Al:

Re: Harddrive partitions

Question:

Al [log in to unmask] writes:

1) I do not understand the basics of partitions of a harddrive.
2) Why is it desirable to partition a drive?
3) What happens when you partition?  Do you end up with a number of
separate harddrives, or do they automatically read each other?
4) I have a 20Gig harddrive and only one "C" 2Gig drive, and no other
drives; the C drive is about full.  What happens when it gets full?
5) Will I have to repartition, reformat, reload WIN98SE and all of my
data?

A. Background: Previously, operating systems were limited in the size of
the computer's harddrive they could access or read - typically, 520mb,
1G, 2G, 4G, 8G, etc - some still are.

   The answer was/is to partition the HDD into segments called "logical
drives" which are within the OS's access-size limit. Then, the OS can
read the entire HDD as a bunch of smaller drives within its access-size
limit. In Windows Explorer and similar programs, logical drives are
viewed - and accessed/addressed by the computer - as any other additional
drives, such as floppies, CDROM's, Zip's, etc, except that the access
speed for HDD partitions is the same as for the original HDD. Instead of
the HDD showing up as the C: drive, it would show as C:, D:, E:,....

   With a HDD smaller than the OS HDD access limit, partioning is
unnecessary for accessing the entire capability of the HDD, however,
partitioning still has a advantages:

   a) program/file accessing is a bit faster when the computer only has
to search one or two MB instead of 20mb

   b) defragging is easier to do a single logical drive than the entire
HDD

   c) partitioning provides a significant means of organization -
organizing files/folders into different LD's

   d) if the C: drive (first logical drive with DOS boot sector, etc) is
restricted to mainly the OS & swap file, re-installing the OS will be
easier because the rest of your programs won't have to be reinstalled -
that's not entirely true, but you won't have to be concerned about the
file structure of the other LDs, and not greatly concerned about backing
up data files if you've kept all *data* files on drives other C: -
because a Windows OS reinstall will rewrite your current Windows registry
to square one; 5) the OS operation will be easier & faster

   e) Some say that putting the Windows swap file on a separate,
individual partition will enhance operation (others say opting to put fix
the size of the swap file at a nominal 2.5x the system RAM is even
better, no batter where you put the swap file).

B. Your real problem? It sounds like you or someone has only established
only a single 2G partition (the "Primary DOS Partition" or C:\ drive) of
your 20G HDD. If so, you can't access to the other 18G until you create
an "Extended Partition," and then - if desired - subpartition the
Extended partition into additional logical drives.

   If that's the problem, use the fdisk.exe program [in Windows\command
folder] to finish partitioning your HDD. Fdisk will prompt you to select
an action - first select "Create DOS partition or Logical drive." Then
select "Create an Extended Partition" [which you - or someone - seems not
to have done]. If Fdisk says "The Extended DOS partition already exists,"
you should have already seen a second drive D: in Win Explorer. Presuming
you have no D:\ drive in Explorer, select "Create extended DOS
partition." Fdisk will provide the option of creating an extended DOS
partition from your remaining space, some 18G. You can then leave the
entire 18G as logical drive D:\, or further divide the extended DOS
partition into other logical drives. In either case, fdisk provides you
the available (real) HDD space to divide into logical drives.

When you finish using Fdisk, your HDD will be divided into: a "Primary
DOS partition" (booting, OS, etc) - crive C:\, and an "Extended DOS
partition," which you have subdivided into one or more logical drives,
starting with drive D:\, or D:\, E:\, F:\, etc. Check out your docs for
more info.

C. After you get your HDD partitioned to add an "Extended DOS partition,"
you shouldn't have to reinstall Windows - or, anything else, if you don't
want to. However, you'll probably want to move/rearrange your data files
and some of your program files to your new partitions (logical drives).

   Moving data files is a no-brainer - data file location isn't a key
registry problem, requiring only a reset in the data's parent program. If
there's no "parent" - no problem at all. Programs are a different
situation. Their operation is keyed to the registry. If you have - or
install - a program such as Norton/Symantec's CleanSweep, you can "move"
application programs to another drive/loaction, as CS changes the
applicable registry entries in doing so. Otherwise, you're either stuck
or must uninstall/reinstall.

Bottom line answers to your original queries:

1) Do you end up with a number of separate harddrives? [YES, in a way;
but the partitions on your HDD are called "logical" drives.]
2) Do they automatically read each other? [YES]
3) I have a 20Gig harddrive and only one "C" 2Gig drive, and no other
drives; the C drive is about full.  What happens when it gets full? [If
you don't partition/repartition, it's like you only have a single 2G
HDD.]
4) Will I have to repartition, reformat, reload WIN98SE and all of my
data? [YES and/or NO - see above.]

Gawd, I've written a book! Anyway, good luck - Jack Payton

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