Gourt > Computers > Software > Disk Management > Partition
In computer engineering, hard disk drive partitioning is the creation of logical divisions upon a hard disk that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting.
Purpose
Partitioning allows one to have multiple file systems on a single hard disk. There are many reasons to do this including:
- Technical limitations (e.g. old versions of the Microsoft FAT filesystem that can't address more than a certain amount of hard drive space; old PC BIOSes that prevent booting operating systems located past a hard drive's 1024th cylinder)
- If one partition becomes corrupt, only that partition suffers and not the whole hard drive.
- On some OSes (for example, Linux), the swap file is normally a partition of its own. When it is, systems with a dual boot configuration can make several OSes use the same swap partition and therefore save disk space.
- To prevent overgrown log or other files from making the whole computer unusable, they are put on their own partition. Then only one partition will run out of space.
- Often, two operating systems cannot coexist on the same partition, or use different "native" disk formats. The drive is partitioned into different logical disks for different OSes.
- Most filesystems write files to disk in groups of fixed-size clusters whose size is directly proportional to the size of the partition the filesystem is on. If a file's size is not a multiple of the cluster size, the last cluster in the file's group of clusters will have unused space that can't be used by other files. So, filesystems that use clusters will cause files to take up more space on disk than they do in memory, and larger partitions means larger cluster sizes and therefore more wasted space. Therefore, using several small partitions instead of one large partition can save space.
- Each partition may be customized to different requirements. For example, a partition which is seldom written to can be mounted read-only. Many small files on a partition require a filesystem with many inodes.
- On multi-user systems running Unix, keeping /home, /tmp and /var/tmp separated from system files in /etc, /var, etc. prevents hardlink attacks.
File Systems :: Disk Management
Boot Managers :: Operating Systems
How well does Windows 7 run in Bootcamp? How big should partition be? Does Aero work?
HighTechDad (Michael Sheehan) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:41:18 -0000
How well does Windows 7 run in Bootcamp? How big should partition be? Does Aero work?
@92Phips ⦠das ist auch nicht besser, als eine Partition mit Windows zu erstellen ! ;-)
WellerDennis (Dennis Weller) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:37:55 -0000
@92Phips … das ist auch nicht besser, als eine Partition mit Windows zu erstellen ! ;-)
@ItzEddie Yeah I tried c+p last time but I had problems accessing files on the XP partition because the Win7 user wasn't the 'owner'.
chrislozeau (Chris Lozeau) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:36:00 -0000
@ItzEddie Yeah I tried c+p last time but I had problems accessing files on the XP partition because the Win7 user wasn't the 'owner'.
Sehr seltsam.... Partition hat sich auf einmal verabschiedet, allerdings war nur der Laufwerksbuchstabe wech, Glück gehabt!
elchfarmer (elchfarmer) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:35:07 -0000
Sehr seltsam.... Partition hat sich auf einmal verabschiedet, allerdings war nur der Laufwerksbuchstabe wech, Glück gehabt!
@storagebod thus with hardware hypervisor, put different aix in each partition and run your apps, however...
storageio (greg schulz) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:25:16 -0000
@storagebod thus with hardware hypervisor, put different aix in each partition and run your apps, however...
@storagebod there were a lot of interesting architectual ideas or proof of concepts, after all, its a p series processor with hw partition
storageio (greg schulz) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:24:54 -0000
@storagebod there were a lot of interesting architectual ideas or proof of concepts, after all, its a p series processor with hw partition
7Tools Partition Manager - Professional partition management. Allows create, move, partitions with data (FAT16/32/32x, NTFS, Ext2/3 FS Reiser FS), delete, and convert partitions all without data destroy. Software description, screenshots, FAQs, and demo download.
