How to Partition a Hard Drive with Data on it in Windows 10, 8, 7?

What is the disk partition?

The disk partition is an operation to divide the total storage of a hard disk or other storage devices into different pieces, which are called partitions. In this way, the operating system can manage information in each partition separately.

Can you partition a hard drive with data on it?

The computer becomes increasingly important in daily life or work. It can do a great benefit for you. But it's not perfect. For example, If your hard drive only has one partition, your data will lose forever once something unexpected happens. Now, here comes a question: how to partition a hard drive without losing data?

In Disk Management, you can shrink a partition to get some unallocated space, then create a partition. But you are only allowed to shrink a partition to the location of unmovable files. Sometimes, the space you are allowed to shrink is zero. Thus, Disk Management is not a great choice.

To partition a hard drive without losing data in Windows 10/8/7, I recommend you partition manager AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Why do you need to partition a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7?

1. Ensure the security of your data.

If your computer only has one partition and you save both the operating system and data on it, you may lose all once something bad happens. But if you have one more partition, everything will be different. Even if your system partition crashes, it does not affect your data partition.

2. Maximize the performance of your computer.

When you save more and more files o your computer, you may find your computer works slower or already receive a low disk space warning. Furthermore, In Windows 10, if your disk is out of space, you are not allowed to use some programs. It's annoying.

To fix this problem, you can repartition the hard drive. After that, your computer can work more efficiently.

How to: partition a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7 without losing data

Great partition manager: AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional

Similar to Disk Management, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a disk & partition management tool. But it's more useful. With it, you can repartition a hard drive without effort. What's more, you can enjoy more features, such as Resize Partition, Move Partition, Merge Partition, Convert NTFS to FAT32, Copy Partition, etc.

Detailed steps to partition internal or external hard drive

PS.: you can download the demo version of  AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to have a try!

Step 1. Install and run the tool. Enter the main page of AOMEI Partition Assistant, click the hard drive you want to repartition, and select Split Partition.

Step 2. Specify a size for the new disk and click OK. If your disk is SSD, remember to tick the checkbox at the bottom of this window. It can accelerate the write and read speed of your disk.

Step 3. Preview the final result and click Apply to execute the operation. This is the last step to repartition your hard disk. Just click Proceed and wait for the result.

At the same time, you still can follow the steps above to partition an external hard drive without losing data on Windows 7/8/10. The difference is, you should plug the external hard drive into your computer before repartitioning and ensure it can be recognized by your computer.

Summary

Want to partition a hard drive with data on it? You can use the partition manager AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It's very easy, even for a beginner. All the steps can be finished in a few steps.

After you partition a hard drive with data on it, you will get more partition and gain great performance. And you can save data on the different partition. Even if something unexpected happens, your data are safe.

Aside by that, you still can enjoy more features in this software. You can create partition, move partition, resize partition, migrate os to SSD, etc.