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In computer operating systems, disk partitioning is the creation of logical divisions upon a hard disk that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting. The NASA Columbia Supercomputer. ...
It has been suggested that Maintenance OS be merged into this article or section. ...
Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ...
It has been suggested that Maintenance OS be merged into this article or section. ...
Logical formatting is the process of placing a file system upon a hard disk drive partition of a hard disk so that an operating system can use available hard disk platter space to store and retrieve files. ...
In layman's terms, partitioning a hard drive can make it behave like multiple, independent non-partitioned hard drives for most practical purposes; the main difference with separate hard disks is that partitions of the same hard disk share their hardware (and therefore hardware failures) and it is possible to resize existing partitions. Look up Laymans terms in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Partitioning a hard disk drive defines specific areas (the [i]partitions[/i]) within the disk. A partition may constitute an entire logical drive or it may form part of a larger virtual drive which could span over several partitions and hard disks.
Within a partition, a file system may be created for the storage of files, or a partition may be used for other purposes, such as swap space for those operating systems that support "swap partitions". It has been suggested that Crash counting be merged into this article or section. ...
Swap space is the term used to describe an area of disk (e. ...
Purpose
Partitioning makes it possible to create several file systems (either of the same type or different) on a single hard disk. This has many benefits, including: It has been suggested that Crash counting be merged into this article or section. ...
- The use of multi-booting setups, which allow users have more than one operating system on a single computer. For example, one could install Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows or others onto different partitions of the same hard disk (so they don't conflict) and have a choice of booting into any operating system (supported by the hardware) at power-up.
- Sharing swap partitions between multiple Linux distributions, so such partitions use less hard drive space.
- Protecting or isolating files, to make it easier to recover a corrupted file system or operating system installation.
- Raising overall computer performance because smaller filesystems are more efficient. For instance, large hard drives with only one NTFS filesystem typically have a very large Master File Table (MFT) and it generally takes more time to read this MFT than the smaller MFTs of smaller partitions.
- Higher levels of data organization, raising the user efficiency of the system, for example separate partitions dedicated to digital movie processing, photos, email mailboxes or browser cache.
Partitions may be customized to different requirements, for example, allowing for read-only partitions to protect data: if one partition is damaged, none of the other file systems are affected, and the drive's data may still be salvageable. Dual booting or dual-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a computer, and choosing which one when it boots. ...
Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...
Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...
A Linux distribution, often simply distribution or distro, is a member of the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems comprising the Linux kernel, the non-kernel parts of the GNU operating system, and assorted other software. ...
NTFS (New Technology File System) is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. ...
Digital video is a type of video recording system that works by using a digital, rather than analog, representation of the video signal. ...
PC BIOS partition types This section describes partitions as used in MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux on PC compatible computer systems; for examples of partitioning schemes used in other operating systems, see Slice (disk) and BSD disklabel. Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...
Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...
One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ...
In computer engineering, slices are the way BSD* based systems split a hard disk into logical divisions upon that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting. ...
In the BSD computer operating systems (including NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD) and in related operating systems such as SunOS, a disklabel is a record stored on a data storage device such as a hard disk that contains information about the location of the partitions on the disk. ...
Technically, a hard disk should contain either as many as four primary partitions, or one to three primaries along with a single extended partition. Each of these partitions are described by a 16-byte entry in the Partition Table which is located in the Master Boot Record. A Master Boot Record (MBR), or partition sector, is the 512-byte boot sector that is the first sector (Sector 0) of a partitioned data storage device such as a hard disk. ...
The "type" of a partition is identified by a 1-byte code found in its partition table entry. Some of these codes (such as 0x05 and 0x0F) may be used to indicate the presence of an extended partition, but most are used by operating systems that examine partition tables to decide if a partition contains a file system they can mount/access for reading or writing data. An Extended Boot Record (EBR) is a descriptor for a logical partition in the common DOS disk drive partitioning system. ...
Once a specific partition's type has been identified, additional information about its purpose and probable contents may be found (see: Andries Brouwer. List of partition identifiers for PCs. as one such resource). For example, some type codes are used to hide a partition's contents from various operating systems. However, if an OS or some partitioning tool has been programmed to also examine the boot sectors of any partition, then its file system may no longer remain hidden. (Note: There are no officially assigned partition types; thus, more than one kind of file system may lay claim to the same code value.)
