In OS, disks and directories are locations where data is stored and organized. The file system used by the OS determines additional factors that affect storage such as partition size, cluster size and security features.

Disk Structure

The disk management utility displays info and performs services such as partitioning and formatting disks in Windows.

File System

partitions are formatted with a file system. the two file systems in Windows XP are FAT32 and NTFS. NTFS has greater stability and security features.

System Tool

To maintain and optimize an operating system, you can access various tools within Windows. Some of these tools include disk error checking, which can scan the hard drive for file structure errors, and hard drive defragmentation, which can consolidate files for faster access. Figure 1 shows the hard drive management tools.