Computer Hard Drive

HP SAN System

Partitioning a Hard Drive

• Partitioning simply mean dividing a single hard disk into multiple logical drives such that each drive behaves like a single hard disk. There are 3 main types of partition
• Primary Partition
• It is where the operating system will be stored and booted from
• Extended Partition
• Primary partition that has been prepared to contain logical drives i.e. setting space aside to create logical drives later
• Logical Drives
• Partition created inside an extended partition

Formatting a hard drive

• Formatting means configuring the disk with a file system so that the operating system can store information on the disk. It also create tracks and sectors on the platters. A sector contains a fixed number of bytes.
• A file system is used by the operating system to organize and keep track of files. Without a file system, information stored on a hard disk would be one large body of data with no way to tell where one piece of information stops and where the next begins.

Types of Filing System in Windows

• New Technology Filing System (NTFS)
•  It supports long file names, large volumes, data security, and universal file sharing
• File Allocation Table (FAT32)
•  It an old system which is unable to deliver the same performance, reliability and scalability as NTFS.

Other Hard Disk Functionalities and Feature

• Disk Fragmentation
• process of locating the noncontiguous fragments of data into which a computer file may be divided as it is stored on a hard disk, and rearranging the fragments and restoring them into the whole file.
• Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID)
• Storing of the same data across 2 or more hard disks. E.g. RAID 0, RIAD 1, RAID 5, RAID 10
• Disk Quota
• It is the allocation of a specific amount of disk space to individual users on a network

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