Technically speaking, you create partitions on basic disks and volumes on dynamic disks. This is not just an arbitrary difference in nomenclature. Converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk actually creates one big partition, occupying all the space on the disk. The volumes you create on the dynamic disk are logical divisions within that single partition.
Windows versions prior to 2008 use the correct terminology in the Disk Management snap-in. The menus enable you to create partitions on basic disks and volumes on dynamic disks. Windows Server 2012 uses the term volume for both disk types and enables you to cre- ate any of the available volume types, whether the disk is basic or dynamic. If the volume type you select is not supported on a basic disk, the wizard converts it to a dynamic disk as part of the volume creation process.
Despite the menus that refer to basic partitions as volumes, the traditional rules for basic disks remain in effect. The New Simple Volume menu option on a basic disk creates up to three primary partitions. When you create a fourth volume, the wizard actually creates an extended partition and a logical drive of the size you specify. If there is any remaining space on the disk, you can create additional logical drives in the extended partition.
IMPORTANT BE CAREFUL IF USING THE DISKPART.EXE UTILITY
When you use DiskPart.exe, a command-line utility included with Windows Server 2012, to manage basic disks, you can create four primary partitions or three primary partitions and one extended partition. The DiskPart.exe utility contains a superset of the commands sup- ported by the Disk Management snap-in. In other words, DiskPart can do everything Disk Management can do and more. However, whereas the Disk Management snap-in prevents you from unintentionally performing actions that might result in data loss, DiskPart has no safeties, and so does not prohibit you from performing such actions. For this reason, Microsoft recommends that only advanced users use DiskPart and that they use it with due caution.
To create a new simple volume on a basic or dynamic disk by using the Disk Management snap-in, use the following procedure.
1. Log on to Windows Server 2012 using an account with Administrative privileges. The Server Manager window opens.
2. Click Tools > Computer Management. The Computer Management console opens.
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4. In the Graphical View, right-click an unallocated area in the disk on which you want to create a volume and, from the shortcut menu, select New Simple Volume. The New Simple Volume Wizard starts.
5. Click Next to bypass the Welcome page. The Specify Volume Size page opens, as shown in Figure 1-34.
FIGURE 1-34 The Specify Volume Size page.
6. Select the size for the new partition or volume, within the maximum and minimum lim- its stated on the page, by using the Simple Volume Size In MB spin box, and then click Next. The Assign Drive Letter Or Path page opens, as shown in Figure 1-35.
7. Configure one of the following three options:
■ Assign The Following Drive Letter If you select this option, click the associated
drop-down list for a list of available drive letters and select the letter you want to assign to the drive.
■ Mount In The Following Empty NTFS Folder If you select this option, either
type the path to an existing NTFS folder or click Browse to search for or create a new folder. The entire contents of the new drive will appear in the folder you specify.
■ Do Not Assign A Drive Letter Or Drive Path Select this option if you want to
create the partition but are not yet ready to use it. When you do not assign a vol- ume a drive letter or path, the drive is left unmounted and inaccessible. When you want to mount the drive for use, assign a drive letter or path to it.
8. Click Next to open the Format Partition page, as shown in Figure 1-36.
FIGURE 1-36 The Format Partition page.
9. Specify whether the wizard should format the volume and if so, how. If you do not want to format the volume at this time, select the Do Not Format This Volume option. If you want to format the volume, select the Format This Volume With The Following Settings option, and then configure the associated options as follows.
■ File System Select the desired file system. The options available depend on the
size of the volume and can include ReFS, NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, and FAT.
■ Allocation Unit Size Specify the file system’s cluster size. The cluster size signi-
fies the basic unit of bytes in which the system allocates disk space. The system calculates the default allocation unit size based on the size of the volume. You can override this value by clicking the associated drop-down list and then selecting one
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of the values. For example, if your client uses consistently small files, you might want to set the allocation unit size to a smaller cluster size.
■ Volume Label Specify a name for the partition or volume. The default name is
New Volume, but you can change the name to anything you want.
■ Perform A Quick Format When this check box is selected, Windows formats the
disk without checking for errors. This is a faster method to format the drive, but Microsoft does not recommend it. When you check for errors, the system looks for and marks bad sectors on the disk so that your clients will not use those portions of the disk.
■ Enable File And Folder Compression Selecting this check box turns on folder
compression for the disk. This option is available only for volumes being formatted with the NTFS file system.
10. Click Next. The Completing The New Simple Volume Wizard page opens.
11. Review the settings to confirm your options, and then click Finish. The wizard creates the volume according to your specifications.
12. Close the console containing the Disk Management snap-in.
After you create a simple volume, you can use the Disk Management snap-in to modify its properties by extending it or shrinking it, as described later in this lesson.
This procedure can create volumes on physical or virtual disks. You can also create simple volumes by using a similar wizard in Server Manager.
When you launch the New Volume Wizard in Server Manager, which you can do from the Volumes or Disks home page, the options the wizard presents are nearly identical to those in the New Simple Volume Wizard in Disk Management.
The primary difference is that, like all Server Manager wizards, the New Volume Wizard includes a page that enables you to select the server and the disk on which you want to cre- ate the volume, as shown in Figure 1-37. You can therefore use this wizard to create volumes on any disk on any of your servers.
FIGURE 1-37 The Select The Server And Disk page in the New Volume Wizard in Server Manager.