How to install Windows and partition your hard drive. How to partition a disk in BIOS? partition hard drive in bios

If you are not satisfied with the disk space partitioning scheme of your hard drive, you can resolve this kind of difficulty yourself. There is no need to seek help from a specialist, you can do it yourself. Right now, you will be given the necessary recommendations regarding questions about how to merge hard disk partitions and what exactly is required in order to restore the hard drive directories. Believe me, everything is much simpler ... The main thing is desire and attentiveness in actions. Let's start, perhaps.

Standard option

Using the built-in Windows system tools, you can both partition and merge disk space. However, this article is devoted to the second option - the organization of a single volume from several components. Let's say you need to make one volume out of two directories (C:\ and D:\).

Open the Start menu and type in the search box the command - diskmgmt.msc.
The service window "Management..." will open.
Designate the partition "D" and use the right mouse button to call the context menu, from the list of which you should select the command "Delete volume ...". Of course, all data on it will be destroyed. Confirm your action.
The next step is the cursor on the "C" drive - calling the menu and activating the "Expand volume" command.
In the new window, click "Next" and then select the unallocated area (remote drive "D").
Completion of the process - the button "Finish". After the above process, the system volume "C" will expand, and the question of how to merge hard disk partitions can be considered resolved.

Effective organizer: Acronis Disk Director Suite

The above program can, if not all, then a lot. Start Acronis and in the next minimized window check "Manual Mode". There are no fundamentally different actions in using the presented program, meaning the considered option. However, the functionality of the software significantly prevails over Windows tools.

Select the drive (D) and when you call the context menu, select "Merge".
In the next window, specify the section to which you want to join (C).
In the event that the disk (D) has data and has not been formatted, you must create a folder where the transferred information will be located.
Next, give it a name.
In the next window, click on the new folder, then confirm - "OK".
The final action is to click on the label in the form of a flag.

In order to understand how to merge hard disk partitions, one practical repetition is enough.

Partition Recovery

A software failure is the main culprit in a situation where the system loses access to one of the hard drive volumes. However, Acronis is able to fix everything.

Use manual mode again.
In place of the partition there will be an unallocated area, by clicking on which, you need to select "Advanced", then - "Restore".
The next step is to select "Manual" and click "Next".
Then the "Search Method" window will appear, where "Full" is your choice.
At this stage, you may see a certain list, through which the hard disk partitions are restored. It is here, in this window, that all lost data is displayed. It is important to choose from the list the section that best matches the size of what you are looking for.
Now click on the “Flag” you know and wait for the end of the recovery process, about which the program will notify you by means of a message.

Finally

As you can see, the question that “tormented” you was “How to merge hard disk partitions?” in fact, it is easily resolved, moreover, it does not require special knowledge and IT skills from the user. To keep your hard drive running as long as possible, and its performance always at its best, carry out timely preventive maintenance: defragmenting, cleaning and checking for errors. Be efficient!

How to add or change disk partitions (4)

Before you, the last - the fourth article in the series "How to add or change partitions on a disk." In the previous three materials, we have considered; learned how to do it on computers or laptops running and.

Today, let's talk about how to partition a disk, directly during the installation process. This option, although we consider it last, is the most logical, and also the safest and easiest. Below, the process will be described for both installing Windows XP and Windows 7.

To begin with, we will agree that we are talking exclusively about a “clean” installation. That is, such when the system is installed from a boot disk or flash drive. A clean install is used when installing the system on a new computer, or when you decide to completely update the operating system and software of your device.

Since our task is to consider only issues related to disk operations, we assume that all preliminary preparations have already been made. The BIOS is set to boot from CD / DVD ROM, or from a USB flash drive. The boot disk (flash drive) is prepared. The hard drive is clean, all the necessary information from it, if any, is removed to external media.

If you've been in the pre-Windows XP era or started with a different family of operating systems, you'll remember that preparing a new hard drive required the use of special software. The most popular utility for this was FDisk, a component of MS DOS. Today, for these purposes, there are both separate programs and special functions in programs - hard disk managers. But in the installers of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, there are built-in tools for this, so we don’t need any additional software.

