Efficient Tutorial: Create Multiple Partitions on USB Drive Using Diskpart

Sherly updated on Aug 26, 2024 to Computer Instruction | How-to Articles

This article teaches you how to create multiple partitions on USB drive Diskpart and provides a quick and easier way for you to create partitions on USB.

In this article, you'll learn how to create multiple partitions on USB drive Diskpart. We'll outline the various Diskpart commands you can apply to create partitions for your drive. The article will also discuss an alternative tool called EaseUS Partition Master that you can use to create multiple partitions for your USB drive.

How to Create Multiple Partitions on USB Drive Diskpart

Diskpart is a Windows built-in feature that allows you to manage different disks, including USB drives, by creating multiple partitions/volumes and fixing disk errors. It's a popular disk management utility on Windows because it's readily available and free to use. Partitioning your USB drive using Diskpart ensures that you make the best use of it.

Diskpart has different commands that allow you to create partitions on USB drive. You can create a system volume, a dynamic volume, a mirrored system volume, a boot volume, a UEFI system volume, and a RAID-5 volume. The steps below outline how you can create multiple partitions on a USB drive using Diskpart. 

Step 1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator.

Step 2. Type "diskpart" and press Enter to open Diskpart.

Step 3. Type "list disk" to check the drives connected to your computer.

Step 4. Select the disk that you want to create multiple partitions, i.e., select disk 1

Step 5. Type "clean" to wipe out your disk's existing data and partitions. 

Step 6. To create a new partition, type "create partition primary size=10000 (ensure you replace this number with the correct size for your partition)."

Step 7. To confirm if the system has created a new partition, type "list partition" to check the available partitions.

Step 8. Next, select the partition you've just created by typing "select partition 1" and format it using the "format fs=fat32 label-'software'” command. Well done! You've successfully created the first partition and formatted it.

Step 9. To create a second partition, repeat Steps 6 to 8 above and ensure you use the correct partition size based on the remaining space. You can also create additional partitions using the same method. To view the partitions you've created, type "list partition".

That's it! Diskpart allows you to create multiple partitions on a USB drive using simple commands. Ensure you've labeled all the new partitions correctly for easier identification. In the next section, we'll outline an alternative tool that you can use to create multiple partitions on your USB drive.

Alternative to How to Create Multiple Partitions on USB Drive Diskpart

Although Diskpart is quite reliable in creating multiple partitions on your USB drive, it takes much time and effort. An alternative approach is using a third-party tool like EaseUS Partition Master. This software is convenient since it takes the least time to format your USB drive.

In addition to creating multiple partitions, this tool allows you to adjust disk space, merge partitions, format partitions, extend system partitions, etc. The main features of EaseUS Partition Master include the following.

  • Merge partitions on USB drive
  • Create partitions on USB drive
  • Convert a partition from primary to logical and vice versa.
  • Allows you to set a partition as "active" to avoid boot failures.
  • Allows you to initialize a disk to MBR or GPT if it's "unallocated".
  • Check for the health state of a disk partition and fix bad sectors.
  • Clean up the existing partitions on a USB drive, SSD, or hard drive.
  • Hide or unhide a partition to prevent it from accidental deletion or data spying.

To start enjoying the wide range of features regarding partition management from EaseUS Partition Master, ensure you download and install a trial version of the software on your computer today. You can also follow the steps below to learn how to create multiple partitions using this software.

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.

Conclusion

Diskpart has various commands that aid in creating multiple partitions for your USB drive. With this Windows built-in utility, you can create different partitions, including a system volume, a dynamic volume, a mirrored system volume, a boot volume, a UEFI system volume, and a RAID-5 volume.

To create multiple partitions on the USB drive Diskpart, you'll need to type specific commands on Command Prompt. If you want to save the time and effort of using Diskpart, we recommend using EaseUS Partition Master. This tool is easy to use and allows you to create multiple partitions, resize existing partitions, merge, fix disk errors, etc.

FAQs About How to Create Multiple Partitions on USB Drive Diskpart

You can read through the following questions to learn more about creating multiple partitions on a USB drive.

1. Can a USB drive have multiple partitions?

Yes, you can create multiple partitions in a USB drive. This is mostly the case when you want to store many files on the drive. It helps you create separate partitions for each group of files for easy access.

2. How do I put multiple operating systems on one USB?

You'll need to download and install WinSetupFromUSB on your computer to achieve this. Once that is done, you can launch the software and select your USB drive from the dropdown. Select your preferred operating system from the provided list.

Next, browse to the volume for the selected OS, and WinSetupFromUSB will install it on your USB drive. Repeat this for all the other operating systems you want to install in your multiboot USB. 

3. How many partitions can a USB have?

You can create multiple partitions on a USB drive. Using MBR, you can create up to four primary partitions. If you want to create more than four primary partitions, you'll need to convert your disk from MBR to GPT. With GPT, you can have up to 128 primary partitions on your USB drive, depending on its total storage capacity.