
At the DISKPART prompt, type list disk (Note the drive number you wish to manipulate.).Type cmd from the run command window from the Windows search box or the run command dialog box that you open with the Windows+R key combination. The diskpart create command makes disk partitions, volumes on a single disk or multiple disks, and virtual hard disks.įor this and all following commands, you need to open the command prompt before you run diskpart. You can use a primary partition as the system partition you can only use an extended partition for additional logical drive assignments. The documentation for many server applications, such as Exchange Server, recommends using diskpart to create the primary or extended partitions. Using diskpart to partition your disk can help increase the I/O performance of hard disks newly added to a RAID array. Check with your hardware vendor before using diskpart.


You should be careful when using diskpart because there is no undo function if you select the wrong object. A partition is a logical structure confined to a single disk.Ī volume is a construct of the operating system that consists of one or more partitions that can span one or more disks. A basic disk is a storage device, such as hard drives, solid-state drives and USB flash drives, which you format with a Windows file system.Ī basic disk can hold one or several partitions. Using diskpart requires understanding data storage terminologyĭiskpart use requires a basic understanding of Windows disk terminology.
