Disk Management In Windows 7

• Disk Management is a system utility for managing hard disks and the volumes or partitions that they contain With Disk Management,
• you can initialize disks, create volumes, and format volumes with the FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file systems.
• On GUID partition table (GPT) disks, you can create up to 128 primary partitions. Because GPT disks do not limit you to four partitions, you do not need to create extended partitions or logical drives.
• Always use basic volumes, instead of dynamic volumes, on computers running MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME Edition, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows XP Home Edition that are configured to dual-boot with Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 operating systems.
• Click –> start –> Computer –> Right click   Manage –> Computer Management   Window Open it.
• Click  -> Disk Management .
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• How to manage Disk Volumes;
• Disk Management allows you to change disks between various types and partition styles, some of the operations are irreversible (unless you reformat the drive).
• You should carefully consider the disk type and partition style that is most appropriate for your application.
• Master Boot Record (MBR) Can be converted in to GPT (GUID) Partition Table .if there are no volumes on it.
• MBR can be converted in to Dynamic but the disk may Become unbootable.
• GPT can be converted in to MBR if there are no volumes on it.
• GPT can be converted in to Dynamic but the disk may Become unbootable
• Dynamic can be converted in to MBR if there are no volumes on it.
• Basic Disk : Manage all the Partition on the  Disk. All the disk are initially  Basic disk.
• It is Supported By DOS And All Windows Versions.
• Primary Partitions : There Can be only four Partitions On any Hard Disk.
• In the case of MBR basic Disk  first  three Simple volumes  are Created  on  Primary Partitions  and  fourth  simple volume is  Created  as Extended partition ,Within the extended partition, you can create unlimited logical drives.
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• Extended Partition : There  can be only  a single extended partition  on Any Disk.but it can be divided in to the multiple Logical Drives. A non bootable Portion Of the Hard disk.
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• Logical Partition : Partition Of a hard Disk that acts as a single unit .All logical Partition are contained in Extended Partition
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• Simple partition creation
• :Start –> Computer -> Right Click –>Manage –> Click –> Computer Management .->Left pane –> Disk Management.
• Right Click the unallocated  volume and Choose New  Simple Volume.
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• New Simple Volume Wizard open it.
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• Click –>Next Specify Volume size Click Next
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• Assign Drive Letter and Paths and Click –> Next
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• Format the Partition and Click Next.
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  • completing the Wizard Click Finish.
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• How to Shrink a Volume :
• Start –> Computer -> Right Click –>Manage –> Click –> Computer Management .->Left pane –> Disk Management.
• Right Click the  Volume  and Choose Shrink volume .The shrink Dialog box Appear.
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• Right Click on the unallocated Space and then click Next
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• Assign Drive Letter and Path click Next
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• Format the Partition and Click Next.
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• completing the Wizard Click Finish.
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• How to Extended a Volume :
• Start –> Computer -> Right Click –>Manage –> Click –> Computer Management .->Left pane –> Disk Management.
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  • Right Click the  Volume  and Choose Extend volume .The Extend Dialog box Appear.
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  • Click  Next –> Extend Volume Wizard dialog Box open Click –>Finish
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  • Dynamic Disk: Dynamic disk introduced in Windows Server 2000 . Dynamic disk do not  use  a partition table  to track  all partitions but use  a hidden database to  track information about dynamic Partitions on the Disk.
  • Dynamic disk also supported in Windows 7. You can create volumes such as spanned  and striped volumes  and can also create fault-tolerant such as mirrored volume  and RAID5 volume. 
  • After the Conversion of a basic disk in to Dynamic disk all the existing partitions and logical partitions of the basic disk become simple volumes on the basic disk.
  • Do not convert disks to dynamic that contain multiple installations of Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. It is likely that you will no longer be able to start the second installation.
  • After you convert a basic disk into a dynamic disk, you cannot change the dynamic volumes back to partitions. Instead, you must move or back up your data, delete all dynamic volumes on the disk and then convert the disk.
  • Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers, removable disks, detachable disks that use Universal Serial Bus (USB) or IEEE 1394 (also called FireWire) interfaces, or on disks connected to shared SCSI buses.
  • To convert  a Basic Disk In to  Dynamic  disk :
  • Right click On the Basic disk  Click convert to Dynamic Disk
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  • Boot and system partitions.You can convert a basic disk containing the boot partition (which contains the operating system) to a dynamic disk. After the disk is converted, the boot partition becomes a simple boot volume (after restarting the computer).
  • Dynamic disks provide features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes), and the ability to create fault tolerant volumes (mirrored and RAID-5 volumes). All volumes on dynamic disks are known as dynamic volumes.
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  • Windows 7 allows you to  create  different disk volumes on   Dynamic Disks.
  • Simple Volume
  • Spanned Volume
  • Mirrored Volume
  • Striped Volume
  • Striped Volume With parity
  • Simple and Spanned volumes possible to shrink and Extend .
  • Striped volume are fixed in size  so only option to delete it  and  recreate it.