How to divide C drive into D and E?

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How to divide C drive into D and E

Overview

Partitioning your C drive into multiple drives (D and E in this case) can provide several benefits. Some key advantages include better organization of your files, simplifying backups and OS reinstallation, and improving security and data protection.

The basic steps involved in dividing your C drive are: 1) Create unallocated space on the disk by shrinking volume C. 2) Use the unallocated space to create new volumes D and E. 3) Assign drive letters to the new volumes. 4) Format the new drives. 5) Move data/files to the new drives as desired. 6) Update any applications or settings to reflect the new drive locations.

This guide will walk through this process in detail, providing instructions and tips for dividing up your C drive on a Windows PC.

Prerequisites

Before partitioning your C drive, there are a few prerequisites you need to complete:

Administrator access required – You need to have administrator privileges on your Windows computer to be able to partition your hard drive. Standard user accounts don’t have the permissions to make these changes.

Back up data – It’s crucial that you back up any important data and files before partitioning your drive. The partitioning process can potentially result in data loss if something goes wrong. Play it safe and make sure your data is backed up.

Unallocated space on C drive – In order to partition your C drive, you’ll need to have enough unallocated storage space available on the drive. Check how much free space you have and determine how much you want to allocate to the new partitions. You may need to delete or move data off the C drive first to free up space [1].

Once you’ve got administrator access, a full backup, and enough unallocated space, you’ll be ready to move forward with partitioning the drive.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions?view=windows-11

Create Unallocated Space

Before you can extend your C drive into a new volume, you first need to create some unallocated space next to it. This can be done by shrinking your existing C drive volume to free up space alongside it.

The easiest way to shrink your C drive is through the Disk Management utility in Windows. First, make sure to defrag your C drive by going to Properties > Tools > Defragment and optimize drives. This will consolidate all the data on the drive and make it easier to shrink.

Next, open Disk Management and right-click on your C drive. Select “Shrink Volume” and enter the amount of space you want to shrink it by. The maximum amount it can be shrunk will be displayed. Shrinking too much can lead to system instability, so shrink in small increments to start.

Once the volume shrink process completes, you will now have unallocated space next to your C drive that can be used in the next steps.

Create New Volume

The next step is to create a new volume within the unallocated space. To do this:

  1. Open Disk Management by right-clicking on This PC and selecting Manage. Then go to Storage > Disk Management on the left side.
  2. Right click on the unallocated space you want to use for the new volume. Select New Simple Volume from the menu.
  3. Follow the steps in the wizard to specify the size, drive letter, file system, etc for the new volume.

For more details, refer to the Microsoft support article “Create and format a hard disk partition” at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-and-format-a-hard-disk-partition-bbb8e185-1bda-ecd1-3465-c9728f7d7d2e.

Assign Drive Letter

Once you have created the new volumes, the next step is to assign drive letters to them. By default, Windows will assign the next available drive letter, but you can choose your preferred drive letter.

To assign a drive letter like D: or E: to the new volumes:

  1. Open Disk Management.
  2. Right-click on the volume you want to change and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths.”
  3. Click “Change.”
  4. Select the drive letter you want from the drop-down menu and click “OK.”

For example, to change a volume to D:, select D: from the drop-down menu. Do the same for E: or any other letter you want to use.

The new drive letters will now be assigned to the volumes you created. You should see the new drive letters displayed in File Explorer and available to store files and applications.

For more details, refer to Microsoft’s guide on changing a drive letter.

Format New Drives

Once you have created the new D: and E: drive partitions, the next step is to format them so that Windows can use the drives. Formatting assigns a file system to the drive such as NTFS or FAT32 and prepares it for use by organizing the drive into allocation units.

For most Windows versions, it is recommended to format the new D: and E: drives using the NTFS file system. NTFS has several advantages over FAT32 including support for larger partition sizes, encryption, compression, and improved reliability and security.

To format the new D: and E: drives with NTFS:1

  • Open Disk Management.
  • Right click on the D: drive and select Format.
  • Choose NTFS as the file system.
  • Give the drive a Volume Label if desired.
  • Make sure Quick Format is checked.
  • Click OK to confirm.

Repeat these steps for the E: drive. Once formatting is complete, the new D: and E: drives will be ready to use in Windows.

Move Data

Now that the new drives are formatted, you can move data from the C: drive to the new D: and E: drives. It’s recommended to move your personal files, documents, pictures, videos and other media to the D: drive. Software, games, and programs are best moved to the E: drive.

To move your files and folders, open File Explorer and navigate to the location where they are currently stored on the C: drive. Select the files and folders you want to move, then drag and drop them into the D: or E: drive location where you want them stored. You can also use the Copy and Paste commands to move files between drives.

Large batches of files will take some time to transfer between drives based on the amount of data. An external SSD or high speed internal drive like an NVME can help accelerate transfer speeds versus a traditional hard disk drive. Check the transfer rate periodically and allow large move operations to finish before rebooting the system or turning it off.

One efficient method is to create a folder called ‘Temp’ in the destination drive. Copy all files you want to move into the Temp folder first. Once the copy is complete, verify the files exist in Temp before deleting them from the original C: drive location. This protects against potential data loss if a move operation is interrupted.[1]

Update Applications

Once the new drives are created and formatted, you will need to update the install location for your applications to point them to the new drive letters. By default, most applications are installed to the C drive, but you can change this by modifying the install directories.

In Windows 10 and 11, you can go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features to see a list of installed applications. Click on an application and choose “Move” to change the install location to the new drive. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for moving installed applications in Windows 10 and 11.

You can also modify the default install location for many applications. In Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and change the ProgramFilesDir value to point to the new drive letter. This Microsoft article explains how to change the default install folder.

After updating the install locations, your applications will now install and run from the new drives instead of the C drive. This helps free up space on your primary system drive.

Conclusion

In summary, the key steps to dividing your C drive into D and E drives are:

1. Create unallocated space on your hard drive by shrinking your C drive partition.
2. Use the unallocated space to create a new volume.
3. Assign a drive letter like D or E to the new volume.
4. Format the new drives using NTFS or another file system.
5. Move data over from C drive to the new D and E drives.
6. Update any applications or settings to recognize the new drive locations.

Partitioning your hard drive and dividing your C drive has several benefits:

  • More organized storage with data separated onto multiple drives
  • Faster backups since each drive can be imaged independently
  • Ability to install multiple operating systems on different drives
  • If one drive fails, the rest of the data is still intact
  • Drives can use different file systems based on need

By following the steps above to partition and divide your hard drive, you can enjoy these advantages. Just be sure to backup your data first!

Additional Resources

For more information on partitioning in Windows, check out these helpful resources:

This Dell support article provides a step-by-step guide on using Disk Management to create and modify partitions.

For a video tutorial on partitioning without losing data, watch this YouTube video on partitioning C drive in Windows 10.

This in-depth PC Mag article covers everything you need to know about partitioning hard drives in Windows.

Microsoft’s documentation provides a comprehensive overview of Disk Management for managing partitions and volumes.

For guidance on safely migrating data when repartitioning, check out Microsoft’s file transfer guide.