1.2 STUDY Implementing Hard Drives Lesson Review [220-902]

Partitioning - GPT

(GUID Partition Table) 128 primary partitions Requires UEFI BIOS No need for extended partitions

File system types - FAT32

2TB volume sizes Max file size of 4GB

Duplexed Mirror

A RAID 1 implementation that uses one hardware controller for the first disk in a RAID 1 pair, and a second different hardware controller for the second RAID 1 disk. This increases fault tolerance in the case where a disk controller fails instead of a single disk. IDE and SCSI implementations of RAID 1 would typically use one hardware controller to manage both RAID 1 members. In this case the hardware controller would be a single point of failure.

Mirrored Volume

A RAID 1 implementation using dynamic disks.

Cluster

A cluster is a bunch of sectors grouped together and referring to them as a single unit. Also called File Allocation units.

RAID 0

A collection of disks that combine their storage capacity by striping data across all drives. Data is written in a fixed block size, typically sized in KB, in a sequential fashion to each disk. The first block of data for a file is written to the first disk, the second block of data to the second disk, and so on until the last drive is reached. The next block of data starts over with the first drive and the process continues with each subsequent block of data written to the next disk. This type of storage is not fault tolerant and the failure of a single disk will result in the loss of all file data. This type of storage will generally improve write and read performance when compared with a single disk. The number of disks that can be pooled this way is limited by the operating system or hardware controller used to pool the disks.

Partition Table

A data structure contained in the MBR that is used to identify reserved areas of disk space for hard disks formatted for x86 computers. The partition table holds a maximum of four entries originally tasked to point to a maximum of four primary partitions, or three primary and one extended partitions.

GUID Partition Table (GPT)

A disk partitioning style that allows more partitions and advanced partition information when compared to the older MBR style disk partition scheme. Desktop computers only use GPT in specialized and limited cases due to its limited applicability.

Foreign Disk

A dynamic disk that is recognized as not belonging to the computer it is currently installed in. Until the disk is imported, to change its dynamic disk computer membership, the volumes it contains are not accessible.

New Technology File System (NTFS)

A file system introduced with Windows NT. NTFS supports advanced features to add reliability, security, and flexibility that file systems such as FAT and FAT32 do not have.

File Allocation Table (FAT)

A file system used to organize fies and folders in a partition or volume. A master File Allocation Table is used to indicate what files and folders exist within the file system. The FAT table entries point to the beginning cluster used to store a file's data. The first cluster points to the next cluster used to store the next part of the file's data. The file's data is stored in a chain of clusters, with the last cluster marked with an end-of-file identifier. The FAT table stores the name and attributes of the files and folders on the disk, their starting cluster, and which clusters link to the next. The number of addressable clusters determines the size of the FAT table. The limit for how many addressable clusters exist is based on the size of the binary number used to address each cluster. The number of bits used for the cluster address distinguishes the different versions of FAT. The common versions of FAT include FAT16 and FAT32.

GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)

A label that identifies an item with a unique name or code that is used to tell it apart from similar items. Software typically uses a coded number or value to represent a unique identifier.

Drive Letter

A letter of the alphabet assigned to a formatted partition or volume as a reference point for future access by the user or their applications.

Dynamic Disk

A new method used to organize disk space into volumes. First introduced with Windows 2000, the dynamic disk method is seen as an improvement over basic disk technology. Not all operating systems support the dynamic disk method of organizing disk space. This may restrict multiboot configurations. Dynamic disk technology supports simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID 5 volumes. All dynamic disks in a computer are identified with a group membership ID personalized for the computer they belong to. Volume information is stored in a database that is replicated to all other dynamic disks in the computer. The volume information database is stored in the last 1 MB of each disk.

Active partition

A primary partition that is indicated in the partition table as the partition to use when loading the rest of the operating system. If a basic disk has multiple primary partitions, only one primary partition can be marked as active at a time. The primary partition's boot sector is used to load the rest of the operating system.

Logical Partition

A reserved block of space on a basic disk. Logical partitions can only be created within an extended partition. As long as free space exists in an extended partition, a new logical partition can be created. Logical partitions can be formatted with a file system directly.

Extended Partition

A reserved block of space on a basic disk. No more than one extended partition can exist on a single basic disk. Logical partitions are created within the extended partition. Extended partitions cannot be formatted with a file system directly.

Primary Partition

A reserved region of disk space on a basic disk that is capable of loading an operating system. The first sector of the primary partition is also known as a boot sector and stores the code for beginning the operating system load process from that primary partition.

Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)

A standard initially created by Intel to replace the BIOS based computer firmware

Boot Sector

A term used to describe a special-purpose block of data on a disk or partition essential to the boot process of an x86 computer. The computer's BIOS will process the boot sector of the MBR initially to find a partition to continue the boot process. The first sector of that partition or volume contains a boot sector with code responsible for beginning the operating system load process from a partition or volume.

Cluster

A unit of storage for reading and writing file data in a file system. The cluster size is determined when a partition or volume is first formatted with a file system. Cluster size is based on the sector size of a disk and the number of sectors used per cluster. Cluster sizes typically range from 512 bytes to 64 KB.

Disk Management console

An MMC console snap-in used to administer hard disks in Windows 7.

Mount Point

An empty folder in an NTFS-formatted file system that is used to point to another FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition.

Basic Disk

An older, IBM-originated method used to organize disk space for x86 computers into primary, extended, and logical partitions. Basic disk technology is supported by many legacy operating systems and may be required in certain multiport configurations.

Bootable media

Any removable device the has a bootable OS is considered a boot device or boot disc Your system boots off the boot device that, which then loads some kind of OS that enables you to partition, format, and install OS on your new hard drive. Boot devices come from many sources. All Windows OS installation media are boot devices, as are Linux installation media Boot devices may also be a medium that has an image of an installation disc. These images are usually stored as a file with a name that has an extension of ".iso" Image files may be on a traditional boot device, such as disc of flash drive, but they can come from any place, such as on a network drive

Boot Methods - Netboot

Apple version of remote network installation similair to PXE

Striped volumes

Are RAID 0 volumes. You may take any two allocated spaces on two separate hard drives and stripe them. But again, if one fails hen the whole drive is lost.

Mirrored volumes

Are RAID 1 volumes. You may take two unallocated spaces on two separate hard drives and mirror them. If one of the two mirrored drives fail, the others keep running

FAT 64

Breaks the 4 GB size barrier, supporting files up to 16 EB and a theoretical partition limit of 64 ZB. The FAT 64 file system makes the cluster entries 64 bit instead of 32 bit. FAT 64 still lacks all of NTFS cool features

File system types - CDFS

Compact Disk File System ISO 9660 All OSs can read the CD

Type of Installation - Image Deployment

Create configuration you want for your company, Deploy exact copy with apps and settings installed for every PC

Formatting - Quick Format

Creates new file table Data is not erased No additional checks

Disk Initialization

Disk Management enables you to view the drive status of every mass storage device in your system. Foreign drive: you will see this when you move a dynamic disk from one system to another Formatting: When you are formatting a drive Failed: disk is damaged or corrupt; you lost data Online: Good healthy disk Offline: Corrupted or having communication problems

partition boot sector

Each partition has a boot sector

Disk Installation

Every hard drive in a Windows system has special info placed onto the drive through a process called disk installation (Comp TIA refers to this as Initializing a disk) Initialization includes info that defines what it does in the system. If the hard drive is part of a software RAID, for example, its RAID info is stored in the initialization. If it is part of a spanned volume, this is also stored there. All new drives must be initialized before you can use them To initialize a disk, right-click the disk icon and select Initialize. Once initialized, you can see the status of the drive.

File system types - exFAT

Extended File Allocation Table Files can be larger than 4GB

Type of Installation - Repair Installation

Fix problems with Windows OS Does not modify data

Hard drive formatting

Formatting does two things: makes the file system and the root directory in that file system. The root directory provides the foundation upon which the OS builds files and folders.

Formatting

Formatting installs a file system onto the drive that organizes each partition is such a way the the OS can store files and folders on the drive. When you format a disk, all data is completely erased from the hard drive.

GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader)

Free Linux-based boot manager that is used to control multiboot setups. Basically the boot manager software takes control from the MBR and asks which OS you want to boot

Maintenance

Hard drive maintenance can be broken down into two functions: checking the disk occasionally for failed clusters and keeping data organized on the drive so it can be accessed quickly

basic disk

Hard drives that uses either the MBR partitioning scheme or the GPT partitioning table. Dynamic doesn't do basic disks.

Load alternate third-part drivers when necessary

Hardware Drivers

Partitioning - Dynamic

Has redundancy Max of 2000 partitions (don't go over 32) Can be spanned over multiple drives

Type of Installation - Recovery Partition

Hidden partition with installation files

Workgroup vs Domain setup

Home vs Business Ask network admin

Disk Clean Up

If your hard drive becomes filled with temporary files, use DiskClean up to get rid of them. Windows saves files that you never see by: Files in Recycle Bin, Temporary Internet files, Downloaded program files, and temporary files Mac OS X and Linux do not have disk clean up. Use a 3rd party tool.

