The Need for Partitions

Most multi-OS configurations necessarily involve at least two partitions, or segments of a hard disk. There are several reasons for this, which this chapter explores.

The PC's partitioning scheme has evolved over time, from the simple partitioning needs of the original IBM PC XT running DOS to the needs of today's multi-OS systems with large hard disks. Because of this fact, the PC's partitioning system is a bit convoluted, but it does the job adequately—if you understand it well enough to design an appropriate partitioning setup for your hardware and software.

A partition is a delimited section of a hard disk, analogous to the rooms of a building. Like a building's rooms, partitions can vary in size and tend to be used ...

Get The Multi-Boot Configuration Handbook now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.