How to Partition C Drive in Windows 10 Without Formatting

While using a computer device, you will often need to partition your hard drive for a variety of reasons. Typically, you will need to format your Windows 10 OS for partitioning the hard drive. In case you don’t know, formatting the device will erase all the data from your storage.So, How to Partition C Drive in Windows 10 Without Formatting? Is there any process of doing so?How to Partition C Drive in Windows 10 Without Formatting

There is a way to partition the C drive without formatting the operating system. It will require some complicated steps. Below, we will discuss the procedure of partitioning the C drive without formatting. Keep reading the article with proper attention to catch the steps.

Why You Need Partitioning C Drive?

A disk partition is a procedure of separating the drive-in smaller sizes. That means you can create different units of the hard drive in your computer to store various files. Usually, most laptop and desktop computers arrive with a pre-installed operating system with only C drive. By partitioning the hard drive, it becomes handy to find out a specific type of file. Besides, it also minimizes the risk of losing important files due to corruption.

As an example, when you will store all the data in the same drive, it will become harder for you to find the preferred files from thousands of different types of files. Besides, you can store specific data based on their type on the partitioned hard drive. That means you can easily find it when needed. Typically, people have different drives for OS, Document, Entertainment, Study, etc.

Partitioning the hard drive also allows you to run several operating systems at a time on your computer. It is also believed that keeping apart the OS increase the speed of the device. Besides, you can easily re-install the operating system without losing all of your files when required.

How to Partition CDrive in Windows 10 Without Formatting

Before beginning, we want to acknowledge that partitioning a window 10 without formatting will require a good amount of time. That is because the method will make use of shrinking, which is very time-consuming. So, make sure that you have enough time before starting. Follow the steps for partitioning the drive:

1. Start with opening the run prompt by clicking Win + R. Then type compmgmt.msc and click on enter.  The computer management console of your PC will open after doing so.
2. Now go to storage and disk management from there. There you will find all the partitions and drives of your hard drive.
3. Find the primary drive from the list. It is your C drive. Then right-click on C partition using mouse or touchpad. Then choose shrink volume.
4. After a while, you will find a query from the disk management tool, which will let you know the available space for the shrink.
5. After that, you will find partition creation windows, displaying the amount of storage for shrinking the c drive. Enter the preferred amount and then click on shrink.

Try to defragment the c drive before shrinking the storage. By doing so, you can use the entire storage of the drive. Note that you may not use the computer while shrinking as it will become busy moving files and releasing space. After the shrinking is completed, you will see unallocated disk space for creating new partition as per your need.

Producing a New Partition with the Unallocated Space

Creating a new partition is pretty straightforward. Here is how to do it:

1. Press on the unallocated disk space and choose “New Simple Volume” from the options.
2. Enter the preferred amount for the new drive and then click next.
3. Select a letter for the new drive. Then select the type of partition (i.e., Fat 32, NTFS, etc.)
4. You can also create multiple partitions using the same procedure. The new partition will be ready to use after completing the steps correctly. 

Make sure that you have implemented all the steps correctly. Incorrect action can lead you to the corrupted hard drive.

Shrinking the C drive using CMD without Formatting

There is another way to shrink your C drive without formatting using the CMD tool of your computer. Basically, we will utilize the Diskpart command-line for this purpose. Here is how to do it:

1. Open “cmd” with admin permission. You can easily do it by searching cmd from the search bar and running as an administrator. 
2. After opening cmd, write “diskpart” and click enter. Now enter “list volume” and then write the number of volumes you need to shrink.
3. Then write “shrink [desired= (desired size)] [minimum= (minimumsize)]. Make sure to enter the desired size in place of the desired size and minimum size of the drive. In case you don’t enter the minimum size, the system will automatically take the maximum size as input.

After doing so, the partition should start immediately. It may require a period, depending on the size that needs to be shrink. 

Partitioning C drive with EaseUS without Formatting

The EaseUS is a third-party tool developed for formatting the hard drive with the Windows operating system quickly. While using the software, you will not need to go through any complicated procedure. So, if you are afraid of using the above methods, we recommend using the software for ease of use. Follow the below steps for partitioning C drive with EaseUS:

1. Install the EaseUS software on your computer. You can quickly find it by looking at Google.
2. Now remove the unnecessary files from the hard disk for making the partition. If there is enough space already, then move to the third step.
3. Now right click on the partition next for the target partition and then choose move or resize.
4. Then drag the partition to free the space and then click ok.
5. You can extend the target partition by right-clicking on it and select resize or move. Then drag the target partition handle in the unallocated space for extending the partition.
6. Now press on execute the operation and save the changes by clicking on apply.

That’s it; you should find the new drive after the operation is completed successfully. Failing to implement a step may lead you to a failed process.

Conclusion:

There is a lot of reasons to partition a C drive. However, it is not something that you can do easily. Especially when it comes to partitioning the device without formatting the operating system, it becomes pretty hard. Besides, there are chances of corrupting the drive. So, we will recommend you to be extra careful while partitioning the storage.

Resources:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-partition-a-C-drive-in-Windows-10-without-formatting