Microsoft Lab 7 – Disk Management

Disk Management

In Lab 7 - Disk Management, participants typically focus on the configuration and administration of storage resources on a Windows Server environment. This lab involves tasks such as initializing and formatting disks, creating and managing volumes, and implementing disk redundancy using features like RAID or Storage Spaces. Participants may also explore advanced configurations, such as dynamic disks, disk quotas, and disk optimization techniques. The lab aims to provide hands-on experience in effectively managing storage resources, ensuring optimal performance, and implementing data protection strategies. Successful completion of Microsoft Lab 7 equips participants with essential skills in disk management, enabling them to efficiently handle storage-related tasks and maintain the integrity of their server storage infrastructure.

Lab:

Managing disks storage is one of the most basic tasks for a system administrator. We know that storage devices are used to store systems’ and users’ data on a system or server. Before saving file to a hard disk, you should initialize, create and format partition, after using this disk for a period of time, you may want to delete, shrink or expand a partition etc. are disk management task.

STEPS

  1. Adding Virtual Disks to VMware Virtual Machine
  2. Initializing Disks in Windows
  3. Creating Simple volumes in Windows

1. Adding Virtual Disks to VMware Virtual Machine

We will add some additional virtual disks to the Server and then we will use these disks to demonstrate disk management tasks

  1. Open the Virtual Machine Settings window and click Add to add a new disk. Ensure that the Hard Disk option is selected and then click Next

2. On the Select a Disk Type page, click Next to proceed


3. On the Select a Disk page, make sure that the Create a new virtual disk radio button is selected, and then click Next


4. On the Specify Disk Capacity page, set the disk size as 10 GB, select the Split virtual disk into multiple files radio button and then click Next


  1. On the Specify Disk File page, notice the disk file name and then click Finish

6. Add one more new virtual disk of 60 GB size to your virtual machine and start the virtual machine

2. Initializing Disks in Windows

Once you have added new hard disks to a system the disks need to be initialized before you can use these disks.

  1. Power on your virtual machine and open the Disk Management console (Open Run: diskmgmt.msc)

  1. In the Disks pane, select and right-click the newly added disk (in this case Disk 1) and then select Online.

3. Next, select and right-click the newly added disk and then select Initialize Disk


4. Select the MBR radio button and then click OK


3. Creating Simple Volumes in Windows

Now your disks are ready to create and use partitions and volumes. A partition or volume is a specific space of a storage which is used to store system’s or user’s data

  1. In the Disk Management console, select and right-click the Unallocated space of the desired disk and then select New Simple Volume

2. On New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next


3. On Specify Volume Size page box and specify the desired size, and then click Next


4. On the Assign Drive Letter or Path page, make sure that the Assign the following drive letter check box is selected, accept the default drive letter, or change it (if you wish) and then click Next.


5. On the Format Partition page, specify the volume name (SOFTWARE) and click Next


6. Click Finish