by MS
When you are ready to start the conversion process, start Disk Management. In Disk Management, right-click the disk you want to convert and select Convert To Basic Disk. This changes the dynamic disk to a basic disk, and you can then create new partitions and logical drives on the disk.
Working with Disks, Partitions, and Volumes
Before you can store data on a physical disk, you must prepare the disk for use by partitioning its space, assigning a drive designator, and formatting the resulting partitions or volumes. Although basic disks can have up to four primary partitions—or three primary partitions and one extended partition, with one or more logical drives in the extended partition—dynamic disks can have an unlimited number of volumes.
After partitioning a disk, you must assign each partition or volume a drive designator. The drive designator can be a letter or a path. You use drive letters to access file systems in various partitions on physical drives. Generally speaking, the drive letters A through Z are available. However, the drive letter A is usually assigned to the system's floppy drive. If the system has a second floppy drive or another removable media drive, such as a Zip drive, the letter B is usually assigned to it (or unassigned otherwise). The drive letter C is usually assigned to the first partition or volume created on Disk 0. The drive letter D is usually assigned to the first CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. Thus, on most systems, the drive letters E through Z are available. If you need additional volumes, you can create them using drive paths.
A drive path is set as a folder location on an existing local disk. For example, you could mount additional drives as C:Docs1, C:Docs2, and C:Docs3. Drive paths can be used with basic and dynamic disks. The only restriction for drive paths is that you mount them on empty folders that are on NTFS-formatted local disks.
Formatting a partition or a volume sets the file system that will be used and creates the necessary file structures. Generally speaking, you can format a partition or a volume as FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. There are restrictions and requirements for the use of each, however.
FAT is a 16-bit file system designed to be used with volume sizes of up to 4 GB and is also referred to as FAT16. FAT uses a boot sector that stores information about the disk type, the starting and ending sectors, and the active partition. FAT gets its name from the file allocation table it uses to track the cluster locations of files and folders. There is a primary table and a duplicate table. The duplicate is used to restore the primary table if it becomes corrupted. FAT also has the capability to mark clusters (sections of disk containing data) as unused, in use, bad, or reserved. This helps to make FAT a fairly robust file system. FAT is best with volumes of 2 GB or less, and it has a maximum file size of 2 GB. FAT can be used with floppy disks and removable disks.
FAT32 is a 32-bit version of FAT16, with some additional features and capabilities. Like FAT16, FAT32 uses a primary and a duplicate file allocation table. FAT32 can also mark clusters as unused, in use, bad, or reserved. FAT32 can also be used with floppy disks and removable disks. Unlike FAT16, FAT32 has a minimum volume size of 33 MB, a maximum volume size of 32 GB, and a maximum file size of 4 GB. This means FAT32 can be used with considerably larger partitions and volumes than FAT16.
Note
It is important to note that the 4-GB maximum file size limitation for FAT32 is specific to Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows. Using FAT32, some earlier versions of Windows can create volumes of larger size, as can other operating systems.
NTFS is very different from FAT16 and FAT32. Instead of using a file allocation table, NTFS uses a relational database to store information about files and folders. This database is called the Master File Table (MFT), and it stores a record of each file and folder on a volume as well as additional information that helps to maintain the volume. Overall, the MFT makes NTFS much more reliable and recoverable than either FAT16 or FAT32. This means that NTFS can recover from disk errors more readily than FAT16 and FAT32 can, and that NTFS generally has fewer disk problems.
NTFS has a maximum volume size of 2 TB (terabytes, or trillion bytes) or higher (depending on disk configuration) and a maximum file size that is limited only by the volume size. Although you can't use NTFS with floppy disks, you can use NTFS with removable disks. Additionally, unlike FAT16 and FAT32, which have limited security features (namely that you can mark a file only as read-only, hidden, or system), NTFS has advanced security (meaning that you can use permissions to set very specific file and folder access). NTFS supports many other advanced features as well, including compression, encryption, and disk quotas.
Note
Several versions of NTFS have been implemented. NTFS 4 was first available with Windows NT. NTFS 5 was first available with Windows 2000. NTFS 5.1 was first available with Windows XP. Because most current computers have NTFS 5 or later, I focus on NTFS 5 and later in this book. It is also worth noting that if you upgrade a system with a version older than the current version, you are given the opportunity to convert existing NTFS volumes to the latest version during installation. In most cases, you want to do this because it ensures support for the latest NTFS features.
Partitioning Disks and Preparing Them for Use
Disk Management is the primary tool that you'll use to partition disks and prepare them for use. Using Disk Management, you can partition, assign drive designators to, and format both partitions and volumes. Disk Management's command-line counterparts include DiskPart for partitioning and drive designator assignment and Format for formatting.