Meta Description: [ 7tools System Utilities ]
Aefdisk - Command line driven disk partitioning program, DOS. [Shareware]
Aefdisk32 for Windows - Aefdisk32 is a command line driven disk partitioning utility for Windows, helping unattended installation and operating system deployment
FDISK Partitioning Guide - Detailed tutorial on how to use FDISK to partition hard disk drives.
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FIPS - The First nondestructive Interactive Partition Splitting program. Splits a DOS partition without deleting its data. [GNU GPL]
Free FDISK - Free FDISK from GNU / Free Software Foundation
g4u - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs - NetBSD-based bootfloppy/CD-ROM that allows easy cloning of PC harddisks to deploy a common setup on a number of PCs using FTP. [BSD license]
MasterBooter - Customizable boot manager and partitioner in one shareware package. Compatibility with Windows, DOSes, Linux, FreeBSD, SCO OpenServer, OS/2 (Warp, Merlin) Solaris, Oberon, Theos, BeOS and others systems.
MBRWizard - Command line tool to directly modify the MBR, with the capability to set partitions active, sort, delete or hide partitions, backup and restore copies of the MBR [Windows 9x/XP/2K/2003/PE, DOS and Linux]
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MIDS (G4U) - A fast, menuing front-end for the G4U (Ghost for UNIX). Used for rapid image deployment.
Paragon (PTS) Partition Manager - Create, resize, convert, and copy FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux partitions. [Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP]
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Paragon Hard Disk Manager - Includes functionality of Partition Manager, Drive Backup, Boot Manager, Disk Wiper and more.
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PartEd - GNU (Free Software Foundation) program to create, destroy, resize and copy PC disk partitions. It currently supports ext2 and FAT (FAT16 and FAT32) filesystems, Linux swap devices, and MS-DOS disk labels. GNU/Linux or on boot disk, open source.
Partition Image for Linux - Linux/UNIX utility which saves partitions in many formats to an image file, supported file systems: ReiserFS, ext2fs/ext3fs, FAT16/32: DOS and Windows, and NTFS. [Beta version]
Partition Resizer - Resize and move disk partitions and logical drives, without having to re-format your hard drive. Supports almost any type of DOS or Windows file system, including FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 and it works with extended partitions. Freeware.
PartitionMagic by PowerQuest - Hard drive partitioning software to create, resize, move, and convert partitions without destroying your data. The program also allows multiple operating systems on the same computer reliably.
PTDD Software - Partition Table Doctor(PTD) and Super Fdisk disk partitioning utilities. PTD checks and repairs partition table error. Super Fdisk creates, deletes and formats partitions without destroying data.[Windows 9x,Me, MS-DOS, Freedos]
Meta Description: [ Data Recovery Software, Partition Recovery Software, Undelete Software and Data Security Tools for hard drive. Partition Table Doctor is a partition recovery Software to recover deleted or lost hard drives, partitions. Data Recovery Wizard is a Data Recovery Software to recover and undelete files... ]
Ranish Partition Manager - Partition disks, format and resize FAT-16 and FAT-32 file systems. Boot Manager can boot from 30+ partitions on a single hard drive. Open source with extensive documentation in English, French, and German.
TeraByte Unlimited - Makers of the BootIt line of multi-boot and partitioning utilities. Intel platform shareware.
Meta Description: [ Hard drive management software. Select from a variety of software solutions including a boot manager, partition manager, drive imaging, disk copying, and drive wiping. ]
TestDisk - Tool to check and undelete partition (FAT, NTFS, EXT2/EXT3, ReiserFS, BFS) under Dos, Win9x, Linux, BSD. [GNU Public License]
VCOM - V Communications offers System Commander operating system boot selector and Partition Commander disk partitioning software. DOS or Windows required to install, not to use.
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Wreck Disk - Removes unwanted stubborn partitions from any hard drive on x86 systems.
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zBoot Manager - An effective boot manager, which allows the easy install and use of multiple operating systems on a single hard drive. Directly install other OSs to extended partitions and logic drivers. [DOS/Windows/Linux]
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