CompTIA A+® Certification All-In-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

5.7. Managing Partitions and Volumes

For the A+ exams, you are required to know the steps to install a hard disk. After you physically connect the drive and configure the jumper settings, you need to be aware of the steps to configure the partitions on the disk. The following is the order in which you configure the partitions on the disk:

1. Create a primary partition.

2. Create an extended partition.

3. Create a logical drive in the extended partition.

4. Format the drives to create a file system.

NOTE

Understanding the order of the steps for partitioning and formatting a disk is important for the A+ Certification exams. Be sure to memorize the above list to correctly answer exam questions about preparing the hard disk.

A partition is a segment of the hard disk, created by dividing the disk logically into discrete units. You create partitions for a number of reasons: say, to organize your applications and operating system on drive C while storing your data on drive D. You might also partition a disk for more technical reasons, such as to run multiple OSes on the same machine.

Whatever the reason for creating a partition, how you create and manage partitions is important for the A+ exam. This section examines different types of partitions and provides steps for creating, deleting, and formatting them.

Frequently, a partition is a means of providing better access to the information stored on a disk. For example, telling the kids that their games are on the D: drive is usually easier than describing ...