By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
SSD offers faster read/write speeds and other better performance than traditional HDD, so it has become the storage device of choice for many computer users. To manage the capacity of SSD more rationally, we usually choose to partition it, which can improve data security, optimize system performance, facilitate data backup and recovery, and so on. In this article, we will introduce how to partition SSD in Windows 11.
Windows 11 offers a simple way to allocate SSD in the Settings app, it can resize an existing partition and then create a new one from the free space, but only supports the NTFS file system. If your SSD is new and doesn't have any partitions, or you have specific formatting requirements, then this method doesn't apply to you, and you can skip directly to the next method.
Step 1: In the "Settings" app, click "System", select "Storage" > "Advanced storage settings" option, and then click "Disks & volumes".
Step 2: In the "Disks & volumes" list, you will see an unallocated space, click the "Create Volume" button to the right of it.
Step 3: Enter a partition name in the "Label" field of the "New Volume" dialog box, and then select an available drive letter for it, such as "F".
Next, select a file system and enter the preferred partition size in the "Size (MB)" field. Finally, click on "Format" to complete all the steps for allocating a new SSD in Windows 11.
Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows 11/10, which allows users to do more operations on the disk, such as create, delete, resize, or format partition. But it also has some limitations, such as you can't convert SSDs that are partitioned or have existing data from MBR to GPT, or create SSDs with GPT partition table.
Step 1: Press the Windows and R keys, type "diskmgmt.msc" in the Run dialog box and click "OK" to open the "Disk Management" tool.
Step 2: If your SSD is brand new, you need to initialize it first.
Now, right-click on the unallocated disk and then create a new simple volume for it.
Step 3: In the "New Simple Volume wizard", click "Next", then enter the amount of space you want to allocate, assign an available drive letter to your SSD on the next page, and click "Next".
Step 4: On the "Format Partition" page, select a file system, click "Next" to complete the New Simple Volume Wizard, then click "Finish" to close the window. After that, you can check and use this new partition in the file explorer of your computer.
Command Prompt or PowerShell in Windows are powerful tools that allow you to perform various operations on the hard disk or SSD on your computer by running the corresponding commands, including converting the SSD to GPT and creating partition tables for it. The command tools support you to perform more operations on the hard disk than the two methods described earlier.
Step 1: Type the keyword "PowerShell" in the search box, click the corresponding option in the list that appears, and then run the program as administrator.
Step 2: In the PowerShell window, type "diskpart" and press Enter to open the diskpart program.
Step 3: Run the command "list disk" to check a list of your hard disks and remember the number of the SSD, in this case it is "1".
Now, run the command "select disk 1". (Note that the "1" needs to be replaced with the actual number of your SSD)
Step 4: Next, type and run the following commands to complete the whole process of partitioning your SSD in Windows 11.
1. Create a new primary partition: Run the command "create partition primary size=X", "X" refers to the size of the allocated space in MB, it needs to be replaced with the corresponding number.
2. Assign disk letter: Run the "assign letter=F" command, "F" represents the partition drive letter, it can be any letter, depending on your preference.
3. Format the partition: Run the command "format fs=NTFS Quick" and wait for the system to finish formatting the partition. This command will specify the file system of the partition as "NTFS", you can replace it with the value you want.
If you want to upgrade a smaller SSD to a larger one, how can you completely copy the data and programs from your old SSD to the new one without reinstalling Windows OS? The best solution is to use cloning software, such as iSunshare CloneGo, which can help you easily and completely clone SSD to a larger SSD, regardless of whether they have the same capacity and partition table.
Step 1: Download and install CloneGo on your computer, then run the software and select the "Disk Clone" option.
Step 2: In the "Disk Clone" option, select your old SSD as the source disk and then select the new SSD as the destination disk.
Step 3: Next, click "Start" and read the pop-up window prompt: "The Disk 1 will be formatted", tap "Yes" to confirm.
Step 4: During the copying process, you can see a progress bar showing your copying details. Wait patiently for the message "Hard disk Copy Completed Successfully" to appear, then you can exit the program.
This article describes three ways to partition SSD in Windows 11 and how to clone an old SSD to a new one. Even though some users think that partitioning a hard disk is unnecessary, partitioning an SSD can help you better organize and manage its stored data, you can choose whether to partition an SSD or not according to your needs. If you already have data on your SSD, always remember to back it up before partitioning it.
