Chapter5: File Systems

Partitioning in Windows 10

• Only one extended partition per physical hard drive.

• Multiple logical drives can be created within the extended partition.

• Limited to drive letters A-Z; the last letter is Z.

• A primary partition is created for OS upon Windows 10 installation, providing flexibility in storage.

Volume Concept

• A volume is a defined storage area on a hard drive.

• A single hard drive can contain multiple volumes.

• Volumes can span multiple hard drives.

• Hard drives can be initialized as dynamic disks for volume-oriented storage.

• Dynamic disks are beneficial for large data storage needs (e.g., Windows Server 2012/2016).

Hard Drive Listing in CentOS 7

• Hard drives are listed in /dev directory, like in all Linux/Unix systems.

• Physical drives are labeled as sda, sdb, sdc, etc.

• Each drive's partitions (e.g., sda1, sda2) are designated by numbers after the drive letter.

Primary Partitions in CentOS 7

• Up to four primary partitions allowed, or three with one extended partition.

• An extended partition can be created only after three primary partitions.

• One primary partition must be marked as active in the partition table.

• The active partition can contain or be designated for the OS.

GRUB and File Systems in CentOS 7

• CentOS 7 utilizes GRUB for partition management instead of a master boot record.

• Supports various file systems (reference Table 5-1).

• Drives can be partitioned and formatted using the Disks utility in GNOME or commands (e.g., fdisk, parted).

Drive Lettering in Windows 10

• Drive lettering conventions from early hard drives are still followed.

• Each physical drive requires a unique letter; optical drives also get letters.

• The first partition on the first physical drive is commonly designated as the C drive.

• This partition is a primary partition and marked as active for OS loading.

• Active partition contains boot files.

• Letters A and B are reserved for floppy drives.