Primary vs Logical Partitions?

[Tony Arnold]

Scott,

On Thu, 2007-09-06 at 13:55 -0700, Scott (angrykeyboarder) wrote:
> James Taji spake thusly:
> > On 9/6/07, Scott (angrykeyboarder) <geekboy at angrykeyboarder.com> wrote:
> >> Despite all my research on this subject, I'm still unclear on some things.
> >>
> >> If I have my facts straight, you can only have a total of 4 primary
> >> partitions.
> >>
> >> If you've got 2 hard drives you could have one on one and 3 on the other
> >> (or two on each) but the end result is the total can't be more than 4.
> > 
> > The limit of 4 primary partitions is per disk.
> 
> Oh OK.
> > 
> >> And if I have this straight, you can also have a drive with *no* primary
> >> partition. Said drive would have an extended partition and 4 (or 9....)
> >> logical partitions within that.
> > 
> > Not exactly, an extended partition IS a primary partition. 1 of the 4
> > primary partitions can be an extended partition.
> 
> I'm used to seeing the choice of "Logical Partition" or "Primary
> Partition" in apps like QTParted or GParted, hence my confusion.

Yes, an extended partition acts as a container for more partitions.
These are known as logical partitions and is how you usually get over
the 4 partition limit. I can't remember the limit for how many you can
have in one extended partition.

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester,
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