pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Hard Drive Partitioning

If your second drive is a new, empty hard disk, you’re going to have to first create a primary partition on the disk and then format a file system on that partition. If you’re installing on a disk you’ve been using previously, you may want to delete it’s existing partitions before creating new ones.

Each allocated space on the hard disk is assigned a drive letter and the Fdisk utility may be used to create, change, delete, or display information about the current partitions on a hard disk. It allows you to specify partition sizes and to define which partition will be the active (boot) partition. Fdisk writes the partition table into the first sector of track zero of the partitionable disk. This partition table also contains the master boot block. When the machine is turned on, the ROM BIOS will read this master boot block and transfer control to it. The master boot block then finds out which partition is active, reads the boot code from that partition, and then transfers control to that boot code.

FAT – the acronym stands for File Allocation Table – is a file system that was first introduced in 1981. Windows 98 supports both the FAT16 and FAT32 variants, and you need to decide which you are going to use before proceeding any further.

FAT16:

The FAT16 file system has a maximum of 2 gigabytes (GB) for each allocated space or drive letter. For example, if you use the FAT16 file system and have a 6GB hard disk, you can have three drive letters (C, D, and E), each with 2GB of allocated space.

The 2GB partition limit is imposed by the maximum number of clusters and the largest cluster size supported by the FAT file system. The FAT file system is limited to 65,525 clusters. The size of a cluster must be a power of 2 and less than 65,536 bytes – this results in a maximum cluster size of 32,768 bytes (32K). Multiplying number of clusters (65,525) by the maximum cluster size (32,768) equals 2GB.

FAT32:

Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2 and later support drives larger than 2GB using the FAT32 file system. This offers the following enhancements over previous implementations of the FAT file system. FAT32 supports drives that are up to 2 terabytes (TB) in size and stores files on smaller sections of the hard disk than the FAT16 file system does. This results in more free space on the hard disk. FAT32 is also more robust, being less susceptible to a single point of failure than earlier version of the file system.

The FAT32 file system does not support drives that are smaller than 512MB.

After the system has booted to your startup disk, proceed as follows:

  1. At the A:> prompt type fdisk and press Enter.
  2. If the hard disk is larger than 512 MB, you receive the following prompt:
  3. Fdisk

  4. If you want to use the FAT32 file system, press Y, and then press Enter. If you want to use the FAT16 file system, press N, and then press Enter.
  5. After you press Enter, the Fdisk Options menu is displayed:
  6. Fdisk

  7. Select option 5 so that you can switch to the newly installed D: drive:
  8. Fdisk

  9. Enter 2 and press Esc to return to the FDISK Options.
  10. Fdisk

  11. Enter 4 to remind yourself of the current information for the D:drive.
  12. Fdisk

  13. Press Esc to return to the FDISK Options and select option 3 to delete existing partitions.
  14. Fdisk

  15. When you’ve deleted all the existing partitions you require, return to the FDISK Options menu. Press 1 to select the Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive option:
  16. Fdisk

  17. Press 1 to select the Create Primary DOS Partition option.
  18. After you press Enter, you receive the following prompt:

    Do you wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS partition?

    Enter Y and Fdisk proceeds to allocate the whole disk to the partition.

Depending on its size, you may choose to divide your hard disk in multiple partitions. The precise manner in which you do this depends on your purpose in partitioning in the first place. For example, if your purpose is to create a dual-boot system, capable of running different operating systems, the method you use will be different from if you’re using partitioning simply as an organisational and data management device.

There are a number of reasons why you may want to organise your hard disk into multiple partitions:

  • Organisation: Partitions provide a higher level of organisation than is possible with folders and files alone.
  • Flexibility: The ability to boot your machine to multiple operating systems – Windows 98 and Windows NT say – is best achieved via the use of separate primary partitions.
  • Resiliency: The failure of a single partition won’t necessarily render the entire system unusable.
  • Security: The separation of data and software into different partitions can make for a simplified and more efficient security backup regime.
  • Performance: Partitioning can benefit both general system performance and certain housekeeping tasks such as disk defragmentation.
  • Efficiency: Use of multiple partitions can reduce cluster sizes and, in turn, wasted disk storage capacity.
  • Convenience: Perhaps the most compelling reason of all is the degree to which the isolation of the operating system into a dedicated partition can simplify things when you find yourself having to perform a clean reinstallation of Windows!

