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.
  • Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Latest News for: disk partitioning

    Microsoft signed a dodgy driver and now ransomware scum are exploiting it

    The Register 04 Mar 2025
    Five flaws found in Paragon Partition Manager's kernel-level .sys. Ransomware crooks are exploiting a third-party Windows kernel-level driver used and provided by disk management tool Paragon Partition Manager ... .

    Proxmox & Windows server (ProLiant ML310e Gen8 v2)

    Web Hosting Talk 01 Mar 2025
    ... SSD or install ProxMox on the 3rd drive (1TB) and run Windows as a VM on the 1TB drive? I could not install Server 2019 immediately because it could not find any drives during the disk partitioning.

    How to solve the dreaded Blue Screen of Death on Windows PCs

    PC World 17 Feb 2025
    However, Windows has set up a minimal Windows on a separate partition (WinRE, Windows Recovery Environment) during installation on the hard drive, which you can use for repairs ... from the hard disk.
    • 1
    ×