FDISK

This is the main screen used during the time running FDISK. This would also be the first screen if your computer operating system does not support FAT32. From this window you will have the capability of setting up or removing partitions from your hard drive(s).





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Using the options within this screen you will be able to create the various different partitions. These options will only allow you to create FAT16, and FAT32 partitions if supported and you pressed Y for Yes to enable large disk partitions. If you are attempting to create NTFS partitions, use Windows NT Disk Manager.


1. Create Primary DOS Partition - Choosing this option you will be prompted to use maximum space. If you specify yes, this will use up to 2 GB if creating FAT16 partitions, or up to 32 GB if using FAT32. If you choose no you will be able to specify how large you would like the partition to be. NOTE: you will need to create primary partitions before being able to create Extended or Logical DOS partitions.2. Create Extended DOS Partition - If you are using FAT16 and have a 2 GB or higher hard drive or have only specified a small portion of the hard drive as the Primary partition, use this option to create the Extended DOS partition(s) (other drive assignments). The Extended DOS partition will be used to hold the Logical DOS drives; therefore, use the maximum space left on the hard drive.3. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition - This option is used after you have created an Extended DOS partitions. Once the Extended DOS partition has been created you then can specify the sizes of other partitions you wish to create.Example of what has been explained above:Bob has a six GB hard disk drive and wishes to divide the hard drive into three partitions, each using FAT 16.Step 1. If prompted to use Large Disk support, press N for no because Bob does not want FAT32, he would like FAT16.Step 2. Choose option one to create a Primary partition. Once prompted to use maximum space, press N for no and specify 2 GB as the size of the primary partitions Step 3. Once the primary DOS partition has been created, choose option two to create an extended DOS partition. Use the maximum space, which would be four GB because two GB has already been used for the Primary Partition.Step 4. Create two logical DOS drives, each being 2 GB.Step 5. Reboot the computer and format each of the drives to allow them to be accessible.Assuming Bob only had one hard drive, doing the above Bob would have:Drive C: Partition 1 (Primary) FAT 16Drive D: Partition 2 (Extended/Logical) FAT16Drive E: Partition 3 (Extended/Logical) FAT16Note: Once a primary partition has been created please ensure that you set the partition as an active partition.

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Within this screen you will have the capability of deleting pre-existing DOS partitions. If you currently have no disk space available on your hard drive and wish to create additional partitions, you must first use this screen to delete the partitions and then you will be able to create partitions. NOTE: if you delete partitions, any information on those partitions will be erased and CANNOT be recovered.



1. Delete Primary DOS partition - Use this option to delete your main primary partition. However, if you currently have any Extended / Logical DOS partitions, you must delete these partitions before you will be able to delete the Primary DOS partition.2. Delete Extended DOS partition - If you have your computer partitions into more than one drive, use this option to delete the extended dos partition(s). You must delete the Logical DOS Drive(s) before you can delete the Extended DOS partition.3. Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition - This option would be used first if you have extended DOS partitions and wish to delete the extended partitions.4. Delete Non-DOS Partition - This option is usually used for partitions that either have been created by third-party applications, such as a DDO or other operating systems such as IBM Warp, Unix, as well as various other operating systems.Example of what has been explained above:Bob has created three partitions on one hard disk drive; however, he would like to delete them all.Step 1. Delete the two logical DOS drive(s) in the Extended DOS partition with Option number three.Step 2. Once the Logical DOS partitions have been deleted, choose option number two to delete the extended DOS partition.Step 3. Choose option one to delete the Primary partition.Step 4. Reboot the computer to allow above changes to take effect.

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Within this screen you will be able to see what is currently being used and how your computer hard drive is setup. NOTE: If you see invalid information such as !, *, &, % as the Volume Label, the Partition, or the Status, it is a good possibility that you may have a VIRUS on the computer.


The above picture displays information about Extended DOS partitions; if, however, you only have a Primary DOS partition, your screen would only display the partition information and you will only have the option to Esc out of the screen.