Error-checking

Individual clusters sometimes go bad. So it is important that you occasionally check for bad clusters on drives. Tools used to check bad clusters are: Scan Disk and chkdsk. These are command line utilities. Microsoft calls the Error-checking in current versions of Windows Mac OS X uses the Disk Utility Linux offers a command line tool called fsck All of the 3 do the same job: Find bad clusters (Your system won't put data in bad clusters when found). lost chains= clusters that have no file name associated with them. When you use chkdsk you get two options: Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Only use the second option if you actually suspect something because it takes a while. In Mac OS X, when you use disk utility you get two options: Verify Disk or both Verify Disk and Repair Disk. Verify Disk finds errors and Repair disk fixes them. You can verify but not fix errors on Mac OS X. If errors occur on start up disk, reboot and press APPLE KEY - R until recovery partition loads. Linux usually runs fsck by itself so do not worry Run Error-checking about once a week

FAT 32

Individual files can't be over 4 GB Does not work on drives larger than 2 TB Used for flash drives the are between 4GB and 32 GB. Mainly used for flash media and USB. Not partitions.

Boot Methods - Internal hard drive

Install and boot from separate drive Create and boot from a new partition

Simple spaces

Just pooled storage. Has multiple drives or whatever capacity added together to form a single virtual drive. No resiliency = drive fails, data gone. Simple spaces are good for temporary storage, scratch files, etc.

File system types - ext3,ext4

Linux File System/Android

Driver Installation, software and Windows Updates

Load video drivers, install apps, update the OS

Window's three different partitioning methods

MBR partitioning scheme, Window's proprietary dynamic storage partitioning scheme, and the GUID partition scheme (GPT). GUID = Global Unique Identifier

Partitioning - Primary

MBR(Master Boot Record) style Bootable Partitions Max of 4 partitions One of the primary partitions can be marked as active

Partitioning - Extended

MBR(Master Boot Record) style Non-Bootable Used for extending the maximum number of partitions One extended partition per Hard Disk Contains additional logical partitions

Mac OS X file systems

Mac OS X uses the Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+) by default, although you can read and write to several different file systems with the OS. The latest versions can read and write to FAT 32 and FAT 64 but can only read NTFS.

Type of Installation - Upgrade

Maintains existing applications and data

Factory Recovery Partition

Make sure it is created so you don't need installation media to recover

Time/Date/Region/Language Settings

Make sure its in right zone

File systems in Linux

Most Linux distributions use a file system called Fourth Extended File System (ext4) by default. Some older distros use one its predecessors, such as ext2 or ext3. Ext4 supports volumes up to 1 EB with file sizes up to 16 TB and is backwardly compatible with ext2 and ext3 Linux file system capabilities exceed past those of Mac OS X, being able to read and write to NTFS, FAT 64, HFS+, and ext2, ext3, and ext4.

Boot Methods - USB

Most PCs have USB adaption USB must be bootable Computer must support it.

File system types - NTFS

NT File System File Compression Encryption Symbolic Links Large File Support Recoverability

NTFS

NTFS is neat because it has a lot of great features. This is the main file system we use. It utilizes an enhanced file allocation table called the Master File Table (MFT). If you want to be nerdy and look at your NTFS version type in cmd: fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo c: Security: NTFS view individual files and folders as objects and provides security for those objects through a feature called the Access Control List (ACL) Compression: NTFS enables you to compress and individual files and folders to save space on a hard drive. Compression makes access time slower because the OS has to uncompressed files every time you use them, but in a space limited environment compression would be ideal. Windows Explorer/File Explorer displays file names for compressed files in blue. Encryption: a big advantage of NTFS is encryption. Encryption makes your file unreadable to anyone that does not have the right key. You can encrypt a file, folder, or a folder full of files. Microsoft calls the encryption utility in NTFS Encrypting File System (EFS), but remember that it is an aspect of NTFS, not its own file system. Disk quotas: NTFS supports disk quotas, enabling admins to set limits on hard drive space usage for users. To set quotas, you must log on as admin, right click the hard drive name, and select properties. In properties dialog box, select the quota tab and make changes. Disk quotas are used on multi user systems (like workplaces). Cluster sizes: unlike FAT or FAT 32, you can adjust the cluster sizes in NTFS, although you will rarely do so. By default, NTFS supports partitions to 16 TB on a dynamic disk and 2 TB on a basic disk. By tweaking cluster sizes, you can get NTFS to support partitions up to 16 EB.

