We've always advocated keeping your docs, files and other data on a
separate drive to Windows and your applications. That way if something
goes wrong with Windows, your data is kept safe.
It's not always
viable to purchase a second internal hard drive for your PC though,
which is where partitioning comes in. Partitioning allows you to divide a
large hard drive into two or more smaller drives, each one to all
intents and purposes a separate physical drive.
In this tutorial
we'll show you how to divide a single drive into two partitions, then
move your data across to the new partition so Windows knows where to
find it.
The actual partitioning process is simple, but we
suggest caution following the tips in the annotation opposite if
unmovable files are preventing you from shrinking drive C: to an
acceptable size. You might find using Partition Wizard Home Edition
useful as well.
Step-by-step: Partition your hard drive in two
1. Review available drive space
Click
the 'File Explorer'/'Windows Explorer' icon in the Taskbar and select
'Computer' from the left-hand menu. Check the free space available for
the C: drive - remember, this drive needs to be large enough to hold all
your data. To get an idea of how much data you have, browse to
C:\Users, right-click your username and choose 'Properties' - you'll now
see the amount of space needed to proceed.
2. Move data to an external drive
If
your user folder is larger than the available free space on the C:
drive, you'll need to move some of its contents to an external hard
drive. Open the relevant folder - typically Documents, Pictures, Music
or Video - and move its contents into a folder of the same name on your
external drive. Repeat until the size of your user folder is smaller
than the drive's free space.
3. Open Disk Management
Windows
8 users should press [Windows]+[X] and select 'Disk Management' from
the Quick Access menu. For Windows 7 and Vista users, you'll need to
click 'Start', select 'Run' and type diskmgmt.msc
into the dialog box, before clicking 'OK'. When the Disk Management
window opens, right-click drive C: as shown in the screenshot above and
choose the 'Shrink Volume…' option.
4. Shrink drive
After
a short pause, Windows will display the maximum size that the C: drive
can be shrunk by. If this seems a little too small, the annotation above
will show you how to temporarily remove the files that are responsible.
If the figure is acceptable, click 'Shrink' - if it's too large, enter a
different figure in MB. The average user needs around 50GB (around
51,200MB) in total.
5. Create a new partition
Now
wait while Windows resizes the drive. When it's complete, you'll see a
new Unallocated section will appear next to the drive in the Disk
Management window. This will become your new data partition. To set it
up, right-click the empty space and choose 'New Simple Volume…' to start
the process of setting it up. Now click next on the New Simple Volume
Wizard.
6. Set up data partition
When
asked to specify the volume size, leave the default figure alone and
click 'Next'. If you want to assign drive letter D: to the new
partition, simply select 'Do not assign a drive letter or drive path'
for now and click 'Next'. Give the volume a suitable label (such as
'Data'), leave the other options as they appear and finally click
'Next', followed by 'Finish'.
7. Change drive letter
Locate
the drive that's been allocated the D: drive letter, then right-click
it and choose the 'Change Drive Letter and Paths…' option. Now click
'Change' to pick a new drive letter (such as 'Z') and click 'OK'
followed by 'Yes'. Now right-click your new data partition and select
'Change Drive Letter and Paths…' when you're done. Finally, click 'Add',
select drive D: and click 'OK'.
8. Move documents folder
Open
a folder window and browse to C:\Users\Yourusername. Right-click the
'Documents' folder and choose 'Properties'. Switch to the Location tab
and click 'Move'. Open your new drive and create a new folder with your
username. Create another folder inside it called 'Documents'. With this
folder selected, click 'Select Folder', then choose 'OK', followed by
'Yes'.
9. Move other folders
Once
the files have been moved to your data partition, repeat the same
process for all the other user folders you need: typically Desktop,
Downloads, Pictures, Music and Videos, but you might also consider using
Contacts, Favourites and Saved Games, too. Once done, transfer back any
files you moved to your external drive into the relevant folders on
your data partition.
10. Finishing touches
Congratulations,
you've set up a data partition on your drive to keep your documents and
other files separate from Windows. You can now take a drive image of
your Windows partition using the incredibly useful Windows Backup tool
(or by using third-party programs, such as Macrium Reflect Free) and
restore this image in future without ever having to touch your files.
