Time to complete: about 30-60 minutes. Dividing up or partitioning a physical hard disk involves creating partitions and logical drives. There are two types of partitions: primary and extended. A typical computer with just one hard disk has the entire capacity of the disk set upon drive C. This means that the primary partition consists of the entire capacity of the hard disk. But it's also possible to set up that hard disk so that it has more than one drive.

To do this, you wipe out the old primary partition and create a new primary partition that only takes up part of the hard disk's total capacity-for example, 60%. The system designates it drive C. You then create an extended partition. Next, on the extended partition, you set up one or more logical drives, dividing up the remaining 40% as you see fit-maybe 20% for a logical drive that the system designates drive D, and the remaining 20% for yet another logical drive that the system designates drive E. The system automatically assigns drive letters, in alphabetical order, to each logical drive you create.

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