Partitioning

Hard Disks can be subdivided into smaller virtual areas (partitions) by means of partitioning.  Whenever a hard disk is formatted, the formatting utility creates only a single disk partition.  A DOS utility called FDISK can be used to subdivide a hard disk drive into sections.  The purpose of doing this is to protect portions of the disk from a software crash.  If the operating system is stored on one partition of the disk and the applications on another, if the operating system crashes and becomes corrupt, the software applications won't be affected by measure used to correct the operating system problems.  The OS partition can be reformatted and the software reinstalled without affecting the software applications and data stored on the other partition.

Partitioning is something that is done by experienced users and should not be experimented with on your primary hard disk.  The FDISK utility is a powerful tool.  One of its most beneficial uses is to restore the Master Boot Partition (MBR) on a hard disk that has forgotten how to read its data.  Some viruses attack the MBR and render the computer useless.  If the user is able to boot from a diskette and read the hard drive from the MS-DOS prompt, then the FDISK command can be used to restore the MBR and bring the computer back to life.  The command is "FDISK /MBR" (without the quotes).  Use this command only when warranted.