Question on HD partitions.

[Guest]

I have multiple hard disks with more than one partition in most of them.
I use WinXP Pro.
I want to know what are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever) for the
following cases:-
1) Mark any partition as "active" as opposed to "not active"
2) Format any partition as "primary" as opposed to "logical"

Thanks

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have multiple hard disks with more than one partition in most of them.
I use WinXP Pro.
I want to know what are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever) for the
following cases:-
1) Mark any partition as "active" as opposed to "not active"
2) Format any partition as "primary" as opposed to "logical"

Thanks

Your boot partition must be active. Whether you set any
of the partitions on the other disks active or not makes no difference.

Your boot partition must be a primary partition. The other
partitions can be primary or logical. Note that you can have
no more than 4 primary partitions but many more logical partitions.
When counting your primary partitions, you must count your
extended partition as one primary partition.

 

[Ron Sommer]

:
: : > I have multiple hard disks with more than one partition in most of them.
: > I use WinXP Pro.
: > I want to know what are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever) for the
: > following cases:-
: > 1) Mark any partition as "active" as opposed to "not active"
: > 2) Format any partition as "primary" as opposed to "logical"
: >
: > Thanks
:
: Your boot partition must be active. Whether you set any
: of the partitions on the other disks active or not makes no difference.
:
: Your boot partition must be a primary partition. The other
: partitions can be primary or logical. Note that you can have
: no more than 4 primary partitions but many more logical partitions.
: When counting your primary partitions, you must count your
: extended partition as one primary partition.
:
:
Each physical disk is limited to 4 primary partitions.
Each physical disk can only have one active partition.

If you would want a second operating system on another disk that would boot
if the first disk where removed or the boot order changed in the Bios, the
boot files for the second system have to be on an active primary partition.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

If you would want a second operating system on another disk that would boot
if the first disk where removed or the boot order changed in the Bios, the
boot files for the second system have to be on an active primary partition.

This depends on the boot loader. Some boot loaders require
the boot files to be on an active partition, as you state. Others,
e.g. XOSL, do not care. They can even cope with systems
where the boot files are installed in a logical partition.

 

[Jonny]

I have multiple hard disks with more than one partition in most of them.
I use WinXP Pro.
I want to know what are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever) for the
following cases:-
1) Mark any partition as "active" as opposed to "not active"
2) Format any partition as "primary" as opposed to "logical"

Thanks

Strictly XP, no bootloader or otherwise.

4 primary partitions per hard drive (extended partition is consider primary
for this count).
Only one primary partition can be set active per hard drive. Normally, the
system partition is the active partition. If the bios handover can't find
it, the PC won't boot, relying on the active bit set.
An extended partition is an enclosure, if you will, for logical drives. You
can put many more logical drives in an extended partition, not limited to
the 4 count. If the makeup of the extended partition fails, access to the
logical drives is not normally possible.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have multiple hard disks with more than one partition in most of them.
I use WinXP Pro.
I want to know what are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever) for the
following cases:-
1) Mark any partition as "active" as opposed to "not active"

Only an Active partition is bootable, so there can be only one active
partition at any given time. (Unless you're using a 3rd party boot
manager to isolate these partitions from the BIOS.)

2) Format any partition as "primary" as opposed to "logical"

A only a primary partition can be marked Active (bootable). A primary
partition can contain only one logical drive. An Exteneded partition
can be further sub-divided into multiple logical drives.



--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone for the quick answers.
But this is not the answer that I wished for.

My question is for the case where there is ONLY ONE OS (WinXP) (no
bootloaders or any other OS's).
The WinXP boot partition is automatically always active. Hence I am talking
about rest of the other partitions.

What are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever like may be performance,
file accessibility of files, etc, etc ANYTHING), if I make some of them
active or not and if I make some of them logical or primary.

Pegasus (MVP) answered the first one for me by stating "whether you set any
of the partitions on the other disks active or not makes no difference"

I want a similar answer for the primary/logical part.

Thanks

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Thanks to everyone for the quick answers.
But this is not the answer that I wished for.

