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02-20-2009, 01:27 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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True Techie Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 140
|  Partitioning and formatting
OK i got a question for you guys. i know how to partition and format a hard drive when installing a new OS but what does partitioning and formatting actually do? why do you have to do it? i know that NTFS is better then FAT32 but why? thanks for the help. | 
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02-20-2009, 01:35 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Monster Techie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,434
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
You don't have to partition. Formatting is just a way to say "whipe all information and start new". Partition just divides your hard drive into differerent sections and would show up as Drive C, D, E whatever. Fat32 is the old file system, NTFS is the new. Do NTFS.
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02-20-2009, 02:02 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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True Techie Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 140
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
ok so what if i did 20 Gig partition on a 40 Gig drive. what would my drive look like? will i only have 20 gigs of free space to use?
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02-20-2009, 02:21 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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FPS Addict Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Fonthill, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,274
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
^you would have two 20gb partitions. Or one 20gb partition and 20gb's of unallocated space if you did not format it.
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02-20-2009, 03:03 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Banned Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Guantanomo Bay, Cuba Posts: 546
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
Basically, FAT, FAT12/16/32, and NTFS are just ways that data is organized on the disk.
FAT systems are limited because the rules don't allow for things like large modern disks, or large files. Plus the indexing and stuff is less efficient.
NTFS also allows for encryption and compression natively. hence if you go to "Security" you can find "NTFS Permissions".
Now there is even NEWER stuff where you can "Basic Disk" or "Dynamic Disk", which basically means you've got a basic disk... or a disk that can have different types of volumes on it.
A volume is like a partition except that a volume can span multiple disks.
It's almost like RAID except not.
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02-20-2009, 08:19 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The South Posts: 19,907
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
A 40 gig disk with 20 gigs partitioned would be seen as a 20 gig partition and about 18 gigs of free space.
FAT32 = Windows 95, 08, 2000, whatever.
NTFS = Windows XP and up.
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02-21-2009, 01:09 AM
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#7 (permalink)
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Monster Techie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,434
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
just for example when you look at the my computer window you would see two drives, C, D...or whatever
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02-21-2009, 02:29 AM
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#8 (permalink)
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True Techie Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 140
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
ok i understand that kinda stuff. but what i guess im trying to say here is why do people partition hard drives? is there a reason for doing it? and when you do a 20 gig partition on a 40 gig drive, are you giving yourself 20 gigs of free space before OS install and other updates and such. if so what happens to the other 20 gigs that aren't partitioned? thanks for the help.
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02-21-2009, 03:03 AM
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#9 (permalink)
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Monster Techie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,434
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
you keep your 40 gigs, you will have 40gigs it doesnt just dissapear. Disk partitioning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
check that out. if you have any more questions ask away.
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Last edited by Trotter; 02-22-2009 at 05:18 PM.
Reason: Fixed link
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02-21-2009, 08:14 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: England Posts: 2,160
| Re: Partitioning and formatting
Quote:
Originally Posted by 808Alaska  ok i understand that kinda stuff. but what i guess im trying to say here is why do people partition hard drives? is there a reason for doing it? and when you do a 20 gig partition on a 40 gig drive, are you giving yourself 20 gigs of free space before OS install and other updates and such. if so what happens to the other 20 gigs that aren't partitioned? thanks for the help. | Keeping your data on a separate partition means that you can reinstall your OS without formatting out your data.
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