User’s Guide PartitionExpert 2003 Compute with confidence www.acronis.
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1. INSTALLATION AND RUNNING ................................................... 7 1.1 WHAT’S INCLUDED ......................................................................... 7 1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ................................................................. 7 1.3 INSTALLATION PROCESS ................................................................. 7 1.
.1.11 CLEARING A HARD DISK ............................................................................55 4.2 ADDITIONAL PARTITION OPERATIONS .......................................... 57 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.2.6 4.2.7 4.2.8 4.2.9 CHANGING PARTITION LETTER ..................................................................57 CONVERTING A FILE SYSTEM ....................................................................58 HIDING A PARTITION .......................................................
Introduction What is Acronis PartitionExpert Acronis PartitionExpert is a hard disk partition manager, enabling you to: • Create hard disk partitions, • Resize and move them without data loss and destruction, • Convert partitions to other file systems without data loss, • Copy (move) partition contents, • Delete partitions, • Format, label, assign letters, hide and unhide partitions, set active partitions and perform rarely used operations. Some terms of this Guide might seem unfamiliar.
4. Simpler and faster disk maintenance. Bad sector and OS error check, defragmentation of a 6–8 GB partition is significantly faster than that of 100 GB hard disk. Guide contents or how to find the information you need Acronis PartitionExpert User’s Guide contains: • Chapter 1 «Installation And Running» — general information about software installation, running, error recovery, removal, and user interface essentials.
Chapter 1. Installation And Running 1.1 What’s Included Acronis PartitionExpert package includes: 1.2 • Installation CD-ROM, • This Guide, • License Agreement, • Registration card, • Advertising information. System Requirements To take full advantage of Acronis PartitionExpert you should have: • A PC-compatible computer with a Pentium CPU or similar, • 32 MB RAM, • A floppy or a CD-RW drive, • VGA monitor, • A mouse (recommended). 1.
Having installed Acronis PartitionExpert, reboot your PC. 1.4 Upgrading Acronis PartitionExpert If Acronis PartitionExpert was damaged during installation or execution, run its installation program again. The software will determine that Acronis PartitionExpert has already been installed to your PC and ask if you want to recover (update) or completely remove it from the disk. In the installation wizard window select Recover/Update Acronis PartitionExpert and click Next.
1.6 User Interface Acronis PartitionExpert software is installed in OS Windows, has graphical user interface and is controlled by the mouse or by Tab, Shift+Tab, Left, Right, Up, Down, Space, Enter and Escape keys. If you regularly work with Windows or X Window applications, you should not encounter any problems with the Acronis PartitionExpert interface.
3. Do not perform any partition operations while running other software that has low-level disk access, for example anti-virus or backup tools. Close such programs before running Acronis PartitionExpert. Following these simple rules, you will protect yourself against data loss. 1.8 Running Acronis PartitionExpert Running under Windows Under Windows Acronis PartitionExpert can be run by selecting Start Æ Programs Æ Acronis Æ PartitionExpert Æ Acronis PartitionExpert.
Chapter 2. Beginning The Work 2.1 Acronis PartitionExpert Logical Organization Acronis PartitionExpert provides two operation modes (see 1.8 «Running Acronis PartitionExpert» — «Running Acronis PartitionExpert»): 2.1.1 • «Automatic partition operations» mode is designed for the most frequent operations suitable for most users. • «Manual partition operations» mode for any partition operations.
2.2 Acronis PartitionExpert Main Window Acronis PartitionExpert is controlled through the main window. It includes the menu, toolbar, disk and partition tree (shown/hidden through the View menu), and represents the computer disk and partition list. The main window appearance differs depending on the selected operation mode (see 2.1 «Acronis PartitionExpert Logical Organization»).
In the manual partition operations mode the main window also includes all unallocated disk space, while only partitions are shown in the automatic mode. Partition creation, free space, and copy wizards automatically recognize unallocated disk space. Acronis PartitionExpert main window, Manual Mode 2.2.1 Disk and partition information The main window shows the partition’s disk number, assigned letter, label, type, status, size, free space size, and file system.
2.2.2 Customizing the main window appearance You can customize the main window appearance as you would like using the View menu — in particular to show or hide window elements like sidebar, partition and disk tree, toolbars, etc. The partition and disk tree in the main window 2.3 Calling Partition Operations All partition operations in both modes are called and executed similarly. 2.3.
