Partition Management

In this chapter you will find all the information necessary to carry out partitioning operations supported by the program.

Basic Partitioning Operations

Here you can learn how to accomplish basic partitioning operations (create, format, delete).

Creating Partitions

The program provides the ability to create a new partition by using the DOS partitioning scheme. This operation can be accomplished with the Create Partition Dialog.

Restrictions

1. Do not use the Create Partition function in order to undelete the last deleted partition.

2. The program cannot create new partitions on Dynamic Disks. The current version of the program supports only hard disks that use the DOS partitioning scheme (in Windows 2000 and XP these disks are named Basic Disks).

3. According to the rules of the DOS partitioning scheme, the following combinations of partitions cannot be created:

q If there is an Extended Partition on the disk, only three Primary partitions are allowed

4. The program allows creating new partitions only within blocks of un-partitioned space. It cannot convert a free space on an existing partition to a new partition.

Startup

2. Call the Create Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the block of free space (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item: Create Partition.

Setup

Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, you can just press the Yes button to confirm the operation.

q Define whether the partition will be Primary, Extended or Logical. You can choose the desired partition type from the pull-down list. As a matter of fact, the available alternatives fundamentally depend on the selected block of free space - within the Logical free space, only Logical partitions can be created; Within the Primary free space, both Primary partitions or the Extended Partition can be created.

q Free space before. Define the position (in Mb) of the new partition relative to the beginning of the block of free space.

q Free space after. Define the amount of trailing free space (in Mb) at the end of the new partition.

q File system for new partition. From the pull-down list select a file system the newly created partition will be formatted to, otherwise the partition will remain unformatted (so that it will not be ready to use).

q Volume label. Enter a label for the selected partition in this textual field. It is an irrelevant parameter usually used for drive identification.

q Drive letter assignment. The pull-down list contains vacant drive letters that can be associated with the newly formatted partition.

In addition, there is the possibility to make further detailed settings (although the default values will do in most cases). To activate the advance mode, you need to click the More options button at the foot of the dialog page. Depending on the chosen file system, the following options become available:

q Use OS built-in routine. Mark the option to restrict the available values according to the used OS.

q Whether the surface test will be performed. Define the level of the surface check to make the program find bad and unstable sectors and mark them unusable in the file system metadata.

q The amount of sectors per boot. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. Set the number of sectors to be reserved for the boot area on the partition with this spinner control.

q The amount of root entries. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 file system. Set the maximum amount of files/directories to be placed in the Root Directory on the FAT16 partition.

q The amount of sectors per cluster. Define the Cluster Size for the formatted partition with this spinner control.

Result

Formatting Partitions

Any partition should contain some file system to be used for keeping data. The process of installing a file system is commonly known as formatting. A huge variety of file systems have been developed these days.

Supported File Systems

The program provides the ability to format partitions of the following file systems:

Startup

2. Call the Format Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item: Format Partition.

Setup

Initially the program suggests some consistent values for all parameters. In most cases, you can just press the Format button to confirm the operation.

q File system. From the pull-down list select the desired file system type. In fact, the program displays only those file systems that can correctly be placed to the selected partition, taking its capacity into account.

q Volume label. Enter a label for the selected partition in this textual field. It is an irrelevant parameter usually used for drive identification.

q Use OS built-in routine. Mark the option to restrict the available values according to the used OS.

q Whether the surface test will be performed. Define the level of the surface check to make the program find bad and unstable sectors and mark them unusable in the file system metadata.

q The amount of root entries. This parameter is available exclusively for FAT16 file system. Set the maximum amount of files/directories to be placed in the Root Directory on the FAT16 partition.

q The amount of sectors per cluster. Define the Cluster Size for the formatted partition with this spinner control.

Result

After the operation is completed you receive a fully functional partition formatted to the specified file system.

Deleting Partitions

With the Delete Partition Dialog you can delete a partition on a hard disk partitioned with the DOS partitioning scheme. Unlike the majority of other utilities (Windows Disk Manager included), the program can not only remove references to the deleted partition from the Partition Table, thus making it unavailable for the operating system, but also enables to irreversibly destroy its data. This feature will guarantee security of your personal information.

Startup

2. Call the Delete Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) then select the menu item: Delete Partition.

Setup

Initially the program suggests you just to remove references to the selected partition from the Partition Table.

q Enter the volume label to confirm deleting. To confirm deletion of the selected partition, enter its Volume Label. The current volume label is displayed above.

q Do not ask volume label next time. Mark the option to inhibit confirmation next time you start the dialog.

Result

By default, the operation takes only a fraction of a second. However, the program waits until Windows completes the modification of the disk layout. In case you decide to wipe the on-partition data as well, the operation will take much longer, depending on the set wipe parameters.