Primary (or Logical) A primary (or logical) partition contains one file system. In MS-DOS and earlier versions of Microsoft Windows systems, the first partition (C:) must be a "primary partition". Other operating systems may not share this limitation; however, this can depend on other factors, such as a PC's BIOS. Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
The "partition type" code for a primary or logical partition can either correspond to a file system contained within (e.g. 0x07 means either an NTFS or an OS/2 HPFS file system) or indicate the partition has a special use (e.g. code 0xBC may mean an Acronis Secure Zone and code 0x82 usually indicates a Linux swap file partition). The FAT16 and FAT32 file systems have made use of quite a number of partition type codes over time due to the limits of various DOS and Windows OS versions. Though a Linux operating system may recognize a number of different file systems (ext2, ext3, reiserfs, etc.), they have all consistently used the same partition type code: 0x83 (Linux native). NTFS (New Technology File System) is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. ...
HPFS or High Performance File System, is a file system created specifically for the OS/2 operating system to improve upon the limitations of the FAT file system. ...
Acronis Secure Zone (ASZ) is a special hard disk partition that can be created and used by Acronis True Image and related products as a backup storage. ...
File Allocation Table (FAT) is a partially patented file system developed by Microsoft for MS-DOS and was the primary file system for consumer versions of Microsoft Windows up to and including Windows Me. ...
Extended An extended partition is secondary to the primary partition(s). A hard disk may contain only one extended partition; which can then be sub-divided into logical drives, each of which is (under DOS and Windows) assigned additional drive letters. Drive letter assignment is the process of assigning drive letters to primary and logical partitions (drive volumes) in the root namespace as seen by a Microsoft operating system. ...
For example, under either DOS or Windows, a hard disk with one primary partition and one extended partition, the latter containing two logical drives, would typically be assigned the three drive letters: C:, D: and E: (in that order).
Extended partitions are useful if you want more than four partitions on a single physical drive. Technically, the number of logical drives is no longer limited in later operating systems, but under Windows there is an effective limit if they are to be assigned drive letters (only 24 letters, C: through Z:, are generally available. Later operating systems may allow more drives to be mounted/accessed by using A-A:, A-B:, A-C:, etc.).
See Extended Boot Record for information on the structure of an extended partition. An Extended Boot Record (EBR) is a descriptor for a logical partition in the common DOS disk drive partitioning system. ...
Compressed disks Hard disks are sometimes compressed to create additional space. Under MS-DOS and early Windows, programs such as STACKER (DR-DOS except 6), SuperStor (DR-DOS 6), DoubleSpace, or DriveSpace (Windows 95) were used. This compression was done by creating a very large file on the partition, then storing the disk's data in this file. At startup, device drivers opened this file and assigned it a separate letter. Frequently, to avoid confusion, the original partition and the compressed drive had their letters swapped, so that the compressed disk is C:, and the uncompressed area (often containing system files) is given a higher name. (SuperStor required a separate device driver to be loaded, DEVSWAP.COM). Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ...
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DoubleSpace was the original name of the disk compression software that was supplied with MS-DOS starting from version 6. ...
Versions of Windows using the NT kernel, including the most recent versions, XP and Vista, contain intrinsic disk compression capability. The use of separate compression utilities has declined sharply. 1. ...
Partitioning schemes
Microsoft Windows With Microsoft Windows, the standard partitioning scheme is to create a single active primary partition, the C: drive, where the operating system, user data, applications, and page file all reside. Some users, however, prefer to create multiple partitions so that the operating system can be stored separately from other kinds of data. While this scheme generally results in slightly lower performance due to additional work needing to be done by both the hard drive and the operating system[citation needed], proponents of multiple partitions generally point to the benefit of being able to erase a single partition (typically the operating system itself) while retaining the other data. When used in conjunction with third-party partition management programs such as Acronis True Image, Norton PartitionMagic, Norton Ghost, or specialized recovery programs that come with computers manufactured by most major manufacturers, the use of multiple partitions allows computer users to quickly recover from viruses, rootkits, and trojan horses or an otherwise damaged, corrupt or compromised operating system. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ...
Acronis True Image is a disk imaging application for PCs, produced and sold by Acronis. ...
PartitionMagic is a computer program for hard disk drive partitioning originally made by the PowerQuest corporation but now owned by Symantec. ...
Ghost is a disk cloning program, originally produced by Binary Research, but purchased by Symantec in 1998. ...
A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. ...
A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system. ...
The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ...
