- 1). Connect the external drive to the computer via the USB port.
Go to the "Start" menu on the bottom Windows toolbar. Click on "Computer" and select "Manage." Wait for the application window to appear and click on "Disk Management" in the left window pane. Note the hard drives come into the screen with their partition information and locate the drive letter for the external hard drive. This will usually be "D:" "E:" or "F:" - 2). Select the external drive letter and right click it. Choose "Delete Partition" from the list of options that appear. Watch the drive representation change from "Healthy" to "Unallocated."Right click the drive again and select "New Partition." Select "Primary" as the partition type and type in the amount of space you want to allocate for the partition.
- 3). Right click this drive letter again and select "Format NTSF." Wait for the partition to format, a process that could take up to an hour for large partitions. This will be the partition you use on windows.
- 4). Look at the drive pane again and notice an additional drive letter with a representation of unallocated. This is the additional space on the hard drive that does not have a partition and is not formatted.
- 5). Right click this drive and select "New Partition." Choose "Extended" as the type of drive partition. Do not format this partition if you do not want it to be seen or used by the computer.
- 6). Close the disk management window and return to the "Start" menu. Select "Computer" and notice the external hard drive partition you want to use with the allocated space you chose.
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