Differences Between Primary Partition and Extended Partition

[2048Megabytes]

I am trying to figure out what extended partitions are used for. From what I have read there can only be a maximum of four primary partitions on one drive. However, if a drive has an extended partition on it then it can be divided into more than four partitions. Is my conclusion correct?

 

[ElenaP]

Yes, you are right. Maximum you can have is 4 primary partitions (with no extended).
If you create an extended partition you can only have 3 primary partitions and as many "logical drives" (extended partitions) as you want.

However, you cannot easily boot the operating system from the extended partition.

 

[tyttebøvs]

The OS itself can happely be started from an extended partition. You just need at least one primary to hold the few boot files needed.

 

[tyttebøvs]

An extended partition can very well hold an OS.

 

[ErikAlbert]

Extended partition
An extended partition is a primary partition which contains secondary partition(s). A hard disk may contain only one extended partition; which can then be subdivided into logical partitions, each of which is (under DOS and Windows) assigned additional drive letters.

If you can't handle extended partitions, keep it simple and use only primary partitions.