You must create at least one volume during the Windows SBS
2011 installation, but after the installation is complete, you can
create as many additional volumes as you need. You might have
additional space to work with on the disk containing your C drive, and
you might have additional disks already installed in the computer. You
can also install additional disk storage on your server by adding
internal disk drives, connecting external drives, or deploying
network-based storage devices. Once your server recognizes the new
storage devices, you can create and manage volumes using the tools and
procedures discussed in the following sections.
1. Using the Disk Management Interface
The primary Windows tool for managing disk partitions and volumes is the Disk
Management snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC). Disk
Management is not a Windows SBS 2011 tool; all Windows versions include
it as part of the Computer Management Console. As with all MMC
snap-ins, however, you can create a custom MMC Console that combines
Disk Management with any other snap-ins you use regularly.
To access the Disk Management snap-in, you can use any of the following procedures:
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Click Start > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and select the Storage/Disk management node.
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Click Start > Administrative Tools > Server Manager and select the Storage/Disk management node.
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Click Start. Then click Run and execute the Diskmgmt.msc file.
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Click Start. Then click Run and execute the Mmc.exe file. Select File > Add/Remove Snap-in and add Disk management to the console.
When you open the Disk Management snap-in, you see the default interface shown in Figure 1.
The two center panes in the console, called Top and Bottom, can each display one of the following three views:
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Disk list
Lists the physical
drives installed in the computer and displays the disk number; disk
type, such as Basic or DVD; disk capacity; unallocated space; current
status, such as online, offline, or no media; the device type, such as
SCSI or IDE; and the partition style, such as MBR or GPT.
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Volume list
Lists the volumes on all the computer’s disks
and displays the volume name; layout, such as Simple, Spanned, or
Striped; the disk type, such as Basic or Dynamic; the file system, such
as NTFS or Compact Disk File System (CDFS);
the disk status, such as Healthy, Failed, or Formatting; and
information about the disk’s capacity and its current free space.
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Graphical view
Contains a
graphical representation of the computer’s physical disks, partitions,
volumes, and logical drives. The disk status column (on the left)
displays the disk number plus its type, capacity, and status. The
volume status column (on the right) displays the name, size, file
system, and current status for each volume on the disk.
The default interface contains the volume list in the top pane and
the graphical view in the bottom. You can modify these defaults as
desired. Right-clicking an element in any of the three panes displays a
context menu containing commands for managing the selected element.
When you install a new hard disk in your server, or access one for
the first time, the first thing you must do is initialize it by
selecting a partition style. To initialize a disk, perform the
following procedure:
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Click Start. Then click Administrative Tools > Computer Management. The Computer Management Console appears.
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In the Scope (left) pane, select the Disk management node. The Initialize Disk dialog box appears.
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Select one of the following partition styles for the new disk:
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MBR (Master Boot Record)
The default partition style, supporting up to four partitions and volumes up to 2 terabytes (TB) in size
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GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Supports up to 128 partitions and volumes as large as 18 exabytes (18 x 260 bytes)
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Click OK. The Disk Management interface appears, with the new disk appearing as unallocated space.
Once you have initialized the disk, you can proceed to create volumes on it.
