How to Split Partitions with Complete Guide

Updated by

Sherly 

Written by

Daisy 

Updated on Oct 29, 2024

In this article, EaseUS provides two methods to split partitions on Windows 11/10/8/7. Let's learn how.

How to Split Partition?

Many people want to split a partition into several partitions for different usages because there is only one partition (system partition) on the hard disk, EaseUS Partition Master can easily split partition without data loss. Disk Management can also perform a partition split, but it may cause data loss during the process. Let's start with the safer and easier method first.

Method 1. Use EaseUS Partition Master

The best way to split a large partition into two smaller partitions without losing anything important is to use EaseUS Partition Master, a professional third-party partition manager. It comes with a special function of "split partition", which can split the hard disk partition into two in just 3 steps.

Compared with disk management, it does not require shrinking the partition in advance, so it is more secure (no data loss) and faster.

Download this tool and follow the guide below to try:

How to split a partition into two:

Step 1. Select your targeted partition and click "Split Partition" from the Feature List.

Step 2. Resize the size of the two split partitions and click "OK".

Step 3. All the introduced changes to the disk layout will be pended until applied in Execute Task.

Step 4. After applying the changes, you successfully split the partition into two partitions.

Notes:

• EaseUS Partition Master supports split partition on basic disk only. It cannot split the dynamic volume.
• Only the non-hidden partition can be split.
• The unused space of the operating partitions should be more than 5% of the total partition space.

After the partition split, read the following notice to help you get more details:

1. 🧩The partitioning process takes some time, so please do not perform other tasks in the middle and let your computer complete the partitioning first.
2. 🔎If there are 4 primary partitions on the MBR disk, the split partitions will be automatically converted into logical partitions.
3. ⚒️If there are four primary partitions on the hard drive, Windows does not allow you to split the system partition or the boot partition unless you can convert one of the other partitions from primary to logical partition first.

In addition to split partition in Windows 10/11/8/7, EaseUS Partition Master also comes with many other amazing features to help Windows users resize hard drive partition without losing data, such as:

• Create or delete partitions
• Move the partition to the end of the disk
• Merge unallocated space into existing partitions to extend partitions
• Merge two adjacent partitions into one partition (opposite of splitting a partition)
• Allocate free space from one partition to another partition

EaseUS Partition Master is a powerful and secure partition manager, easier to use than Disk Management and CMD, and more friendly to beginners.

Method 2. Use Disk Management

To split a large partition using Disk Management, you need to shrink the partition first to gain unallocated space and then use it to create a new partition. Here is how to split one partition into two partitions on Windows 10/11:

Step 1. Right click the Windows icon and select "Disk Management" to open it.

Step 2. Then, right-click on the large partition you want to shrink and select "Shrink Volume."

Step 3. Disk Management then calculates how much space can be reduced. In the next window, enter the size (in MB) you want to shrink and click "Shrink" to continue.

Step 4. Then you will see the unallocated space after the shrunken partition. Now right click on it and select "New Simple Volume" and follow the New Simple Volume wizard to create a new partition on the unallocated space.

In this way, your large partition is divided into two partitions. Disk Management needs to shrink this large volume first. If you are not familiar with computer operations, it is recommended that you use EaseUS Partition Master to avoid data loss.

Conclusion

EaseUS Partition Master's split partition feature allows users to split a large partition into two smaller partitions without losing data. Therefore, if there is a lot of free space on a large partition, users can use this feature to divide it into multiple partitions for better data management and classification. If this article was helpful to you, please do not hesitate to share it with more people.

Split Partition Windows 10 FAQs

In this article, we show you in detail how to split a partition in Windows 10, 8, 7 and provide step-by-step guides. If you have any other related questions, please continue reading this section.

1. What is the difference between partitioning and splitting partitions?

Disk partitioning is the creation of one or more areas on a disk so that users can manage each area independently. Splitting partitions means you split a large exsiting partition into two or more smaller partitions.

2. How do I split a drive partition without formatting?

1. Right-click the This PC option and select Manage.
2. Open Disk Management.
3. Select the disk where you want to make a partition. 
4. Right-click the Unpartitioned space in the bottom pane and select New Simple Volume. If there is no unallocated space, you need to shrink the large partition before you can split it.
5. Enter the size and click next, and you are done.

3. Why do I need to split a partition on Windows 10?

If the computer has only one partition, the operating system, applications, games, personal files, etc. will be saved to the same drive, which will affect the loading and running performance of the operating system and make it inconvenient for users to manage partitions.

In addition, when one of your hard disk partitions is too large and is only used a little, you can also split it into two smaller partitions to store various data and make full use of the disk space.