FDISK Partitioning Hard Disks

History We bought our new hard disk drive –Right size for BIOS and OS –Right connections (PATA/SATA) We installed our new drive –Red stripe to Pin 1 –Power connector –Master/Slave jumper set correctly – or- –Serial ATA connector and power connector We checked that the new drive “shows up” in CMOS

Partitioning a Drive We need to create one, or more, partitions on a drive as a first step to data storage Partitioning sets the boundaries for our data/files area Partitioning is loosely related to what file system (next topic) we intend to use Partitioning sets the drive letter assignment (C:, D:, etc.)

Why Partition DOS 3.3 could only use a 32 MB partition, even as disk sizes grew beyond that Today, Windows can use up to 2.2TB with MBR Allows flexibility in how you use a drive: C: for Windows, D: for data, E: for pictures… Partitioning allows for more than one OS on a hard disk drive – though not recommended Partitioning sets boundaries for FORMAT

Partitioning Creates Master Boot Record (MBR) – small code file that transfers control from POST to OS; it lives in the Boot Sector Partition Table, also in Boot Sector, stores information about partition(s). Sector 0.

Partition Boot Sector Stores location of boot file. Partition

Primary Partitions Primary Partition stores the OS Have to have (at least) one Primary Primary must be set Active to boot In Windows, the Primary Partition is C: In theory, we could have four Primaries, but FDISK only allows for one; Disk Manager allows four

Multiple Primary Here is an example of multiple Primary Partitions, but still only one is Active:

Extended Partition Type Not required for bootable system; optional Extended Partitions are NOT bootable, can’t store a bootable OS here Can only have one Extended Partition on a physical drive We have to further divide the Extended Partition into “Logical Drives” – which get drive letters – before we can use the area EP does not get a drive letter

Dynamic Disks Introduced with Windows 2000 Also called Dynamic Storage Partitioning Works with “Volumes” not Partitions Can span: A volume can be part on one (physical) hard drive and part on another (physical) hard drive. Proprietary to Microsoft; has to be done “after the fact” – after OS is installed XP Home and Media Center won’t do this

Dynamic Volumes Simple is like a Primary Partition – basic vanilla flavor Spanned uses two sections of two drives as one drive letter. Risky Stripped volumes are Raid 0 – half data goes on one drive, half on another Mirrored volumes are Raid 1 – same data goes on two physical drives Raid 5 requires three drives for data, data and parity

GUID Partitions Globally Unique Identifier Partition Table (GPT) Large number of partitions Disk “Translation” is over 32- and 64-bit code is possible Have to have Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) motherboard Allows for disks above 2.2TB Only in 64-bit versions of Windows

Hidden Partitions Some computer makers use these to store image of hard drive for restore operations Normally, you don’t see this partition – special utilities access it Can not create one with FDISK

Partitioning Tools FDISK – DOS, Windows up to ME Disk Administrator – Windows NT Disk Management – Windows 2K, XP, Vista and 7 With FDISK, you can’t change a partition without deleting it first: total destruction of data; DM allows some changes Third-party tools (PartitionMagic) allow changes to existing partitions

What it looks like 0 GB200 GB MBR Primary Partition C: Extended Partition Primary Partition C:

What it looks like 0 GB200 GB MBR Primary Partition C: Extended Partition Drive D: Drive E: Logical Drives

File Systems Windows NT Windows 95a Windows 95b Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista FAT 16 FAT 32 NTFS (4), 5 NTFS 4

FDISK Opener

FDISK Main Menu

Viewing Current Partition(s)

FDISK Main Menu

Creating a Partition

All One Partition?

Then How Big? Make sure this is the drive you want! Number (for size) or number+% for size

Here it is Status is blank Not formatted yet

FDISK Main Menu

Drive Letter Assignment Primary Partitions Logical Drives (within Extended Partition) All non-hard disk drives

Deleting Partitions

When you have a second drive Notice additional option