<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic" style="tip" id="disk-partitions" xml:lang="da">

  <info>

    <link type="guide" xref="disk"/>

    <credit type="author">

      <name>GNOME Documentation Project</name>

      <email>gnome-doc-list@gnome.org</email>

    </credit>

    <revision pkgversion="3.4.0" date="2012-02-19" status="review"/>

    <desc>Understand what volumes and partitions are and use the disk utility

    to manage them.</desc>

    <include xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="legal.xml"/>

  </info>

 <title>Manage volumes and partitions</title>

  
The word volume is used to describe a storage device, like a hard

 disk. It can also refer to a part of the storage on that device,

 because you can split the storage up into chunks. The computer makes this

 storage accessible via your file system in a process referred to as

 mounting. Mounted volumes may be hard drives, USB drives, DVD-RWs, SD

 cards, and other media. If a volume is currently mounted, you can read (and

 possibly write) files on it.

  
Often, a mounted volume is called a partition, though they are not

 necessarily the same thing. A “partition” refers to a physical area of

 storage on a single disk drive. Once a partition has been mounted, it can be

 referred to as a volume because you can access the files on it. You can think

 of volumes as the labeled, accessible “storefronts” to the functional “back

 rooms” of partitions and drives.

<section id="manage">

 <title>View and manage volumes and partitions using the disk utility</title>

  
You can check and modify your computer’s storage volumes with the disk

 utility.

<steps>

  <item>

    
Åbn <gui>Aktivitetsoversigten</gui> og start <app>Diske</app>.

  </item>

  <item>

    
In the list of storage devices on the left, you will find hard disks,

    CD/DVD drives, and other physical devices. Click the device you want to

    inspect.

  </item>

  <item>

    
The right pane provides a visual breakdown of the volumes and

    partitions present on the selected device. It also contains a variety of

    tools used to manage these volumes.

    
Vær forsigtig: det er muligt helt at slette dataene fra din disk med disse redskaber.

  </item>

</steps>

  
Your computer most likely has at least one primary partition and a

 single swap partition. The swap partition is used by the operating

 system for memory management, and is rarely mounted.  The primary partition

 contains your operating system, applications, settings, and personal files.

 These files can also be distributed among multiple partitions for security or

 convenience.

  
One primary partition must contain information that your computer uses to

  start up, or boot. For this reason it is sometimes called a boot

  partition, or boot volume. To determine if a volume is bootable, select the

  partition and click the menu button in the toolbar underneath the partition

  list. Then, click <gui>Edit Partition…</gui> and look at its

  <gui>Flags</gui>. External media such as USB drives and CDs may also contain

  a bootable volume.

</section>

</page>