Your question is Sharding vs Partitioning. Take a moment with it on the right.
Talk me through your thinking if you like. When you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes).
Sharding vs partitioning.
Asked in the hiring manager round stage. Explain the distinction, describe how data is placed and accessed in each approach, and discuss when you would choose one over the other. Address scaling, query routing, rebalancing, replication, consistency, and operational failure modes.