Windows 10 Disk Management — The Built-in Disk Partition Manager

Windows 10 Disk Management is a built-in tool which can be used to create, delete, format, extend and shrink partitions, and initialize a new hard drive as MBR or GPT.

By AOMEI / Last Updated November 27, 2020

About Windows 10 Disk Management

Windows 10 is the latest Operating System (OS) released by Microsoft. It improves much compared with Windows 8 such as adding the Start Menu seen in Windows 7, a virtual desktop system, a voice assistant named Cortana, Xbox app and streaming, and Edge browser.

Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows 10 which is widely known by PC users. It is able to help you manage hard disk partitions without rebooting system and any interruption. It is a convenient tool for Windows 10 users. The features of Windows 10 Disk Management are as follows:

Create, delete and format partitions.

Change drive letter and paths.

Mark partition as active.

Explore partition to view files.

Extend and shrink partition.

Initialize a brand new disk before you can use it.

Convert empty MBR to GPT disk, and vice versa.

Convert empty dynamic disk to basic disk.

Extend Partition with Windows 10 Disk Management

Maybe most of Windows 10 desktop and laptop users have come across the problem of low disk space, especially for system partition. With Disk Management in Windows 10, you can reduce the influence of low disk space in some ways. To use this tool, you should know how to open Windows 10 Disk Management, so we introduce 3 ways for you.

Way 1: The easiest way to open Disk Management in Windows 10 is from computer Desktop. Right click on Start Menu (or press Windows+X hotkey) and then select «Disk Management».

Way 2: Use Windows+R hotkey to open Run window. Then type «Diskmgmt.msc» and click «OK» or hit «Enter» key.

Way 3: Directly type «disk management» in the Search box and choose «Create and format hard disk partitions» from the results.

After you open Disk Management, right click the partition you would like to expand and then choose Extend Volume (e.g. C partition).

When you use Windows 10 Disk Management to extend a partition, sometimes you may find the Extend Volume option is grayed out.

Is there something wrong with this tool? No, the reason is that the function of Extend Volume in Windows 10 is only available when there is contiguous unallocated space behind the partition you would like to extend. What can you do when you don’t have unallocated space on hard drive?

Better partition&disk management tool for Windows 10/8/7

Fortunately, the third-party disk partition software — AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional allows you to extend partition whether or not there is unallocated space next to the partition you plan to extend. What’s more, you can even enlarge partition without unallocated space on hard drive. The following will show you 2 methods to extend partition with Partition Assistant.

Method 1: Extend partition when there is non-contiguous unallocated space

Before you do:

You can merge one or more parts of unallocated space into a partition.

«System Reserved» partition could not be merged.

If there is running applications in the partition you are going to operate, AOMEI Partition Assistant will suggest you to close them or perform the operation under PreOS Mode.

If there is no unallocated space on the disk, please go to Method 2.

Step1. Install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and launch it. Right click on the partition you need to extend (e.g. D Drive) and choose Merge Partitions.

Step2. Tick the checkbox before the unallocated space and then click OK.

Step3. Now you can preview the unallocated space that has been added into C drive. To save the change, please click Apply button at the top left corner.

Method 2: Extend partition when there is no unallocated space

Before you do:

If there are four primary partitions on a MBR disk, and you want to split one of them, the partition that is being split will be converted to logical partition automatically.

If one disk has four primary partitions, the program would not allow you to split the system partition or boot partition, unless you could convert one of other partitions from primary to logical partition, and then the program will allow you to split system partition. The new generated partition will be automatically set as logical partition.

Step1. Open this software, right-click a partition which has enough space (here is D partition) and then choose Allocate Free Space.

Step2. Enter the size of free space you would like to add into another partition (here is C drive), and then click OK.

Step3. Now you can preview that some free space has been allocated to C drive from D partition. Click Apply to save the changes. Then you will extend partition C.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro Vs Windows 10 Disk Management

From the table, you can see AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro is more powerful than Window 10 Disk Management. Besides, it is more freely for you to any operation without losing any data. Therefore, as a user who requires many advanced features, AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro is a good choice. Besides, if you are a Windows Server user, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server is worth trying.

How to Partition a Hard Drive

Hard drives must be partitioned before being formatted in Windows

What to Know

• The first thing to do after installing a hard drive is to partition it.
• To partition a drive, open Disk Management, select the drive, create a volume at the size you want, and select a drive letter.
• You’ll want to format the drive next unless you have advanced plans for the partition but that’s not very common.

This article describes how to partition a hard drive in Windows 10, Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

What Is Partitioning?

To partition a hard drive in Windows means to section off a part of it and make that part available to the operating system.

In other words, a hard drive isn’t useful to your operating system until it’s partitioned. Additionally, it’s not available to you to store files on until you format it (which is another, just as simple process).

Most of the time, this «part» of the hard drive is the entire usable space, but creating multiple partitions on a hard drive is also possible so that you can store backup files in one partition, movies in another, etc.

Manually partitioning (as well as formatting) a hard drive is not necessary if your end goal is to install Windows onto the drive. Both of those processes are included as part of the installation procedure, meaning you don’t need to prepare the drive yourself. See How to Clean Install Windows for more help.

How to Partition a Hard Drive in Windows

Don’t worry if this process sounds a bit more complicated than you thought because it’s not. Partitioning a hard drive in Windows isn’t at all hard and usually only takes a few minutes to do.