2.3.2 Additional operations Additional hard disk partition operations are: • Convert — convert FAT16 partition file system to FAT32, Ext2 to Ext3, and vice versa, • Hide/Unhide — hide/unhide a partition, • Set Active — set active partition, • Resize Root — resize FAT16 partition root, • Change Bytes per INODE — resize INODE table (Linux Ext2/Ext3), • Change Cluster Size — change FAT16/FAT32 partition cluster size, • Change Type — change partition type.
2.4.2 Pending operations All Acronis PartitionExpert operations are pending, that is they are performed later, when you are completely sure they are necessary. Until then Acronis PartitionExpert will only show the new partition structure that is provided by operations to be performed. Therefore, you can view the graphical representation of the new partition structure first, and then decide to perform or cancel chosen operations. 2.4.
tion, and label. You can easily view the Acronis PartitionExpert pending operation for the partition you are working on (see 2.4.3 «Viewing delayed operations»). You can always change any operation parameter, including type, files system, size, location, etc. before performing the operation. Using Change type, Convert, Move, Resize, etc. operations, you will also see that your actions do not result in creating new pending operations, as you might have expected.
And vice versa, redoing a user action results in the addition of one or several pending operations. Depending on your situation, undoing an action may cancel a pending operation or undo changes of an existing operation (see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). Similar, redoing an action might add a pending operation to the list again or redo a change of a pending operation parameter. You can undo user actions one at a time or all at once by selecting Operations Æ Undo All.
Remember that no actions are performed on your disks when the wizard finishes working! If you are sure that the new structure is suitable, select Operations Æ Commit or click Commit Pending operations, wizard-created pending operations will then be actually performed.
If you need to protect Acronis PartitionExpert with a password 1. Select Disk Æ Set Password, 2. Enter a password in the New Password and Confirm New Password fields in the Set Password window, 3. Click OK to enable password protection. After you run the program, you’ll be prompted to enter a password in the Password Protected window: If you enter a wrong password, you'll be asked to re-enter it. Clicking Cancel will close the program. If you need to change password: 1.
Chapter 3. Automatic Partition Operations In the «Automatic partition operations» mode Acronis PartitionExpert enables you to perform the following typical partition operations: • Create a new partition, • Increase partition free space, • Copy a partition. These operations are performed with wizards, enabling to enter operation parameters step-by-step and return to any step as needed. Each parameter is provided with detailed instructions. 3.
Partition creation method selection window The partition creation wizard provides the following operations: 3. If you want to create a partition using unallocated disk space: 3.1 Set the switch to Unallocated space. 3.2 The wizard will offer to create a partition on the largest unallocated area. For example, if you have 5.0 GB and 12.0 GB unallocated areas, the wizard will offer to create a partition on 12.0 GB area. If you want to create a partition on 5.
3.3 On the next wizard page select partition type — Active (Active Primary), Primary or Logical. Typically Primary is selected to install an operating system to a partition. If the partition is for data storage, select Logical. Select Active, if you want to install an operating system on this partition to boot at startup. Note that if you enter over 2 GB size, you will not be able to use the FAT16 file system on this partition. It will be disabled in the File System wizard page.
Partition file system selection window Selecting a partition file system results in partition formatting, i.e. creating partition data storage structures – boot record, file allocation table, etc. 3.5 On the next wizard page, you will be asked to select a partition letter. Partition Logical Drive Letter selection window At startup, an operating system assigns letters (C:, D:,…) to partitions. These letters are used by applications and the operating system to locate files on partitions.
Create, delete, move partition operations, as well as hiding/unhiding a partition and direct letter change may result in problems running applications, opening files (as some shortcuts become unusable) or booting an operating system. Therefore performing partition operations, you must be careful and remember that each operating system works differently with partition letters. Each OS has its own partition letter assignment rules.
Windows NT/2000/XP Windows NT/2000/XP operating systems initial letter assignment is done automatically: in Windows NT 3.x it's similar to Windows 95, and in Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000/XP — similar to Windows 95OSR/98. Windows NT 4.0 does not support FAT32, but assigns letters to such partitions. Please note that letter order in these operating systems can differ depending on the number of hard disks and other disk drives recognized by BIOS.