Creating Partitions, Logical Drives, and Simple Volumes
Windows Vista simplifies the Disk Management user interface by using one set of dialog boxes and wizards for both partitions and volumes. The first three volumes on a basic drive are created automatically as primary partitions. If you try to create a fourth volume on a basic drive, the remaining free space on the drive is converted automatically to an extended partition with a logical drive of the size you designate. You designate the size by using the new volume feature it created in the extended partition. Any subsequent volumes are created in the extended partitions and logical drives automatically.
In Disk Management, you create partitions, logical drives, and simple volumes by completing the following steps:
In Disk Management's Graphical view, right-click an unallocated or free area and then choose New Simple Volume. This starts the New Simple Volume Wizard. Read the Welcome page and then click Next.
The Specify Volume Size page, shown in Figure 9-6, specifies the minimum and maximum size for the volume in MB and lets you size the volume within these limits. Size the partition in MB using the Simple Volume Size field and then click Next.
Figure 9-6: Set the size of the volume.
On the Assign Drive Letter Or Path page, shown in Figure 9-7, specify whether you want to assign a drive letter or path and then click Next. The available options are used as follows:
q Assign The Following Drive Letter Choose this option to assign a drive letter. Then select an available drive letter in the selection list provided. By default, Windows Vista selects the lowest available drive letter and excludes reserved drive letters as well as those assigned to local disks or network drives.
q Mount In The Following Empty NTFS Folder Choose this option to mount the partition in an empty NTFS folder. You must then type the path to an existing folder or click Browse to search for or create a folder to use.
q Do Not Assign A Drive Letter Or Drive Path Choose this option if you want to create the partition without assigning a drive letter or path. If you later want the partition to be available for storage, you can assign a drive letter or path at that time.
Figure 9-7: Assign the drive designator or choose to wait until later.
Note
Volumes don't have to be assigned a drive letter or a path. A volume with no designators is considered to be unmounted and is for the most part unusable. An unmounted volume can be mounted by assigning a drive letter or a path at a later date. See the "Assigning,
Changing, or Removing Drive Letters and Paths" section later in this chapter.
Use the Format Partition page, shown in Figure 9-8, to determine whether and how the volume should be formatted. If you want to format the volume, choose Format This Volume With The Following Settings and then configure the following options:
q File System Sets the file system type as FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. NTFS is selected by default in most cases. If you create a file system as FAT or FAT32, you can later convert it to NTFS by using the Convert utility. You can't, however, convert NTFS partitions to FAT or FAT32.
q Allocation Unit Size Sets the cluster size for the file system. This is the basic unit in which disk space is allocated. The default allocation unit size is based on the size of the volume and, by default, is set dynamically prior to formatting. To override this feature, you can set the allocation unit size to a specific value. If you use many small files, you might want to use a smaller cluster size, such as 512 or 1024 bytes. With these settings, small files use less disk space.
q Volume Label Sets a text label for the partition. This label is the partition's volume name and by default is set to New Volume. You can change the volume label at any time by right-clicking the volume in Windows Explorer, choosing Properties, and typing a new value in the Label field provided on the General tab.
q Perform A Quick Format Tells Windows Vista to format without checking the partition for errors. With large partitions, this option can save you a few minutes. However, it's usually better to check for errors, which enables Disk Management to mark bad sectors on the disk and lock them out.
q Enable File And Folder Compression Turns on compression for the disk.
Built-in compression is available only for NTFS. Under NTFS, compression is transparent to users and compressed files can be accessed just like regular files. If you select this option, files and directories on this drive are compressed automatically. For more information on compressing drives, files, and directories, see the "Compressing Drives and Data" section in Chapter 15, "Optimizing Windows Vista."
Figure 9-8: Set the formatting options for the partition.
Click Next, confirm your options, and then click Finish.
Creating Spanned and Striped Volumes on Dynamic Disks
With spanning and striping, you create a single dynamic volume that extends across multiple disks. When working with spanning and striping, keep the following in mind:
A spanned volume uses free space on multiple dynamic disks. If you have unal-located space on two or more dynamic disks, you can combine this space to create a spanned volume. A spanned volume has no fault tolerance and has average read/write performance. Files are written to the entire spanned volume randomly. If any of the disks fail, the entire volume will fail as well, and all data will be lost.
A striped volume uses free space on multiple disks and stripes the data as it is written. Striping gives you faster read/write access to data because data is read from and written to multiple disks. For example, with a three-disk striped volume, data from a file will be written to Disk 1, then to Disk 2, and then to Disk 3 in 64-KB blocks. Like a spanned volume, a striped volume has no fault tolerance, so if any of the disks fail, the entire volume will fail as well, and all data will be lost.
Note
If you have only one dynamic disk available, you will not be able to create a spanned or striped volume. Also note that simple and spanned volumes can be extended to increase their volume size. Striped volumes, however, cannot be extended. So when you create a striped volume, you should be very certain that the volume size is what you want to use. Otherwise, you might have to delete and then re-create the striped volume.
