How to Partition an External Hard Drive in Windows 11/10/8/7

Updated by

Tracy King 

Written by

Linda 

Updated on April 22, 2024

How do I partition an external hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7? Follow this page, and you'll get a comprehensive guide on how to partition an external hard drive, enabling it for immediate file storage. Here's an overview of all the essentials required for this task:

Also works for: Partition a Hard Drive in Windows 11/10/8/7, partition HDD/SSD, USB hard drive without losing data, repartition hard drive.

How to Partition an External Hard Drive Without Losing Data

Applies to: Create and manage partitions on an external hard drive in Windows 10/8/7.

Here, in this section, we'll introduce three reliable methods to you: Partition Master, Windows Disk Management, and DiskPart. Each tool can help you effectively partition an external hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7. Choose one of the listed methods and follow the respective guide to create partitions on your disk now.

注意: These three methods progress from easiest to more complex. If you're not familiar with disk management or DiskPart, we recommend going with Method 1 and using a partition manager software for assistance. Also, remember to back up your files on the external hard drive beforehand.

Method 1. Partition External Hard Drive with Tools Partition Master

Works with: Partitioning external hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, as well as Windows Server editions.

In comparison with Windows Disk Management and DiskPart, Partition Master is the easiest tool for partitioning an external hard drive. It allows users to resize, create, format, or delete partitions with just a few clicks.

Moreover, it provides a New Disk Guide feature to help you partition a new disk with just one click. Download, install, and activate the software on your computer, and let's see how to create partitions on your external hard drive:

If you have a brand new external hard drive, connect it to your computer via a USB connection cable and immediately partition it with just one click:

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, go to Partition Manager, and click “Partition this disk” on the pop-up New Disk Wizard window.

Step 2. Determine the number of partitions you need and select the partition style for your disk - MBR or GPT.

Alternatively, you can go with the default settings provided by Partition Master. When ready, click “Proceed”.

Step 3. Click "Execute 1 Task" and "Apply" to complete the partitioning of the new HDD/SSD or external drive.

If you find this method effective in partitioning and creating a new volume on your external hard drive, share it with your friends to help them easily partition any storage devices:

Tutorial 2: How to Partition a Used External Hard Drive in 3 Steps

If you've been using an external hard drive for a while and need to repartition it, follow the tutorial below to create partitions on it. This method also works for partitioning an existing internal hard drive.

Video Tutorial:

Step-by-step Guide:

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant to check for free space at the Partition Management section.

If your hard drive has unallocated space, skip to Step 3 to create a partition. If the hard drive has no unallocated space, proceed with Step 2.

Step 2. Shrink a disk partition to create unallocated space.

Right-click the target drive partition with much free space and select “Resize/Move”.

Drag either end of the partition to shrink its size and create enough unallocated space. You can see the reduced size in the “Partition Size” section. Click “OK.”

Click "Execute xx Task," then "Apply" to save all changes.

Return to Partition Manager, there should be unallocated space on the same disk and you can proceed to the next step to create new partition on your hard drive.

Step 3. Create a new partition with the unallocated space on the target hard drive.

Right-click on the unallocated space and choose "Create".

Create Partition Step 1

In Advanced Settings, customize the partition size, partition drive letter, partition label, file system (NTFS, FAT32, EXT2/3/4, exFAT), and more. Click "OK".

Lastly, click “Execute * Task” and “Apply” to finish creating a partition with the unallocated space on your disk. Repeat these steps to partition a hard drive and create even more partitions.

Meanwhile, tools also contains some advanced features to help you manage disk more properly, such as:

• Hide or wipe a partition
• Merge two partitions into one
• Convert dynamic disk to basic or vice versa
• Transfer OS to SSD, etc.

Some of these featured options are not available in Disk Management or DiskPart.

Method 2: Create Partition on External Hard Disk Using Disk Management

Disk Management is a built-in partition management utility in Windows 10/8/7. It offers users basic features to manage disks for free, such as extending or shrinking a volume, creating a new partition, altering drive letters and paths, and converting a hard disk to dynamic, etc.

Connect your external hard drive to the PC and follow the steps to learn how to partition an external hard drive on your own now.

< strong > Partition External Hard Drive in Windows 10:

Step 1. In Windows 10, right-click on "This PC" > Select "Manage" > Disk Management.

Step 2. To create a new partition, right-click on the unallocated space of your external hard drive and select "New Simple Volume".

If you have a partition on the drive and want to create a second partition, right-click the external hard drive and select “Shrink Volume”.

Enter the amount of space you want to shrink in MB as shown below, then click on the Shrink button. Repeat this process to create a new volume.

Step 3. Click Next to enter the New Simple Volume Wizard, and set the volume size.

Step 4. Assign a "Drive Letter or Path", then set the partition file system as NTFS. Click "Finish" to complete creating a new partition in Windows 10.

