How to Partition a USB Drive on Windows 10: A Step-by-Step Guide

Updated By

Sherly 

Written By

Cici 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Hard disk partitioning refers to the creation of multiple independent areas on a single hard drive, facilitating file management and usage. A USB drive is a common storage device that plays a significant role in data storage and file management.

This article will discuss the reasons for partitioning a USB drive and how to partition a USB drive on Windows 10.

Why Should You Partition a USB Drive in Windows 10?

Partitioning a USB drive refers to the process of dividing, expanding, deleting, or creating partitions on a USB drive to manage it better. Usually, a new USB drive doesn't need to be partitioned. So, why would you want to partition a USB drive? Here are some reasons that might prompt you to do so:

• Create a Bootable USB Drive
• Maximize the space on your USB drive
• Change the file system format of the USB drive
• Organize the storage volumes on your USB drive

Partitioning a USB drive isn't a tough task. In the next part, I'll show you how to partition a USB drive in Windows 10.

How to Partition a USB Drive for Windows 10 - Three Methods

There are three ways to partition a USB drive on Windows 10. You can use two built-in tools or professional partition software.

Method 1: Partition the USB Drive via Tools - For All Users

Method 2: Partition the USB drive via Disk Management - For experienced users.

Method 3: Partition USB drive via Diskpart - For advanced users only.

If you're not comfortable with computer operations, I highly recommend using the Partition Master tool - a reliable and comprehensive disk management software. It simplifies the process of partitioning USB drives.

Let's see how these three methods work.

Method one: Partition the USB drive using the tool Partition Master.

AOMEI Partition Assistant is a professional disk partition manager. It can improve the performance of your USB drive by partitioning it, and it removes limitations of the Windows disk tools, e.g., creating a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB.

Follow these steps to partition the USB drive:

Step 1: Run AOMEI Partition Assistant and view the free space of the hard disk in "Partition Management".

• If your hard drive has unallocated space, skip to step 3 to create a partition. • If your hard drive has no unallocated space, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Shrink the disk partition to create unallocated space.

Right-click on the target disk partition with lots of free space, and select “Resize/Move.”

Drag the partition to the right or left to shrink it, thus freeing up unallocated space. You can see how much you've reduced the size by in the “Size” area. Click “OK.”

Click “Perform XX Task” and then click “Apply” to save all the changes.

Back in the “Disk Management” utility, you should see an “Unallocated” space on the same drive, and you can proceed to create a new partition on the hard drive.

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

Right-click the unallocated space, and then select "New".

Create partition step 1

Customize the partition size, drive letter, label, and file system (NTFS, FAT32, EXT2/3/4, or exFAT) under “Advanced Settings.” Click “OK.”

Finally, click “Execute Tasks” and “Apply” to create the partition using the unallocated space on your disk. Repeat these steps to partition the hard drive and create more partitions.

Create Partition Step 3

AOMEI Partition Assistant is a powerful disk and partition management tool that can also repair damaged USB drives. Whatever issues you encounter, you can usually find a solution with AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Method 2: Partition the USB drive using Disk Management

What is Disk Management? It is a utility offered by Windows 10 that lets you shrink, expand, and create partitions on a USB drive. You can use the "New Simple Volume" feature to partition a USB drive.

Step 1: Connect the USB drive that you want to partition to your Windows computer.

Step 2. Right-click the Windows icon and select "Disk Management."

Step 3: Right-click on the unallocated space and select “New Simple Volume”.

Click on "New Simple Volume" to proceed.

Specify the size of the volume you want to create, then choose “Next.”

Step 5: Assign a drive letter to the USB drive and click Next.

Step 6: After selecting the USB disk format, click “Next.”

Step 7. Click “Finish” to complete the partitioning of the USB drive on Windows.

Method 3: Partition USB drive via Diskpart

The Diskpart command is a tool provided by Windows for advanced users. Through the command line, you can do more with USB partitions, but the commands are complex and need to be typed carefully.

Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and open the "Run" window.

Step 2: Type "diskpart", and press Enter.

Step 3: Type each of the following commands, pressing Enter after each one.

4. Type **exit** and press **Enter** to finish partitioning the USB drive.

Conclusions

This article introduces the necessity of partitioning a USB drive and presents three methods to partition a USB. Among them, Partition Master is a tool that can meet various partition needs and is user-friendly.

Diskpart and Disk Management should meet most of your partitioning needs. If you have more specific questions about USB drive partitioning, read on.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Partition a USB Drive in Windows 10

Here are three common questions about USB drives that might be helpful to you.

< strong > 1. Can I partition a USB flash drive? < /strong >

Indeed, it is possible to partition a USB flash drive. You can create a new partition on your new USB or shrink the USB partition and check the available partition size.

How do I create partitions on a USB drive?

This article describes three methods to partition a USB drive. The easiest way is to use the Partition Master tool to partition the USB. You can also create partitions on the USB using Disk Management.

Step 1. Plug the USB drive into your computer.

Step 2: Select the "Unallocated" space on the USB device, then choose "New Simple Volume."

Step 3. Follow the wizard to set the size and drive letter for your USB drive's partition.

How do I format my USB device to FAT32?

If your USB drive is not formatted to FAT32, you can directly use the Partition Master tool to convert NTFS to FAT32 without losing data. Alternatively, you can use the “Format” feature in Disk Management.