A hard drive partition is done because you want to spilt your hard drive into different sections. This allows you to have different operating systems and/or a place to put just your important files.

A hard drive partition should be looked at like a container for data. Each partition will use a file system to store and name the data. Let's take a look at what type of file system some of the operating systems use.

Windows 95 - Uses a FAT16 file system.

Windows 98/Me These operating systems use a FAT32 file system. FAT32 allows for greater maximum partition sizes and stores data more efficiently.

Windows NT/XP Uses the NTFS file system. Microsoft introduced the NTFS file system, which uses space more efficiently and offers better data security. Windows 95, 98, and Me can not see the data in an NTFS partition. But Windows 2000 and XP can read from, and write to, both NTFS and FAT32 partitions.

If you're starting with a new hard drive, performing a hard drive partition is easy. Windows NT, 2000, and XP give you a good amount of control over partitions. Other versions of Windows come with FDISK on the startup disk. FDISK is a hard drive partition utility that provides the basics for doing a hard drive partition yourself. But if you want to have extensive hard drive partition options, you'll need a partition utility. They offer such options as changing the size of a hard drive partition and converting from different file systems. And if you have enough space, they can preserve the data stored on your hard drive.

Before you Partition

Before you start a hard drive partition , it would be wise to clean your hard drive of errors, and defragment it before you partition. I will teach you how to do that below.

Run Scandisk

The scandisk program will automatically fix hard drive errors for you, so your partition will be prepared and error free. To do this, click the Start button on your tooldbar, then Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click on the Scandisk program.

If you are using Windows XP, go to My computer on your desktop, click it, then right click on your Hard Drive, click properties, then go to the tools tab. Under there, the first tool you will see is an error check tool. Click check now. Be sure to check the Automatically fix errors box. Then click start, and it will begin. For windows XP it may require you to restart your computer to do the scan.

Defragmenting your Hard Drive

For those of you who don't already know, defragmenting your hard drive is a process that will help your computer run and locate files faster. See, since your hard drive is constantly writing and reading information, information and files get put on parts of the hard drive that are not the best locations.

Your hard drive has to locate them, so operations take longer to complete. But if you defragment your hard drive, then the files and information are moved to their optimal location, for the fastest processing time.

Sounds good? Then let's do it. To defragment your drive(s), select Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click on Disk Defragmenter. If you are using Windows XP, go to My computer on your desktop, click it, then right click on your Hard Drive(s), click properties, then go to the tools tab.

Under there, the second tool you will see is a Defragmentation Tool. Click defragment now. This process usually takes awhile, all depending on the size of your hard drive. So if you have a big one, I suggest you do this at night when you are sleeping or doing something else that will take hours.

Deciding Partition Sizes and Setup

Before you start a hard drive partition, you need to deicide how you want to organize your hard drive(s). First, you need consider the size of the drive. Do you want to reserve half for your operating system, and the other half just for file storage? Maybe you want your operating system and applications on one third, files on another third, and a completely different operating system on the other third. Whatever you want to do, you can do it.

You just need to make sure you do it properly for optimal performance. My suggestion is to take a few minutes, and draw up your ideas on how you want to separate your hard drive. Seeing it visually will help you make the right choice.

Partitioning Hard Drive

If you want to know how to partition your hard drive yourself, for free, then I can help you do that. First, you need to have a startup disk. Directions on how to create one is below.

Windows 95/98/Me OS

1. Insert a blank floppy disk into the floppy disk drive.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
4. Then click the Startup disk tab, and after that, click Create Disk. Click OK when you are prompted.

Windows 2000 OS

1. Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type drive:bootdiskmakeboot a:, where drive is the letter of your CD-ROM drive, and then press ENTER.

Windows XP OS

This will create an startup disk that allows you to boot to a DOS prompt. The disk does not contain any other tools or utilities.

1. Insert a blank floppy disk into the floppy disk drive.
2. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3. Right-click the A drive icon, and then click Format.
4. Select "Create an MS-DOS startup disk," and then click Start.
5. Follow any prompts.

Now that you know how to create the start up disk for your specific Operating System, you can partition your hard drive. The process is simple and easy, all you have to do is follow the directions below.

1. Shut your computer down, insert your startup disk, and then restart the computer. Your computer will start using the startup disk, and it will ask you if you want CD-rom support. You can say no to that. Now you will be in DOS mode, and the screen will show the A:/ prompt.
2. Type "FDISK." The partition window will appear with menu options.
3. Enter 5 if you're partitioning a second drive, and select the drive; otherwise, skip to the next step.
4. Enter 1 (Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive).
5. Enter 2 (Create Extended DOS) to create a partition.
6. Enter N when the program asks if you want to use the maximum available size.
7. Designate the amount of disk space to allocate to the second partition (the partition will be assigned the next drive letter).
8. Type a name for the new partition and press Enter. The partition menu will appear.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to create additional partitions.
10. Press Esc to exit the partition command.
11. Now you can Format the new partition(s). Learn how to format a Hard Drive.

That is the complete process of performing a hard drive partition. I hope that you have gained knowledge that will help you in the future, and allow you to help your friends if they ever need it.