Partitioning a Hard Drive 9/14/2018 Partitioning a Hard Drive ©Richard Goldman Revised January 8, 2001 Revised December 9, 2002 Richard Goldman

Types of Partitions Primary: Extended: A drive that is bootable (if an operating system is loaded on it). A drive that programs can be installed and run on. A drive that can be used to store data. Extended: A partition that can hold up to 23 (D:-Z:) logical partitions. Logical Drives Within an Extended Partition

Unformatted Hard Drive

Hard Drive must be low level formatted before it is partitioned. Low Level Format – Tracks & Sectors are added Normally done by Hard Drive Manufacturer. The SCSI drives usually have software that will allow you to Low level format a drive if necessary.

Partitioning Primary Partition C: Create Master Boot Sector Master Partition Table Master Boot Code Located at: Cylinder 0 Head 0 Sector 1 Create Primary Partition Volume Boot Record First sector in partition

Partitioning C: Extended Partition Create Extended Partition

Logical Volumes in Extended Partition Partitioning C: Logical Volumes in Extended Partition Create Logical Volumes D: & E: Create Volume Boot Records in each new volume D: E:

Format Primary Partition High Level Formatting C: Format Primary Partition Create Root Directory Create File Allocation Tables (2 FATs) D: E:

Format First Logical Volume in Extended Partition High Level Formatting C: Format First Logical Volume in Extended Partition Create Root Directory Create File Allocation Tables (2 FATs) D: E:

Format Second Logical Volume in Extended Partition High Level Formatting C: D: Format Second Logical Volume in Extended Partition Create Root Directory Create File Allocation Tables (2 FATs) E:

Install Windows 9X Operating System C: Install Operating System on Primary Partition DOS Kernel IO.SYS MSDOS.SYS Command.COM Windows 9X Use FORMAT C: /S SYS C: D: E:

Install Applications on any Partition – Example: Microsoft Office Word Excel Power Point Quicken Other Software Location: Most applications will select C: as the default drive but can be redirected to install on other drives. D: E:

Store data on any partition Use partitions to organize your data C: Store data on any partition Use partitions to organize your data D: E:

Types of Partitions Primary: Extended: A drive that is bootable (if an operating system is loaded on it). A drive that programs can be installed and run on. A drive that can be used to store data. Extended: A partition that can hold up to 23 (D:-Z:) logical partitions. Logical Drives Within an Extended Partition

Using FDISK to Create a Primary Partition Run FDISK (from your Startup Floppy) Enter: [1] “Create a DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive” [1] “Create a Primary DOS partition” The size of partition you want to create

Using FDISK to Create an Extended Partition Run FDISK (from your Startup Floppy) Enter: [1] “Create a DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive” [2] “Create an Extended DOS partition” The size of partition you want to create

Using FDISK to Create a Logical Drive in an Extended Partition Run FDISK (from your Startup Floppy) Enter: [1] “Create a DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive” [3] “Create Logical DOS drive(s) in the extended DOS partition” The size of partition you want to create

Partitioning Creates a Master Boot Sector The first sector of a hard drive Cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1 Contains the Master Partition Table A list describing the partitions (4 max) on the disk Where each partition starts and ends How big each partition is The type of file system If it is bootable Contains the Master Boot Code Program that runs the boot program on the active partition Created with: FDISK (DOS & Win 9X) Disk Manager (NT & Win 2000) Partition Magic or other third party program