Understanding Hard Disk Partitions

What is a hard disk partition

When a hard drive is installed in a computer, it must be partitioned before you can format and use it.
Partitioning a drive is when you divide the total storage of a drive into different pieces. These pieces are called
partitions. Once a partition is created, it can then be formatted so that it can be used on a computer. When
partitions are made, you specify the total amount of storage that you would like to allocate to that partition
from the total size of the drive. For example, if you have an 80 GB drive, then it would be possible to make one
partition consisting of the entire 80 GB of available storage. Alternatively,you could make two partitions
consisting of a 20 GB partition that will be used for the operating system and programs and a 60 GB partition set
aside for data, music, and images.
In the current IBM PC architecture, there is a partition table in the drive's Master Boot Record (section of the
hard drive that contains the commands necessary to start the operating system), or MBR, that lists information
about the partitions on the hard drive. This partition table is then further split into 4 partition table entries, with
each entries corresponding to a partition. Due to this it is only possible to have four partitions. These 4 partitions
are typically known as primary partitions. To overcome this restriction, system developers decided to add a new
type of partition called the extended partition. By replacing one of the four primary partitions with an extended
partition, you can then make an additional 24 logical partitions within the extended one. The table below
illustrates this.

Partition Table
Primary Partition #1
Primary Partition #2
Primary Partition #3
Primary Partition #4 (Extended
Partition)
Logical Partition #1
Logical Partition #1
As you can see, this partition table is broken up into 4 primary partitions. The fourth partition, though, has been
flagged as an extended partition. This allows us to make more logical partitions under that extended partition
and therefore bypassing the 4 partition limit.
Each hard drive also has one of its possible 4 partitions flagged as an active partition. The active partition is a
special flag assigned to only one partition on a hard drive that the Master Boot Record (MBR) uses to boot your
computer into an operating system. As only one partition may be set as the active partition, you may be
wondering how people can have multiple operating systems installed on different partitions, and yet still be able
to use them all. This is accomplished by installing a boot loader in the active partition. When the computer
starts, it will read the MBR and determine the partition that is flagged as active. This partition is the one that
contains the boot loader. When the operating system boots off of this partition the boot loader will start and
allow you to choose which operating systems you would like to boot from.

Why make partitions

Now that you know what a partition is, you may be wondering why you would even need to make multiple
partitions instead of just making one. Though there are quite a few reasons, we will touch on some of the more
important ones below:
 Multiple Filesystems - When you create a partition, you then need to format it before it can be used.
When formatting a partition you tell the operating system what filesystem you would like that partition
to be formatted in. Once you format a partition, and therefore assign the type of filesystem you want to
use with it, you can not change that filesystem without formatting the partition again and losing all the
data contained on it. If you require different filesystems on your computer, whether it be for security or
for a specific application, you can then make multiple partition and assign one type of filesystem to one
of the partitions and another to one of the other partitions.
 Partition Size - On older operating systems the maximum size of a partition was limited. Therefore if you
had more storage space on a hard drive than was usable in a single partition, you would need to create
other partitions to utilize this unused space.
 Multiple Operating Systems - Some operating systems use filesystems that are not compatible with
other operating systems. If you want to use two operating systems on the same computer that are not
compatible in this way, you could then make two partitions, one for each operating system. Then a boot
loader could be used to switch between them when you start your computer.
 Wasted disk Space - When a filesystems store data in a partition, the larger the partition, the greater
the chance of wasted space. By having multiple partitions of smaller size, you reduce the amount of
waste that filesystems may create.
 Seperate system files from users files - Some components of an operating system require storage space
to operate. For example, in Windows if you have no hard drive space available on the drive that
Windows is installed on, you will not be able to print. By creating a partition solely devoted to the
operating system and then another partition dedicated to your own data and programs, there is less of a
chance of you using up the space on the operating system partition with your data, and thus not causing
problems
Partition
With a computer hard drive, a disk partition or partition is a section of the hard drive that is separated from
other segments. Partitions enable users to divide a physical disk into logical sections. For example, allowing
multiple operating systems to run on the same device.
With older file allocation tables, such as FAT (file allocation table) 16, creating smaller partitions allows a
computer hard drive to run more efficiently and save more disk space. However, this is no longer the case with
new file allocation tables like FAT32.
 Which drive is the first partition?
 What does a partition look like?
 Types of partitions.
 Does a hard drive require a partition?
 Related information.
Which drive is the first partition?
On Microsoft Windows computers, by default, the first drive (disk 0 or drive 0) containing the first partition is
the C: drive.
What does a partition look like?
The best way to see what a partition looks like is to open the disk management tool.
Press the Windows key, type Disk Management, and press Enter.
Note
A small amount of disk space allocated to a partition is unusable space and cannot store data. For example, the
picture below shows the Extra Volume (E:) drive, or partition, having a capacity of 5.86 GB, but the Free Space
available for storing data is only 5.84 GB. The 20 MB (.02 GB) difference is unusable space.

