Chapter 11: Disk Management

The administration of disk drives is a critical management task for administrators. To manage disk drives, administrators require a thorough understanding of Windows XP file systems and their advantages and disadvantages. Administrators need to know about basic and dynamic disks in order to decide which storage method is most appropriate for the computers that they support. Windows operating systems have always supported basic disks. Basic disks are organized into partitions. Dynamic disks are a new addition to Windows operating systems. Dynamic disks are organized into volumes and support a number of advanced configuration options such as disk spanning, in which the space from two or more disk drives can be combined into one logical unit of storage. Disk administration tasks include installing new disk drives and configuring them by creating partitions on basic drives and volumes on dynamic drives. Administrators are responsible for formatting partitions and volumes. Administrators also need to be prepared to assist users in performing a number of tasks. These tasks include setting up file encryption or enabling file compression.

Another important role that administrators perform is disk management. This includes ensuring that adequate disk space is available to meet user needs. This can be achieved through the implementation of disk quotas, which place limits on the amount of disk space that any one user can consume on a shared computer. Administrators also need to ensure that disk drive performance is optimized by regularly analyzing and defragmenting hard disk drives.

Managing Different File Systems

Windows XP Professional manages the storage and retrieval of files on disk drives using file systems. Windows XP Professional supports the following three file systems:

• FAT(File Allocation Table). Microsoft's original file system. It was originally developed to support the MS-DOS operating system.

• FAT32.Expands FAT to include support for large disk drives.

• NTFS(New Technology File System). The recommended file system for Windows XP Professional, providing support for advanced security and a number of other features not found in the other file systems.

Windows XP requires that the administrator select one of these file systems during the Windows XP Professional installation process. However, there are a number of scenarios that may occur that will require administrators to stay involved in the file system selection process. These scenarios include situations where:

• Additional unused disk space is available on a disk drive that is now needed

• New disk drives are installed on the computer and need to be set up

• FAT or FAT32 was used when installing Windows XP Professional and the administrator now needs to convert to NTFS

FAT was first used by the MS-DOS operating system and has since been supported by every Microsoft operating system. FAT works well on small hard disks and floppy disks. It is limited to a maximum partition size of 2GB. Therefore, if a computer has a hard disk drive that is greater than 2GB in size, the drive must be broken down into a series of 2GB or smaller partitions in order to use all its capacity using the FAT file system.

FAT32 was introduced with the second release of Windows 98 or Windows 98 OSR2. It is a modified version of FAT that can support disk partition sizes up to 32GB in size. FAT32 also supports smaller cluster sizes, allowing it to make more efficient use of disk storage.

Note 

A cluster is the smallest unit of storage in which a file can be stored. If a file does not fill up an entire cluster, any unused space is wasted. Therefore, by having smaller clusters, the amount of space that may be wasted is significantly reduced.

NTFS is an advanced file system offering better performance and security than FAT or FAT32. Table 11.1 lists some of the advantages of using NTFS.

Table 11.1: Comparison of Windows XP Professional File Systems

Feature	FAT	FAT32	NTFS
Encrypted File System	No	No	Yes
Compression	No	No	Yes
Disk quotas	No	No	Yes
Advanced security	No	No	Yes
Large volume sizes	No	Limited	Yes

NTFS uses a system of logs and checkpoints to ensure its own integrity. It also supports disk sizes up to 32 exabytes in size. On large disks, NTFS can also use clusters as small as 4KB, which is significantly better than FAT32's 16KB size clusters.

Dual-Boot Considerations

All of the previously mentioned advantages of NTFS usually make it the preferred file system for computers running Windows XP Professional. However, administrators who support computers that dual-boot with other Microsoft operating systems need to take file system and operating system compatibility into account before determining which file system is right for a computer.

Only Microsoft operating systems built on the Windows NT/2000 kernel are capable of accessing NTFS. Therefore, if the computer is set up to dual-boot with Windows XP Professional and Windows 95, 98, or Me and both operating systems need to be able to access the same volumes, FAT or FAT32 must be used. If Windows 95 or Windows 98 (pre OSR2) is used, the only choice is FAT. If Windows 98 OSR2 or Windows Me is used, FAT32 is the better choice. If Windows NT Workstation 4.0 is also loaded on the computer, FAT32 cannot be used, because Windows NT Workstation 4.0 does not support FAT32. In addition, if Windows NT Workstation 4.0 is used and is running with a Service Pack 3 or earlier, it cannot use NTFS either, because it cannot operate with Windows XP's version of NTFS, and Windows XP automatically upgrades all instances of NTFS on the computer to its own version. Table 11.2 provides a high-level overview of each Microsoft operating system's compatibility with each of Microsoft's file systems.

Table 11.2: Comparison of File Systems Supported by Various Windows

Operating System	FAT	FAT32	NTFS
Windows 95	Yes	No	No
Windows 98	Yes	OSR2 Only	No
Windows Me	Yes	Yes	No
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP 5	Yes	No	Yes
Windows 2000 Professional	Yes Yes	Yes
Windows XP Professional	Yes	Yes	Yes

Converting from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS

NTFS can be set up during the installation of Windows XP Professional. In addition, if an upgrade of an existing operating system that uses FAT or FAT32 is performed, the Windows XP setup program allows the administrator to elect to convert the file system to NTFS as part of the upgrade process.

FAT or FAT32 formatted drives can be converted to NTFS as any time. However, conversion is a one-way process. A drive formatted with NTFS cannot easily be converted back to FAT or FAT32.

Note 

The only way to switch from NTFS to FAT or FAT32 is to back up the data stored on the volume, reformat the volume as FAT or FAT32, and then restore the data back onto the volume.

There are two ways to convert a FAT or FAT32 volume to NTFS.

• Use the Disk Management snap-in or its extension on the Computer Management Console

• Use the convert command

Use of the Disk Management snap-in and extension is covered later in this chapter. To use the convert command, type the following at the Windows XP command prompt:

 convert drive_letter: /FS:NTFS 

The placeholder drive_letter represents the drive letter assigned to the drive to be converted.