How to add partition in Windows 11

I am trying to add a partition of 75G on my SDD. The computer shows that I have 125 G free, yet the size of available shrink space is shown as only 5G. Is there a way to use some of the free 125G to get a partition bigger than 5G. I am somewhat mystified ??? Many thanks, Brian

My computer is an Acer Swift 1.

Please run 'Disk Management' (search for Disk Management ) to show us your current disc / partition configuration, and post the result here.

Thanks for the instant reply. Here is a screenshot. Brian

bjhannaway said:

Thanks for the instant reply. Here is a screenshot. Brian

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So you want to reduce the size of the Acer(C:) partition by 75GB so that you can add your additional partition?

The pagefile and system restore points can affect the shrink size delete system restore points.

Yes, I want to be able to use W10 from the new partition (as well as W11 on the main C drive)

You should also run Storage Sense to delete temporary files.

IanMosley said:

So you want to reduce the size of the Acer(C:) partition by 75GB so that you can add your additional partition?

Click to expand...

If this is what you want to do, I suggest you download & run the Free version of Partition Master

First, you need to CONTRACT the ACER(C:) partition

1. Right-click the ACER(C:) partition,
2. Select "Resize/move".
3. Drag the end of the partition towards the allocated space, until unallocated space is 75GB or greater
4. Click "OK".
5. Click "Execute Operation"
6. "Apply" and "Finish".

You can then create your new partition in the unallocated space you have just created.

A very big thank you to everyone who responded to my request. I have now satisfactorily set up a new partition of the size I wanted. You guys are great !! Brian

We are glad to hear your issue has been resolved, thank you for letting us know that all is now well!

I see a potential problem. Currently your C: partition is 237 gb in size with 125 gb free space. This mean Windows is USING 112 gb of that partition. When considering space on a system partition, one has to factor in leaving enough free space for a windows.old folder which is created during version upgrades or a repair install. The Windows.old folder contains your old Windows operating system from the Windows system files that were changed by the upgrade to the programs you installed, each user account, settings, and files, everything is there.

Approximately 60-65 gb of that space is windows alone. The actual size of a windows.old folder varies. To play it safe that you leave enough free space to handle these upgrades, smart management is keep as much free space as you have in used space on your system partition.
Therefore, if you reduce your system partion you are not allowing yourself enough free space to handle one of these upgrades. As it is currently, your free space on this Windows 11 partition is close to being too small.

If you want another partition for another OS, I suggest your either replace your system drive with a larger drive OR add an additional drive to your system for this new OS (if your laptop has a second slot for an additional drive. It may not). Buying a larger drive makes more sense to me so you could expand the C: partition even larger to accomodate any new growth on applications or personal files and have space left over for a new partition.

bjhannaway said:

I will certainly look into an external drive.

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And how would you use this external drive? Storage? For you second OS? More importantly how would you connect the external drive to your system? USB? Thunderbolt? You have to consider both type of use and interface connection type since external drives have a slower read/write than internal ones, especially if your internal drive is m.2.
External drives are fine for storage, but I would not use them for an OS if I wanted any kind of performance from it at all.
If you have an m.2 now, upgrading it to a larger one makes more sense to me when you look at the big picture. You could then put your old m.2 in an enclosure and use it externally for storage. It would probably hold a couple of system images as well if they were compressed enough...or at least one. Just my opinion.

Just a comment, I always leave 20% free space on the C:/system/boot drive to allow for updates. This inexpensive Notebook I'm on now has a 128GB drive, doesn't allow a larger drive, it's soldered onto the motherboard.

I have installed W10 in my enlarged partition. When I start my computer I am given a choice of W10 or W11 operating system. However, W10 does not have any audio files and cannot detect the internet !!! May have to go back to the "drawing board" Brian

bjhannaway said:

W10 does not have any audio files and cannot detect the internet !!!

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Go to device manager and look for devices with missing drivers. Manually install any that are missing. Realtek Audio is almost lmissing until the user installs its driver or lets windows update do it.