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Are you searching for a way to create more than four partitions on an MBR disc? If you already have four primary partitions on your MBR disc, Disk Management will not allow you to create another partition on that disc. In this case, what should you do? You can find answers in this article. First, let's learn more about MBR disks.
Can We Create More Than 4 Partitions on MBR Disk
Yes, you can. But sometimes, you will find New Simple Volume greyed out or receive a warning message "Disk already contains the maximum number of partitions." Why do these errors happen? How many partitions can be created in Windows 10? Continue to read.
MBR (Master Boot Record) disk differs from the GPT disk in the number of partition limits. There is a table to help you distinguish them.
Feature | MBR | GPT |
---|---|---|
Partition Limite |
|
|
You can see MBR has a severe limitation regarding partition number. If the maximum limit of MBR partitions has been reached, you will get an error. On the other hand, you can own up to 128 partitions on a GPT disk without distinguishing between "primary" and "logical" partitions. Well, if you want to know the further difference between GPT and MBR, the link below can enlighten you.
BR VS GPT | What's the Difference and Which Is Better
MBR and GPT are two popular partitions styles on Windows-based computers. They are standards for the layout of the storage device like an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid-State Drive).
Let's come back to today's topic. We know we can create more than four partitions on the MBR disk, but how? You can Convert MBR to GPT to solve this problem. However, if you don't want to change your MBR disk, continue to read. The next part will provide you with two efficient ways to help you create more than four partitions without converting the MBR disk to GPT.
How Do I Create More Than 4 Partitions on MBR Disk
This part list two efficient ways to help you perform this action. You can learn how to create more than four partitions with a Windows built-in tool and a third-party tool, Disk Management, and EaseUS Partition Master Professional.
Way 1. Create More Than 4 Partitions via EaseUS Partition Master
Way 2. Create More Than 4 Partitions via Disk Management
If you don't know which one to select, read the table below, and you can conclude that EaseUS Partition Master is a better choice.
Features | EaseUS Partition Master | Disk Management |
---|---|---|
Data Loss | No | Yes |
Operation Difficulty | Easy | Complex |
Interface | Clear | A little clutter |
Since Disk Management requires you to delete a primary partition before you create a new one, data loss is inevitable. Do remember to back up your data, or you can use EaseUS Partition Master. It can help you create more than four partitions on the MBR disk without data loss. Let's see how to use it now.
Way 1. Create More Than 4 Partitions via EaseUS Partition Master
EaseUS Partition Master is a professional disk manager for all Windows users. It is easy to use, and you can create more than four partitions on MBR disks as long as you convert a primary partition to a logical partition. It can help you create more partitions without data loss and it supports all Windows versions, including Windows 10/8.1/8/7, Windows Vista, and even Windows XP.
Now, download it and create partitions following the two guides below.
Guide 1. Convert Primary Partition to Logical
Step 1. Download and run EaseUS Partition Master and go to Partition Manager.
Step 2. Right-click the partition you want to convert and click "Advanced", choose the convert option:
- 1. Primary to Logical
- 2. Logical to Primary
Step 3. Click the "Execute 1 Task" button and then choose "Apply" to begin the conversion.
0:00 - 0:30 Convert Primary to Logical; 0:31 - 0:50 Convert Logical to Primary.
Then, you can locate the logical partition and create more partitions following the guide below.
Guide 2. Create New Partitions
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master. On the main window, right-click on the unallocated space on your hard drive or external storage device and select "Create".
Step 2. Adjust the partition size, file system (Choose the file system based on your need), label, etc. for the new partition and click "OK" to continue.
Step 3. Click on the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button and create a new partition by clicking "Apply".
Watch the following video tutorial and learn how to create a partition in NTFS, FAT, or EXT file system.
After this process, you have created the partitions you want with EaseUS Partition Master. Now, let's see what else this tool can help.
Other features of EaseUS Partition Master
- Extend MBR partition
- Rebuild MBR or repair it
- Initialize disk to MBR or GPT
- Set partition style as MBR or GPT
- Convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11
Hence, download this utility to try. You are sure to like the nice helper.
Way 2. Create More Than 4 Partitions via Disk Management
What is Disk Management? This is also a good disk manager built-in Windows, but it doesn't allow you to determine whether the disk is MBR or GPT. However, you can also create more than four partitions using it, but you need to delete a primary partition to create more logical partitions if you have had four primary partitions on your MBR disk. Please back up your data in advance.
Well, now, follow this guide and use Disk Management to try.
Step 1. Right-click the "Start" icon and then select Disk Management.
Step 2. Locate and right-click the partition that you're going to delete. Then, select "Delete Volume."
Step 3. Click "Yes" to confirm your deletion.
Step 4. Then, you will see that the deleted partition becomes an unallocated space. Just right-click the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume."
Step 5. Then, choose the proper partition size in the New Simple Volume Wizard.
- Notice:
- The new volume size must be smaller than the unallocated space if you wanna create more than four partitions.
Step 6. Assign the drive letter and then click "Next."
Step 7. Choose the proper file system in the format partition section.
Step 8. Click the "Finish" option to end the process.
You can create more partitions with Disk Management by repeating this process. By the way, if you are an experienced user with computer knowledge, you can also use Diskpart commands to create partitions and there is a link to help you.
How to Create Volume/Partition Using Diskpart? [Full Guide]
This page covers multiple Diskpart commands, you can apply to create partitions and volumes using Diskpart as shown here.
Conclusion
We just learned about using Disk Management to delete a partition first and then create a new one. However, instead of using this complicated method that results in the loss of all data on the deleted primary partition, it is better to use free partition management software, EaseUS Partition Master. It can help you convert the primary partition to a logical one with simple clicks, and then, you can create more than four partitions in Windows 10.
FAQs About How to Create More Than 4 Partitions
Do you know how to create more than four partitions now? This part lists three other questions and if you are interested, read on.
1. Can MBR have more than four partitions?
Sure, although MBR disks have primary partition number limitations, you can create as many logical partitions as the disk can hold.
2. How do I make more than four primary partitions?
You can convert your MBR to GPT. GPT disks allow you to make or create more than four primary partitions. And you can create up to 128 primary partitions in a GPT disk.
3. Why are there only four primary partitions?
This is because of the limitation of the MBR disk. MBR disks only allow you to have four primary partitions. Besides, you can choose to create three primary partitions plus an extended partition on the MBR disk. You can convert your MBR disk to a GPT disk to break this limitation.
How Can We Help You
About the Author
Daisy is the Senior editor of the writing team for EaseUS. She has been working at EaseUS for over ten years, starting as a technical writer and moving on to being a team leader of the content group. As a professional author for over ten years, she writes a lot to help people overcome their tech troubles.
Sherly joined EaseUS in 2022 and she has always loved writing articles and enjoys the fun they bring. She receives professional training here, focusing on product performance and other relative knowledge. She has written over 200 articles to help people overcome computing issues.
Product Reviews
-
I love that the changes you make with EaseUS Partition Master Free aren't immediately applied to the disks. It makes it way easier to play out what will happen after you've made all the changes. I also think the overall look and feel of EaseUS Partition Master Free makes whatever you're doing with your computer's partitions easy.
Read More -
Partition Master Free can Resize, Move, Merge, Migrate, and Copy disks or partitions; convert to local, change label, defragment, check and explore partition; and much more. A premium upgrade adds free tech support and the ability to resize dynamic volumes.
Read More -
It won't hot image your drives or align them, but since it's coupled with a partition manager, it allows you do perform many tasks at once, instead of just cloning drives. You can move partitions around, resize them, defragment, and more, along with the other tools you'd expect from a cloning tool.
Read More
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