Automatic partitioning is safe and fast for standard installs—choose it if unsure. Manual partitioning is needed if you dual-boot, use LVM, or want separate filesystems for different partitions. Plan ...

Most PCs come from the factory with a single partition on their hard drive, meaning that it shows up as one drive in the Computer window (as C:, typically). But keeping your data, applications, and ...

Partitioning means writing the hard drive sectors that will make up the partition table. It contains information on the partition, including sector size, position with respect to the primary partition ...

Formatting a hard drive along with the install of a new OS is the best option. The vast majority of operating system installations provide a "format" option as part of the installation process.

Partitioning your hard drive sounds like a technically involved task that most people don’t need to bother with—but it’s actually relatively simple to do, doesn’t have to cost you any money, and can ...