Can you explain what is meant by data partitioning?

Data partitioning is a method of dividing large datasets into smaller parts (partitions) that can be stored and processed separately.

Goals of partitioning:

• Improve performance through parallel processing
• Simplify data management
• Enhance scalability and fault tolerance

Example: a database table with millions of records can be partitioned by date ranges or by geographic features. Queries to a specific partition are faster because less data is processed.