Unix For Unix-based and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X, the creation of separate partitions for /boot, /home, /tmp, /usr, /var, /opt, swap and all remaining files under the "/" (root directory) is possible. (The same is true for Sun-based operating systems, except their partitions are called slices.) Such a scheme has a number of potential advantages: if one file system gets corrupted, the rest of the data (the other file systems) stay intact, minimizing data loss; partitions can be accessed read-only and the execution of setuid files disabled thus enhancing security; performance may be enhanced due to less disk head travel. However, this method has the disadvantage of subdividing the drive into fixed-size partitions, so, for instance, a user could run out of hard drive space in his or her /home partition, even though other partitions still have plenty of usable space. A good implementation requires the user to predict how much space each partition will need, which may be a difficult task; especially for new users. Logical Volume Management, often used in servers, introduces a degree of flexibility by allowing data in these volumes to expand into separate physical disks (which can be added when needed); another option is to resize existing partitions when necessary. Typical desktop systems, though, are often comprised of a single "/" (root directory) containing the entire filesystem plus a much smaller swap partition. A separate /home partition, however, can be very useful, since it allows for a clean reinstall of the OS (or a fresh install of another Linux distribution) while leaving the user's data intact. Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ...
Diagram of the relationships between several Unix-like systems A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ...
Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...
Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...
Virtual memory is intended to help the programmer by taking care of some memory housekeeping duties. ...
In computer file systems, the root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. ...
In computer engineering, slices are the way BSD* based systems split a hard disk into logical divisions upon that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting. ...
It has been suggested that Crash counting be merged into this article or section. ...
In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM is a method of allocating space on mass storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes. ...
In computer file systems, the root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. ...
Virtual memory is intended to help the programmer by taking care of some memory housekeeping duties. ...
A Linux distribution, often simply distribution or distro, is a member of the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems comprising the Linux kernel, the non-kernel parts of the GNU operating system, and assorted other software. ...
Partition recovery When a partition is deleted, in general, only its partition table entry is removed from a table; and although the data is no longer accessible, it still remains on the disk until it's overwritten. Specialized recovery utilities, (such as TestDisk and gpart), can locate lost file systems and recreate a partition table which includes entries for these recovered file systems. However, some disk utilities may also overwrite a number of beginning sectors of a partition they delete. For example, if Windows Disk Management (Windows 2000/XP, etc.) is used to delete a partition, it will overwrite the first sector (relative sector 0) of the partition before removing it. Hopefully any FAT32 or NTFS partition you wish to recover will still have an available backup boot sector, so the boot sector can be restored. TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery utility! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition Table). ...
gpart is utility software which scans a hard disk drive, conducting quasi-forensic examination of the data on the disk in order to detect partitions which may exist but be absent from the hard disks partition tables. ...
File Allocation Table (FAT) is a partially patented file system developed by Microsoft for MS-DOS and was the primary file system for consumer versions of Microsoft Windows up to and including Windows Me. ...
NTFS (New Technology File System) is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. ...
See also Wikibooks Guide to Unix has a page on the topic of Partitioning Disks Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ...
Wikibooks logo Wikibooks, previously called Wikimedia Free Textbook Project and Wikimedia-Textbooks, is a wiki for the creation of books. ...
Apple Partition Map (APM) is a partition scheme used to define the low-level organization of data on disks formatted for use with Macintosh computers. ...
In the BSD computer operating systems (including NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD) and in related operating systems such as SunOS, a disklabel is a record stored on a data storage device such as a hard disk that contains information about the location of the partitions on the disk. ...
In computer engineering, slices are the way BSD* based systems split a hard disk into logical divisions upon that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting. ...
Formatting a hard drive using MS-DOS Disk formatting is the process of preparing a hard disk or other storage medium for use, including setting up an empty file system. ...
An Extended Boot Record (EBR) is a descriptor for a logical partition in the common DOS disk drive partitioning system. ...
It has been suggested that Crash counting be merged into this article or section. ...
GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
This is a list of partitioning utilities. ...
In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM is a method of allocating space on mass storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes. ...
A Master Boot Record (MBR), or partition sector, is the 512-byte boot sector that is the first sector (Sector 0) of a partitioned data storage device such as a hard disk. ...
A ROM image, or simply ROM, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computers firmware, or from an arcade games main board. ...
TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery utility! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing your Partition Table). ...
Introduction and Definition In the context of computer operating systems, volume is the term used to describe a single accessible storage area with a single filesystem, typically (though not necessarily) resident on a single partition of a hard disk. ...
Further reading - Stéphane Martineau, Jens Olsson, Nick Roberts (2002-11-02). "The Alt-OS-Development Partition Specification (AODPS)". 0.4.
- Andries Brouwer (1995–2004). "List of partition identifiers for PCs".
- Andries Brouwer (1999-09-16). "Minimal Partition Table Specification".
- (1998-08-05). "partitioning primer". Ranish.
- Intel. "EFI specification". 1.10.
- Allen Smith. "ATA (EIDE) Drive Capacity and Addressing".
- Microsoft (2005-06-03). "Using GPT Drives".
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