Windows 7 Disk Management Tool. Partitioning and increasing the size of a disk in Windows using the Disk Management Tool. What to do if a hard drive failure is detected

Recently, a message began to appear in Windows about a lack of space on one of the disks, and I had to slightly “replenish” it. At the same time, I decided to blog about how to increase the disk size of Windows 7 (and higher), as well as consider all related issues on the topic. I think it will be useful for beginners and people with a similar problem + I will save the instructions for the future so as not to have to figure it out again. There was also an interesting post recently that might come in handy.

I remember that in ancient times, to manage Windows disks, you had to install some special software like Partition Magic, but now everything is easily solved using the system itself (at least starting from the seventh version). It, by default, has a wonderful Disk Management Tool utility, with the help of which everything is quite easily implemented.

• You can find it through the command line, write in it - diskmgmt.msc and then open the utility.
• Or right-click on “My Computer” and select “Manage”. It is important that you have administrator rights.

In the first case, the program itself will open directly, in the second a certain set of system functions, where in addition to managing Windows disks there will be other tasks. Let's go to Disk Management.

As far as I understand, the capabilities of both options are similar; I personally like the first one better, because... there are no unnecessary details.

Here at the top of the window there is a list of all disks available for Windows, and just below it shows how they are distributed between physical media ( I only have one HDD, so the information is the same). Various actions can be performed using the context menu, called up with the right mouse button or by highlighting a specific element and selecting the “Action” - “All Tasks” item in the main menu.

At work, various situations may arise, for example, you want to split an area of ​​your HDD that is too large into several parts in order to store important files/programs/games separately. Or a situation arises, like mine, when you need to increase the size of a disk that does not have enough space - the procedure also begins with this step.

Go to the Disk Management Tool, select the area for partitioning the Windows disk and in the context menu click on the “Shrink a Volume” item:

After this you will have to wait a bit (especially in large HDDs). After a couple of minutes, a pop-up window will open where you need to enter the desired amount in MB by which you would like to reduce the current partition.

There is:

• current disk volume;
• valid parameter value for splitting;
• field where you enter your value;
• the final size of the original partition after the procedure is completed.

It is quite logical that you cannot partition your hard drive into partitions in Windows that would exceed the total amount of free space available. Likewise, it is not allowed to perform the process for areas containing system files that cannot be deleted (swap, backup).

So, after setting all the values ​​in the pop-up window, click “Shrink”. After some time, you will see the resulting free space (Unallocated Space) in the Disk Management Tool. The partitioning phase is complete.

Creating/Deleting a Windows Disk

Once there is free space on the HDD, you can create a new scratch disk. This must be done, since there is no way to use the empty space created in the previous step without formatting.

Select an empty section and call up the menu - there we click “New Simple Volume”.

The Wizard assistant will open in a pop-up window, with the help of which everything can be easily implemented in a few steps:

1. Information about starting the procedure appears - click “Next”.
2. Determine the size of the new disk created by Windows.
3. Choose a letter for it.
4. Setting the formatting is the most important step here.

As I said above, you won’t be able to work with this area without formatting. The only reason to skip this step is if you are going to install a second operating system on it. In all other cases, agree with the parameters specified in the window and click “Next”. There, by the way, you can select “Volume Label” - the label/name of the disc. The file system remains NTFS, the old FAT32 seems to be no longer relevant (unless, of course, you are using it).

At the last step, carefully review the options you just specified and click Finish. Once the process in Disk Management Tool is completed, a new disk will be created. You can also see it in “My Computer”.

To delete a disk partition in Windows, use the “Delete Volume” item in the same context menu. The program will ask you if you really want to do this, and then after a while an empty Unallocated area will appear.

Enlarge disk in Windows

Finally, we have reached the task that I wanted to talk about initially. To expand a disk partition you, of course, need free space. Therefore, first of all, use the partitioning algorithm described above.

After this, the step-by-step Wizard will appear again. Click “Next” and you will be taken to a window with a choice of where and exactly how many MB you want to add to the current disk. By default, the program has already selected your free space (Unallocated) and the maximum available volume.

If you agree with this, simply click “Next” and move on to the final step. The process of increasing a disk in Windows 7 is completed in just a few seconds, after which the picture will look something like this:

To be honest, I don’t know why two areas of what is essentially one partition are displayed separately in the Disk Management Tool. But this does not interfere with work - in “My Computer” you see only one disk and its volume is equal to the sum of two or more blocks. Perhaps this is a bug in the built-in hard drive management program in Windows and there is no such glitch in more professional software.

Additional nuances of Disk Management Tool

Actually, using this utility you can also:

• change the partition letter on the drive in Windows;
• start formatting a particular area.