Clicking Finish on this page to make Acronis PartitionExpert create a pending operation for new partition creation, (your actions may only modify an existing operation as well. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window. More details about Finish command results are provided in 2.4.7. «Wizard operations». 4. If you want to create a new partition using other partition free space: 4.
Note that this wizard page represents physical disks actually connected to your PC. The next page shows logical disks (or partitions) on the selected physical disk. See also Appendix B «Glossary» — «Physical disk», «Logical disk». 4.3 On the next Select Partitions wizard page select the disk partition(s) who’s space you want to use to create a new partition. This means that if these partitions have free space, their size can be reduced.
If you do not select a partition to take space from on the Select Partitions wizard page and there is no unallocated disk space, you will see an error message: Error message of deficient disk space for partition creation In this case you will have to return to the previous wizard page and select a partition to take the necessary space from. 4.4 On the Partition Size wizard page enter the size of the created partition (the wizard automatically determines minimal and maximum partition sizes).
Clicking Finish on the last wizard page allows Acronis PartitionExpert to create a pending operation list for new partition creation (these actions may only modify an existing operation as well. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The list will include not only the operation of partition creation itself, but also operations of partition resize for creating a new partition. 5.
If you need to increase partition free space (size): 1. Run the increase free space wizard by selecting Wizards Æ Increase free space or a similar item in the Wizards sidebar list or by clicking Increase free space on a partition on the toolbar, 2. On the Select Partition To Increase wizard page select a partition that you want to enlarge, Selecting a partition to increase free space 3.
4. On the next wizard page you will see the maximum size available for the selected partition. You must select the size yourself. Entering the size to increase partition free space Note that although selected partition size is increased at the expense of other partition space, if there is unallocated space, it will also be used if needed. Unallocated space is automatically considered to be the maximum partition size. 5.
May we again recommend our backup solution — Acronis TrueImage. It enables you to create a backup (image) of a partition and/or entire hard disk in a compressed archive file, while allowing comments and password protection. See http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/). The copy partition wizard will let you create a partition copy on the selected disk space.
3. On the next Partition Location wizard page a record of copied partition parameters will be created (Copy of Win98(C:) on the figure below). The page for selecting a disk location for partition copy You will have to select a copy location on one of the disks, among existing partition. To make your selection click before or after a partition, before or after which you want to locate the copy. If you click before a partition, the copy will be located before it.
The figure below shows the result of locating a partition copy after clicking after PROGRAM(J:) partition. You can locate a copy anywhere on your disk(s). The copy partition wizard will automatically perform all necessary operations, even if it has to resize or move other partitions! 4. The selected disk might lack space for a copy. Nevertheless you can copy a partition by selecting another partition, whose space will be partly used. This can be done in the Select Partitions window.
If you do not select a partition to be partly used as the copy location on the Select Partitions wizard page and there is no (or not enough) unallocated disk space, you will see an error message: Error message showing not enough disk space for a partition copy In this case the wizard will prompt you to select a partition to take some space from. If there is not enough space, a partition will not be copied! 5. On the next Partition Size wizard page you can provide a desired partition size.
By copying a partition at the expense of existing partition free space, Acronis PartitionExpert can take the partition space to make sure that partition size is not smaller than 110% of data-occupied space. 6. On the next Partition Type wizard page you can select partition copy type: Active, Primary and Logical. As a rule, Primary is selected if a partition contains an operating system. If a partition is intended for data storage, you should select Logical.
The new partition structure will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window.
Chapter 4. Manual Partition Operations Unlike the «Automatic partition operations» mode (see 2.1) the «Manual partition operations» mode is intended for experienced users only, and offers much wider operation lists. Manual operation parameters are entered in the dialog boxes. To execute a partition operation, you select Operations Æ Commit or click (Commit Pending Operations). 4.
If you need to create a new disk partition: 1. Select hard disk and unallocated space in Acronis PartitionExpert main window; Create a new partition button will become available on the toolbar, and Create Partition operation — on the sidebar and in the context menu; Selecting unallocated disk space 2.
3. In the Create Partition window enter a partition label, select a file system and partition type (Primary — Logical) from the list; you can also enter partition size and location using mouse or by direct input to Partition size, Unallocated space before (and Unallocated space after) fields. As a rule, Primary is selected if a partition is to contain an operating system. If a partition is meant for data storage, Logical should be selected. Created partition parameters window 4.
