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Create more than 4 partitions
Question: I have 4 partitions on the hard disk, which is shown below:
But I still want to create a new partition to store pictures which are now saved on the SD card. So I shrunk the last partition to create an unallocated space, but unfortunately Disk Management does not allow me to create more than 4 partitions and asks whether to convert the disk to dynamic. What should I do now?
From the screenshot we know this is a MBR disk, which means it can hold 4 primary partitions at most. Why? On any MBR disk, there is a boot code called master boot record where partition table is saved. However, only 64 bit space is allocated to save partition table, and entry of each primary partition takes 16bit. That is to say MBR partition table can hold 4 entries, namely 4 primary partitions.
To break the limit, users need to convert the MBR disk to GPT which supports up to 128 partitions. But disappointingly, this solution cannot be applied to system disk (the disk saving Windows). If users want to create more than 4 partitions on system disk, it is highly suggested that they convert one of primary partitions (except system partition and boot partition) to logical, and then shrink the logical drive to create new partitions. For detailed steps, please see the following example.
How to Create More Than 4 Partitions on MBR Disk
Step 1: convert a primary partition to logical.
To do the operation, users need to download a piece of partitioning software, and MiniTool Partition Wizard is available. After successful installation, please start and launch it to get the main interface below:
Then, select the last primary partition and choose “Set Partition as Logical” feature from the left side.
Now we can see the selected partition has become a logical partition. At this time, please select the logical drive and click “Move/Resize Partition” to get the window below:
Please shorten the partition handle to create unallocated space, and then click “OK” to go back to the main window:
Now select the unallocated space and choose “Create Partition” to make a new partition.
At last, click “Apply” button to make all changes.
Now more than 4 partitions have been created on an MBR disk. If you are troubled by the same kind of situations, try this way out.
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