Boot Methods - CD-ROM/DVD

Needs Optical drive Set Optical drive as Priority Boot

File system types - NFS

Network File System Access files across network as if local NFS client available on many OSs

Mounting Partitions and Folders

Partitions and volumes can be mounted as a folder on another drive, known as a mount point. This enables you to use your existing folders to store more data can fit on a single drive or partition/volume To create a mount point, right-click on an unallocated section of a disk and choose New Simple Volume. In a second screen you can choose a mount point rather than a letter.

Boot Methods - PXE

Preboot Execution Enviornment Perform a remote network Installation Computer must support it.

Other levels of RAID

RAID 5 needs at least 3 drives. Provides performance and redundancy. Disk management cannot do any nest RAID arrays. So if you want RAID 0+1 or RAID 1+0 (RAID 10), you need to use a 3rd party software (or go with hardware RAID).

Type of Installation - Multi-boot

Run two or more operating systems from a single computer

Type of Installation - Unattended Installation

Server 2003 Admin creates answer file for install questions installs without user intervention

Boot Methods - External/hot swappable drive

Some external devices can mount .ISO Boot from USB

Boot Methods - Solid State/Flash Drive

Store many OS installation files

Other partition types

Swap partition: is like a page file. When physical RAM runs out information gets put into a swap partition. This is used in Linux and UNIX systems. Hidden partition: a primary partition that is hidden from your OS. Only special BIOS tools can access it. Hidden partitions are used by some PC makers to hide a backup copy of an installed OS. You can use this to install your OS in case trashed.

Master Boot Record (MBR)

The Master Boot Record exists at the very first sector of an IBM formatted hard disk. It contains code to start the load process for an operating system from a partition or volume on the disk, a partition table to indicate what space has been reserved as partitions, and a signature sequence of bytes used to identify the disk to the operating system. When the disk is used as a basic disk, the partition table is used to identify primary, extended, and logical partition types. When the disk is used as a dynamic disk, the partition table is filled with placeholder values and the volume information is actually held in a 1 MB dynamic volume database at the end of the drive.

FAT/FAT16

The basic storage area for a hard drive is a sector; each sector = 512 bytes Floppies used ancient 12 bit FAT New FAT16 supports 2 GB a partition

Master Boot Record (MBR) (1st type of partitioning scheme)

The first sector of an MBR hard drive contains MBR. This helps it boot and it is located in sector 0. MBR supports only primary and extended partitions. A primary partition can boot but an extended partition can't. Partitions inside an extended partition are called "logical drives". Support up to 4 partitions. Supports any partition under 2.2 TB Every partition has the capability to be active but only one can be active at a time.

Boot Partition

The partition or volume used to load the operating system from a hard disk. The system partition is processed before the boot partition. The boot partition can be the same partition as the system partition.

Partioning

The process of electronically subdividing the physical hard drive into smaller units. A hard drive must have at least one partition, and you can create multiple partitions if you'd like. In Windows, each partition is typically assigned a letter like C: or D:

Defragmentation

The process of ordering data on the hard disk in a contiguous fashion to minimize the delays in reading or writing data. This attempts to minimize the mechanical delay caused by having to move read/write mechanisms from one region of the disk to another.

Partitioning - Logical

These are the extended partitions volumes.

Partitioning - Basic

This is the disk before it gets partitioned

Creating Partitions and Volumes in Disk Management

To create a new volume, right-click an allocated part of the drive and select New Simple Volume. Specify the volume and click Next. By default, Windows does not allow you to choose between a Primary and Extended partition. The first 3 volumes you create will be primary and every volume afterwards will be a logical drive in an extended partition (for MBR style drives) Partition is 4 GB format as FAT, NTFS, FAT32 Partition is 4 GB < x < 32 GB then format as FAT32 or NTFS Windows requires NTFS on any partition greater than 32 GB quick format does not test the disk clusters as part of the format process, while full format does

Defragmentation

Try to defrag your hard drive monthly for maintenance. Schedule to run at night cause it is boring If you do not defrag your system will be slower. If no error checking you could lose data. NEVER defrag an SSD. Will shorten its lifetime

Spanned volumes

Use unallocated space on multiple drives. Risky cause if one drive fails the entire volume is lost.

Disk Management

Used to manipulate installed disks and to manage newly installed disks. Primary tool for partitioning and formatting drives after installation.

Fragmentation

When parts of a file are scattered across the hard drive. This makes your hard drive run slow. Make sure to Defrag your hard drive monthly to ensure top performance. Defrag is crucial for top performance.

