Disk Management display of partitions...

Lykho · 16 Oct 2010

this is just a trivial/idle query...

why does Disk Management identify logical drives as being "primary" partitions? apparently I have three "primary" partitions on the internal, and having tried to create an extended partition for my new external instead have ended up with two primary partitions...apparently.

have I done something wrong?

edit: oh, and can I somehow obtain the option to make it FAT32, not just NTFS or exFAT?

whs · 16 Oct 2010

Well, you have a somewhat strange setup there. Your "S" partition on Disk1 ended up to be an "active" partition. Do you have an OS installed there? - which I doubt because it is an external. If not, you should make it inactive. Your boot partition is the small 100MB partition on Disk0. Do not touch that unless you do not want to boot any more - LOL.

On Disk0 you have 3 primaries and one extended/logical (the latter was apparently defined by you). That is OK. You can now define more logical drives on Disk0.

The first 3 partitions on Disk0 come from your manufacturer. They always make those primaries although it would only be required for the active (the 100MB) partition and maybe the recovery partition. No idea why they also make C active whilst they have a seperate boot partition. Maybe out of tradition.

For manipulating the disks, I recommend this program - especially the bootable CD version. You can do more with it than with Disk Management.

Lykho · 16 Oct 2010

whs said:

Well, you have a somewhat strange setup there. Your "S" partition on Disk1 ended up to be an "active" partition. Do you have an OS installed there? - which I doubt because it is an external. If not, you should make it inactive. Your boot partition is the small 100MB partition on Disk0. Do not touch that unless you do not want to boot any more - LOL.

Disk 1 (the external) was originally (from the box) one volume--FAT32, primary, and active. (it came with the drivers and other onboard software (SecretZoneSetup, AutoBackupSetup, so maybe that's why it was active?).

Disk Manager seems to by default decide to make one active. I had no idea what it meant or if it mattered.

and I had no intention of messing with Disk 0 -- I had thought it was fine. I asked someone else to set it up for me, with a primary and two logicals. I don't know what those tiny system partitions are all about, I'd never seen them before (since only the three desired partitions show up on My Computer).

whs said:

On Disk0 you have 3 primaries and one extended/logical (the latter was apparently defined by you). That is OK. You can now define more logical drives on Disk0.

do I need to?
the main reason I have three partitions is because I want the data safe/separate from the O/S.
Is the distinction between C and D not such a setup (both being primary, rather than one primary and the other extended like E is)?

whs said:

For manipulating the disks, I recommend this program - especially the bootable CD version. You can do more with it than with Disk Management.

thanks. I hadn't been given any recommendations of what third party partitioning program was appropriate for Win7.

mjf · 16 Oct 2010

Here is a screenshot of my PC with 2 external HDD attached.
I,K are a WD. F is a Seagate and note it is active. I've been curious but too lazy to figure out why. The fact that the boot disk 0 has the correct first active partition is all that matters.

whs · 16 Oct 2010

1. The tiny partition is something new that they introduced with Win7 as boot (active) partition. You cannot see it in "Computer" because it has no drive letter - and that is OK. There are certain advantage to have a seperate boot partition (e.g. for double booting) but there are also a few complications (e.g. with imaging).

2. You do not "need to" create more partitions on Disk0 - but you have the option.

3. A seperate data partition is a great idea. Here is a little tutorial I made: Data Partition Skip the shrinking and partition creation part because you already have a partition.