UNDERSTANDING PARTITIONING
- A partition is a logical electronic device readable by an Operating System.
- Partitions define the location of operating systems, swap files, and recover partitions.
- Partitions must be created & mounted.
- In Windows, partitions manifest as driver letter; in Linux/macOS, partitions manifest as folders (with slashes).
- Partitioning a hard drive is CRITICAL!!!
- MBR Partitioning
- MBR (Master Boot Record) is the oldest type of partition still in use today.
- MBR consisted of a boot loader, and up to four partitions, with one set as an active partition.
- If you need more than four partitions on a single drive, you create an extended partition and add logical drives to that partition.
- GPT Partitioning
- GUID–Global Unique Identifier
- GUID–a 128-bit unique value that defines your particular partitioning system; no one else has the same ID; this can lead to Security advantages.
- GUID Partition Table (GPT) has many features that improve upon MBR partitions.
- GPT supports up to 128 volumes on a partition (128 partitions per/drive).
- A GPT uses a protective MBR but the GPT starts at the Primary GPT header & includes a Secondary GPT header.
- Understanding File Systems (must know file systems!)
- A file system is applied to a partition by a process called, “formatting”.
- A partition MUST be formatted before they are usable.
- All file systems have a data structure that keeps track of the location of files & folders.
- File systems often have a problem with fragmentation.
- If you want to use a drive, you WILL partition it, and then, you WILL format it.
- Popular file systems
- FAT (File Allocation Table)–a FAT is like an index card at the beginning of every partition, that keeps track on an LBA-by-LBA basis, where all our stuff is on that partition. A FAT is a data structure! A FAT allows us to keep track of where all of our folders & files are located.
- FAT32 and exFAT are handy for thumb drives.
- NTFS is the primary file system for Windows, supporting 16 exabytes and is often supported by other file systems.
- NTFS–New Technology File System;
- Massive volumes up to 16 exabytes;
- Individual files up to 256 tebibytes big;
- NTFS uses something called a MFT (Master File Table);
- NTFS supports compression & also encryption.
- NTFS supports compression, encryption, and folder/file security.
- CDFS is for optical media (Compact Disc File System)
- Ext3 and ext4 are Linux file systems.
- Ext3 supports 32 tebibyte volumes & 2 gibibyte files
- Ext4 supports up to 2 exabyte volumes & 16 tebibyte files
- HFS+ is unique to macOS (High-Performance/Hierarchical File System Plus)
- HFS+ supports 8 exabyte volumes & 8 exabyte files
- FAT32 is the oldest and some say the grandest of them all
- FAT32 supported up to 8 TiB volumes.
- exFAT supports the same sizes as NTFS; less overhead.
Formatting in Action
- Windows uses Disk Management to partition & format disks.
- New drives must first be initialized in Windows.
- There is no single Linux tool for partitioning and formatting–choose the one you like!!!
- Dynamic Disks
- Dynamic disks are unique to Windows.
- Drives must be converted from basic to dynamic in “Disk Management”.
- Dynamic disks enable shrinking, extending, and spanning volumes without losing the data on the disk.
- Generally, GPT replaced the need for Microsoft’s Dynamic Disks.
- GPT Best Practices:
- 1). Keep the boot drive basic (NOT dynamic!)
- 2). Set to GPT (more features, & more flexibility than MBR).
- 3). Easy to create.
- New Installation–First Drive
- The first drive on a system relies on the OS install program to provide partition & format functions.
- The partitioning & formatting tools in installation programs provide a subset of tools compared to their main tools.
- Installation tools may provide features not normally seen anywhere else (such as swap file creation)
- Software RAID In Storage Spaces
- RAID–Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
- Software RAID uses the operating system to configure the RAID array.
- Windows comes with a powerful tool called Storage Spaces to configure advanced software RAID arrays.
- Storage Spaces provides superb flexibility.
- A RAID array helps protect our data.
- Encrypting Mass Storage
- File-based encryption encrypts files & folders; disk-based encryption encrypts entire drives.
- Windows uses Encrypted File System (EFS) to encrypt folders & files.
- Windows uses Bitlocker to encrypt entire hard drives.
- Bitlocker requires a system with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip.
