| When
referring to a computer hard disk drive, a partition is a segment of
the hard drive that is separated from other portions of the hard disk
drive.
Partitions help enable users easily divide a computer hard disk drive
into different drives and/or into different portions for multiple operating
systems to run on the same drive.
With older file allocation tables,
such as FAT16, creating smaller partitions allows a computer hard disk
drive to run more efficiently and save more disk space. However, with
new file allocation tables, such as FAT32, this is no longer the case.
There are various types of utilities
used to create and manage partitions on hard disk drives, one of the
most commonly used and known utilities is Microsoft
fdisk.
Partition FAQ:
- Information about creating,
deleting (unpartition), or otherwise using fdisk to manipulate partitions
can be found on our fdisk page.
- Information about creating
partitions and setting up a drive in Windows 2000 and above
can be found on document
CH000588.
- If you wish to extend a
partition, shrink a partition, combine partitions, or
otherwise manipulate a partition that can be done through a
standard partition program, we would recommend you look into Partition
Magic.
In addition to the utilities to create
hard disk drive partitions, there are hundreds of different types of
partitions; below is a listing of some of these types of partitions as
well as a brief description about these partitions. While all of these
partitions are available, it is very likely that not all of these
partitions will be listed in your partition utility.
| Type of Partition |
Description |
| AIX Partition (Boot) |
Partition used with the AIX
operating system. |
| Boot
Partition |
As defined by Microsoft
a boot partition is a partition that contains the files
required for a system startup. Also see: System
Partition |
| BSD/OS Partition (OpenBSD) |
Partition used with the
BSD operating system. |
| DOS
(12-bit, 16-bit) Partition |
Partition used with
older versions of MS-DOS. |
| DOS
Extended Partition |
Partition that is
extended from one or more of the original MS-DOS
partitions. |
| DRDOS (Hidden,
Secured) |
Partition used with the DR.
DOS operating system. |
| Extended Partition |
Partition that is
extended from one or more of the primary partitions. |
| Hibernation Partition |
Partition used with
older hibernation
programs. |
| HPFS
Partition (OS/2 IFS) |
Partition used with IBM
OS/2 and Microsoft NT
3.x |
| Linux (Linux native,
Linux swap, Linux extended, ext2fs) |
Partition used with
various variants of the Linux
operating systems. |
| MINIX |
Partition used with the MINIX
operating system. |
| NON-DOS
Partition |
When using Microsoft
fdisk a NON-DOS partition indicates a partition that is not
native to the Microsoft
operating system. For example, this could be a Linux
partition. |
| NEC DOS |
Partition used with the
old NEC DOS variant. |
| NEXTSTEP |
Partition used with the
Nextstep operating system. |
| Novell Netware |
Partition used with the Novell
Netware operating system. |
| NTFS |
Partition used with Microsoft
Windows NT 4.x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. |
| Partition Magic (PowerQuest) |
Partition created using
the Partition Magic utility
by PowerQuest. |
| PC-ARMOUR |
Partition created by the
PC ARMOUR security utility. When created this partition is
commonly protected by a password. |
| Primary |
In a Microsoft
operating system the Primary Partition commonly refers to the
main partition used for the Microsoft operating system. |
| Solaris X86 |
Partition used with the Sun
Solaris X86 platform operating system. |
| System
Partition |
As defined by Microsoft
a system partition is a partition that contains the system32
directory. Also see: Boot
Partition |
| Tandy DOS |
Partition used with the
old Tandy DOS variant. |
| Unix System V (SCO,
IRIX, ISC, Unix, UnixWare, etc...) |
Partition used with
various Unix
operating systems. |
| VMWare (VMWare Swap) |
Partition used by VMWare. |
| XENIX (XENIX /usr) |
Partition used with the XENIX
operating system. |
Also see: Delpart, FAT, Hard
disk drive definitions
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| Resolved |
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