How To Use Xp Hard Disk Partition Tool? First Understand The Primary Partition Logical Partition

For those friends who are still using or maintaining old computers, hard disk partitioning is always an unavoidable topic.

Especially when installing the system on old machines running Windows XP, if you don't have a hard disk partitioning tool that is easy to use, it is really not easy to carry out the related work.

Many friends often encounter various error messages when partitioning old hard disks, or notice that the partitioning is unsuccessful. Such situations are usually due to a lack of understanding of the limitations of the MBR partition table and the basic rules of hard disk partitioning.

Today, I will rely on my years of accumulated experience to clearly explain to you the core knowledge points of hard disk partitioning, as well as the use of two classic tools, Partition Magic and Disk Genius.

The ancient rules of MBR partition tables

Most of the old hard drives in our hands use MBR Partition table format.

This format has a hard rule: a hard drive can only have a maximum of 4 primary partition .

If you want to divide more drive letters, such as D drive, E drive, and F drive, then you have to use the concept of extended partition.

In fact, if you plan to build an extended partition, the upper limit of the number of primary partitions is only 3.

In the extended partition that has been created, you can continue to divide the logical partitions. A total of up to 23 can be created. The drive letters are arranged from D: to Z:.

In addition, there is another important point. You must remember that there must be a primary partition in the entire hard disk, and this primary partition must be set as the active partition. Otherwise, the computer will not be able to start the operating system at all.

This is like saying that you have to clearly specify which "room" to start booting from. If this link is missing, the system will never be installed.

Partition formats corresponding to different systems

Before deciding which tool to use for partitioning, think about the partition format first.

Different operating systems have different requirements for partition format.

For example, if we take the Windows XP that we are familiar with, then its system partition can be made into the FAT32 format.

Although a single file in this format cannot exceed 4GB, its compatibility is quite good and can be recognized even by old DOS boot disks, making it suitable for maintaining old machines.

If you are installing Windows 7 or Windows Vista, the system partition must be in NTFS format, otherwise the installation program will not let it continue at all.

The NTFS format has significant benefits. First, it is not prone to file fragmentation. Second, its hard disk space utilization is high. Third, its reading and writing speeds are also fast.

So when it comes to Linux systems, the common formats are Ext2 and Ext3. The latter has an extra log function. After the system suddenly loses power or crashes, the integrity of the data will be more guaranteed.

At the stage before partitioning, it is recommended to carry out comprehensive planning in advance, that is, to determine which disk is used to install the system and which disk is used to store data, and prepare a separate partition specifically for backing up important files and system images.

Use Partition Magic to partition your hard drive

When talking about old hard disk partitioning tools, Partition Magic is definitely one of them.

Its biggest advantage is that it has a graphical interface and is intuitive to operate.

In many cases, we need to partition a new hard disk that has not yet installed the operating system. In this case, we need to use a CD to boot and then enter the DOS version of Partition Magic.

First, restart the computer, and then after booting from the CD, look for an option similar to "PM 8.00 Dynamic Partition" in the menu, and then press the Enter key to enter.

In the main interface, first select the unallocated hard disk space and then click Create Partition.

From the dialog box that pops up, for the "Create as" item, you need to select Primary Partition, which is the primary partition.

Determine the capacity according to the size of the system you want to install. Generally speaking, 10 to 20GB is enough for XP systems.

After confirmation, the main partition is created.

Then, use the same method to select the remaining space. This time, select Logical Partition for "Create as". In other words, it is a logical partition. Create D drive, E drive, etc. one after another according to the needs.

When everything is created, the most critical and important step comes: right-click the primary partition you just created, and select the "Set Active" option under "Advanced" to activate it.

After successful activation, in the partition list, the "Status" column will show the mark "Active".

Quickly partition a new hard drive with Disk Genius

Another excellent domestic software Disk Genius , also worth recommending.

It has more powerful functions than Partition Magic. It can repair the partition table and rebuild the master boot record.

The process is also simple and easy: open the software, select the "unallocated" hard disk storage space from the partition diagram displayed on the left, and then click "Partition" and "Create Primary Partition" one by one in the menu bar.

When using the software, a dialog box will pop up. By default, all space is allocated to the primary partition. However, we can manually modify the size of the partition.

After confirmation, the main partition is created.

Then select the remaining unallocated space again, this time click "Partition" and "Create Extended Partition".

Generally speaking, just convert all remaining space into an extended partition and click "OK".

At this time, a green extended partition bar will appear on the software interface.

The last step is to create a logical partition inside the extended partition.

Select the free space in the extended partition, click "Partition" repeatedly, and then click "Create Logical Partition".

According to your needs, set the size and format of the partition appropriately, such as NTFS or FAT32. After the confirmation operation, a logical partition will be created.

Repeat this operation until all the space is divided.

After the partition is completed, be sure to activate the primary partition

Whether you use Partition Magic or Disk Genius, after the hard disk partitioning is completed, you must not forget to activate the primary partition. This step.

If activation is not performed, the master boot record does not know which partition should be used to load the operating system, and the computer will continue to be in a black screen state, or a prompt will be given saying that the system cannot be found.

In Disk Genius, activating this operation is extremely simple. Use the mouse to click on the main partition you want to activate in the partition diagram on the left, then click "Partition" on the menu bar, then click "Activate", or directly press the F7 shortcut key on the keyboard.

After successful activation, the status of this partition will change to "Active".

At this time, the partitioning of the entire hard disk is truly completed. You can exit the software, insert the system CD, and start installing the operating system.

Things to note when formatting partitions

Finally, let me mention the issue of formatting separately.

After the partition is created, you must also format can be used normally.

When formatting, there is a situation where you can specify the file system used by this partition, such as selecting NTFS or FAT32.

There are two common scenarios. One is to format directly in the partition software, such as the aforementioned Partition Magic and Disk Genius. When creating a partition, you can specify the format and automatically format it.

The second is to use the disk management function of the installation wizard to format during the installation of the operating system.

For Windows XP, if you want this hard drive to be compatible with older versions of the system or the DOS boot tool disk, then the first partition, which is the system partition, can be considered to be in FAT32 format.

However, it should be noted that if you install Windows 7 or a system not earlier than this version, then the primary partition must be in NTFS format, and it is also best for all logical partitions to be in NTFS format, so as to achieve the best performance.