Hard Disk configuration:
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Windows 2003 supports two types of storage drives. Basic storage and dynamic storage.
Basic storage:
The basic storage is the traditional standard for organizing drives. It divides the hard disk into partitions. There may be primary partitions and extended partitions. This is the mode of operation of all Microsoft operating systems prior to Windows 2003. It is also the storage mode Windows 2003 by default and will remain as long as you have not requested type of dynamic storage.
Types of partitions:
Primary partitions:
A hard disk can contain up to four partitions. A primary partition is required to start the operating system. The primary partition that contains the boot files to boot the operating system is the active primary partition. At least one partition must be present on the first hard disk. If the active partition is formatted NTFS, you can not have dual boot with another operating system. Only FAT16 formatting can dual-boot with all Windows operating systems. System partition Windows 2003 is the active partition that contains the files describing the equipment and those required for loading the operating system Windows 2003The boot partition of Windows 2003 is the partition that contains the operating files (Winnt).Boot partition and system partition can be on the same partition.Extended Partitions:
An extended partition is created from free space on a hard drive after creation of primary partitions. There can therefore be only one extended partition per drive. This type of partition can receive an operating system but can not ensure the direct priming. It does not require formatting. This type of partition can be divided into segments called logical drives to be formatted with the file system you want. . Each drive is assigned a drive letter.
Logical drives:
Logical divisions are structured within an extended partition. You should at least create a logical drive in an extended partition which can in this case take all (or part ..) the ability of it. Then you must format each logical drive with a file system supported by W2003 Server. (FAT/32 or NTFS). By default, the letters A, B and C are 23 possibilities remain reserved for logical drives ...The tool for managing disks with W2003 Server is the Disk Management snap-in. This console allows you to create, delete partitions. It also gives you information on the type of your disk (basic or dynamic) on the file system of your partitions on the capacity, free space, and the percentage of partitions or partitions belonging to a set of fault tolerance.We will see that you can also use the utility in interactive mode command line DISKPART. This tool gives the possibility to automate some disk management operations via script.Example: DISKPART / F SCRIPTFILE or SCRIPTFILE is a text file containing commands to execute.
Create a primary partition:
To create a primary partition you must first select unallocated space on basic disk. Then from the menu confirm Action - All Tasks - New Partition or from the context menu. The wizard asks you to select the partition type (Primary Partition) and the size in MB (can not be less than 8 MB).Note: If you want to take all the remaining space, keep at least 1 MB in order to convert your basic disk to a dynamic disk later. (This is so the system needs to perform this conversion).Then W2003 offers you a drive letter to this partition that you can keep or choose another. Anyway you can do this later.
Then you need to format the partition by choosing a file system available and recognized by W2003 Server. You must also specify the size of allocation unit (cluster).Reminder: the cluster or allocation unit is the smallest element that can be processed by the system reading or writing to a disc. It is equal to several physical sectors of the hard disk.The allocation unit or cluster depends on the size of the partition and file system selected.Values assigned by default can be changed by yourself but it is possible then you may change without formatting the drive ...
Note: The utility allows you to create a primary partition with DISKPART utility from the command prompt.DISKPARTSelect disk nCreate partition primary size = x = y offsetAssign letter = zn number of the disk on which the partition is createdx partition size in bytesy offset in bytes to the beginning of the partition. If this option is absent, the partition is created at the beginning of free space on the diskz drive letter assigned to the partition
Activate the partition:
If this is the first primary partition on the first physical disk that you just created will be marked as active. Start your micro boot sector will be sought on this partition. In case you have several primary partitions on one or more hard drives you can change the status of each of them in order to boot on another partition.Note: Only one primary partition can be activated on a hard disk.
To activate the partition go to the Action menu - All tasks - Mark Partition as Active.Implementation with DISKPART.DISKPARTSelect disk nSelect partition xactiven number of supporting disc partition to activatex number of the partition to activate
Create an extended partition:
Select an unallocated space on your hard core then select Action - All Tasks - New Partition or from the context menu.Extended partition check and enter the desired size. The extended partition is automatically created.
The extended partition is a space that awaits the creation of logical drives.
Implementation with DISKPART.DISKPARTSelect disk nCreate partition extended size = x = y offset
n number of the disk on which the partition is createdx partition size in bytesy offset in bytes to the beginning of the partition. If this option is absent, the partition is created at the beginning of free space on the disk
Create logical drives:
This operation must be done after the creation of the extended partition. You can create as many logical drives that you have available drive letters.Select the extended partition - Action - All Tasks - Create a new logical drive or from the context menu. The Logical Drive option is automatically selected. Then enter the size to allocate to this logical drive and the type of formatting. You can also change the drive letter assigned by default.
Implementation with DISKPART.DISKPARTSelect disk nCreate partition logical size = xAssign zn number of the disk on which the partition will be set logical drivex partition size in bytesz drive letter assigned to the logical driveOr NOTE REMINDER: removable storage devices contain only primary partitions. You can not create extended partitions there, or volumes. You can not mark a primary partition as active located on a removable device.