All this is done in a regular pop-up menu. The first procedure is always available, the second is performed only where there are no system files.

Attention! If you don't know, then the formatting process deletes all information on the current disk, so be extremely careful with it.

In the screenshot above you can see that the Format item is not available for the selected area, although this partition is not boot and system. It's all about the Page File.

Disable Page File

If I understand correctly, the Page File label indicates the presence of swap files. To transfer them to another disk or remove them you need:

1. Go to Control Panel - System item/section.
2. On the page that opens, select “Advanced System Settings”.
3. A pop-up window will appear, where in the “Advanced” tab in the “Performance” settings block, click on the “Settings” button:

1. After this, there will be another window where you also select the “Advanced” tab. In the “Virtual Memory” section, click on the “Change” button and open another window.

1. If you have automatic paging file distribution set, then change it to manual settings. For example, I did this a long time ago. And in my case, I just need to remove the use of one or another disk for virtual memory.
2. Apply all changes.

There is something to add on partitioning the hard drive inWindows, increasing the size of partitions or working with Disk Management Tool? - then write below.

Disk management in windows 7 great tool to redistribute space on local disks, delete local disks, create their. That is, the functionality of this tool is practically a lightweight version of programs such as , Partition magic and other disk management programs. And now I will show you how to manage it.

My plan of action is this:

As N. S. Khrushchev said, “Goals have been defined, tasks have been set, let’s get to work, comrades!”

Tool Disk Management can be found at the following address: Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management. The top block of this window contains a list of local disks, the bottom block shows the distribution of space between them and all connected media.

To shrink local drive D, right-click on it and select “ Compress volume..." A window like this will appear

And then this.

In this window, we select how much we need to compress the local disk and we can immediately see how much space will remain on this disk. So, enter the size by which we will compress the disk and click “Compress”.

After some time at the bottom of the window " Disk Management"A scary black area will appear, but don't be alarmed, everything is going according to plan.

This is a black area; there is an unallocated area of ​​the hard drive.

The first point of the plan is completed, let's move on to the second: Creating a new local disk 25 GB in size. To do this, right-click on this black area and select “ Create a simple volume..." The “Create Simple Volume Wizard” will open.

And here it is “Ulyalya”.

Everything worked out. New local disk size 25 GB. created. Moreover, as soon as it is created, you will be prompted to open it, as if you had inserted a disk or flash drive, this is good.

Let's move on to point 3: Let's increase the created local disk to the remaining free space. To do this, right-click on the new disk and select “ Expand volume..." The Volume Expansion Wizard window opens.

So, the last stage, to return everything back, for this you need remove local disk“Ulyalya” and expand disk D. To delete a local disk, right-click on the desired disk and select “ Delete volume..." We will see a warning that all data on this disk will be destroyed.

We agree. And again the unmarked area appears. And we already know how to expand the disk using the unallocated area.

I would also like to say that expand drive C at the expense of this unallocated area it was impossible, because it is possible to expand the local disk only when the unallocated area is adjacent to it. That is, this black area should be located next to the local drive C. But there is a solution, albeit a little “crazy”.

To expand drive C (in my situation, when it is not adjacent to the unallocated area), you need to: shrink local drive D as much as possible, create a new volume, move information from drive D there, delete local drive D, and then expand local drive C, then assign the letter D to the new created partition and expand it to the remaining space. This is such a long process... Good luck!

The disk and file subsystems of a computer are usually not the subject of much user attention. The hard drive is a fairly reliable thing and functions as if on its own, without attracting the attention of the average user at all.

Having mastered the basic techniques for working with files and folders, such a user brings them to complete automation, without thinking about the existence of additional tools for servicing the hard drive. Disk management is completely transferred to the operating system.

The problem begins either when the file system shows a noticeable decrease in performance, or when it begins to crash. Another reason for a more careful study of this topic: installing several “screws” on a PC at the same time.

Like any complex device, a hard drive needs regular maintenance. Although Windows 7 partially takes care of these concerns, it is not able to solve all the problems for you on its own. Otherwise, “brakes” are guaranteed over time. At a minimum, you need to be able to do the following things:

• Clean the file system from garbage. The concept of garbage includes temporary files, proliferated browser cookies, duplicate information, etc.
• Defragment your hard drive. The Windows file system is built in such a way that what the user sees as a whole is actually individual fragments of files scattered on the magnetic surface of the hard drive, combined into a chain: each previous fragment is known to each next one. To read a file as a whole, you need to assemble these parts together, which requires a large number of reading cycles from different places on the surface. The same thing happens when recording. Defragmentation allows you to collect all these pieces into one place.
• View and edit information about sections.
• Be able to open access to hidden and system files and folders.
• If necessary, be able to work with several “screws” at once.