Types of partitions
There are also several partition types. Below is a listing of partitions with a brief description.
Note
Some of these partitions may not be available in your partition utility.
Partition Description
AIX partition (boot) A partition used with the AIX (advanced interactive executive) operating system.
Apple File System (APFS) A partition used with Apple computers. These can be formatted as encrypted,
partition case-sensitive, or encrypted and case-sensitive.
As defined by Microsoft, a boot partition contains the files required for a system
Boot partition
startup. Also see: System partition
BSD/OS partition (OpenBSD) A partition is used with the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) operating system.
DOS partition (12-bit, 16-bit) A partition used with older versions of MS-DOS.
DOS extended partition A partition extended from one or more of the original MS-DOS partitions.
DRDOS (hidden) A partition used with the DR. DOS operating system.
Extended partition A partition that is extended from one or more of the primary partitions.
Hibernation partition A partition used with older hibernation programs.
An HPFS (high-performance file system) partition used with IBM OS/2 and
HPFS partition (OS/2 IFS)
Microsoft NT 3.x
Linux (Linux native, Linux A partition used with various variants of the Linux operating systems.
swap, Linux extended,
ext2fs)
A partition for Apple computers using macOS 10.12 and earlier. These can be
Mac OS Extended partition formatted as journaled, journaled and encrypted, case-sensitive and journaled,
and case-sensitive, journaled, and encrypted.
MINIX A partition used with the MINIX operating system.
When using Microsoft fdisk, a NON-DOS partition indicates a partition is not native
NON-DOS partition
to the Microsoft operating system. For example, this could be a Linux partition.
NEC DOS A partition used with the old NEC DOS variant.
NEXTSTEP A partition used with the NeXTSTEP operating system.
Novell NetWare A partition used with the Novell NetWare operating system.
A partition used with Microsoft Windows NT 4.x, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and
NTFS (NTFS file system)
later versions.
Partition Magic
A partition created using the Partition Magic utility by PowerQuest.
(PowerQuest)
A partition created by the PC ARMOUR security utility. When created, this
PC-ARMOUR
partition is commonly protected by a password.
In a Microsoft operating system, the Primary Partition refers to the main or first
Primary
partition used for the Microsoft operating system.
Solaris X86 A partition used with the Sun Solaris X86 platform operating system.
As defined by Microsoft, a system partition is a partition containing the system32
System partition
directory. Also see: boot partition.
Tandy DOS A partition used with the old Tandy DOS variant.
Unix System V (SCO, IRIX, ISC,
A partition used with various Unix operating systems.
Unix, UnixWare, etc...)
VMware (VMware Swap) A partition used by VMware.
Xenix (Xenix /usr) A partition used with the Xenix operating system.
Does a hard drive require a partition?
A hard drive must have at least one partition. The first partition on a hard drive is the primary partition, and if
it's the computer's only one, it is assigned the C: drive letter. Additional partitions are only needed if you want
more than one drive letter assigned to the device or need to separate the storage space into smaller segments.
What is a Partition?
Many drives come with a single partition already set up, but all storage devices are just treated as a mass of
unallocated, free space when they contain no partitions. To actually set up a file system and save any files to the
drive, the drive needs a partition.
The partition can contain all of the storage space on the drive or just some of it. On many storage devices, a
single partition will often take up the entire drive.
Partitions are necessary because you can't just start writing files to a blank drive. You must first create at least
one container with a file system. We call this container a partition. You can have one partition that contains all
the storage space on the drive or divide the space into twenty different partitions. Either way, you need at least
one partition on the drive.
After creating a partition, the partition is formatted with a file system -- like the NTFS file system on Windows
drives, FAT32 file system for removable drives, HFS+ file system on Mac computers, or the ext4 file system on
Linux. Files are then written to that file system on the partition.

