Determine Disk Partition Options

If you need a refresher, the following describes how to use the Disk Management utility's Create Partition Wizard to create a disk partition.
So how does Windows use disk partitions? Windows uses partitions in much the same way that Windows NT 4.0 does, with one exception: you no longer have to commit your changes to save them or to restart your computer to make those changes effective.
There is another difference between Windows and Windows NT 4.0 in relation to handling of disks. Windows supports two types of disks: basic (the traditional disk type used by Windows NT, Windows 95/98, and other operating systems), and dynamic disks, which use volumes instead of partitions.
By default, Windows initializes disks as basic disks. If all or part of a basic disk has unallocated space on it, it must be partitioned and formatted before it can store data. You create a partition and select options by using the Create Partition Wizard.

To create a partition on a hard drive in Windows 11, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows key + X and select "Disk Management" from the menu that appears.
2. In the Disk Management window, locate the disk that you want to create a partition on. Right-click on the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".
3. Follow the prompts in the New Simple Volume Wizard to specify the size of the partition, assign a drive letter or path, and format the partition with a file system (NTFS is the default).
4. Click "Finish" to create the partition. The new partition will now appear in File Explorer and can be accessed like any other drive.

If the disk already has a partition, you can shrink an existing partition to create unallocated space for a new partition. To do this, right-click on the partition you want to shrink and select "Shrink Volume". Enter the amount of space to shrink and click "Shrink" to create unallocated space. Note that creating a new partition will erase any data on the unallocated space, so be sure to back up any important data before proceeding.

To create a partition, you need to launch the Create Partition Wizard. To do this:

1. Open Disk Management.
2. Right-click the unallocated space on the disk where you want to create a partition.
3. Click Create Partition, and the Create Partition Wizard starts. The Wizard will guide you through several screens where you select various options.

The table below describes each of the Create Partition Wizard options:

Remember that deleting or creating partitions or volumes destroys any existing data.
Back up your entire disk before you delete or create a partition, even if you plan to make changes to only some of your partitions.
This material is excerpted from Installing Windows and Implementing DHCP, WINS, and DNS, which is the first course in the Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Update Certification Series.