volume”.

Step 5: In the New Simple Volume Wizard, choose the desired partition size.

Step 6: Assign the drive letter, and click “Next.”

Step 7. Choose an appropriate file system for the partition in the Format partition section.

Step 8: Click on “Finish” to conclude the process.

You can repeat this process to create more partitions using Disk Management. By the way, if you're an experienced computer user, you can also use Diskpart commands to create partitions, and here's a link to help you with that.

How to Create Volume and Partition with Diskpart? [Full Guide]

This page covers multiple Diskpart commands that you can use to create partitions and volumes with Diskpart as per the instructions here.

Conclusions

We just learned how to delete a partition with Disk Management and create a new one. However, instead of using this complicated method and losing all data in the primary partition, you can use a free partition manager – AOMEI Partition Assistant. With just a few clicks, it helps you convert primary partition to logical without data loss, then you can create more than 4 partitions in Windows 10.

FAQ on How to Create More Than 4 Partitions

Now you know how to create more than four partitions. This section lists three more exercises for those who wish to continue.

1. Can an MBR have more than four partitions?

Of course, although there is a limit to the number of primary partitions on an MBR disk, you can create multiple logical partitions, depending on the size of your drive.

How can I create more than four primary partitions?

You can convert an MBR to GPT. GPT disks allow you to create more than four primary partitions. On a GPT disk, you can create up to 128 primary partitions.

Why only four primary partitions?

This is due to the limitations of MBR disks. An MBR disk only allows you to have four primary partitions. Alternatively, you can choose to create three primary partitions and one extended partition on an MBR disk. You can convert an MBR disk to a GPT disk to work around this limitation.