Partitioning a hard drive is the act of creating an artificial divide within the drive itself, so that the operating system views the single physical disk as two or more independent hard drives. Partitioning can take place at several points; the most common is done during the installation process. However, even if you have already installed Windows XP on your computer, you still have the option to install a new partition on the drive.
Step 1
Navigate to the "Administrative Tools" menu. Accomplish this by going to the "Start" menu, then to the "Control Panel," then double click on the option reading "Administrative Tools." From here, you will be able to reorganize your hard drive's setup.
Step 2
Click on the option for "Computer Management." Note that you must have administrator rights to accomplish this--the option will not appear if you have anything less than complete access rights to the computer. From "Computer Management," click on "Disk Management."
Step 3
Right click on the drive letter of your choice (normally the C drive) to bring further options. Select "Partition" the drive, then select how much of the blank space on the drive you would like to devote to the new partition--earmarking the drive as a "Primary Basic Partition." Reboot your computer after the automated process is complete to have full access to your new partition.
