Hard Disk Partition
When a large hard disk drive is used in the computer system, the best thing one can do is to partition it into several drives. The partitioning of the hard disk drives is a logical process. When the discussion of partitioning rages on; it strikes the mind that how can a hard disk be partitioned. It is not possible to partition a hard disk drive physically.
The logical partitions are usually created before the installation of the operating system. There exists some specific software that is capable of partitioning the hard disk drive after the operating system is completely installed.
The partitioning of the hard disk can be termed as important since it resembles that there are several drives that are connected to the computer system. Each partition in the computer can be treated as a single drive. The operations that can be performed over a hard disk individually can also be performed over an individual partition.
In short each partition behaves like single hard disk drive. The partitioning can be performed by the fdisk command in the DOS. The fdisk command lists a number of things a user can do. The first thing is that there is one and only one partition in any hard disk drive initially. The first thing is to select the option where the first thing is to make a primary DOS partition.
The Logical DOS partitions then follow. The primary DOS partition then should be set active. The disk integrity will be checked then and the user should select the space to be allotted to the primary partition.
After the user has selected the space allotment then the extended logical partition can be created. In the extended logical partition it is possible to create as many as possible partitions. Each of the partition should then be formatted. The formatting of the partition is necessary. The file system is also assigned to the partition.
The formatting of the partitions can also be done after the installation of the operating system. Unless and until the partitions are formatted they are unable to use. The formatting is necessary after the partitioning of the hard disk drive. The first partition is the primary partition which usually carries the name of the drive letter as ‘C’, the other partitions that follows are named as ‘D’, ‘E’ and so on up to the last partition.
The drive letter ‘C’ is used for the first partition because the ‘A’ is usually used for the floppy disk drive. The ‘B’ drive letter is used for the floppy disk drive of 5 ¼ inch floppy drive. This floppy disk and the drive and obsolete today, but still the drive letter ‘B’ is not used.
The CD drive and the DVD drive are allotted the name as the next consecutive letters after the hard disk drive. If the drive is to be partitioned after the installation of the operating system then the data may be lost some times. Hence a third party software should be used for the partitioning of the hard disk is the operating system is already installed already.
One example for the partitioning software is the ‘Partition Magic’. This software enables the user to even convert the file system with even harming the data that is tore over the hard disk drive.
