Disk partitioning
Disk partitioning is the creation of one or more regions on a hard disk or other secondary storage, so that an operating system can manage information in each region separately. Partitioning is typically the first step of preparing a newly manufactured disk, before any files or directories have been created. The disk stores the information about the partitions' locations and sizes in an area known as the partition table that the operating system reads before any other part of the disk. Each partition then appears in the operating system as a distinct "logical" disk that uses part of the actual disk. System administrators use a program called a partition editor to create, resize, delete, and manipulate the partitions.
Benefits of multiple partitions
Creating more than one partition has the following advantages:
Separation of the operating system (OS) and program files from user files. This allows image backups (or clones) to be made of only the operating system and installed software.