Creating a new partition on the computer without formatting

In the past, partitioning a hard disk was a difficult process that often required a specialized technician to perform. Typically, when making any modifications to the disk’s partition, it was common practice to reformat or format it again, which would require you to either transfer the data to another hard drive or temporarily give up on making the modification, which was not ideal, especially if you had a specific partition with empty space that you wanted to utilize for better data organization and maximizing the hard disk’s capacity.

However, with the advancement of software tools for handling hard drives and the abundance of online resources, the process has become much more accessible to the average user. Understanding how to partition a disk, create a new partition, and utilize the free space on the hard drive can now be done without the need to reformat or risk losing any data. After explaining how to move empty space from one partition to another on the hard drive in a previous article, we will now demonstrate how to transfer unused space from any partition to create a new partition on the hard drive without the need for reformatting or data loss.

As mentioned earlier, there are several specialized software programs for performing disk operations and managing hard drives, most of which offer the ability to create a new partition within an existing partition with unused space. Nonetheless, we will explain how to do this using Windows without the need for additional software, as well as an alternative method using an external program in case you encounter any issues with the first method.

Creating a New Partition Without Software (for Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10)

If you are using Windows 7 or newer, you can do this using the built-in tool called “Disk Management” that allows you to manage hard drives. You can access this tool by right-clicking on the “This PC” icon on your desktop, selecting “Manage,” then clicking on “Disk Management” in the side menu. Alternatively, you can open the “Run” window in Windows, type “diskmgmt.msc,” and press “Enter.”

Within the “Disk Management” interface, you will see all the connected hard drives on your computer and their respective partitions with information about each. Simply select the correct partition from which you want to move the space and create a new partition, then click on the partition and select “Shrink Volume” from the menu.

The tool will then calculate the available space that you can free up and transfer from the partition without affecting the data inside it. In the following window, enter the desired amount of space in megabytes without exceeding the default number in the “Amount of space to shrink” field, then click on “Shrink.”

You will now see a new partition created next to the old partition, but note that this partition is essentially unformatted space. Therefore, in the final step, you will need to format this space to use it as a new partition, while the old partition will remain unaffected. Its size has just been reduced by the amount you specified in the previous step, and the data stored in that partition will remain intact.

By right-clicking on the new space and selecting the “New simple volume” option, you can create a new partition from that space. Clicking “Next” will allow you to configure the partition settings, such as assigning a drive letter, entering a name if desired, selecting the formatting system, and then pressing “Finish.” After a brief loading period, you will find a new partition created with the same size you specified, without impacting any other partition on the hard drive.

Creating a New Partition Using “MiniTool Partition Wizard”

If you encounter any issues with the previous method or have an older version of Windows or a different operating system, you can use the popular program “MiniTool Partition Wizard”, which offers a free version that you can download and use to perform the task.

After downloading, you will have no trouble installing the program. Once installed, open the program and you will find all the information about the connected hard drives on your computer, as well as the partitions on each drive. Select the correct partition from which you want to move the free space and create a new partition, then click on the partition, select “Move\Resize,” or directly on the sidebar menu on the left.

In the following window, you will see an illustrative diagram of the partition space. Simply drag the space indicator to the right to create empty space after this partition or to the left to create space before that partition. As you drag the indicator, you will see the partition’s size decrease at the bottom and the number increase in the “Unallocated Space After” or “Unallocated Space Before” field depending on the drag direction. Adjust the setting according to your preferences, then click “OK.”

Once done, you will find unutilized space created after or before the partition you previously resized, but for this action to be executed on the disk, you need to click on the “Apply” option in the sidebar under the “Pending operations” window. After clicking, the action will be carried out, and you can execute multiple steps consecutively, then click on the same action in the end to perform all the steps at once.

Similarly to the first method, you will need to format the unutilized space to create a new partition from it. Right-click on the space within the partition information, then click on “Create.” In the following window, enter the partition settings such as name, assigned letter, formatting system, and you can also select the size you want, either assigning all the space to the new partition or using part of it to create another new partition.

After completing the settings and clicking “Ok,” then “Apply” on the left, the action will be carried out, and you will immediately see a new partition created with the settings you specified, without affecting other partitions on the hard drive or the data stored on the hard drive.