If you need to copy a partition: 1. Select a hard disk and a partition to copy. Data (K:) partition of the hard disk 2 is selected for copying on the figure below. Selecting a partition to copy 2.
3. Acronis PartitionExpert will automatically compare the size of a copied partition and disk free space as shown in the Copy Partition window. Only the free space on disk 2 is available for copying. Free space available for copying Note that the unallocated space is smaller than copied partition size, but its data area is smaller than unallocated space. Therefore copying is possible.
The size and location of partition copy can be provided with a mouse or by entering data into the Unallocated space before, Partition size (and Unallocated space after) fields. 6. By clicking OK in the Copy Partition wizard, you add the pending operation of partition copying and location (your actions may only undo or modify already existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window.
If you need to move a partition to unallocated disk space: 1. Select hard disk and partition to move. Data (K:) partition of hard disk 2 is selected for moving on the figure below. Selecting a partition to move 2. Execute operation of partition moving by selecting Disk Æ Move or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list or by clicking selected partition to another free space on the toolbar.
3. Acronis PartitionExpert will automatically compare moved partition size and available free space, indicating it in the Move Partition window. Only hard disk 2 unallocated space is available for partition moving on the figure below. Unallocated space available for partition moving Note that the unallocated space is smaller than moved partition size, but its data area is smaller than unallocated space. Therefore moving is possible.
The size and location of partition copy can be provided with a mouse click or by entering data into the Unallocated space before, Partition size (and Unallocated space after) fields. 6. By clicking OK in the Move partition window, you add a pending operation to partition moving (your actions may only undo or modify already existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window.
3. Resize the partition in the Resize Partition window: (1) Hold mouse button and drag a corresponding partition rectangle side until you get the necessary size in the Partition size field, (2) Specify the partition size in the Partition size field, Resize partition window 4.
Moving a partition to unallocated disk space in Windows 95/98/Me can change the order of letters, assigned to other partitions. As a result, some shortcuts might stop working. The detailed discussion of partition letter assignment rules for various operating systems are described in 3.1 «Creating A New Partition». Take special care when moving an operating system partition and its boot code location. The OS might stop booting. For example, Windows NT 4.
4.1.6 Formatting a partition Acronis PartitionExpert lets you logically format a partition. It includes organizing a file system that supports files and folder data storage. If you need to format an existing partition: 1. Select a disk and a partition, 2. Run partition formatting by selecting Disk Æ Format or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list, or by clicking tion on the toolbar, 3. Format the selected parti- Enter partition label in the Format Partition window.
Attention! Partition formatting destroys all its data, including files and folders! Take special care when performing this operation. Remember that each operation described must be executed by selecting Operations Æ Commit or clicking pending operations»). 4.1.7 Commit Pending Operations (see 2.4.4 «Performing Deleting a partition After a partition is deleted its space is added to unallocated disk space. It can be used for a new partition or to resize an existing partition.
4. Confirm partition deletion by clicking OK in the Delete Partition window; 5. By clicking OK in the Delete Partition window, you add the pending operation of partition deletion (your actions may only undo an existing operation depending on the situation selected see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis PartitionExpert main window.
5. Check results are shown in the Check Partition window. Partition check results window 4.1.9 Defragmenting a partition Defragmentation is reorganizing file storage on a hard disk partition to locate file data in the consequent clusters. Defragmentation is the process of eliminating file fragmentation, causing files to be spread across the disk after disk operations. File fragmentation significantly reduces PC or server performance, especially at considerable amount of I/O operations.
3. By clicking OK in the Defragmentation window, you run partition defragmentation, Run partition defragmentation window 4. Defragmentation results are shown in the Defragment Partition window. Partition defragmentation results window 4.1.10 Wiping unallocated hard disk space PC hard disks can contain a substantial amount of confidential information. Often users forget that private information should not only be kept safe, but also be completely destroyed to avoid unauthorized access to it.
If you need to wipe unallocated disk space: 1. Select hard disk and unallocated space in Acronis PartitionExpert main window — Wipe unallocated space becomes available on the toolbar, 2. Execute operation of free space clearing by selecting Disk Æ Wipe or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list, or by clicking selected unallocated space on the toolbar, 3.
