Disk Management Console

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The Disk Management Console is the tool used in Windows 2000 to configure any and all of the above disk arrangements and can be found within the Administrative Tools folder. The Disk Management Console displays information regarding the layout and type of every partition or volume, the file system, the status of the volume, its drive letter, its capacity, any fault-tolerant features, amount of available free space, and more. For example, if the user wants to know whether a volume is simple, spanned, or mirrored, this data can be found in the Disk Management Console. All of the volume types and fault-tolerant arrays mentioned above can be created via the Action Tab of the Disk Management Console. To configure or change a configuration, go into the Action Tab on the console and select the desired function. The Disk Management Console is basically a snap-in of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is an interface for the use of the different management snap-ins. (A snap-in is simply a module of MMC that provides certain management capabilities for a specific device; every administrative tool in Windows 2000 is a snap-in.) Disks can be upgraded from basic to dynamic, for example, but make sure that 1 MB or more of unformatted free space is available at the end of the disk.

Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

Following are the steps involved in converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk using the Disk Management Console snap-in:

• Log on as the administrator or as a member of the administrator group.

• Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

• Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

• In the left pane, click Disk Management.

• In the lower right pane, right-click the basic disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk. You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane (for example, right-click Disk 0).

• Select the check box that is next to the disk that you want to convert (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.

• Click Details if you want to view the list of volumes on the disk.

• Click Convert.

• Click Yes when you are prompted to convert the disk, and then click OK.

Please note that access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows 2000 and XP Professional; further, once basic disks have been converted to dynamic disks, the dynamic volumes cannot easily be changed back. Converting back to basic disks results in the loss of configuration and file data.

This is how the process works: To move from dynamic disks back to basic disks (say, to set up a dual-boot system running Windows Me), all dynamic volumes on the disk must be deleted before the dynamic disk can be converted back to a basic disk. What do you do if you want to keep your data? Back up the data or move it to another volume.

As you can see, it is possible to move back from dynamic to basic disks, although it is a decidedly more painful process. Whereas disk configurations can be maintained when moving up to dynamic disks, disk configurations are lost when the process is reversed. And, in most cases, it would be better to add a new machine running basic disks rather than disrupting the existing environment of dynamic disks.

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