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to 256 characters long and have not one, but several extensions (or none at
all). The path to the file in Linux can be up to 4096 characters long.
To provide access to data organized in files and folders each operating
system, for example, MS-DOS, Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000, Linux, has its
own characteristic way to create and manage hard disk space, which is
generally non-compatible with other OSes. However, it would be inefficient if
one hard disk could be used by only one operating system. That is why a
mechanism was created allowing several operating systems to use the hard
disk. This mechanism breaks the hard disk space into partitions.
A.3
Hard Disk Partitions
Partitioning Hard Disks in DOS/Windows
Partitioning hard disk is done by special applications. In MS-DOS and
Windows the widely known FDISK program is used for this purpose. It allows
creating partitions, setting their size and labels. FDISK allows allocating
either all hard disk space or part of it for MS-DOS or Windows, and leave
some part of it for other operating systems.
FDISK can perform the following functions:
• create a primary DOS partition containing one logical disk;
• create an Extended Partition that can be broken into any number of
logical disks;
• mark a partition as active (only one primary partition can be active).
The structure of partitions on the hard disk can be shown as follows:
MBR.
Primary partition 1-1.
System logical disk C:.
Extended partition 1-2.
Logical partition 1-5.
Logical disk D:.
Logical disk E:.
Logical disk F:.
..............................
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Appendix A : General Information. Hard Disks
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