Here’s how to do it:

These instructions apply to Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Open Disk Management, the tool included in all versions of Windows that lets you partition drives, among a number of other things.

In Windows 10 and Windows 8/8.1, the Power User Menu is the easiest way to start Disk Management. You can also start Disk Management via command-line in any version of Windows, but the Computer Management method is probably best for most people.

When Disk Management opens, you should see an Initialize Disk window with the message «You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it.»

In Windows XP, you’ll see an Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard screen instead. Follow that wizard, making sure to not select the option to «convert» the disk, unless you’re sure you need to. Skip to Step 4 when done.

Don’t worry if this window doesn’t appear. There are legitimate reasons you may not see it—we’ll know soon if there’s a problem or not. Skip down to Step 4 if you don’t see this.

On this screen, you’re asked to choose a partition style for the new hard drive. Choose GPT if the new hard drive you installed is 2 TB or larger. Choose MBR if it’s smaller than 2 TB.

Choose OK after making your selection.

Locate the hard drive you want to partition from the drive map at the bottom of the Disk Management window.

You might need to maximize the Disk Management or Computer Management window to see all the drives on the bottom. An unpartitioned drive will not show up in the drive list at the top of the window.

If the hard drive is new, it will probably be on a dedicated row labeled Disk 1 (or 2, etc.) and will say Unallocated. If the space you want to partition is part of an existing drive, you’ll see Unallocated next to existing partitions on that drive.

If you don’t see the drive you want to partition, you may have installed it incorrectly. Turn off your computer and double-check that the hard drive is properly installed.

Once you’ve found the space you want to partition, tap-and-hold or right-click anywhere on it, and choose New Simple Volume.

In Windows XP, the option is called New Partition.

Choose Next > on the New Simple Volume Wizard window that appeared.

In Windows XP, a Select Partition Type screen appears next, where you should choose Primary partition. The Extended partition option is useful only if you’re creating five or more partitions on a single physical hard drive. Select Next > after making the selection.

Choose Next > on the Specify Volume Size step to confirm the size of the drive you’re creating.

The default size that you see in the Simple volume size in MB: field should equal the amount shown in the Maximum disk space in MB: field. This means that you’re creating a partition that equals the total available space on the physical hard drive.

You’re welcome to create multiple partitions, that will eventually become multiple, independent drives in Windows. To do so, calculate how many and how large you want those drives to be and repeat these steps to create those partitions. For example, if the drive is 61437 MB and you want to partitions, specify an initial size of 30718 to partition only half the drive, and then repeat the partitioning again for the rest of the Unallocated space.

Select Next > on the Assign Drive Letter or Path step, assuming the default drive letter you see is OK with you.

Windows automatically assigns the first available drive letter, skipping A & B, which on most computers will be D or E. You’re welcome to set the Assign the following drive letter option to anything that’s available.

You’re also welcome to change the letter assigned to this hard drive later on if you want. See How to Change Drive Letters in Windows for help doing that.

Choose Do not format this volume on the Format Partition step, and then select Next >.

If you know what you’re doing, feel free to format the drive as part of this process. However, since this tutorial focuses on partitioning a hard drive in Windows, we’ve left the formatting to another tutorial, linked in the last step below.

Verify your choices on the Completing the New Simple Volume Wizard screen, which should look something like this:

• Volume Type: Simple Volume
• Disk selected: Disk 1
• Volume size: 61437 MB
• Drive letter or path: F:
• File system: None
• Allocation unit size: Default

Because your computer and hard drive are unlikely exactly like mine, expect your Disk selected, Volume size, and Drive letter or path values to be different than what you see here. File system: None just means that you’ve decided not to also format the drive right now.

Choose Finish and Windows will partition the drive, a process that will only take a few seconds on most computers.

You might notice that your cursor is busy during this time. Once you see the new drive letter (F: in our example) appear in the listing at the top of Disk Management, then you know the partitioning process is complete.

Next, Windows will try to open the new drive automatically. However, since it’s not yet formatted and can’t be used, you’ll see this message instead: «You need to format the disk in drive F: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?»

This only happens in Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. You won’t see this in Windows Vista or Windows XP and that’s perfectly fine. Just skip to the last step below if you’re using one of those versions of Windows.

Select Cancel and then proceed to Step 14 below.

If you’re familiar with the concepts involved with formatting a hard drive, feel free to choose Format disk instead. You can use our tutorial linked in the next step as a general guide if you need to.

Continue to our How to Format a Hard Drive in Windows tutorial for instructions on formatting this partitioned drive so you can use it.

Advanced Partitioning

Windows doesn’t allow for anything but very basic partition management after you create one, but a number of software programs exist that can help if you need them.

See our Free Disk Partition Management Software for Windows list for updated reviews on these tools and more information on what exactly you can do with them.

Features	AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro	Windows 10 Disk Management
Create partition, delete partition, format partition, change drive letter
Extend/Shrink NTFS partition
Extend/Shrink FAT32 partition
Merge partitions, merge unallocated space, move partition
Allocate free space from one partition to another
Convert MBR to GPT disk, convert GPT to MBR disk without data loss
Convert dyanmic disk to basic disk without data loss
Convert primary to logical partition, convert logical to primary partition
Convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting
Migrate OS to SSD or HDD
Make Windows PE bootable disc
Partition recovery
Copy disk, copy partition
Change serial number, change partition type ID
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