Partition table

lastmod 2020-07-04created 2018-11-308 edits

A partition is a fixed-size portion of a disk drive, and the operating system handles the disk in units of partitions. A partition table is a data structure that describes the partitions of a disk. The terms partition table and partition map commonly refer to the MBR partition table of the MBR (Master Boot Record) on IBM PC compatibles, but they are sometimes used for other disk drive partitioning schemes as well. Examples include GPT (GUID Partition Table), APM (Apple partition map), and BSD disk labels.

Partitions can be created, resized, or deleted. This is called disk partitioning. It is usually done during operating system installation, but partitions can also be changed after the operating system is installed.

See also

• Disk partitioning
• fdisk
• Volume
• Disk format
• File system
• Master Boot Record (MBR)
• Extended Boot Record (EBR)
• GUID Partition Table (GPT)
• Boot Engineering Extension Record (BEER)
• Apple Partition Map
• Rigid Disk Block (RDB)
• BSD disklabel
• Partition type

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) Partition table
• What is a partition table?
• (Oracle) Partition Table
• [Recommended] WEBDIR :: Understanding the hard disk ¹ (GPT, Disk sector, UEFI, Partition table, CHS, LBA)
• [Recommended] Linux Partition HOWTO - 4. Partitioning requirements

References