Shrinking, Extending, and Creating Partitions
The next step toward creating a new partition for your data is to shrink the size of the Windows
8 partition so that you can create space for a separate partition. You can also extend a
partition if there is any available space into which it can expand, although you will not need
to do this in this instance.
If your files are already on the same partition or drive as Windows 8, you should move
them to a separate disk or partition if possible. Having a copy of your files on the same partition
you are trying to shrink will severely limit how much it can contract. To shrink a partition,
perform the following steps:
1. Open the Computer Management console.
The quickest way to find this is to press Windows logo key+X to bring up the Administration
menu and select Computer Management from the results that appear.
2. In the Computer Management window, in the left pane, click Disk Management
3. A list of the available hard disks and their partitions appears in the center panel of
the window (see Figure1). Note in the example that I have two hard disks on this
particular computer and two backup partitions on a different hard disk than my
main copies of Windows and my files. One backup partition is for files and one is
for a copy of Windows. I also keep a second backup of my files separate from my
computer.
4. Right-click the partition you want to shrink and select Shrink Volume,
Windows 8 determines the maximum amount it can shrink the partition. On a new
installation of Windows 8 with no additional files, this can be quite a lot.
5. Choose a new partition size that will meet your needs (see Chapter 1, “Finding Your
Way Around Windows,” for suggestions about partition size) and then click OK.
6. In the blank volume that you have created, right-click anywhere in the empty space,
and then from the options panel that appears, select Create Volume.
You will want to format the new volume you create so that you can write files to it by
using the NTFS option. This is the default disk formatting type in Windows 8.
The next step toward creating a new partition for your data is to shrink the size of the Windows
8 partition so that you can create space for a separate partition. You can also extend a
partition if there is any available space into which it can expand, although you will not need
to do this in this instance.
If your files are already on the same partition or drive as Windows 8, you should move
them to a separate disk or partition if possible. Having a copy of your files on the same partition
you are trying to shrink will severely limit how much it can contract. To shrink a partition,
perform the following steps:
1. Open the Computer Management console.
The quickest way to find this is to press Windows logo key+X to bring up the Administration
menu and select Computer Management from the results that appear.
2. In the Computer Management window, in the left pane, click Disk Management
3. A list of the available hard disks and their partitions appears in the center panel of
the window (see Figure1). Note in the example that I have two hard disks on this
particular computer and two backup partitions on a different hard disk than my
main copies of Windows and my files. One backup partition is for files and one is
for a copy of Windows. I also keep a second backup of my files separate from my
computer.
4. Right-click the partition you want to shrink and select Shrink Volume,
Windows 8 determines the maximum amount it can shrink the partition. On a new
installation of Windows 8 with no additional files, this can be quite a lot.
5. Choose a new partition size that will meet your needs (see Chapter 1, “Finding Your
Way Around Windows,” for suggestions about partition size) and then click OK.
6. In the blank volume that you have created, right-click anywhere in the empty space,
and then from the options panel that appears, select Create Volume.
You will want to format the new volume you create so that you can write files to it by
using the NTFS option. This is the default disk formatting type in Windows 8.
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