If you don't like the correct answers to your question, ask a different
question.

My question is for the case where there is ONLY ONE OS (WinXP) (no
bootloaders or any other OS's).
The WinXP boot partition is automatically always active. Hence I am talking
about rest of the other partitions.

What are advantages or disadvantages (whatsoever like may be performance,
file accessibility of files, etc, etc ANYTHING), if I make some of them
active or not and if I make some of them logical or primary.

There can be only *ONE* active partition. If you mark any partition
other than the system partition "Active," the computer won't boot. The
differences/pros/cons of primary vs. extended have already been
adequately covered.

Pegasus (MVP) answered the first one for me by stating "whether you set any
of the partitions on the other disks active or not makes no difference"

Unfortunately, that answer is incorrect, regarding WinXP.

I want a similar answer for the primary/logical part.

Which you already have.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[AJR]

Smita - Suggest you do some "review" instead of "I want a similar answer for
the primary/logical part" - for example from XP Help and Support quote:
" logical drive -A volume that you create within an extended partition on a
basic master boot record (MBR) disk. Logical drives are similar to primary
partitions, except that you are limited to four primary partitions per disk,
whereas you can create an unlimited number of logical drives per disk. A
logical drive can be formatted and assigned a drive letter.
See also: basic disk, basic volume, drive letter, extended partition, master
boot record (MBR), primary partition, volume"

and : " primary partition - A type of partition that you can create on basic
disks. A primary partition is a portion of a physical disk that functions as
though it were a physically separate disk. On basic master boot record (MBR)
disks, you can create up to four primary partitions on a basic disk, or
three primary partitions and an extended partition with multiple logical
drives. On basic GPT disks, you can create up to 128 primary partitions.
Primary partitions are also known as volumes.
See also: basic disk, extended partition, GUID partition table (GPT),
logical drive, master boot record (MBR), partition, volume"

Notice the "tons" of info available under "See also".

 

[Guest]

AJR I "HAVE" done a lot of "review" before asking the question. I knew all
these beforehand whatever you have said. You probably didn't read the
question properly but were more enthusiastic in bashing me. I didn't ask what
is a primary or logical partition or what is a active partition or how many
primary/ logical /active partitions can one create.

My question was very simple. Let me make it simpler for you to understand.
Suppose I have a hard disk with two partitions. I am using Partition Magic.
Suppose the first one is primary. Now I can make the second one as either
primary or logical. What will the difference be (in terms of performance of
windows) if I make the second one as primary or logical??

 

[Guest]

There can be only *ONE* active partition. If you mark any partition
other than the system partition "Active," the computer won't boot. The
differences/pros/cons of primary vs. extended have already been
adequately covered.

Let me tell you what I actually have. I have three HD's and there are three
active partitions. I have no problem in booting and using my computer at all.
Look at the screenshot here
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/7892/2004633349236013130_rs.jpg

 

[Galen Somerville]

Before the picture one would assume you had one HD. The only use of Primary
is for an OS.

Makes no difference on performance. On some OS's it makes the Letters come
up differently.

Galen

 

[Guest]

Before things heat up unnecessarily let me explain a few things. I guess
everyone misunderstood my question.

I didn't ask what is or what do you mean by a primary or logical partition
or active partition or how many primary/ logical /active partitions can you
create.

I do not wish to create any partitions. I already have them. I just want to
change their properties (primary/logical/active) and want to know what
advantage/disadvantage will I get by doing so in terms of the performance of
Windows (or my computer as such).

Let me explain my question through two screenshots with two different cases
(which are marked with red boundaries). This is about the partition H:

Case 1 (H: is Primary)
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/8877/2001640656955000948_rs.jpg

Case 2 (H: is Logical)
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/7382/2000683714498886963_rs.jpg

Now what I want to know is in what way is Case 1 advantageous over Case 2
and vice versa. Again by "advantage" I mean performance of Windows.

 

[Guest]

Before the picture one would assume you had one HD. The only use of Primary
is for an OS.