3. Select the clearing method in the Clear Hard Drive window; you can: (1) just delete hard disk partitions (without wiping disk sectors) — set the switch to Delete partitions, (2) delete hard disk partitions and fully clear hard disk sectors — set the switch to Delete partitions and destroy data. Having set the switch to Delete partitions and destroy data, enter the number of passes for wiping. Hard disk clearing parameters window 4. By clicking OK, you add a pending operation of hard disk clearing.
4.2 Additional Partition Operations Additional hard disk partition operations include some rarely used but useful operations of converting partition file system, hiding and unhiding partitions, setting active partitions, changing root size, and changing partition cluster size. 4.2.1 Changing partition letter Some operating systems assign letters (C:, D:,…) to hard disk partitions at startup. They are used by applications and operating systems for locating files on partitions.
Directly changing a partition letter might affect shortcuts to existing partitions. Changing a partition letter in Windows NT/2000/XP might result in problems running applications and opening files on the partition. If it is a system or swap file partition, it might cause OS boot problems. The detailed discussion of partition letter assignment rules for various operating systems are provided in 3.1 «Creating A New Partition». 4.2.
3. Enter partition type (Logical — Primary) in the Convert Partition window, Convert partition window 4. By clicking OK, you add a pending operation of FAT16 partition converting to FAT32 partition (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation as well. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition file system will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window.
3. By clicking OK in the Hide Partition window, you add a pending operation to partition hiding (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation as well. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). Hide Partition window A hidden partition is labeled Hid in the Flags field of partition list in the main window. Attention! Hiding a system partition will prevent your PC from booting. Hiding a swap file partition in Windows NT/2000/XP will produce a similar result.
3. By clicking OK in the Unhide Partition window, you add the pending operation to partition unhiding (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation, See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). Unhide partition window The partition Hid label will disappear from the Flags field. Note that Advanced Æ Unhide sidebar item is changed to Advanced Æ Hide after you select a hidden partition from the list. Partition context menu changes the same.
3. By clicking OK in the Set Active Partition window, you add the pending operation of setting active partition (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in Acronis PartitionExpert main window. Partition will be marked Act in the Flags field. Primary partition is also marked Pri, so the Flags field will contain Pri, Act.
3. Enter the new root size (a number of elements) in the Resize Root window, Resize FAT16 root window FAT16 can contain a maximum of 65520 elements. 4. 4.2.7 By clicking OK, you add the pending operation of FAT16 partition root resizing (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»).
3. In the Cluster Size window you can: (1) see the current cluster size of selected partition, (2) see average statistics of disk space losses for the selected partition and different cluster size, Some cluster sizes might become unavailable for a partition because there will not be enough clusters to store actual partition data on. (3) set new cluster size in the New cluster size field, Cluster Size window 4. 4.2.
If you need to change partition type: 1. Select disk and partition to change type of from the list in Acronis PartitionExpert main window, 2. Execute operation of partition type changing by selecting Disk Æ Advanced Æ Change type or a similar item in the Advanced sidebar list, or Change the type of the selected partition on the toolbar by clicking (or selecting it from partition or the graphical representation context menu), 3.
The «bytes per a single INODE» value indicates the average partition file size. If there are many small files, there must be many descriptors, each of which occupies some space. Large files require fewer descriptors. Acronis PartitionExpert enables you to resize INODE tables of existing partitions to change the maximum file amount on it. If you need to resize INODE table of an existing Linux Ext2/Ext3 partition: 1.
Appendix A. Hard Disk And Operating System Provided Appendices contain additional information about hard disk construction and data storage, partitions, file systems and interaction of operating system with hard disk. A.1 Hard Disk Organization All hard disks, or hard disk drives, have basically the same structure, however diverse they are. Inside the case there are several disks with magnetic coating set on a single axis (spindle). A special motor provides the necessary rotation speed to the spindle, e.
There can be up to several tens of thousands of cylinders per disk. The higher the write density on the disk, the more cylinders can be created on it and the larger the capacity of the disk. This design has a lot of technical implementation peculiarities, but we are not discussing them here. A.2 Hard Disk Partition After low-level formatting creates disk sectors, partitions must be created on it as well.
