Disk partitioning is a way of dividing your hard disk so that each section functions as a separate unit. You can create a partition to organize information, for example, to back up data, or to dual boot with another operating system. When you create partitions on a disk, you divide the disk into one or more areas that can be formatted for use by a file system, such as FAT or NTFS.
For more information, see File Systems, earlier in this chapter.
If you're performing a new installation, Windows 2000 Setup automatically selects an appropriate disk partition—unless you click Advanced Options during Setup and specify otherwise. A hard disk can contain up to four partitions.