Makes no difference on performance. On some OS's it makes the Letters come
up differently.

Galen

Thanks a lot Galen for the answer.
One more question. As you can see from the screenshot
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/8877/2001640656955000948_rs.jpg
that Disk 2 and Disk 3 are set as active. How do I make them non-active
without having to format it??

 

[Galen Somerville]

Thanks a lot Galen for the answer.
One more question. As you can see from the screenshot
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/8877/2001640656955000948_rs.jpg
that Disk 2 and Disk 3 are set as active. How do I make them non-active
without having to format it??

Good question. I have never been in that situation. I've always made 2nd and
3rd hard drives as extended partitions when there is no multiboot OS's.

Unless someone has created their own version of Fdisk, with that feature, I
think you are out of luck.

Galen

 

[Guest]

Good question. I have never been in that situation. I've always made 2nd and

3rd hard drives as extended partitions when there is no multiboot OS's.

Unless someone has created their own version of Fdisk, with that feature, I
think you are out of luck.

Galen

I found this only solution on the net to make a partition non-active. Could
you confirm if this is correct and if I will loose data.

Grab a Linux boot disk, boot off of it, then run the "fdisk" command against
the appropriate drive. Assuming it's the second IDE drive in your system,
probably "/dev/hdb". Type "p" to show the current partition table. There
should be an asterisk in the "boot" column on the partition you marked
active. Type "a"; it'll ask you for a partition number. Enter the partition
you want to toggle the flag on. Type "p" again to verify that it's gone. Then
type "w" to write it out and exit. Reboot.

 

[Galen Somerville]

I found this only solution on the net to make a partition non-active.
Could
you confirm if this is correct and if I will loose data.

Grab a Linux boot disk, boot off of it, then run the "fdisk" command
against
the appropriate drive. Assuming it's the second IDE drive in your system,
probably "/dev/hdb". Type "p" to show the current partition table. There
should be an asterisk in the "boot" column on the partition you marked
active. Type "a"; it'll ask you for a partition number. Enter the
partition
you want to toggle the flag on. Type "p" again to verify that it's gone.
Then
type "w" to write it out and exit. Reboot.

It sounds reasonable but at this moment I have no way to test it.

Try asking on a Linux news group.

Galen

 

[Ron Sommer]

: "Galen Somerville" wrote:
:
: > Before the picture one would assume you had one HD. The only use of
Primary
: > is for an OS.
: >
: > Makes no difference on performance. On some OS's it makes the Letters
come
: > up differently.
: >
: > Galen
:
: Thanks a lot Galen for the answer.
: One more question. As you can see from the screenshot
: http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/8877/2001640656955000948_rs.jpg
: that Disk 2 and Disk 3 are set as active. How do I make them non-active
: without having to format it??
:
I don't know how Galen would assume one HD when you stated that you had
multiple hard drives.
Primary partitions do not only have to be used only for an OS.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/hard_drives_01.htm


The active status should not cause you problems.
Bootitng will change the active status of a hard drive.
Page 21 of the users manual says
(To remove the active status [even though this is not something that most
users want to do], press
an hold down the left Shift key, and then click Set Active to toggle the
status of the individual
item).

 

[Jonny]

Let me tell you what I actually have. I have three HD's and there are
three
active partitions. I have no problem in booting and using my computer at
all.
Look at the screenshot here
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/7892/2004633349236013130_rs.jpg

PC bios will handover to first active primary partition found. The rest, if
one active primary partition per remaining hard drive(s), is of no
consequence, good or bad. Serves no purpose. Not sure what you're fishing
for.

 

[Jonny]

Thanks a lot Galen for the answer.
One more question. As you can see from the screenshot
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/8877/2001640656955000948_rs.jpg
that Disk 2 and Disk 3 are set as active. How do I make them non-active
without having to format it??

With an adequate version of Partition Magic that supports the version of
NTFS used. Remove the active bit. Whether there or not, is not material if
the first hard drive is in place with a primary, active partition.

Read the purpose of active bit set on primary partition.