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

2. 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

3. Unformatted Hard Drive

4. 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.

5. 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

6. Partitioning C:
Extended Partition
Create Extended Partition

7. 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:

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

9. 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:

10. 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:

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

12. 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:

13. Store data on any partition Use partitions to organize your dataC:
Store data on any partition
Use partitions to organize your data D: E:

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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