Partition layout/types

[idiotec]

The first partition (C: if it's the first hard or only hard drive) is the Primary partition. This must then be made active if it is to be bootable.
The remainder of the drive space, (assuming that primary partition is smaller than total drive capacity), is then partitioned as the 'extended partition'. This does not have a drive letter assigned to it. Logical partitions are then created inside of the extended partition.

Yes it is all coming back to me now That is one draw back to using Partition Magic, after a while you forget the basics. I used to know this stuff when I used fdisk.

 

[TheMajor]

My English is not very good but...

Only 1 partition can be set active for booting. Only primary partitions ca be used for booting. The maximum amount of primary partitions is 4. Or 3 primary partitions + 1 extended partition. The extenden partition can contain a huge amount of logical partitions. Each logical partition contains information about the next logical partition. You can also format a drive using logical partitions only. A small amount of space at the beginning of the drive can not be allocated this way. (about 8MB)
Each primary partition contains a VBR (Volume Boot Record). The MBR (Master Boot Record) points to the VBR of the active primary partition to execute the bootstrap (boot process).

The first primary partition on the first HD will become "C" in Windows. The second primary partition will become "D" etc. After all primary partitions have been assigned a drive letter the logical partitions will be assigned drive letters, starting from disk 1.

Please correct me if I am wrong

 

[Samm]

TheMajor...

you are completely correct about all of that. I could not have explained it better myself!

 

[TheMajor]

Thanks

 

[ekÆsine]

excellent explanation themajor. I'd like to clarify the part of the 8mb. that 8mb applies only to win2k, win2k3, and winxp. that space is set aside to convert a basic volume to a dynamic one.

also I'd like to add you can have 1 active primary partition on each physical disk. so it's possible to have up to 4 or more on each computer. if you have more than one you can choose which to boot from by setting the boot priority in bios.