How To Create Two Partitions

One way to organize your hard drive is to create partitions. When you create a partition, the partitions are treated as separate drives, which are assigned a letter to differentiate them from one another. A maximum of four partitions is allowed.

Having two partitions in your hard drive is a good idea. For example, you can store all your Windows operating system (OS) files in one partition and all the other types of files (software and data) in the other partition. Partitioning your hard drive is one way to effectively manage your hard drive and keep it organized.

Here are the steps in creating two partition

* Backup all your data. Before you even begin, create a back up of all the data in your hard drive. This ensures that if anything goes wrong in the partitioning process, you can still retrieve all your programs and data files.
* Open the “Run” command prompt. You can find the “Run” command prompt under the “Start” menu. Click on the “Start” button then find the word “Run…” Click on this to bring out the “Run” dialog box.
* Load the Computer Management Console. In the “Run” dialog box, across the word “Open,” type compmgmt.msc then click on the “OK” button or hit the “Enter” key. This file opens the Computer Management Console or Disk Management window that allows you to create a partition in your hard drive among other things.
* Select “Disk Management.” You can find this option under the heading “Storage” at the right side of the console. Once you click “Disk Management” you will see a graphical representation of your computer’s hard drive on the right side of the window. The properties of the hard drive are listed in this area. Just in case you don’t see this graphical view, click on “View” which is found on the menu bar. Select “Bottom” from the options then “Graphical View.”
* Start the New Partition Wizard. To begin the partitioning process, position the mouse pointer on an area of the drive that is not in use. Press the right mouse button then click on “New Partition.” Select “Next” to begin the New Partition Wizard.
* Choose your options for the new partition. There are several choices as far as the type of partition is concerned. There’s Primary, Logical or Extended partition. Select one of these then click “Next.” Specify the size of the new partition in megabytes (MB) then click “Next” again. Indicate the drive letter that you want assigned to the new partition. You can also have this assigned automatically by the computer.
* Specify the formatting options. You can either format the new partition thereby deleting all the contents of that partition or skip the formatting. If you choose to format the partition, provide a name that will appear as the volume label of the partition and choose the file system for the new partition. Formatting will take a few minutes. Click on “Finish” to complete the whole process. You will now have two partitions in your hard drive.
A computer’s hard drive can be partitioned so that it appears that you have more than one drive. Each partition is assigned its own drive letter (C:, D:, E: and so on) giving you a way to manage and organize your files more efficiently. Partitioning is easy to do. But always make sure to create a complete back up of all your existing files in the hard drive before you start the process.