Computer Drives & Storage

Contrary to popular belief, a hard drive cannot partition itself. However, there are circumstances when a hard drive may appear to partition itself. The cause of this apparent self-partitioning is...

Our computer storage devices can be surprisingly quirky devices. Sometimes data or settings inexplicably disappear. Other times, entire sections of the hard drive can suddenly become inaccessible....

Partitioning is quite useful. Keeping your data in a partition separate from your operating system, for example, means that if your operating system crashed completely you can reinstall without...

The Western Digital MyBook is one of the most popular external hard drives, thanks to its low price and attractive design. Most MyBook models are formatted using the FAT32 file system by default,...

A logical drive, also known as a partition drive, is a special section of your hard drive that you have created to have a separate operating system (OS) and file system. Locking your logical drive...

If you have a large amount of room on your PC computer's hard drive, then you can create a new partition for that free space. With a new partition, you will be able to install a second operating...

Many computers arrive from the factory with a hidden partition containing data needed to restore the computer to its original configuration in the event of a severe operating system problem. If...

With the Disk Manager utility program, which is automatically included with the Windows XP operating system, computer users can partition any hard drive connected to their system. Partitioning a...

Western Digital Passport external hard drives are compact, portable and USB powered, with plenty of storage capability: up to 500 GB. What makes the Western Digital Passport line of external hard...

Creating a new hard drive partition in Windows XP involves the use of Disk Management. This application is installed with the operating system, and it is available to all users of the machine....

If you've bought a new hard drive but don't want to install a Windows operating system, you can still make the drive bootable. A bootable hard drive is one that has a partition and is formatted...

As the Windows operating system has progressed, new formats for PC hard drives have been developed. During the days of the DOS operating system, most drives were in the FAT-16 or FAT-32 format....

If you have a partition on a hard drive that you want to back up or clone in the future, you can use the Disk Utility application on a Mac computer to create an image of the partition. Disk...

Changes in your operating system, virus or spyware infections, or a newly installed drive can often lead to unallocated disk space on your hard drive. But this unallocated disk space can easily be...

External hard drives are a tool used to archive large folders, applications, and files. These devices can be difficult to troubleshoot--but, because most users save valuable information on an...

A computer's hard drive is separated into multiple sections, with each section called a partition. A partition can help separate and organize files, and it can also allow a computer to have...

Whether it be for dual-booting operating systems, keeping your operating system and your data separate or just leaving a space free for later, partitioning makes it possible to treat one hard...

Creating a separate application partition on your computer is a handy way to save program files and documentation on a separate partition, giving your computer good organization and increasing its...

An extended partition is a way to extend the primary DOS partition of a computer and add logical drive letters. A hard drive can only have one primary partition, so an extended partition adds...

Creating a swap partition in Windows Vista improves the program's overall performance. A swap partition is a dedicated section of the hard drive that is used for the computer's virtual memory....

A virtual partition is a map to an existing drive location. Virtual partitions are made to give a more condensed, "friendly" name to a physical location on a hard drive or another logical drive....

Creating a partition table for your Windows computer hard drive is what makes it capable of booting and loading the initial operating system files. Creating a partition table clears all data from...

The creation of a disk partition is the process of taking a portion of available hard drive space and converting it to a file system for use with an operating system. Multiple partitions may be...

An NTFS partition is when a hard drive is formatted to be able to run two different operating systems (partition literally means to split something). NTFS is the type of formatting a Microsoft...

A partitioned file is a file that has been split into at least two different sections. This can be done for many different reasons. Some files are split because they are too large and need to be...

The term "partition" generally refers to a file that has been split into two or more sections. This can be due to many different reasons. Sometimes the files are too large to email, so the files...

A partition is a file that has been split into two or more sections, usually to better equate the programs the file is using. Hard drives are often partitioned to handle multiple operating...

NTFS is the standard format for hard drives connected to personal computers, but drives with that type of file system can also be read on Macs. If you are having trouble getting your computer to...

Unbeknown to most users, there is usually a portion of hard drive space that is not allocated to the active partition and sits on the hard drive unallocated and unused for any purpose. This drive...

NTFS is the standard file system for hard drives connected to PC computers that run the Microsoft Windows operating system. However, hard-drive partitions that are formatted in NTFS are not fully...

Formatting your system partition is useful when you need to upgrade your file system for a new operating system or simply want to clear all the data from a disk quickly without deleting every file...

Converting a raw partitioned space to a file system is necessary for an operating system, Windows in the case of the NTFS file system, to be able to access and manipulate the partitioned space....

Formatting a primary partition is needed in cases where you are faced with the wrong format file system for an operating system to be installed in, or are doing a fresh install of the operating...

If you have an external hard drive with a USB connection, you can use that storage space to back up data on both Mac and Windows computers. However, in order to store Mac and Windows data on the...

Before using a new hard drive under any operating system, you must partition and format the drive. This divides the drive into units that will be used by the operating system, and structures the...

Formatting a hard drive is generally done when a new hard drive has been purchased and installed in a new computer. Formatting a hard drive enables it to be able to read and write data by creating...

If your hard drive crashes, do you know how to salvage your data? Don’t panic! There are several methods of hard drive data recovery you can use. Even if you can’t access your data, there’s a good...

Computer disks are often partitioned as large as they can be, but when they aren't, you can rearrange and increase the size of any of the partitions without destroying any data or without...

In order to use a new hard disk, you must first partition the drive. This properly prepares the free space on the drive for installing a new operating system or simply formatting it for storage...

Many people choose to partition a large hard drive so that access times to the data will be quicker than if the entire volume is left as a single drive letter. Creating a partition on a disk can...

While not immediately evident, there is an underlying logic hard drives use to store data. This logical system is known as its "File System." NTFS, or NT File System, supersedes the FAT32 file...

Often when purchasing a new computer, the user will find that the manufacturer has partitioned the hard drive. Many times, not only will the drive have a hidden partition that holds the operation...

Ghosting or cloning a hard drive is done for a variety of reasons but the most popular are upgrading to a new larger hard drive or as a backup in case of a hard drive failure on the primary drive...

A Compaq computer can come in the form of a desktop as well as a laptop. Each type of computer can have different types of software as well as hardware installed on the machine. The hard drive...

Never throw out an old computer. Old computers can be used in a lot of ways, but using them as network storage is a very practical and simple way to get the most out of an older computer. The...

USB drives are a handy way to backup your files and transfer them from system to system. Before using a USB drive in Fedora, you need to format it to the correct file system. While Fedora is able...

Using an external hard drive with Ubuntu is relatively simple. Whether you are connecting with USB or Firewire, Ubuntu's latest release will easily detect as soon as you plug it in. However, being...

A typical computer hard drive is divided up into two or more partitions, which are sections of the disk space that have been separated for technical or organizational reasons. A common type of...

The ability to partition hard drives can provide a range of benefits. But removing a hard drive partition can be difficult if you don't know what you are doing. With a few simple steps, this...

As technology grows, so does the size of the average hard drive. With size increases comes the headache of managing, accessing and organizing your computer files on those hard drives. Partitioning...