First of all, let's outline the main operations that need to be performed. After that, we will briefly illustrate the whole process, separately for Windows XP and Windows 7.

If the hard drive has already been used, we will delete the existing partitions. In principle, this is not a mandatory operation, and the system can be installed in an existing partition, after formatting it. But we assume that the existing partitioning does not suit us, and we want to partition the disk in our own way. Those who install Windows on a new, unallocated disk skip this operation.

Create partitions on an unpartitioned disk. We discussed the principles of disk partitioning in the first material of the cycle. We will not dwell on them.

We format the created partitions. In principle, you can only format the first (boot) partition where we will install the system. The remaining partitions can be formatted after the installation is completed. But, if you have the time, it's easier to do it right away.

We indicate to the installation program in which partition to install the system. Remember that no matter what partition you install the system on, the boot area and important system files will still be installed on the first (boot) partition. Therefore, - if you plan to install one operating system, install it in the first partition, i.e. to logical drive C:!

Here, in fact, is all that we have to do. Below we briefly illustrate these operations separately for Windows XP and Windows 7:

Windows XP

After booting the computer from a disk or flash drive, and starting the installation process, we will see a standard window:

Press "Enter", in the next window, press F8 to accept the License Agreement:

After that, the system checks the disks and shows us a list of disks and partitions on them. If the disk is not partitioned, we will see the following:

Press the "C" key to proceed to the creation of partitions. If there were already partitions on the disk, the picture will be something like this:

Highlight the existing partition and press "D" to delete it. We are asked to confirm the action (using the "L" key, then "Enter"). We repeat the operation with all sections, if there were several. Again we see the window:

Let's start creating partitions. Press "C", a window appears asking you to create a new partition:

Enter the size of the first partition in megabytes in the box. By default, the window shows the total amount of free space on the hard disk. Press "Enter".

Let me remind you that in , we determined the optimal partition size for installing Windows XP - 50 - 120 GB, depending on the size of our hard drive.

A window will appear in which the created partition will be visible. We repeat the operation by pressing the "C" key to create the remaining sections. If we limit ourselves to two, then under the second we take all the remaining space on the disk.

Upon completion, we again see a disk map with partitions created:

Select the C: drive and press Enter. A window appears asking you to format:

The last time - "Enter" and the job is done! After formatting the disk, the installation process will continue.

Windows 7

Here, the procedure is the same as for Windows XP, but the installer interface is slightly different. This is how the disk map will look like:

To display the menu for working with partitions, click on the inscription "Disk Setup". To create partitions, click on the inscription "Create":

Specify the size of the primary partition in the box (in megabytes). After that, click "Apply". The section has been created. If there were already partitions on the disk, first delete them using the "Delete" command:

In addition to the created partition, another partition will be automatically created on the disk, reserved by the system. We already talked about him in the first material of the cycle. Let me remind you, only that no operations with it are unacceptable!

We create the remaining sections in the same way. The interface, as you can see in the figure, is more convenient than that of Windows XP, the commands for creating, deleting, formatting and resizing partitions are located at the bottom of the window and just click on them.

Then we format the created partitions (you can limit yourself only to the one in which the system will be installed, and format the rest, after the installation of Windows is completed).

With this, we will finish talking about creating and changing partitions on the hard drive of your computer or laptop.

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In conclusion - a small announcement: In the next series of articles, we will tell you how to create a wireless (WiFi) access point based on your laptop or computer, i.e. without using external devices.

Often, users turn to a specialist if the task arises to combine their hard drives into a software logical array. How to merge disks without contacting the master? All this is easy to do according to the instructions in the steps. She is in front of you.

Instructions: how to merge a hard drive into BIOS

We'll look at how to set up via AMIBIOSSETUP. The interfaces of other manufacturers of bios have similar options, so it will not be difficult to figure out how to combine hard drives according to the model.
Before booting the computer, run the Basic I/O Chip Setup Utility. For AMIBIOS, the preset launch is the del key. It must be periodically pressed until the BIOS interface is visible.
Select a category " Serial ATA Configuration". In it the parameter " Configure serial data as". Its value should be “ raid”.
By configuring the hard drives for the specified port under array, save your changes. To do this, select "exit" or similar.
Before starting the computer, press the keys CTRL + I with parallel pressing. If everything is done correctly, a service for setting up will appear on the screen. raid array.
In the options for changes, select the direction of the array to be created and the HDDs to which the changes will be applied. Save the new settings and restart your computer.
After entering the interface of your operating system, the computer will display several hard drives as a combined logical unit (as one Winchester).

