Manipulating disk partitions between disks
US6178487A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 24, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jan 23, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 24, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0676
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method allows manipulation of disk partitions defined by an IBM-compatible partition table. The disk partitions may be located on one or more disks attached to one or more disk drives. Each partition has an associated file system type, such as FAT or HPFS. An interrupted manipulation may be resumed at a point in the progress of the manipulation near the point of interruption. Available manipulations include verifying the integrity of a partition's file system structures; displaying information about a partition; moving a partition to a different location; resizing a partition; and converting a partition from one file system to another file system. The resizing step is illustrated with particular reference to HPFS file systems and FAT file systems. The details required to perform these manipulations are attended to by an implementing program that requires only general direction from a user. Thus, the present invention provides a method that allows users who are unfamiliar with technical intricacies to easily manipulate IBM-compatible disk partitions, including extended partitions and logical partitions.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.