And also perform some other useful actions. In our note we will not discuss the entire range of these issues, but will focus only on a few.

How to read partition information?

For those who are not in the know, let us explain: in Windows there is such a thing as a “snap-in”.

This is an executable file with a .msc extension that runs like a regular exe. All snap-ins have a uniform interface and are built on COM technology - the basis of the internal structure of this operating system.

The Disk Management window is also a snap-in. You can run it by typing its name diskmgmt.msc in the “Run” window as shown in the following figure:

As a result, we will see the snap-in window with the heading “Disk Management”. This is what the application looks like:

This interface is intuitive and simple. In the top panel of the window we see a list of all volumes (or partitions) available on the “screw” with accompanying information about them, such as:

• Section name.
• Type of section.
• Its full capacity.
• Its status (different sections may have different statuses).
• The remaining free space, expressed in gigabytes and as a percentage of the total.

And other information. The bottom panel contains a list of drives and partitions. It is from here that you can perform operations on volumes and drives. To do this, right-click on the volume name and select a specific operation from the “Actions” submenu.

The main advantage of the interface is that everything here is collected in a pile - there is no need to wander through different menus and windows to carry out your plans.

Volume Operations

Let's look at some non-obvious operations with partitions. First, let's discuss the transition from the MBR format to the GPT format. Both of these formats correspond to different types of bootloader. MBR is a classic, but now outdated bootloader format.

It has obvious limitations both in volume size (no more than 2 TB) and in the number of volumes - no more than four are supported. Do not confuse volume and section - these are somewhat different concepts from each other. Read about their differences on the Internet. The GPT format is built on GUID technology and does not have these restrictions.

So if you have a large disk, feel free to convert MBR to GPT. However, in this case, all data on the disk will be destroyed - they will need to be copied to another location.

Virtualization technology has penetrated everywhere. It didn't bypass the file system either. If you wish, you can create and mount so-called “virtual disks”.

Such a “device” is a regular file with the .vhd extension and can be used like a regular physical device - both for reading and writing.

This opens up additional opportunities for cataloging information. This concludes our story. Disk management in Windows 7 is a fairly broad topic, and if you dive into it, you can discover a lot of new things.

The disk management utility built into Windows 7 provides users with much more advanced capabilities than its predecessors. Of course, compared to specialized programs, its functionality may seem small. Nevertheless, the interface of the Disk Management program built into Windows is quite convenient and when working with it, you do not need any special knowledge. In general, the utility allows you to perform a wide variety of operations with computer hard drives (internal and external), as well as other memory devices.

One of the key features of the utility is the ability to create a new disk partition from an existing one. For example, after reinstalling Windows, you forgot to change the necessary settings in the BIOS and instead of the usual two drives “D” and “C”, you only have one left. Most users have no idea that this problem can be quickly fixed using built-in Windows tools.

How to get into the utility

There are several ways to open Disk Management. The simplest one is:

1. Launch the start menu.
2. Go to the "all programs" menu.
3. Open the "standard" folder.
4. Select the “Run” application from the list and launch it.
5. In the window that opens, enter “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes).
6. After a few seconds, the program interface will appear in front of you.

If for some reason you are unable to open the Run utility, you can try using hotkeys. If you have a full-fledged keyboard, then press the Win button on it simultaneously (it shows the characteristic Windows icon, and it is located near the left Alt) and the R key. A familiar window will appear, by entering the command “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes) the one we need will open utility. If this does not work, then:

What is the program interface like?

The utility has a typical Windows interface and is distinguished by its simplicity. At the very top there is a toolbar:

• File.
• Action.
• Reference.

Below you will notice a list of all the volumes you have. They take up the bulk of the application. Additional information about them will also be provided here. If your hard drive consists of several partitions or volumes, then it will also be here. All media connected via USB or CD-ROM will be displayed at the bottom of the program interface. You will find information about them (including the number of partitions) right there, similar to the actions with built-in hard ones.

To perform any operation on disks, just use the “actions” menu from the toolbar, or by right-clicking on a specific partition picture. In this case, only those actions that apply to the selected section will be available to you.

Changing the drive letter

One of the simplest operations available in the Disk Management program is changing the letter assignment of a disk or drive. It may be needed for various reasons; some people like the letters to go strictly in order, while others just out of interest. If you decide to change the boring names, the procedure will be as follows:

Volume compression

The next equally simple operation that can be performed in the Disk Management program is creating a new partition from an existing one. Remember that this requires sufficient free space on the main disk. Therefore, the first thing you will need to do is compress it.

