What is the conceptual difference between the primary partition and the extended partition of a hard

To put it simply,The main partition is the boot area,When the machine starts, it will definitely read the boot file here,Of course, your system does not have to be installed in the main partition,But the main partition must have a boot file exists。。。 Extended partitions are general partitions, you can't use them directly, you have to divide logical partitions in the extended partitions to use them. It's pretty much the same in use, not much different.

Primary and extended partitioned tables.

There are 64 bytes in the 0 head, 0 cylinder, and 1 sector of the hard disk, which is the main partition table of the hard disk, with a total of 4 partition entries, and each partition table entry is 16 bytes. That is to say, there can only be a maximum of 4 primary partitions in a hard disk, which is determined by the general partition structure of the PC hard disk, which cannot change this partition structure regardless of the operating system used in your computer: MSDOS, PCDOS, DRDOS, Windows95 98 Me, Windows NT 2000 XP, Linux, Unix, Novell, etc.

Since the release of the MS version by Microsoft in December 1985, the partition structure of the above-mentioned PC hard disk has added the function of extended partition, and one of the main partitions of the above four primary partitions can be defined as an "extended partition", and in the extended partition, many logical partitions can be established, therefore, there must be an extended partition table in the extended partition.

The extended partition table in the extended partition is no longer stored in one sector like the main partition table, but the extended partition table is stored in the starting sector of each logical partition as there are as many logical partitions in the extended partition. Each extended partition table holds only the information about that logical partition and the next logical partition.

To put it simply, the main partition is the partition where the system is installed, which is generally the C drive, and the logical partition is D, E, F, and so on.

1. Different uses.

The main partition is the boot partition of the hard disk, which is independent and the first partition of the hard disk. If you want to install two systems, you can have more than two primary disk partitions.

After the primary partition is separated, the rest can be divided into extended partitions, which are non-system files, and several logical disk partitions can be subdivided into extended disk partitions.

2. The way to use it is different.

The main disk partition can be used independently, but the extended partition is a concept, which is actually not visible in the hard disk, and the extended partition cannot be used directly, it is used in the way of logical partitions, and the extended partition can be divided into several logical partitions. Their relationship is an inclusive relationship, and all logical partitions are part of the extended partition.

3. The quantity is different.

A hard disk can have 1 to 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition, or it can only have a primary partition without an extended partition, but the primary partition must have at least 1, and the extended partition can only have a maximum of 1 code segment, and the total number of primary partitions + extended partitions cannot exceed 4. There can be several logical partitions.

When a hard disk allocates all the capacity to the main partition, then there is no expansion of the partition, only when the capacity of the primary partition is less than the capacity of the hard disk, the remaining space belongs to the extended partition, and the extended partition can continue to be expanded and divided into multiple logical partitions.

You can create only one logical partition in an extended partition.

The differences between the two are as follows:

First, the reference is different.

1. Primary partition: also known as the primary disk partition, which is located in the front area of the hard disk and constitutes a logical C disk.

Second, the characteristics are different.

1. Primary partition: No other types of partitions can be divided into partitions, so each primary partition is equivalent to a logical disk (in this regard, the primary partition and the logical partition are very similar, but the primary partition is directly divided on the hard disk, and the logical partition must be established in the extended partition).

Third, the role is different.

1. Main partition: The main boot program is a part, this section of the program is mainly used to detect the correctness of the hard disk partition, and determine the active partition, which is responsible for handing over the boot right to the DOS or other operating systems of the active partition. If this program is corrupted, it will not boot from the hard disk, but it will be able to read and write to the hard disk after booting from a floppy drive or optical drive.

2. Extended partition: Extended partition cannot be used directly, but is used in the form of logical partition, so extended partition can be divided into several logical partitions. Relationships are contained relationships, and all logical partitions are part of the extended partition.

Absolutely. The extended partition is a special primary partition, in which a logical drive (commonly known as a logical partition) can be created, and the number of logical partitions is not limited, but there must be at least one, because the extended partition cannot be used directly, it is only used to accommodate the logical partition, and there can only be one extended partition on a hard disk.

In the early days (DOS or win98 years), if there were two (or more) primary partitions on a hard disk, the system did not know which primary partition to boot from, so the habit at that time was to create a primary partition (install the system) first, and then create all the remaining capacity as an extended partition, and then create multiple logical partitions in the extended partition for use. Nowadays, the system is not subject to this restriction, so if you don't have more than four partitions on one hard disk, there is no need to create an extended partition, just create the primary partition.

Yes, there is a PE system.

My personal understanding is that the primary partition is a partition that can be marked and accessed by the BIOS, and each time you enter the system, you can only access one primary partition, and once you enter, you can't access other primary partitions. The boot area (which can be installed with the system, even the system disk can also have a boot loader developed by third-party software installed in the main partition) must be the main partition, generally using the C disk as the main partition, and putting system files in it.

One primary partition is sufficient, and even if multiple systems coexist, it is completely possible to set up only one primary partition.

I think the extended partition is a separate concept from the primary partition, just a name. Just as the main partition is compared to a "gate", all parts of the building except the gate are called the "other parts" (extended partitions). At this time, you are not sure where you live, where you are cooking, etc., and it is not conducive to allocating space and finding things, so divide the "other parts" into several pieces for easy use.

It's too slow to type by yourself, in fact, the head controller of the hard disk is fixed together, if you want to access it, the corresponding head of all platters is to the corresponding position of the platter, and all partitions are in cylindrical units.

These partitions are physically classified. Others, depending on your type of logical format for each disk, there are a few other names.

They are all partitions used to store data, but because the previous conventional MBR disk partition ** disk can only record 4 partition information in the MBR record, that is to say, it can only support 4 primary partitions, which cannot meet the needs of larger and larger hard disks. In order to solve this problem, the concept of extended partition is proposed, which is a special primary partition, in which multiple partitions can continue to be divided, which is a logical partition.