How to Partition Windows Disk Drive Using Windows Setup, Shrink Volume and Easeus Partition Master

If you choose to partition a new disk drive during Windows installation, the process should run flawlessly. If however, you do it months or weeks later, it will be necessary to first transfer accumulated files in the Desktop and Documents folders to an external storage device.

Further still, a disk drive with old Windows installation gradually generates unmovable files across the disk drive surface which will result in undesired partition sizes.

Disk drive partition can be done within Windows operating system or using third party software tools like EASUS Partition Master.

Using Windows operating system, you can partition the hard disk drive during Windows setup or using the Shrink volume tool.

When you run Windows setup from DVD or USB, choose Custom (Advanced) when you reach that stage in Setup which asks you to select type of installation.

Unlike the Upgrade option, Custom (Advanced) install allows you to configure partitions manually.

Suppose the hard drive is new or unused, you will see Disc 0 unallocated, but different partitions will show up in case the hard drive is partitioned.

Click Drive Options (Advanced) and you will see New, in the next window. Click on the option and a new window with partition options will pop up.

Type in the size of partition for Windows and the rest will be part of the new backup partition.

In Windows 7, C: Windows partition will be labeled partition 2 and a 100MB mandatory System Reserved area will also be created, named partition 1.

Go ahead and format the unallocated partition, or you can do this later using the Disk Management tool. If you choose to partition it at this stage, it will read Partition 3.

Finally, highlight Partition 2 and click Next to start installing Windows 7.

NOTE: In this example, I have used 25GB disk drive for illustration purposes only since I was running setup inside a Virtual Box. Your hard drive should be much bigger.

Windows Shrink is available under Disk Management in Windows 7. You can access the Disk Management tool by clicking the Start button and typing diskmgmt.msc in the text box. Otherwise right click Computer icon on the Desktop and select Manage.

When inside Disk management, right click the main partition (usually C: drive) and select Shrink volume from the drop down menu. (see image below) The tool will query the hard drive for available disk space. Shrink will then display the partition size it thinks is good enough, vis a vis the unmovable files.

Click Shrink and the partition process will initiate.

When the Shrink process is complete, the Disk Management tool will display new partitions as unallocated.

Right-click the new partition and select Format from the drop down menu. Once the format process is complete, the new partition should show in the Computer shortcut.

Third-party software can partition a disk drive disk better than Windows tools because it allows for desirable partition sizes.

Using Easeus Partition Master, you can re-size the disk drive visually by dragging the volume boundary, and unlike the Shrink tool which limits partition size to what is permissible by Windows, Easeus allows you to re-size the partition to any size.

NOTE:

Back up your data before partitioning Windows C: disk drive using any third party software. From user experience, one simple error during the partitioning process can render the Windows installation corrupt. You will have to reinstall Windows in order to use the computer.

Whereas you are at liberty to effect partitions of your choice, it is important to keep the Windows C: drive partition large enough. At most, Windows 7 installation takes up to 15GB of your hard drive space and it is good practice to give drive space allowance for Program Files and Page File/Swap Partition.

Therefore, a 20GB partition is too small for Windows and Program files while 50GB may fill up quite soon. As a rule of thumb do not partition an 80GB hard drive and when you have 500GB drive installed in your computer, give 100GB to Windows C: drive.

You should also watch out for Recovery Partition which usually goes unnoticed during Windows Setup or in Disk Management. If you delete it, you will not be able to access the preinstalled software when running another Windows setup in future!

You also cannot create more than four primary partitions in a Windows 7 MBR disk. Yes, Windows 7 can handle more partitions using GPT disk system but quite limited when installed on an MBR disk system.

A GPT disk system can handle many primary partitions but not extended partitions and logical partitions. Remember that MBR supports primary and extended partitions, with the latter capable of handling as many logical partitions.