How To Use Windows 7 Disk Management To Partition Hard Disk

I just bought a new USB 2.5" 500GB SATA external hard disk. Since disk size is big. I am thinking of partition it to 2 partitions so that I can use one partition to install Operation System and the other one to store data.

Since my current operation system is Windows 7, I will use the Disk Management Tool that comes with Windows 7 to do the job. The built-in disk manager of Windows 7 allows you to create partitions, allocate unallocated space, change the driver letter or start other related tasks.

Below are the steps to partition an external hard disk:

1. If it is a USB external hard disk, just plug it into one of the USB ports at the PC.

2. Click Start and enter diskmgmt.msc into the search field.


3. Once you hit "ENTER" after entering the diskmgmt.msc into the search field, the "Disk Management" window will be launched. The new external hard disk is one of the listed hard disks.


4. With mouse, right-click on the disk you want to partition, in my case, the DISK 1. Then select "Delete Volume" and confirm to delete the partion. The Disk 1 will become an Unallocated disk.


5. Similarly, with mouse, right-click on the unallocated disk (in my case disk 1)and select "New Simple Volume" from the pull up menu.


Follow the simple Wizard to assign the size of new partition, specify the file system to complete the new Volume creation. In my case, my new hard disk size is 500GB, I allocate 200GB for the first partition. Repeat step 5 for another partition that takes the rest of size as the 2nd partition.

Posted in: disk management,disk partition,Windows 7