In Disk Management, you create spanned or striped volumes on dynamic disks by completing the following steps:
In Disk Management's Graphical view, right-click an unallocated area and then choose New Spanned Volume or New Striped Volume as appropriate. Read the Welcome page and then click Next.
On the Select Disks page, shown in Figure 9-9, select the dynamic disks that are to be a part of the volume and size the volume segments on those disks. Then click Next.
Figure 9-9: Specify the amount of space to use for each volume.
Available dynamic disks are shown in the Available list box. Select a disk in this list box and then click Add to add the disk to the Selected list box. If you make a mistake, you can remove disks from the Selected list box by selecting the disk and then clicking Remove.
Specify the space that you want to use on each disk by selecting each disk in the Selected list box and then using the Select The Amount Of Space In MB list box to specify the amount of space to use on the selected disk. Keep in mind that the Maximum field shows you the largest area of free space available on the selected disk and the Total Volume Size field shows you the total disk space currently allocated to the volume.
Tip
There's a quick way to use the same amount of space on all selected disks. To do this, highlight each disk by pressing Shift and then clicking the first disk and the last disk in the Selected list box. Now when you set the amount of space to use, you'll set the amount for all selected disks.
Follow steps 3–5 in the previous section, "Creating Partitions, Logical Drives, and Simple Volumes."
Shrinking or Extending Volumes
As discussed in Chapter 2, Windows Vista doesn't user Ntldr and Boot.ini to load the operating system. Instead, Windows Vista has a pre-boot environment in which Windows Boot Manager is used to control startup and load the boot application you've selected. The Windows Boot Manager also finally frees the Windows operating system from its reliance on MS-DOS, enabling you to use drives in new ways. Windows Vista enables you to extend and shrink both basic and dynamic disks. You can use either Disk Management or DiskPart to extend and shrink volumes. You cannot shrink or extend striped volumes.
In extending a volume, you convert areas of unallocated space and add them to the existing volume. For spanned volumes on dynamic disks, the space can come from any available dynamic disk, not only those on which the volume was originally created, enabling you to combine areas of free space on multiple dynamic disks and use those areas to increase the size of an existing volume.
Caution
Before you try to extend a volume, you should know about several limitations. First, simple and spanned volumes can be extended only if they are formatted and the file system is NTFS. You can't extend striped volumes. You can't extend volumes that aren't formatted or that are formatted with FAT or FAT32. Additionally, you can't extend a system or boot volume, regardless of its configuration.
You can shrink a simple volume or a spanned volume by completing the following steps:
In Disk Management, right-click the volume that you want to shrink and then select Shrink Volume. This option is available only if the volume meets the previously discussed criteria.
In the field provided in the Shrink dialog box, shown in Figure 9-10, enter the amount of space to shrink. The Shrink dialog box provides the following information:
q Total Size Before Shrink In MB Lists the total capacity of the volume in MB. This is the formatted size of the volume.
q Size Of Available Shrink Space In MB Lists the maximum amount by which the volume can be shrunk. This doesn't represent the total amount of free space on the volume; rather, it represents the amount of space that can be removed, not inclusive of any data reserved for the master file table, volume snapshots, page files, and temporary files.
q Amount of Space To Shrink In MB Lists the total amount of space that will be removed from the volume. The initial value defaults to the maximum amount of space that can be removed from the volume. For optimal drive performance, you'll want to ensure the drive has at least 10 percent of free space after the shrink operation.
q Total Size After Shrink In MB Lists what the total capacity of the volume in MB will be after the shrink. This is the new formatted size of the volume.
Figure 9-10: Specify the amoun
t of space to shrink from the volume.
Click Shrink to shrink the volume.
You can extend a simple volume or a spanned volume by completing the following steps:
In Disk Management, right-click the volume that you want to extend and then select Extend Volume. This option is available only if the volume meets the previously discussed criteria and free space is available on one or more of the system's dynamic disks.
In the Extend Volume Wizard, read the introductory message and then click Next.
On the Select Disks page, shown previously in Figure 9-9, select the disk or disks from which you want to allocate free space. Any disks currently being used by the volume will automatically be selected. By default, all remaining free space on those disks will be selected for use.
With dynamic disks, you can specify the additional space that you want to use on other disks by performing the following tasks:
q Click the disk and then click Add > to add the disk to the Selected list box.
q Select each disk in the Selected list box and then use the Select The
Amount Of Space In MB list box to specify the amount of unallocated space to use on the selected disk.
Click Next, confirm your options, and then click Finish.
Formatting Partitions and Volumes
When you format a partition or a volume, you create a file system that can be used to store data and that permanently deletes any existing data in the associated section of the physical disk. This is high-level formatting that creates the file system structure rather than low-level formatting that initializes a drive for use. To format a partition or a volume, right-click it in Disk Management and then choose Format. This opens the Format dialog box, shown in Figure 9-11. If you compare Figure 9-8 and Figure 9-11, you'll see that the available fields are essentially the same.