What gives the association. How to merge disks

How to combine disks into an array, I hope you already understand. Now I will describe the advantages of such a step:

Acceleration of the disk subsystem (array type - stripes). But there is also a downside to this benefit. When one of the SSDs in the array fails, the rest of the information in the array is also lost.
Duplicate mirror. The ability to duplicate information in several "mirrors" - an array of a pair of hard drives.

As soon as one of the disks becomes unusable, it is duplicated by the nearest "mirror", which will allow you to create a reliable fault-tolerant chain in data storage. This type of array, unfortunately, does not affect the speed.

Setting for the RAID controller

If your motherboard has a controller raid, then the instruction on how to merge hard drives will be slightly different.

After changing the BIOS settings, reboot your host as usual. Then press F2 consecutively. This initializes the array settings window.
In the option menu, specify the hard drives to create a single structure.
Confirm that the array needs to be created (array create).
In the interface that appears, select the array category: type 0 - to speed up work with data, type 1 - to create fault-tolerant copies of your partitions.

operating system

To avoid wasted time, make sure you have built-in or additional drivers raid for the current OS. As a rule, if there is an array controller on the board, then the documentation and drivers on the media - a floppy disk or a CD - must come with it.

Before combining disks - requirements for hard drives

Current array drives should be designed by the same corporation and be roughly the same size. If you try to combine a new HDD with an already working second hard drive, all information will be deleted in a certain way.

Therefore, unlike simple formatting, where data can be restored using some software, data formatted in a raid, will be deleted irretrievably.

Ability to restore raid elements on some array hard drive

In addition, arrays are subject to recovery if one of the elements of this structure does not work correctly. For this procedure, the notorious Acronis Disk Manager or similar software. But the description of this process is beyond the scope of this article, so I will limit myself to mentioning such a possibility.

The BIOS, or basic input/output system, provides the initial startup of the computer, thanks to which the operating system gains access to hardware resources. The BIOS has many configurable options, but you cannot partition the disk using it. To do this, use special utilities.

You will need

- Acronis Disk Director software;

Instruction

If your computer has only one disk, you should partition it into several logical partitions. On partition C, you will have an operating system, you can use others to store data. Such separation greatly increases the safety of information, even in the event of a complete collapse of the operating system, your data will be intact.

To partition a disk, use the Acronis Disk Director utility, this is one of the best programs of this class. It exists in two versions: one runs from under Windows, the second from a CD. It is better to use the second one, since sometimes problems arise when partitioning a disk from under Windows. In particular, the partition structure may be broken, which can lead to data loss.

To run the utility from the CD, you need to open the boot menu when starting the computer. To do this, press the F12 key or the one that displays the boot menu on your computer model. If you can't find the boot menu, set the BIOS to CD as the primary boot device. To enter the BIOS, you must press Del, F1, F2, F10 - the keys used differ on different computers. Find the First Boot line and select the CD as the primary boot device. Save your changes by pressing F10. If necessary, confirm the changes by typing Y and pressing Enter.

In the boot menu of the disk, select the Acronis Disk Director program, in the proposed options - "Manual". In the right part of the program window, select the desired disk, and in the left part of the necessary action - "Split Volume". Following the prompts of the program, determine the size of future disks (old and new). After the program ends, you will see the old disk, already smaller, and the new unallocated area.

Select an unallocated area, then the action is "Create Volume". Specify the letter of the new volume - for example, D. The newly created partition will appear in the list of partitions.

The operations that you performed were performed by the program virtually, so you can still undo them. For the changes to take effect and the new partition to be created, click the Run button. After the program finishes, restart your computer.

You will need

- Acronis Disk Director software;

Instruction

Select an unallocated area, then the action is "Create Volume". Specify the letter of the new volume - for example, D. The newly created partition will appear in the list of partitions.