What is the difference between the primary partition and logical partition in a Linux system?
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This isn't Linux-specific. A given disk with a DOS disk label can only have four (4) primary partitions. To get more than four partitions, the fifth and beyond are logical partitions, which are wholly contained within the fourth and last primary partition. Effectively, it's an artifact of the DOS disk label, and there's no other real difference at the level you're asking about.
John
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must the logical partition(s) be only within/after the 4th primary partition? Or can primary partition 1 contain N logical partitions, and primary partition 2 can contain N logical partition, and primary partition 3... ? – ron May 31 '17 at 17:30
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Only the last primary partition, always numbered four, can contain logical partitions. That's just how the DOS partition table works. – John May 31 '17 at 17:38
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In a DOS partition table, you can have partitions 1 and 5 in existence (with 4, the fourth primary, also called the extended partition, present but effectively invisible). It's not really intuitive, nd more modern partition tables handle things much better, but it's all legacy dating back to the 1980's and earlier. – John May 31 '17 at 17:40
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The logical partitions are basically extended partitions. there can be four primary partitions in a system but when u want more partition then you can divide the primary partion into logical partitions. thes partitions are inside the primary partition only.
Above image is of primary partitioning
Below image is of logical partition
Stephen Rauch
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