Before it turns into a full-fledged disk, it is necessary to carry out a number of procedures, or in other words, “create a new volume.”

Creating a new volume

Once you have compressed the main disk and allocated sufficient space for the new volume, you can begin to create it directly:

Deleting a created partition

In a similar way to creating a volume, you can delete an unnecessary one, thereby combining several small volumes into one large one. To carry out this operation, you must:

Now you understand that using the Disk Management system utility, you can perform simple but very useful actions, such as creating and deleting volumes and partitions.

This article talks about how to create, change or delete hard disk partitions using Windows 7.
To work with hard drive partitions in Windows 7, there is a tool called “Disk Management”: Control Panel → System and Security → Administrative Tools → Computer Management → Disk Management OR “Start” → in the search bar enter: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

1. Creating a section
Right-click on a free space not occupied by other partitions on the desired hard drive → Create a simple volume... The “Simple Volume Creation Wizard” window will open, click the “Next” button. Then specify the size of the partition to be created, assign a drive letter, select the required file system and formatting options, once again make sure that you did everything correctly and click “Finish”
2. Compressing a Partition
Shrink Volume... A message window will appear asking for space for compression, wait until the end of the survey. Then in the window that appears, in the line “size of compressed space”, indicate the amount of free space and click “Compress”
3. Section expansion
Right-click on the desired section → Extend volume... The “Volume Expansion Wizard” window will appear, click the “Next” button. Then select the required free space from the list, click “Add”, then specify the size of the free space allocated to the partition, click the “Next” button, check the information and click “Finish”
4. Deleting a partition
Right-click on the desired section → Delete volume... Before continuing the operation, copy all the necessary files and folders to another drive, because... Once a volume is deleted, all data on it will be lost.
5. Changing the drive letter
Right-click on the desired section → Change drive letter or drive path... Click on the Change button, select the desired drive letter and click OK. Next, we will look in detail at ways to expand disks without harming the information stored on them.

In order to divide the hard drive into partitions, you need to go to the "Start" menu → right-click on "Computer" and click on "Manage".

In the window that appears, go to the "Disk Management" section.

Select the hard drive and partition that needs to be divided and right-click on it.

In the drop-down menu, you need to select "Shrink Volume" and then select the size to which you want to shrink the existing partition. The space freed up after compression will be the new hard drive partition.

To create a new partition, you need to right-click on the free space and select “create volume”. Then specify the size of the new partition and wait for the operation to complete. Sooner or later, any computer user faces such a problem as lack of free space on the system partition of the hard drive. This is where the question arises: How to expand drive C?

First we need to go to the "Computer Management" tab (see above).
When this tab opens, you will see in the window all the media that are currently connected to the computer. Each hard drive can be divided into several logical ones. The very first one will be "Disk 0". On the right you will see the space reserved by the system and the logical partitions (C, D, E, F, etc.). If you have only one drive C and it is full, then you can try “Shrink Volume” (see above). If you have several logical partitions, then move on.

The principle of disk division.

The principle of action is this: we must expand drive C at the expense of the adjacent logical partition. This could be drive D, E, and so on. In the same way, you can increase not only section C, but also others, if you have such a need. So, delete the adjacent disk, for example, D. Right-click on it and select the “Delete volume” option. Click OK. Immediately after this, this volume should appear in black. The message “Volume is not allocated” should appear on it. Now we can add the space we need to drive C. To do this, right-click on partition C and select “Extend volume”. Click "Next" and select the size you want to add.
You can use the maximum size as suggested by default, or select one of your own. Click "Next" and then "Finish". If no additional windows pop up, then the operation was successful. You have learned how to expand a disk using Windows 7. The main thing to remember is that the system partition can only be expanded if there is free space to the right of it. Otherwise, nothing will work.

Possible difficulties.

What other difficulties could there be? Let's say we have five volumes. We want to configure them in such a way that part of the space is added to drive C, and the other to drive D. When deleting one of the partitions, the “Delete Volume” function may not be active, and the “Extend Volume” function may not be available on volume C.
The whole point is that the section style can be used MBR*. This is an outdated style. In this case, two adjacent volumes can be connected by a green frame. This means that you cannot create more than four volumes with the MBR partition style.

Windows 8 provides the same tools for increasing space. Therefore, this method is also applicable on this operating system.

Partitioning a hard drive in the Windows 7 operating system is a very simple thing. You can see this for yourself if you partition and create a new partition according to the described algorithm.

*MBR (Master Boot Record) master boot record in a PC - a table in the first sector of the boot disk that stores data about the physical and logical organization of the disk. If this record is corrupted, loading the OS becomes impossible.

That's all. Thank you for reading the article. I hope it was useful to you.