The meaning of hard disk partitioning

Today saw a post is asked about the buy back of the mobile hard disk to create multiple partitions, the following is a excerpt of part of the content, using a rhetorical question:

Original sticker: http://www.guokr.com/question/203429/

(1) Older file systems (such as FAT16) do not support partitions that are too large and will waste more space on larger partitions because of large blocks.

-Contemporary file systems do not have to consider this issue.

(2) Allow operating systems with different file systems to run on the same hard disk.

--Mobile hard disk does not install the operating system, do not consider this problem, if you want to copy data between different operating systems, there is a good compatibility with all operating systems of modern file systems, such as exFAT.

(3) partitions are used as folders. While it is not as flexible as a folder, one of the great benefits is that a partition's full cleanup data does not affect other partitions. We install the system in the C-drive, save the file in other disk is this reason, reinstall the system can be directly, very clean empty C disk without worrying about deleting important information.

--It's not a problem to move your hard drive, because we don't install complex system files on a mobile hard drive.

(4) The physical partitioning of the file storage location optimizes performance, so that fragmented data (ie cache) does not cause other data to become fragmented, but also allows files that are accessed frequently to be stored in close proximity to reduce mechanical hard drive seek time. This is the benefit of having the system and software installed on the same partition. But the effects of these optimizations are not obvious.

--The main role of the mobile hard disk is to store data, unlike the built-in hard disk for a long time use, the storage of data is not used on a very big difference, no need to consider.

(5) Avoid system crashes due to uncontrolled write data. The system security operation needs to keep some free space, if in a careless operation, because copy a large size folder resulting in free space of 0, will bring disaster to the system. This problem can be avoided by allowing the system to run independently of one partition, while we usually operate on other data partitions.

--The mobile drive does not need to install the operating system, regardless of this problem.

The benefits of partitioning are almost never seen on mobile drives, but the trouble with partitioning is obvious:

(1) Two 20G partition can not install a 30G movie, unless you are not afraid of trouble with tool cutting, and do not need to play directly on the mobile hard drive.

(2) How space is allocated can be a headache, and it is difficult to adjust the space of your partitions. For example, you have a district dedicated to film, a district used to back up data, using the process to find a lack of space but another area has a lot of space, you have to use the non-destructive partitioning tool, and risk the loss of data.

(3) Moving large files or folders between folders can be done instantaneously, and moving between partitions can be very slow.

About the last article: "Moving huge files or folders between folders can be done instantaneously, moving between partitions can be very slow", I also searched for a bit, originally:

The same disk cut is much faster than copying because the path of the file is changed, that is, the partition table of the disk file , without altering the file,

2014-03-06

The meaning of hard disk partitioning