If this method helps resolve the issue, feel free to share this solution online to assist more friends around you:

< strong > Partition external hard drive in Windows 8: < /strong >

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your Windows 8 PC, and press Windows + R keys.

Step 2. Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter to open Disk Management.

Step 3. Right-click on the unallocated space of the external hard drive, and select "New Simple Volume".

Step 4. Enter the volume size in MB, then click "Next" to continue.

Step 5. Set the drive letter as NTFS and click “Finish”.

To partition an external hard drive in Windows 7:

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to the Windows 7 computer and right-click "My Computer".

Step 2. Select "Manage" and click "Disk Management".

Step 3. Right-click on the unallocated space of your external hard drive, and select "New Simple Volume...".

Step 4. Specify the volume size, then click "Next" to continue.

Step 5. Assign a drive letter and set the file system as NTFS, then click “Finish”.

Method 3: Create Partition on External Hard Drive via DiskPart

Some advanced users may prefer to use DiskPart to manage their hard disks. If you're one of them, connect your external hard drive to your PC and follow the steps below to manage and create partitions on it.

Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows Search box, right-click Command Prompt and select "Run as Administrator".

Step 2. Type diskpart in Command Prompt and press Enter.

Step 3. Type the commands one by one and press Enter after each to create and format new partitions on your new disk:

Translate the following commands into English:
• list disk
• select disk 0 (Replace 0 with the disk number of your external hard drive.)
• create partition primary size=*** (Note that the size needs to be in MB.)
• assign letter=H (Replace H with a new letter for your external hard drive.)
• format fs=ntfs quick

Step 4. After this, type exit to close DiskPart.

Create new partition on external hard drive

After this, you can use the external hard drive to save files or transfer data without any limitations.

Why and When Do You Need to Partition An External Hard Drive

Computer users, especially most Windows users, are used to creating 2-5 partitions on a hard drive for different purposes. Usually, a new hard drive comes with a single primary C drive, so you need to create partitions like D, E, F, G yourself.

For an external hard drive connected, you can follow the same process to create as many partitions as needed. When and why would you require partitioning an existing external or internal hard drive? Find out more in this detailed explanation:

Here is a list of advantages that will explain why and when users should partition an external hard drive:

Here are the translations for the given text in English:
• Organize and save data properly: store working files and personal data on separate volumes.
• Save backups and daily files on different volumes.
• Ensure data security.
• Enhance external hard drive performance.

If you have the same needs, you'll need a reliable way to partition your external hard drive. We've discussed and provided 3 reliable partition tools above, and you can directly apply any one to address this issue efficiently.

Conclusion

This article focuses on how to partition an external hard drive, such as an HDD, SSD, USB drive, or Removable disk, in Windows 11/10/8/7. To accomplish this task, the page presents three capable disk partitioning utilities: 1. Tool: tools Partition Master Free 2. Windows Disk Management 3. DiskPart utility

All of the recommended tools are capable of solving the problem of partitioning a new & old external hard drive into multiple partitions.

For Windows beginners, Partition Master should be the best one to try. Its New Disk Guide feature simplifies the entire partitioning process into just one click.

Frequently Asked Questions About Partitioning External Hard Drive

If you have more questions regarding managing external hard drives, browse through and find satisfactory answers below:

1. How to delete a partition on an external hard drive in Windows 10?

There are three methods you can try to remove a partition on an external drive in Windows 10: 1. Using Partition Master software; 2. Utilizing Windows 10 Disk Management; 3. Employing Windows 10 Command Prompt.

For a free solution, you can try using Disk Management:

Here are the translations for the provided text into English:
1. In Windows 10, you can easily open the Disk Management console by right-clicking the Start button and selecting the "Disk Management" option from the Start menu.
2. In Disk Management, locate the external hard disk and the partition you wish to remove.
3. Right-click on the partition and choose "Delete Volume" from the context menu.

For more information, refer to How to Remove Partition on External Hard Drive in Windows 10 for assistance.

< strong > 2. How to format an external hard drive? < /strong >

Here are the translations for the given languages: 1. To format a new external hard drive: Follow the steps on this page to partition the disk initially and format it during the process. 2. To format a used external hard drive: Utilize File Explorer, right-click on the external hard disk, select "Format," set its file system to NTFS, and then click "Start."

For more details, you may follow How to Format (External) Hard Drive in Windows 10 for help.

3. How to fix an unallocated external hard drive?

If your external hard drive suddenly becomes unallocated or shows up as unallocated in Windows 10/8/7 PC, you can try the following three steps:

Step 1: Recover data from unallocated space on the external hard drive.

Step 2: Create a new partition on the unallocated disk.

You can follow the step-by-step guide in Repair Unallocated External Hard Drive without Losing Data.