Changing Partition Attributes

Mark Partition Active/Inactive

The program enables to set an active/inactive flag for primary partitions of a hard disk. By default, an operating system will boot only if its partition is active or bootable.

In order to mark a partition active/inactive you should take the following steps:

2. Call the Mark Partition Active/Inactive Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map, then select the menu item: Mark Partition as Active/Inactive.

Hide/Unhide Partition

The program allows you to hide/unhide primary and logical partitions. By default, an operating system does not mount hidden partitions, thus preventing access to their contents.

2. Call the Hide/Unhide Partition Dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map, then select the menu item: Hide/Unhide Partition.

Set Label of a Partition

The Partition Label is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. It is detectable by any partitioning tool and is used for notification purposes only.

2. Call the Change Volume Label dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map, then select the menu item: Change Volume Label.

Change Partition ID

Partition ID is a file system identifier. It is saved in the Partition Table and is used to quickly detect a partition of the supported type. By manually changing its value, you can manipulate accessibility of partitions.

2. Call the Change Partition ID dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

q Call the popup menu for the selected partition (right click of the mouse button) on the Disk Map, then select the menu item: Change Partition IDà

q Enter ID manually. With the spinner control set the required ID value. It has to be a 1-2 digit hexadecimal number.

Change Serial Number of a Partition

FAT16, FAT32, HPFS and NTFS file systems include the Serial Number parameter. A partition's serial number is saved in the boot sector. Its value is generated while formatting.

The program enables to modify the serial number parameter for FAT16, FAT32, HPFS or NTFS partitions without re-formatting.

2. Call the Change Partition Serial Number dialog to set up the operation. There are several ways to do it:

3. Enter a new serial number for the selected partition. It should contain 8 hexadecimal figures (0..9 or A..F). The operation cannot proceed until you enter all 8 symbols.

is a set of rules, constraints and format of the on-disk structures to keep information on partitions located on a hard disk. There are known several partitioning schemes. The most popular of them is the so-called DOS partitioning scheme. It was introduced by IBM and Microsoft to use multiple partitions in the disk subsystems on IBM PC compatible computers. Another popular partitioning scheme is the so-called Logical Disks Model (LDM) that originates from the UNIX mainframe systems. Veritas Executive accommodates a simplified version of LDM to the Windows 2000 operating system. Windows 2000 and XP support two quite different partitioning schemes: the old DOS partitioning scheme and the new Dynamic Disk Management (DDM). The problem is that earlier versions of Windows do not support DDM. In addition, most hard disk utilities do not support it as well.

is a partition type you create only on a basic MBR (Master Boot Record) disk. Extended partition is used if you want to create more than four volumes on a disk, since it may contain multiple logical drives.

or Partition Label is a small textual field (up to 11 characters) that is located in the partition's boot sector. This value is used for notification purposes only. It is detectable by any partitioning tool including the DOS FDISK utility. Modern operating systems save it within a file system, e.g. as a special hidden file. Thus it is able to contain a relatively large amount of text in multiple languages.

The servicing structures of a file system, which contain information about allocating files and directories, security information etc, are named the file system metadata. It is invisible for users and regular applications because its accidental modification usually makes a partition unusable.

is the top-level directory of a formatted logical drive to include other files and directories. In modern file systems (Ext2/Ext3, NTFS and even FAT32) it does not differ from other directories. This is not the case for old FAT12 and FAT16 file systems.

is the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. All file systems used by Windows organize hard disks based on clusters, which consist of one or more contiguous sectors. The smaller the cluster size, the more efficiently a disk stores information. If no cluster size is specified during formatting, Windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume. These defaults are selected to reduce the amount of space that is lost and the amount of fragmentation on the volume. A cluster is also called an allocation unit.

is a partition from which an x86-based computer starts up. The active partition must be a primary partition on a basic disk. If you use Windows exclusively, the active partition can be the same as the system volume. In the DOS partitioning scheme, only primary partitions can be active due to limitations of the standard bootstrap.

or File system ID is a file system identifier that is placed in the partition. It is used to quickly detect partitions of supported types. A number of operating systems completely rely on it to distinguish supported partitions. Partition ID is saved in appropriate entries of the Partition Table and takes only 1 byte of space.

In the DOS partitioning scheme, every hard disk and every partition has a 32-bit serial number represented by an 8-figure hexadecimal value. It is stored in the MBR and its value is assigned when the MBR sector is initialized by Microsoft standard disk managing tools, such as Windows Disk Administrator and the FDISK utility. In fact, a hard disk's serial number is not important for most operating systems and software. It is known that Windows NT, 2000 and XP store its value in the database of assigned drive letters. A partition's serial number is stored in its boot sector (in FAT16, FAT32 and NFTS file systems). Its value is assigned when the partition is formatted. It does not play an important role for most operating systems and software as well.