File deletion

When you Delete a file it is not actually deleted. It just goes to the Recycle Bin. To actually Delete a file you need to go to the Recycle Bin and Delete it. Once you Delete a file from the Recycle Bin many people consider it to be gone completely. Well that is false. All deleting a file does is alter the info in the folder. The first letter of your deleted file is changes to the Greek letter sigma. The info is still on the hard drive. It is just moved to a hidden directory that you can access via Recycle Bin. All of the data is still intact , you could use a program to change the sigma back into the original letter to get your file back. You have to make sure to not over write anything after you Delete the file because you can not get it back if it is overwritten. If the file has not been Deleted all the way, so to speak, you access it via Recycle Bin and click Restore. For example: Piriform Recuva is a good piece of software to recover files

Partitioning and Formatting with Installation media

When you install on OS, Windows makes two partitions: a 100 MB System Reserve and the C: partition. If you have gone through the partitioning process and have changed your mind, now wanting to make the hard drive use the full terabyte (instead of 500 GB) you simply click the Extend button and apply the rest of the allocated space to the hard drive

Type of Installation - Refresh/Restore

Windows 9 feature to clean things up Restore is factory restore

File systems in Windows

Windows uses four files systems: FAT, FAT 32, NTFS, and exFAT (FAT64)

Type of Installation - Clean Install

Wipe the slate clean and reinstall Migration tool can help

Storage Spaces

With Windows 8 and later versions of the OS, you can group one or more physical drives of any size into a single storage pool. These drives can be internal HDD or SSD or external storage connected via USB. Storage spaces functions like a RAID management tool. To make a storage space: Storage Spaces- create new pool and storage space- select the drives you want in the pool- create pool (Storage spaces will show you the installed and formatted drives and warn you that the drives you select will be erased). Once you have created a pool, you need to select the resiliency mechanism, which essentially means providing one or more layers of redundancy so you can lose a drive or two and not lose any data. Storage Spaces off 3 different types of Storage Spaces: Simple, Mirror, and Parity When a disk fails in a space, Storage Spaces sends a warning through the standard Windows Action Center. Storage Spaces enables you to do one more very cool action: future proof your storage needs. The thin provisioning feature means you can create a space with more capacity than your current physical drives provide. For example, if you have three 3 TB SSDs and a 1 TB HDD, you can assign whatever capacity you want, like 12 TB, because you know your movie collection will grow. When you are about to reach the limit of that capacity, Storage Spaces will tell you and enable you to add more physical capacity. Thin provisioning means that you do not have to redo an array or space when you reach the limits of current hardware. SSDs are great for two way or three way mirror. HDDs are best with parity.

Simple volumes

Work a lot like primary partitions. Example: if you have a hard drive and you want to make half of it E: and the other half F: you create two volumes on a dynamic disk that's it.

Mirror spaces

Work like a RAID 1. The number of drives in the array determines which mirror options you have. Two-way mirror: requires at least two drives Three-war mirror: requires at least five drives

Globally Unique Identifier partition table (GPT)

Works a lot like MBR but a little different. Can have up to 128 partitions Partitions can be larger than 2.2 TB GPT uses LBAs instead of sectors. LBA 0 is where the boot information is and LBA 1 is the GPT header. You can configure the 64 bit version of Windows to boot fro, GPT only if you use a UEFI supported motherboard.

Parity spaces

Works like a RAID 5 or 6. Parity spaces is more efficient than two way mirroring. The downside to Parity spaces is that the performance overhead to manage parity spaces can have a significant impact on overall performance. Microsoft recommends using parity spaces for big files that do not change a lot, like your movie collection. You can lose one drive and recover in a three drive parity space. It takes a seven-drive parity space (at minimum) to enable you to recover from a two-drive loss.

Formatting - Full Format

Writes zeros to the whole disk Data unrecoverable Checks Disk for bad sectors

When to partition

You usually partition when you install an OS on a new system and when you add an additional drive to an existing system. On old Windows OS we used FDISK to partition drives. Modern Windows uses Disk Management. Linux use to use FDISK but now it uses 3rd party partitioning tools.

Dynamic disks (2nd type of partitioning scheme)

not limited to only 4 volumes, can make as many as you want A Dynamic disk is still a partition but it can do things a regular partition can't You can implement RAID, span volumes over multiple drives, and extend volumes on one or more drives. introduced in Windows 2000 You can create dynamic disks from basic disks in disk management. Once you convert a drive from basic to dynamic you will no longer be able to use primary and extend Converting a disk from basic to dynamic is easy, just right click the drive icon and select Convert to Dynamic Disk Dynamic to basic is different though. You first have to delete all of the volumes off of the drive. After that you can convert it.