Why You Can Make Multiple Partitions and When You Might Want To
You probably don't want multiple partitions on your USB flash drive -- a single partition will allow you to treat
the USB drive as a single unit. If you have multiple partitions, multiple different drives would appear when you
plugged your USB drive into your computer.
However, you may want multiple partitions for other reasons. Each partition can be isolated from the others and
even have a different file system. For example, many Windows computers come with a separate recovery
partition where the files you need to restore your Windows operating system to its factory default settings are
stored. When you restore Windows, the files from this partition are copied to the main partition. The recovery
partition is normally hidden so you can't access it from Windows and mess it up. If the recovery files were stored
on the main system partition, it would be easier for them to be deleted, infected, or corrupted.
Some Windows geeks love creating a separate partition for their personal data files. When you reinstall
Windows, you can wipe your system drive and leave your data partition intact. If you want to install Linux on
your Windows computer, you can install it to the same hard drive -- the Linux system will be installed to one or
more separate partitions so Windows and Linux won't interfere with each other.
Linux systems are generally set up with multiple partitions. For example, Linux systems have a swap partition
that functions like the page file on Windows. The swap partition is formatted with a different file system. You
can set up partitions however you like with Linux, giving different system directories their own partition.

Related: How to Create a Separate Data Partition for Windows

Primary, Extended, and Logical Partitions
When partitioning, you'll need to be aware of the difference between primary, extended, and logical partitions.
A disk with a traditional partition table can only have up to four partitions. Extended and logical partitions are a
way to get around this limitation.
Each disk can have up to four primary partitions or three primary partitions and an extended partition. If you
need four partitions or less, you can just create them as primary partitions.
However, let's say you want six partitions on a single drive. You'd have to create three primary partitions as well
as an extended partition. The extended partition effectively functions as a container that allows you to create a
larger amount of logical partitions. So, if you needed six partitions, you'd create three primary partitions, an
extended partition, and then three logical partitions inside the extended partition. You could also just create a
single primary partition, an extended partition, and five logical partitions -- you just can't have more than four
primary partitions at a time.

How to Partition
Partitioning with graphical tools is fairly easy if you know what you're doing. While installing an operating
system -- Windows or Linux -- your operating system installer will offer a partitioning screen where you can
create, delete, format, and resize partitions. (Note that deleting or formatting a partition will erase all the data
on it!)
You can also use tools like the Disk Management tool in Windows and GParted on Linux to manage partitions on
your system drive or other drives. You can't always modify a partition while it's in-use -- for example, you can't
delete a Windows system partition while you're running Windows from it! -- so you may need to boot from a
Linux live CD or use an operating system installer disk to make many changes.
These tools allow you to partition your system drives as well as other internal drives, external drives, USB drives,
SD cards, and other storage media.

Related: How to Resize Your Ubuntu Partitions

How Partitions Appear as Disks, But Don't Offer the Same Performance Benefits
Operating systems display separate partitions as separate drives. For example, if you have a single drive with
500 GB of storage on your computer, you'd have a C:\ drive with 500 GB of space available to you in Windows.
But, if you partitioned that drive in half, you'd have a C:\ drive with 250 GB of space and a D:\ drive with 250 GB
of space displayed in Windows Explorer.
These drives may look like separate physical devices, but they don't function that way. Although they appear as
different disks, they're still the same physical piece of hardware. There's only so much speed to go around. You
don't gain the performance benefits from using two separate partitions that you do from using two separate
physical drives.
Most people won't have to worry about this, as drives generally come with a single partition set up, operating
systems partition automatically, and so on. However, it's helpful to know how partitions work when you need to
get your hands dirty.