Partition information is stored in the special disk area – the 1st sector of 0 cylinder, 0 head, called Partition Table. This sector is called Master Boot Record, MBR. The number of primary partitions on a disk is limited, because Partition Table contains four records itself. Extended partition supports additional dividing into logical partitions. The amount of logical partitions is unlimited.
A.4 Primary Partitions Primary hard disk partition can contain operating system, applications and user data (files). Only one primary partition can be set active in the given PC session. Most operating systems can boot from a primary partition only. If you want to use several operating systems, you might have to create several primary partitions. A.5 Extended Partitions The extended hard disk partition was offered as a way to avoid the 4 primary partitions limit.
After formatting logical disks are organized as follows: • Logical disks start with the boot sector; • One or several copies of file allocation table (FAT) are placed after the boot sector; • Next goes the root folder; • Next goes the data area. Each logical disk has to be formatted with FORMAT separately. A.8 File Systems The logical structure that has been created on the hard disk is supported by means of operating system.
A.9 File System Main Specifications Operating systems allow you to work with data by supporting a file system on a disk partition. All file systems contain structures required for data storage and control. These structures usually consist of OS boot record, files and folders. A file system performs the following main functions: 1. Monitors used and free disk space (including bad sectors). 2. Maintains folders and filenames. 3. Monitors physical file location on a disk.
Table 2. Linux file systems. File system Ext2 Ext3 ReiserFS Operating systems Linux Linux Linux Max. partition size 16 TB 16 TB 16 TB Max. file size Limited by partition size Limited by partition size Limited by partition size Max. filename length 255 255 255 Restoration (logging) No Yes Yes Max. files in root Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Max.
Table 3. The following table gives the approximate dependence of these losses versus the cluster size: Partition Size Wastes Cluster Size <127 MB 2 KB 2% 128–255 MB 4 KB 4% 256–511 MB 8 KB 10% 512–1023 MB 16 KB 25% 1024–2047 MB 32 KB 40% 2048–4096 MB 64 KB 50% Like many others, FAT16 file system has a root folder. Unlike others however, its root folder is stored in a special place and is limited in size (standard formatting produces a 512-item root folder).
A.9.5 Linux Ext2 Ext2 is one of the main file systems for the Linux operating system. Ext2 is a 32-bit file system. Its maximum size is 16 Terabytes. Main data structure that describes a file is an INODE. A place to store the table of all INODEs has to be allocated in advance (during formatting). A.9.6 Linux Ext3 Officially introduced with their version 7.2 of the Linux operating system, Ext3 is the Red Hat Linux journaling file system. It is forward and backward compatible with Linux ext2.
Appendix B. Glossary Absolute sector. All the sectors of a hard disk can be numbered sequentially, starting with zero. Thus numbered sectors are called absolute. Active partition. One of the primary partitions of a hard disk is usually active. Default MBR code tries to boot an operating system from the active partition of the first hard disk. Letter assignment in Microsoft operating systems depends on what partitions are active. Bad cluster. A cluster that contains bad sectors.
Bootable partition. A partition that can host an operating system. In the beginning of such a partition there should be a boot record. Cluster. Information storage unit in such file systems as FAT and NTFS. Every file occupies a certain number of whole clusters, so the more the cluster size the higher the losses are that are due to file size adjustment, but the smaller the cluster the more place do the cluster distribution tables occupy. Cylinder.
with tracks and sectors), partitioning and high-level (creation of file system on a partition). Hard disk (hard drive). Fixed storage media along with integrated electronics that consists of several magnetic platters that rotate synchronously on one spindle. Hard disks have relatively high capacity and high read/write speed. Hard disk geometry. A set of hard disk parameters that usually includes the number of cylinders, heads and sectors per track. Head (magnetic head, read/write head).
Since a boot manager usually supports multiple operating systems on one computer and even one partition, it has to perform some preparatory actions (create the boot context) before booting an operating system. Partition. An independent area on a hard disk where a file system can be located. A partition can be either primary or logical, depending on its position in the partition structure. One of the primary partitions of a hard disk may be active.
System disk/partition is a disk/partition from which an operating system may be booted. Such disk usually contains the boot sector and system files of this operating system. System file is a file that contains the code and constant data for an operating system. Each operating system has its own system file set. System folder. Some operating systems keep most of their files in a special folder on a partition that may be different from the system one. For example for Windows 95/98/ME operating systems IO.
