DriveSetup

DriveSetup is a tool to create, delete and format partitions. At this time it can't resize or move existing partitions, so that you'll either need an unpartitioned volume (perhaps an external USB drive or another harddisk) or do the initial setup with a tool like the GParted LiveCD to provide the space for another partition.

At the top is a graphical representation of all partitions inside the device chosen in the list below it. Each device, by default, can hold a maximum of 4 primary partitions. This limit can be removed by making one of those an extended partition, which in turn can hold theoretically an unlimited number of logical partitions (practical limitations depend on, for example, other OSes installed).
You may have to expand such a list with the +/- widget that appears in that case in front of that device to see the details of every logical partition.

Colors and icons provide some more information about the available volumes and partitions.
Besides the familiar icons for harddisks, CD drives and USB sticks etc., there are a few that indicate a their mount mode:

		The /boot partition
		An encrypted partition
		A partition shared through SMB/NFS etc.
		A partition that was mounted read-only
		A mounted image file (see also the diskimage command)

When mounted, a colored bar shows the used space of a partition. The color depends on the kind of partition:

You can select a partition and choose various commands from the context or Partition menu, like Mount/Unmount, or to Open in DiskProbe.

You can also Format or completely Delete a partition.

Initializing a disk

If you don't plan to use just one of the partitions of a larger disk, but the entire drive as one partition, e.g. a USB stick or a Compact Flash card, you'll have to initialize the disk first.

You do this by selecting the raw disk from list of devices and choose a partition map from the Disk | Initialize menu. The Intel Partition Map is the right choice for classical booting via a BIOS.

Creating a new partition

When you found unformatted space on a drive, like the above <empty>, you can create a new partition in this space with Partition | Create...(ALT C).

You're prompted with this dialog that lets you adjust the partition size and type. Choose Be File System if you want to use the partition for an Haiku installation or if you want to use all the interesting Haiku features with it, like attributes and queries. Note, that other operating systems might not be able to access such a partition.

The Active partition checkbox is only available if you have created a primary partition instead of just another logical partition within an extended one. You'll have to tick that checkbox if you plan to use that partition to boot a Haiku installation.

Before you can use, or even mount the newly created partition, it has to be formatted with a filesystem.

Formatting a partition

Only unmounted partitions can be formatted by choosing a filesystem from the sub-menu of Partition | Format. The Be File System (BFS) is mandatory for a Haiku boot partition and recommended for data partitions to be used with Haiku. Only BFS formatted partitions can be queried and fully support Haiku's file attributes.

Here you set the name for the partition and its blocksize. The blocksize is the space in bytes that a file will allocate at minimum. 2048 bytes per block are recommended, but you can choose larger or smaller sizes if you have these very specific needs.
If the future data on your partition won't need any querying, you can uncheck Enable query support to save a bit of overhead for managing the index.