Intro to Partition

Disk partitioning is a process which allows you to virtually divide your hard disk space into different data divisions called partition. A software application such as partition editor can provide you with the access to remove or configure partitions. It is important to strategically set partition size providing an adequate space for your files and software installations.

Advantages of disk partition

- Disk partitioning allows you to install your operating system in a different disk space separate from your data files. - Can help group your files together in a particular partition where they are most accessible. - Separates log files and caching process from your other files. - Enables multi-booting function via different hard disk partition. This allows users to install different operating system in one computer using a single partition per installation. - Provides additional data security. Users may choose to save their data files on a different partition from that of their operating system (OS). This allows the user to recover the unaffected data when the OS is corrupted. A PC hard disk is usually divided into four. At least one of which is configured as primary partitions and the others as extended partition. The Partition Table in the MBR (master boot record) contains the primary partitions description at 16-byte entries.

The partition table entry 1-byte code identifies the type of partition. Most commonly used codes 0x05 and 0x0F are accessed by some OS that operates on partition table to identify which partition stores mountable file system for writing or reading. These set of codes are also sometimes associated with the presence of extended partition.

PC BIOS partition type

Primary partition Primary partition operates with one type of file system. The initial partition (C:) is set as the primary partition by some operating system, such as MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. This rule does not apply in all types of OS dependent on other factors like PC?s BIOS.

Primary partition can be represented by a partition type code 0x07 which indicates that the partition?s file system is contained in an NTFS or OS/2 HPFS. It can also be represented by other codes to denote the partition?s special operations such as 0xBC which represents an Acronis Secure Zone and code 0x82 for Linux swap partition. The earlier versions of DOS and Windows OS offered very limited resources back then that FAT16 and FAT32 had to use numerous partition type codes when working with these applications. Linux on the other hand consistently used type code 0x83 (Linux native) despite its ability to operate in many file systems.

Extended Extended partition is a primary partition with secondary partitions. A hard disk can only support one extended partition at max. Extended partitions can be further subdivided into logical drives with letters assigned as the logical drives address also known as drive letters. Drive letters are applicable under DOS or Windows OS. These provides user a systematic drive recognition address as it represents C: as its primary partition while drives D: and E: are its two logical drives.


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