Windows comes with a built-in utility called fdisk. This program is used to partition a large hard drive into smaller virtual drives. One advantage of having two smaller virtual drives is the decreased downtime while running applications such as ScanDisk or Defrag.

To use fdisk to partition a hard drive, follow these directions:

1. To open fdisk, left-click the Start menu, select Run or Hold, and release the Windows button + R.
   
2. At the command line, type "fdisk" (without quotes) and hit Enter.
   
3. When fdisk opens you'll be asked if you'd like to enable large disk support. "Y" should already be selected. Hit Enter.
   
4. Next, you need to set the current fixed disk drive to equal your newly installed hard drive. To do this, select 5 from the list and press Enter.
   
5. Find the number next to your new drive, type it into Enter Fixed Disk Drive Number, and hit Enter. (In most cases, if you just added a second hard drive, the number from the list will equal 2. Before you proceed, double-check that the current fixed hard drive is equal to the new hard drive you just installed. If it is, you should see any number other than 1 next to Current Fixed Drive.)
   
6. This will take you back to the beginning screen.
   
7. From here, select 1 to "Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive" and hit Enter.
   
8. Select 1 to "Create Primary DOS Partition" and hit Enter.
   
9. Your computer will begin to verify the new drive's integrity. This process will only take few minutes to complete.
   
10. The next screen to appear will ask, "Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS partition?" Press Y if you only want to create one partition or N if you'd like to create multiple partitions on the drive. Then hit Enter.

Create one partition

1. If you pressed Y, the computer will create the partition and then transfer you back to the beginning screen. From here, select 4 to inspect to new hard drive's partition.

Create multiple partitions

1. If you pressed N, then you're going to create multiple partitions. To do this, you'll need to set the size of the new partition. This is done by entering a value next to "Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space to create a Primary DOS Partition."
   
   For example, if your new hard drive is 20GB and you'd like to create two 10GB drives, entering 50% will do just fine. To enter a number in Mbytes, take the total number in Mbytes and divide it in half to get the correct number to input. To make things easier, just use a percentage of the total hard drive and let your computer do the math for you.
   
2. When you've finished entering the size of the new partition, hit Enter to create it.
   
3. Press Esc to return to the new drives main menu.
   
4. From here, select 1 to "Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive."
   
5. Now it's time to create the extended partition. To do this, select 2 from the menu and hit Enter.
   
6. A screen that says "Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space to create an Extended DOS Partition" will appear. You should notice that the computer did the math for you and filled in the remaining hard drive space to be partitioned. If this number is OK, press Enter to complete the process. If it's not, and you plan on creating additional partitions, lower the number accordingly and then press Enter.
   
7. After fdisk creates the partition, press Esc to return to the new hard drive's main menu.
   
8. Before the new extended partition will work, it needs to have a Logical DOS Drive created on it. To do this, select 1 on the list to "Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive."
   
9. Select 3 from the list to "Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition" and hit Enter.
   
10. Your computer will then verify drive integrity and automatically deliver the size of the extended drive. You should see a number next to "Enter logical drive size in Mbytes or percentage of drive." This number should equal the size of the extended drive you created earlier.
    
11. Press Enter to "Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition."
    
12. After hitting Enter, you'll see a new letter assigned to the new partition you just created.
    
13. Press Esc to exit this screen and return to main menu.

How many partitions do you have?

1. To verify the two new partitions were created successfully, select 5 to "Change current fixed disk drive" and hit Enter.
   
2. You should see all the drives on your computer, including the two you just created.
   
3. Hit Esc twice to exit fdisk.
   
4. You must restart your computer before the new partitions will be recognized.

If you use Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you need to partition the drive and format from the admin tools in the Control Panel. Select Computer Management and then Drive Management. Highlight the new drive in the right window and right-click to partition it. Use the same process to format it.