Editing Disk partitioning (section)

== Compressed disks ==
HDDs can be compressed to create additional space.  In DOS and early Microsoft Windows, programs such as [[Stac Electronics|Stacker]] (DR-DOS except 6.0), [[SuperStor]] (DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0), [[DoubleSpace]] (MS-DOS 6.0–6.2), or [[DriveSpace]] (MS-DOS 6.22, Windows 9x) were used. This compression was done by creating a very large file on the partition, then storing the disk's data in this file. At startup, device drivers opened this file and assigned it a separate letter. Frequently, to avoid confusion, the original partition and the compressed drive had their letters swapped, so that the compressed disk is C:, and the uncompressed area (often containing system files) is given a higher name.

Versions of [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] using the NT kernel, including the most recent version, [[Windows 10]], contain intrinsic disk compression capability. The use of separate disk compression utilities has declined sharply.