If, after reading this section, you found it helpful and of value, then I invite you to visit the rest of my web site, if you haven't already done so. The Table of Contents for my site appears at the bottom of this page. I also invite you to join my mailing list. Partitioning is a way to divide up a large hard drive into smaller drives. There are many reasons why people partition their hard drive.
Some people create partitions to help keep their work more organized.
For example, one partition could be used just for installed software, while another partition could be used just to store data they've created, or to store the files they've downloaded from the Internet. Another, more important reason, is to help reduce the cluster size of a hard drive. Partitioning can reduce the cluster size of your drives, which is definitely helpful. You said partitioning divides up a hard drive. When you partition a hard drive, you are setting up your computer so that it merely thinks you have several hard drives.