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Disk partitions


Eldmannen

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Hello!

This post is about disk partitions and why they are so great!

They are so great, that in fact everyone should have one!

A good idea is to partition your hard disk to have 2 partitions.

This way you can have your operating system and system files on one partition (the primary partition) which usually is C:

Then you can have another secondary partition which is D:

where you store any other data such as media files (music, movies) and all sorts of stuff.

Maybe you have a 100 gb hard disk. Then you can allocate for example 20 gb to have on a system/primary partition (C:) where you have for example Windows XP. Then the rest (80 gb) you have on your secondary partition (D:).

This can help you keep stuff categorized and prevent you from accidentally deleting something on the system partition when you are handling your files.

Now imagine if your operating system didn't work so well, you needed to reinstall it, and you thought it would be a good idea to reformat the hard disk. Now if you only had one partition on the hard disk you wouldn't be able to format the disk without all your files get deleted.

But because you have partitioned your hard disk to two or more partitions you can format the system partition, reinstall your operating system and still have all your files left intact since you cleverly stored them on the other disk partition.

So now you know!

It also has other benefits. Lets say you move around files, copy files, delete files, download files, etc to your hard disk. This will lead your files gets defragmented and your computer will be slower.

But if you mainly use the secondary partition for your files, then it will take much longer time for your primary system partition to get fragmented which means your computer will work optimally for a longer period of time before you need to defragment the partitions.

Want a deeper insight into disk partitions?

See the Wikipedia article on disk partitions!

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