Disk Management
Disk Management is a snap-in that's part of the Microsoft Management Console supplied with Windows XP. If you're not familiar with Microsoft Management Console you might want to click here for an overview of how it functions. Just as the name Disk Management implies it's a tool used to manage system disks, both local and remote. If you've been around personal computers for a number of years you're familiar with Fdisk, the utility that was used in conjunction with the Format command to set up hard disks from the command prompt. Disk Management, with its graphical user interface, goes a long way to eliminating the need for the command prompt utilities and makes it easy to obtain a quick overview of the system and the relationships between installed disks.
Accessing Disk Management
There are a few different ways to access Disk Management. I'll list three different methods so choose whichever is more convenient.
● Method 1 - Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools. Double click Computer Management and then click Disk Management in the left hand column.
● Method 2 - By default, Administrative Tools is not shown on the Start Menu but if you have modified the Start Menu (by right clicking the Start button and selecting Properties > Customize) so it is shown then just select Start > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and then click Disk Management in the left hand column.
● Method 3 - Click Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc in the Open: line and click OK. The Disk Management snap-in will open.
Three Basic Areas of Disk Management
The basic Disk Management console is divided into three main areas and just about as straightforward as one can get. In Fig. 01 the areas are defined by green, red, and blue rectangles. The Console Tree is the tall vertical column on the left that's defined by the green color. If Method 3 above is used to open Disk Management it will open without the Console Tree being displayed. I suggest you get rid of the Console Tree as it really serves no purpose once Disk Management is open. Even if you used one of the other methods, the Console Tree can be eliminated by clicking the Show/Hide Console Tree icon (fourth from left) on the standard toolbar.
The red and blue areas are referred to as Top and Bottom and are both user definable via the View menu option. By default, the Top area displays the Volume List and the Bottom area displays the Graphical View. A third view called Disk List can be substituted in either pane if it's more to your liking, or the Bottom pane can be hidden completely. The View menu option also contains a [Settings...] option that allows adjustment of the color schemes, size of the drive displays and a few other options so the console can be tailored to individual taste.

Fig. 01
Basic Disk Management Functions
All too often the help documentation that's supplied with programs falls short of the mark, but in the case of Disk Management I think Microsoft did an above average job. I suggest giving it a thorough read through as it contains detailed instructions for performing many tasks that it's not immediately apparent Disk Management can handle. I'll list a few of the more common tasks that interest a wide cross section of users.
● Create partitions, logical drives, and volumes.
● Delete partitions, logical drives, and volumes.
● Format partitions and volumes.
● Mark partitions as active.
● Assign or modify drive letters for hard disk volumes, removable disk drives, and CD-ROM drives.
● Obtain a quick visual overview of the properties of all disks and volumes in the system.
● Create mounted drives on systems using the NTFS file system.
● Convert basic disks to dynamic disks.
● Convert dynamic to basic disks, although this is a destructive operation.
● On dynamic disks, create a number of specialty volumes including spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes.
Disk Management makes extensive use of context menus. Right clicking on a drive or partition will normally present a menu that contains the options and procedures available for the particular device. The Action menu item is an alternate method for determining the same information. An advantage of using Disk Management is the majority of changes you can make don't require rebooting the system so you can continue working while the procedures complete.
At first glance it may appear there isn't much substance to Disk Management, but in truth it can be quite useful for many tasks. That's not to say it's without limitations because it does have some. One of the major limitations is the inability to resize a partition to make it smaller in a non-destructive manner. That limitation, and others, can be overcome by a number of third party utilities to fill in the gaps where Disk Management is lacking, but a full understanding of what Disk Management can and cannot do relative to your individual situation and needs will help you determine if a third party disk management utility is necessary.