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This option is only available if more than one Hard Drive is installed within the computer. In the below picture you can notice that we have 3 hard drives listed within this computer. Disk 1 has two partitions, which are C: and D: The hard drive's total space is 3 GB. Then Disk 2 has three partitions E:, F:, and G: and the hard drive total space is 6668, or 7 GB. As you notice in the below picture, there is also a Disk 3, this is actually an Iomega Zip Drive hooked up to the IDE controller on the Motherboard. Other media that is connected to the IDE controller within your computer will usually be displayed within FDISK; however, this is not a hard drive and does not need to be FDISKed, this is why 95MB is free. An exception to this rule would be a CD-ROM.

Partitioning Hard Drives in Windows XP

Remember that old Radio Shack TRS-80 computer that sat on your desk? One of the rituals that went with ownership was popping a tape into the cassette deck to load a program, all the while hoping the tape didn't get stretched or chewed up before the process completed. Later on hard drives made an appearance, but back in those early days a hard drive was a luxury, and a very expensive luxury at that when you start computing the cost per megabyte of early drives. Today, we rarely give much thought to the hard drive. In one way it's good they have become inexpensive and so reliable they seldom fail. On the other hand, because they are so reliable, we tend to ignore hard drives and overlook ways to make them more useful and efficient. A modified or advanced partitioning scheme isn't essential to the basic operation of a personal computer, but if you're a tweaker or organizational fanatic (I admit it, I am, on both counts) then partitioning affords a wealth of customization and organizational opportunities.
The Basic Hard Drive
What's a hard drive? There are tons of books and sites that delve into detailed descriptions, but basically it's a storage device. The medium that stores the actual data is called a platter, usually made from aluminum, and there are varying numbers of stacked platters depending on the capacity of the hard drive. The platters are placed inside a sealed case along with an actuator assembly for the heads and arms that move back and forth across the platters to write and retrieve the data. A hard drive is non-volatile storage. It requires no power supply to maintain the data that has been placed on the drive. In addition, the data is completely under user control. Data can be added and deleted at will and the drive can be configured in various ways to suit the purpose of the user.
Examining the Hard Disk Layout
The easiest way to understand the system drive structure is to use a tool supplied with Windows XP called Disk Management, a snap-in that's part of the Microsoft Management Console. The majority of systems sold today for home or small business use will come equipped with one hard drive, although many manufacturers offer special deals on new systems that make it financially attractive to add a second, third, or even fourth hard drive if you have a need for the extra capacity. In spite of the fact that a single hard drive can be configured in many different ways, it's a pretty safe bet that an off the shelf system will arrive in one of two basic configurations. Either the entire drive will be partitioned as C: as shown in Fig. 01 or it will be split into two partitions, one as C: that is visible and another partition that is hidden and contains an image of the operating system (and a ton of useless software) in case things go terribly wrong requiring a reinstall of the operating system.

The fruits brought forth from AMD's newest line of processors, namely the Duron and the "Thunderbird", not only delivered excellent performance at a very low price, but also boasted of a tremendous potential for overclocking.
Since the release of these two chips, various benchmarks across the web praise this "dynamic duo" for their ability to overclock at speeds of 50% 60% (and at times more) over the manufacturers rated specification. Thanks to a manual CPU multiplier adjustment present on select motherboards, overclockers have been no less than delighted at what these two processors can accomplish. However in the initial period prior to the launch of the Duron and "Thunderbird", looking for a motherboard which sports such a multiplier adjustment was rather difficult. Board makers were hesitant as they did not want to provide for any "accidental" damage that overclocking may cause.
However, slowly but surely, main board manufacturers began to incorporate this feature onto their products as a rather substantial demand for it was introduced.Naturally, Soltek responded by releasing the answer to an overclocker's desire the Soltek 75KV2 X. The KV2 X is the latest model of their already well established Socket A based line of motherboards which started with their Soltek 75KV. Interestingly enough, the phrase "same... yet different" applies very well to Soltek's first Socket A board and the one under scrutiny in this review.And though the two boards are indeed quite similar, there are three significant additions on the 75KV2 X which were left out on the original 75KV. Let's take a look at the specs and see.