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Hard Drive Basics: Partitioning and Formatting

Formatting and partitioning a Hard drive has became an easier task now as compared to the earlier windows systems. Windows installation and partitioning is now just a few simple steps.

Author: Kay Brenner
Date: Dec 30, 2009 - 6:41:36 AM

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I still recall the days when 1.44 megabytes of storage was considered plentiful.  Remember floppy diskettes?  And 100 megabyte zip disks?  As time marches on, storage space has become cheaper and more abundant.  Applications are getting larger, often residing on DVD install discs, and our multimedia files are multiplying all over our hard drives in droves.  Thanks to wide access to broadband Internet, users the world over are pulling mammoth files at fiber optic speeds.  Often times, the single stock hard drive that came with your computer is not enough to accommodate all your files and applications.  Physically installing a second hard drive is the easy part, but actually preparing it (formatting, partitioning, etc.) is what trips up a lot of first time hardware installers.  Read on to find out how to navigate a hard drive install with ease.

Hard Drive Vocabulary

Let's define some words that you'll often hear when referring to hard drives.  The free space on a hard drive must be partitioned before an operating system can use it.  When you partition a hard drive, you're essentially giving Windows access to it.  Windows uses the term volume with respect to hard drive partitions that it can see.  Windows represents each volume—also known as a logical drive—with a letter, like the C drive. 

All volumes must be formatted with a file system before Windows can make use of the storage.  Before Windows can actually read and write data from your volume, a file system must be created on it, which is called formatting.  Basically, think of a file system as you would a file cabinet.  It's a means for Windows to organize your files on disk, making it possible to write and retrieve data the way users have grown accustomed to.

Partitioning Basics

First off, before we even begin thinking of making your hard drive up into sections, make sure you backup all your important files.  Once data is gone it becomes extremely difficult to retrieve it on your own again.  Better to be safe than sorry, as they say.  Let's begin by demonstrating how to partition a second hard drive for Windows.

In Windows XP, right click on My Computer and choose Manage.  In the management box, select Disk Management.  You'll get a listing of all your installed hard drives.  If you don't see a wizard materialize to help you partition your newly installed drive, right click on it, and choose Initialize Drive to get started.  Select New Partition by right clicking on your new hard drive to pull up the handy wizard.

Decide whether you want to create a partition the full size of your hard drive, or if you'd like to carve out separate partitions.  Either way, make sure you take full advantage of your drive's storage space.  Next, Windows will ask you what drive letter you'd like assigned to it.  If you opt for to format your drive with NTFS (a good idea) for your new drive, you'll have the option of mounting it onto another volume, essentially grafting extra space to it; the newly grafted hard drive will appear as a folder.

Now, here's how to prepare your new hard drive for a Windows installation.  Boot up your system with a Windows setup disc in your optical drive.  If your new drive needs drivers for Windows to utilize it, you'll be prompted to install them (via floppy, etc.)  Basically, the partitioning, formatting, and install process during a Windows installation is automated, so just sit back and relax, occasionally answering a few questions that the setup routine will ask you.  Now that you know the basics, hopefully you'll feel more confident about installing a second hard drive to accommodate all your data.

View all articles by Kay Brenner

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