I have a brand new computer and I was about to put a new partition on, and somehow, there are already 4 primary partitions. The first is called system, then C:\, then the recovery drive, and then one that says HP_TOOLS, which for some reason contains files pertaining to the BIOS. Would it be safe to convert the system or HP_TOOLS partition to a logical partition so that I can make a second partition. Or if anyone knows EASUS PM better than me, is there any way to create a partition as a logical partition, because it will only allow me to create a primary partition, and for some reason, it will only allow me to have 3 primary once I switch, instead of 4.
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1See this link for nice instructions specifically for HP...h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-questions/…– MoabSep 30, 2011 at 3:55
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I just want to be sure I am clear on this, apparently, the boot.ini file is now stored in the system partition, so there is no need to set the C drive as primary, or if I were to create a new drive for say... ubuntu, that would not have to be primary either because the system partition contains the boot.ini file, is this correct?– SeanSep 30, 2011 at 4:16
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@Sean: AFAIK, the Windows boot partition must still be primary.– u1686_grawitySep 30, 2011 at 8:49
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Windows 7 does not use a boot.INI anymore. Yes the Windows boot loader is stored on the first partition and must remain a primary partition.– MoabSep 30, 2011 at 16:47
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1 Answer
The NT systems can have 4 primary partitions without any problem + extended. I have never seen any problem with it, or any real reason for doing it. If there is also a hidden partition, then you would see it in Easus. Notes: There are some tiny portions of unallocated that might not be visually represented in Easus and in disk manager
Mentally I picture many primaries like this.
|---primary---|------Primary-----|------Primary-------||==extended==with logical==||
Being old school and trying to keep the thing as normal and regular as possible i prefer only 1 primary. What I concider the "normal method" is like this.
|---Primary----|----------The space called extended where Logical Drives are set-------|
Which to us after that is all created looks like this.
|---Primary----||=====Logical============Logical============Logical===all in that ext space=||
|---Primary----||=====Logical=====|=======Logical=====|=======Logical===================||
See the differance? Well dont feel bad because I don't totally understand either.
Right now you can not make a logical without that Extended hole space made First. Logicals are all created IN the extended space. A primary does not use the extended space method. Until you or the progam remove or move any primaries that are in the way, and create or enlarge an extended space, you will not be able to put Logicals INTO the extended space.
Without a backup, and knowing that primaries ARE a workable method, the least would be a clone backup of the whole drive before proceeding. Most methods for partition conversion, require entire re-write of the data, and messing with the partition table. they wouldnt let ME do that without a backup :-) so why trust software .
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1This is not related to NT system or any other. It's the property of MBR partitioning scheme. Newer NT systems or any other OSes that uses GPT partitioning scheme does not suffer from this situation– phuclvOct 3, 2013 at 0:30
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@LưuVĩnhPhúc The reference to the NT system in this context was to refer to the windows NT system , and compatibility with all of them. The OPs question did not specify the OS that is why (I do not know other OSes and cannot know what would be right for them). You just utilized the same context when referring to Newer NT :-) When GPT is again not limited to NT this gets understood in your Useful comment. I specifically did not cover GPT as the OP question indicates they are not using that. So if there is something that is in need of correction here, we need to figure out what that is. Oct 3, 2013 at 1:08