Windows 10: shrinking volume with OS on it

Howdy,

I've inherited a desktop with Windows 10 installed on a 1TB, single partition drive. For better or worse I belong to the "partitions" school, and would like to partition this physical drive into 2 or maybe even 3 logical partitions.

From what I've found thus far, it appears that this is possible. However, using the Windows 10 disk management tool, when i try to shrink the volume with the OS on it, i just get a blue spinning circle, and after a few minutes i grow weary and abort.

I also have minitool partition wizard installed, and it has similar (but somewhat more...vague?) functionality. I'd like to think it would give me some pretty strongly-worded warnings like: Are you sure you want to do this? You're going to wipe out your OS!!!

But before I shoot myself in the foot in a major way, I want to be certain that I can shrink the volume down with the OS on it, and then partition the remaining space.

Or should i just let sleeping dogs lie and use a 1TB drive as a 1 TB drive?!?

Thanks in advance, Neal

:)

 

Repartioning the drive which has the OS

Is it possible to shrink and create a new volume from the C drive which has windows 10 OS using disk management without causing any problems to the OS?

 

Repartioning the drive which has the OS

Hi Abdullah165, yes that is possible to do without any harm to the OS . . .

Open Disk Management (accessible by right clicking your Start Button)

Right click your C Drvie and choose Shrink Volume

Enter in the amount to shrink the partition by (1000MB - 1GB)

Let that process complete

Then right click the unallocated space and choose new Simple Volume

When asked to assign a drive letter accept the default letter provided

That's It!

 

What would be your purpose for partitioning the drive ?

I find Partition Wizards Bootable CD a very reliable and safe way to manage partitions.

Bootable Partition Manager| MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

 

When you use the installed MiniTool Partition Wizard to shrink the OS partition, when you click apply it will reboot the computer into a command line and shrink the partition before the OS loads, then reboot again back into Windows.

 

For an HDD there are speed advantages in using two partitions, which is probably why many OEM's routinely format their PC's with a second Data partition. There's no advantage for SSDs though.

How to Partition Your Hard Drive to Optimize Performance | PCWorld