|
Disk Management is the primary tool that you use to
partition disks and prepare them for use. Using Disk Management, you
can partition disks, assign drive designators, and format 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 8 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 partition and logical drives
automatically.
Note
As discussed previously, an MBR drive can have four primary
partitions. However, if you create a fourth primary partition, you are
unable to further divide the drive, and this is why Windows 8
automatically creates an extended partition. The extended partition
allows you to create multiple logical drives within the partition.
In Disk Management, you create partitions, logical drives, and simple volumes by completing the following steps:
-
In Disk Management’s Graphical view, press and hold or right-click an unallocated or free area, and then tap or click New Simple Volume. This starts the New Simple Volume Wizard. Read the Welcome page, and then tap or click Next. -
The Specify Volume Size page, shown in Figure 1,
specifies the minimum and maximum size for the volume in megabytes and
lets you size the volume within these limits. Size the partition in
megabytes using the Simple Volume Size box, and then tap or click Next.
-
On the Assign Drive Letter Or Path page, shown in Figure 2, specify whether you want to assign a drive letter or path, and then tap or click Next. The available options are as follows:
-
Assign The Following Drive Letter Select an available drive letter in the selection list provided. By default, Windows 8 selects the lowest available drive letter and excludes reserved drive letters, as well as those assigned to local disks or network drives. -
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 tap or click Browse to
search for or create a folder to use. -
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. Later, if you want the partition to
be available for storage, you can assign a drive letter or path at that
time.
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.
-
Use the Format Partition page, shown in Figure 3,
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:
-
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; however, you
can’t convert NTFS partitions to FAT or FAT32.
-
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 selected file system and 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 1,024 bytes. With these settings, small files use
less disk space. -
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 pressing and
holding or right-clicking the volume in File Explorer, choosing
Properties, and typing a new value in the Label box provided on the
General tab. -
Perform A Quick Format Tells Windows 8 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. -
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.
-
Tap or click Next, confirm your options, and then tap or click Finish.
|
