The harddisk and the brain (Linux Vs Windows)

Why do we make several partitions in Linux and we specify each partition for a
specific directory?
In windows the partitioning system is quite different from Linux. In window, we usually
see either two or three partitions of the harddisk named C: or D: or E: etc. However, in
Linux system such concept does not exist (to be frank it exists but not in the same way).
Linux deals with partitioning totally in a different way. Before I continue partitioning is
dividing the harddisk into smaller parts and using them for different purposes.
Lets look at the harddisk as the brain of
the human being. The figure shows that
the human brain is divided into partitions
and each partition is responsible for
doing some tasks. In case of damage of a
partition in the human brain, the person
will not be able to carry out certain tasks
because the brain does not have
knowledge about them. So, if the touch
senses part is damaged, a person will
only lose his/her touching sense. In the same way, the concept of partitioning is done in
Linux.
Linux partitioning notion works the same way as the brain. The root (/) is the harddisk
and everything inside it is divided into parts (if the user partitions the harddisk). You
usually read in Linux books that putting (/home, /boot, /usr, etc) partitions in separated
parts is advised. The concept behind it is that if one partition is damaged only that part
will be affected and not any other parts, in the same way of the human brain. So, if the
/boot partition is damaged, easily you can create a new partition and mount it to boot. So,
nothing of your important data will be lost. Moreover, it is strongly recommended to put
(/home) in a separated partition or a separated harddisk. Because this directory has all the

files of the users on that machine (In Linux you can have hundred of users using the same
machine at one time).
This notion does not exist in Windows. If a small part of your harddisk is damaged most
probably you will lose all of your data unless you make a backup. That happens because
Windows does not separate the system files from the user files, unless the user does that
and stores his/her files on a separated partition.