Assuming your system has only one physical hard disk drive, it will need to have at least one primary partition. A drive may actually have up to four primary partitions, but only one of these can be active at any given time. If you want to organise your disk into anything more than a single primary partition, you need to create an extended partition, which may then be sub-divided into a number of logical DOS drives.

A bootable operating system can only reside on a primary partition, and a in a typical single-drive system the partition will be the C: drive, with the logical DOS drives being assigned drive letters D:, E:, :F etc. An extended partition counts as one of a disk’s four allowable primary partitions, and does not itself have a drive letter.

Drive referencing can become confusing in a multiple hard disk system, since drive-letters are assigned to all primary partitions first. If you subsequently add a further hard disk to your system, you can avoid impact on your existing drive letters by not creating a primary partition on the new drive. but instead creating an extended partition – the size of the entire physical disk – and sub-dividing this into multiple Logical DOS drives.

  • Hard Drive Upgrade Reasons
  • Hard Drive Preperation
  • Hard Drive Planning
  • Hard Drive Configuration
  • Hard Drive Connection
  • Configuring BIOS for a Second Hard Drive – including SMART
  • Hard Drive Partitioning
  • Hard Drive Formating

Filed Under: How to Install a Second Hard Disk Drive

Latest Articles

Understanding the Basics of IoT Interfaces

The Internet of Things is one of the biggest developments over the last few years. It was a concept I had not even heard of until 2013, even though I have an engineering degree. But it has made a huge impression on the digital technology industry recently. One study shows that the IoT market will be … [Read More...]

WinDirStat

Use WinDirStat to Clean Up Hard Drive

Today's hard drives are large and can store tons of files, pictures, videos, etc. But, even with all this space there still may be a time when you need to clean up because the hard drive is filling up. There are the obvious places to check like the Recycle Bin or use the Disk CleanUp tool. But, … [Read More...]

Solid state hard drive (SSD) technology guide

A solid state drive is a storage device that uses solid state memory to store data. While technically not a disk, a solid state drive will often be referred to as a solid state disk drive, or a solid state disk, in reference to the fact that, in some ways, it replaces the traditional … [Read More...]

How to Start a Business in Computer Engineering

Did you know that there are 66,200 computer engineers in the United States? This can be a very lucrative career path. However, you may have an easier … [Read More...]

Best Techniques for Defragmenting a Hard Drive

We recently published a post on the importance of defragmenting a hard drive. We wanted to cover the actual process in more depth. The first thing … [Read More...]

Why You Need to Regularly Defragment Your Hard Drive

Your computer's hard disk of is one of the most vital parts of your machine. It needs to operate reliably and quickly for your computer to function … [Read More...]

Container vs VM: What Is the Difference and Which One to Pick?

VMs and containers are two implementations of virtualization technology. This means that both VMs and  containers help to optimize how resources … [Read More...]

Privacy Considerations with Photos and Videos on Your Smartphone

New technology makes it easier than ever to capture images and videos. This technology is getting smaller and easier to use. As a result, the quality … [Read More...]

Tips on How to Land a Remote Job in Cyber Security

The demand for skilled cyber security professionals is growing as well as a number of threats and risks. Any company needs an expert or team to … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

9 More Great Microsoft Word Hacks to Boost Productivity

We mentioned a few great Microsoft Word hacks in our last post. We wanted to follow up and share some more that can help improve productivity. … [Read More...]

Guide to SanDisk’s CompactFlash memory card

Memory manufacturer SanDisk introduced CompactFlash (CF) in 1994 as a small format memory card, which used the existing PCMCIA-ATA specification … [Read More...]

Installing Windows 98 – Getting Your CD Drive to Work for Installation

A Windows 98 Startup Disk is a considerable improvement on that produced by earlier versions of Windows, not least because it contains a number of … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2022 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors