What Is Disk Administrator?

Disk Administrator is a graphical tool for managing disks. This tool encompasses and extends the functionality of character-based disk management tools, such as MS-DOS fdisk and the Microsoft LAN Manager Fault Tolerance character applications, into one graphical interface.

The following list provides an overview of some of the things you can do with this graphical tool:

Create and delete partitions on a hard disk and logical drives within an extended partition.

Format and label volumes.

Read status information about disks such as the partition sizes and the amount of free space that is available for creating additional partitions.

Read status information about Windows NT volumes such as the drive-letter assignment, volume label, file system type, and size.

Make and change drive-letter assignments for hard disk volumes as well as CD-ROM devices.

Create and delete volume sets.

Extend volumes and volume sets.

Create and delete stripe sets with or without parity.

Regenerate a missing or failed member of a stripe set with parity.

Establish or break disk-mirror sets.

Partitioning the internal hard disk on a new computer is done during initial setup when you load the Windows NT operating software. Making changes to that disk or partitioning an additional new hard disk is done using the Disk Administrator program.

Disk Administrator cannot be used to further partition the system partition because it contains files required to operate Windows NT Server.


Starting and Quitting Disk Administrator

Important

You can open Disk Administrator only if you are logged on as a member of the Administrators group.

To start Disk Administrator

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and click Disk Administrator.

A scrollable, graphical representation of all the physical disks connected to your computer along with their partitions appears. A status bar at the bottom of the window provides basic information on partitions. A color-coded legend on top of the status bar shows what the different partition colors and patterns represent.

To quit Disk Administrator

1	On the Partition menu, click Exit.

If you made significant changes to your disk partitions in the current session, a message appears, asking if you want to save changes.

2	In the message dialog box, do one of the following:

To save the changes and close Disk Administrator, click Yes.

To close Disk Administrator without making the changes, click No.

To continue using Disk Administrator, click Cancel (and then you can click Commit Changes Now on the Partition menu to set your changes).

Note

If you make changes and commit to them upon quitting, Disk Administrator makes the requested changes and displays a message when the disks have been successfully updated. Sometimes after you click OK, another message will advise you that changes have been made that require you to restart the computer. This happens when, for example, you extend a volume set, lock a volume, or search for or restore disk configuration information. When you click OK, Disk Administrator initiates a complete system shutdown, closes all open applications, and restarts the computer.

See Also

Creating Primary Partitions


To show or hide the toolbar, status bar, and legend

On the Options menu, click Toolbar, Status Bar, or Legend.

The screen changes to reflect your selection.

Notes

The status bar appears at the bottom of the window and provides basic information on partitions.

The legend appears just above the status bar and shows what each partition color and pattern represents.

By default, the Disk Administrator toolbar includes buttons for Volume and Disk Configuration views, and for Properties, which opens the Properties dialog box for a volume you select. Other buttons can be added to the toolbar.

When the toolbar, status bar, or legend appear on screen, a check mark appears next to the corresponding command.

See Also

Customizing the Toolbar


To add, remove, or rearrange the toolbar

1	On the Options menu, click Customize Toolbar.

To add a button or a separator (to add a space between buttons), select it in Available buttons, and then click Add.

To remove a button or separator, select it in Toolbar buttons and then click Remove.

To move a button to the left or to the right , select it in Toolbar buttons and then click Move Up or Move Down respectively.

To restore the default toolbar buttons, click Reset.

2	Click Close when you finish customizing the toolbar.

Note and Tip

You can hold down SHIFT and drag buttons or separators within the Customize Toolbar dialog box to add, move, or remove them.

The default toolbar buttons are Volume, Disk Configuration, and Properties.


To change the colors and patterns used to distinguish your disk volumes

1	On the Options menu, click Colors and Patterns.

2	Select the item you want to change.

3	Select a new color in Colors.

4	Select a new pattern in Patterns, and then click OK.

Note

Colors and patterns are used to distinguish the following items: primary partition, logical drive, stripe set, stripe set with parity, mirror set, and volume set. The default pattern is solid.


To change how the disk sizes are displayed

1	On the Options menu, click Disk Display.

2	Click Size disks based on actual size or Size all disks equally.

Notes

Changing the relative display size of each disk is useful when you have several disks with a wide range of capacities.

The total lengths of the bars used to represent disks are generally proportional to the size of the disk. However, the total length of a single disk bar is never less than 25 percent of the total length of the largest disk bar.


To change how regions are displayed

1	On the Options menu, click Region Display.

2	In Which disk, click one of the following:

To specify the region display for all disks connected to your computer, click All disks.

To select the number of the disk that you want to change, click For disk.

3	Specify the relative display size of partitions by clicking one of the following:

Size regions based on actual size.

Size all regions equally.

Let Disk Administrator decide how to size regions.

4	Repeat steps two and three until all the partition displays are configured the way you want them, and then click OK.

Note and Tip

In step 3, you can click Reset All to let Disk Administrator decide how to display all the disks.

Partitions are shown as being proportionate to each other within a single disk bar.


To create a primary partition

1	Select an area of free space on a disk.

2	On the Partition menu, click Create.

3	If space you select is not the first primary partition created on the disk, click Yes when a message appears prompting you to confirm the creation of another primary partition because the partition could not be recognized by MS-DOS.

Disk Administrator displays what the minimum and maximum sizes for the primary partition can be.

4	In Create partition of size, type the size of the primary partition that you want to create, and then click OK.

The new unformatted primary partition is assigned a drive letter.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

When creating primary partitions, the system assigns space to a partition starting from the beginning of the available space. Therefore, in the beginning, there are no gaps between partitions. Gaps happen only when you delete a partition later on. For example, if you delete the second of three partitions and create a new smaller-sized second partition, that leaves a gap of free space between the second and third partitions. A disk can have up to four primary partitions, including the extended partition.

See Also

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives

Creating an Extended Partition

Formatting and Labeling Partitions

Marking Partitions as Active


To create an extended partition

1	Select an area of free space on a disk.

2	On the Partition menu, click Create Extended.

Disk Administrator displays what the minimum and maximum sizes for the extended partition can be.

3	Type the size of the extended partition that you want to create, and then click OK.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

Only one extended partition can be created per disk. You can use the free space in the extended partition to create multiple logical drives or use all or part of it when creating volume sets or other kinds of volumes for fault-tolerance purposes.

See Also

Creating Logical Drives in an Extended Partition

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives

Formatting and Labeling Partitions

Creating a Volume Set


To create logical drives in an extended partition

1	Select an area of free space in an extended partition.

2	On the Partition menu, click Create.

Disk Administrator displays what the minimum and maximum sizes for the logical drive can be.

3	Type the size of the logical drive that you want to create, and then click OK.

Note

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

See Also

Creating an Extended Partition

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives

Formatting and Labeling Partitions


To format a partition and label the volume

1	On the Partition menu, click Commit Changes Now, and then click Yes to save the changes.

2	Click OK when Disk Administrator informs you that the disks were updated successfully and advises you to create a new Emergency Repair Disk.

3	Select the newly created partition.

4	On the Tools menu, click Format.

5	In the Format dialog box, select a file system, and then optionally specify the following:

To name the partition, type a name in Volume Label.

To skip scanning for bad sectors in the partition during formatting, click Quick Format.

This option is not available when formatting mirror sets and stripe sets with parity.

To compress the folders and files that are added to the volume, click Enable Compression.

This option is available if the partition is being formatted with NTFS.

6	Click Start to initiate the format request.

A message warns you that all data on the disk will be erased. Click OK.

7	Click OK when the Format Complete message appears. Click Close to return to the Disk Administrator window.

Notes

You can cancel the formatting at any time during the process. However, clicking Cancel will not necessarily restore a volume to its previous state.

Before files and directories can be stored on the partitions that you have created, you must first commit the changes to disk, and then individually format each partition with a file system.

See Also

Reformatting Existing Partitions

Assigning Drive Letters

Changing or Deleting Volume Labels


To change or delete a volume label

1	Select the formatted volume.

2	On the Tools menu, click Properties.

3	In Label, type the new name for the volume label, and then click OK.


To reformat an existing NTFS partition containing Windows NT

1	Back up the information on the partition.

2	Start the Windows NT Setup program.

3	When Windows NT Setup asks you to select the partition on which you would like to install, select the NTFS partition and press D to delete the partition.

4	Either continue using the Setup program to recreate and format the partition, or quit the Setup program and use the MS-DOS fdisk and format commands to complete the process.

Notes

Before changing the file system on an existing partition, you should back up the information on the partition because reformatting the partition will also destroy all existing data.

If the Windows NT system files are not installed on the partition, you can use Format on the Tools menu to reformat that partition to another file system.

If Windows NT system files are installed on the partition, you cannot delete it from within Disk Administrator nor reformat the partition using Format. Instead, you must use the Setup program from your installation media.

See Also

Formatting and Labeling Partitions


To mark a partition as active on an x86-based computer

1	Select the primary partition that contains the startup files for the operating system that you want to activate.

2	On the Partition menu, click Mark Active.

3	A message appears, advising you that the partition has been marked active and that the operating system on that partition will be started when you restart your computer. Click OK.

An asterisk appears in the color bar of the active partition.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you quit Disk Administrator.

The names commonly used for partitions containing the startup and operating system files are the system and boot partitions, respectively.

On x86-based computers, the system partition must be a primary partition that has been marked as active for startup purposes and must be located on the disk that the computer accesses when starting up the system. There can only be one active system partition at a time, which is denoted on the screen by an asterisk. If you want to use another operating system, you must first mark its system partition as active before restarting the computer.

Partitions on a RISC-based computer are not marked active. Instead, they are configured by a hardware configuration program supplied by the manufacturer. On RISC-based computers, the system partition must be formatted for the FAT file system. On either type of computer, the system partition can never be part of a stripe set or volume set.

See Also

Securing System Partitions


To secure the system partition on a RISC-based computer

1	On the Partition menu, click Secure System Partition.

When the command is in effect, a check mark appears next to it.

2	Click OK when a message appears, asking you to confirm this request.

Disk Administrator initiates a restart of your computer, which activates security on the system partition.

Notes

If you want to remove security from the system partition on a RISC-based computer, click Secure System Partition on the Partition menu to clear the check mark. Since security on the system partition is not removed until after you restart your computer, Disk Administrator initiates a restart.

Since the system partition on a RISC-based computer must be formatted for the FAT file system, you cannot secure information in individual directories and files on that partition. The only way to secure the system partition is to allow access only to members of the Administrators group.

See Also

Marking Partitions as Active


To assign a drive letter

1	Select the partition or logical drive whose drive letter you want to assign.

2	On the Tools menu, click Assign Drive Letter.

3	In the Assign Drive Letter dialog box, click Assign drive letter and select the appropriate letter.

4	Click OK.

Notes

Be careful when making drive-letter assignments because many MS-DOS and Windows programs make references to a specific drive letter. For example, the Path environment variable shows specific drive letters in conjunction with program names.

An error message could appear when you are attempting to assign a letter to a CD-ROM drive, possibly because it is in use by some application in the system. You must then close the application accessing the CD-ROM drive and click the command again.

Windows NT allows the static assignment of drive letters on volumes, partitions, and CD-ROM drives. This means that a drive letter can be permanently assigned to a specific hard disk, partition or volume, and CD-ROM drive. When a new hard disk is added to an existing computer system, it will not affect statically assigned drive letters.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Formatting and Labeling Partitions


To delete a partition, volume, or logical drive

1	Select the partition, volume, or logical drive.

2	On the Partition menu, click Delete.

3	When a message appears, advising you that all data will be lost and asking you to confirm your action, click Yes.

The partition, volume, or logical drive and any data are deleted, and the space becomes free again.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now on the Partition menu or quit Disk Administrator.

Windows NT places certain restrictions on your freedom to delete. It will not let you delete the volume with the system files. Nor can you delete individual partitions that are part of a set without deleting the entire set. But, on a RISC-based computer, you can delete the system partition with the files needed to load Windows NT, so be very careful. Windows NT also requires that all the logical drives or other volumes in an extended partition be deleted before you can delete the extended partition.

See Also

Creating Primary Partitions

Creating an Extended Partition

Creating Logical Drives in an Extended Partition


To save disk configuration information

1	On the Partition menu, point to Configuration, and then click Save.

2	A message appears, asking you to insert a blank floppy disk, a floppy disk with a previous version of the configuration information, or the Emergency Repair Disk. Insert a blank floppy disk and then click OK.

Notes

This procedure can be used for saving the following disk-configuration information: assigned drive letters, volume sets, stripe sets, stripe sets with parity, and mirror sets.

You should be sure to save the disk configuration information before upgrading the operating system to ensure that you do not lose your current configuration information.

See Also

Restoring Disk Configuration Information

Searching for Disk Configuration Information


To restore disk configuration information

1	On the Partition menu, point to  Configuration and then click Restore.

A message warns you that this operation will overwrite your current disk configuration information with what was previously saved on the floppy disk, and that any changes made during this session will be lost.

2	Insert the floppy disk (or the Emergency Repair Disk containing the saved configuration information), and then click OK.

3	Click OK to restart your computer.

When Disk Administrator is restarted, a message informs you that the disk configuration has changed and that the changes will be saved the next time you quit Disk Administrator.

Note

This procedure can be used for restoring the following disk-configuration information: assigned drive letters, volume sets, stripe sets, stripe sets with parity, and mirror sets.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Searching for Disk Configuration Information


To search for disk configuration information

1	On the Partition menu, point to Configuration and then click Search.

2	When a warning message appears, reminding you that this operation will overwrite your current disk configuration information, click OK to proceed with the operation.

Disk Administrator scans your disk for other Windows NT installations and then displays a list of the installations.

3	Select an installation and then click OK.

Disk Administrator initiates a restart of your computer.

Notes

This procedure can be used to search for any currently defined disk-configuration information, including: assigned drive letters, volume sets, stripe sets, stripe sets with parity, and mirror sets among different installed versions of Windows NT. You can select a specific version to replace another, but be careful to update this version information every time you change your disk configuration. To do this, first make your changes, then quit Disk Administrator, restart your computer and Disk Administrator; then save the configuration information and quit Disk Administrator again.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Restoring Disk Configuration Information


To create a volume set

1	Select two or more areas of free space (on from 1 to 32 disks) by selecting the first area of free space, and then pressing CTRL and clicking each of the other areas.

2	On the Partition menu, click Create Volume Set.

Disk Administrator displays the minimum and maximum sizes for the volume set.

3	Type the size of the volume set that you want to create, and then click OK.

Notes

If you choose to use less than the total available space, Disk Administrator uses an equal percentage of the free space on each disk to create a partition of the size you specified. A single drive letter is assigned to the collection of partitions that make up the volume set.

The changes make will not be saved until you either click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

Operating systems, such as MS-DOS, that do not have volume-set functionality cannot recognize any volume sets that are created by Windows NT. Therefore, if you create a volume set on a dual-boot computer, those partitions become unusable by MS-DOS.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Deleting a Volume Set

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives

Extending Volumes and Volume Sets


To delete a volume set

1	Select the volume set that you want to delete.

2	On the Partition menu, click Delete.

3	When a warning message appears, advising you that all the data on the partiton will be lost, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

Deleting the volume set deletes all the data contained in the volume set as well as the partitions that comprise the volume set. Be sure to first back up all the data before clicking Delete. Only entire volume sets can be deleted.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Creating a Volume Set

Extending Volumes and Volume Sets

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


To extend a volume or volume set

1	Select an existing NTFS volume (that is not part of a stripe set or mirror set) or a NTFS volume set, and then press CTRL while selecting one or more areas of free space.

2	On the Partition menu, click Extend Volume Set.

Disk Administrator displays the minimum and maximum sizes for the volume set.

3	Type the size of the volume set that you want to create, and then click OK.

Disk Administrator determines how much of the free space to use for the size that you specified, and then initiates a restart of your computer.

Notes

The changes you make will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

Existing NTFS volumes and volume sets can also be extended by adding free space. Disk Administrator forces the system to restart after you quit and save your changes, and then formats the new area without affecting any existing files on the original volume or volume set. However, once a volume set is extended, no portion of it can be deleted without deleting the entire volume set.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Creating a Volume Set

Deleting a Volume Set

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


To create a stripe set

1	Select two or more areas of free space (on from 2 to 32 hard disks) by selecting the first area of free space on the first disk, and then pressing CTRL and clicking an additional area on each of the other hard disks.

2	On the Partition menu, click Create Stripe Set.

Disk Administrator displays the minimum and maximum sizes for the stripe set.

3	Type the size of the stripe set that you want to create, and then click OK.

Notes

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

Disk Administrator divides the total size by the number of disks to create equal-sized unformatted partitions in each of the selected disks and assigns a single drive letter to the collection of partitions that make up the stripe set. If you choose a number that cannot be divided equally, Disk Administrator rounds to the closest higher or lower value.

Stripe sets are created similarly to volume sets, but with more restrictions. Each member partition of the stripe set must be on a different disk up to a limit of 32 disks. Also, Disk Administrator will make all the partitions approximately the same size.

Operating systems that do not have stripe-set functionality, such as MS-DOS, cannot recognize any stripe sets that are created by Windows NT. If you create a stripe set on a dual-boot computer, those partitions become unusable by MS-DOS.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Deleting a Stripe Set

Creating a Volume Set


To delete a stripe set

1	Select the stripe set that you want to delete.

2	On the Partition menu, click Delete.

3	When a warning message appears, advising you that all the data on the partition will be lost, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.

Notes

Deleting a stripe set deletes all the data on the partitions as well the partitions that comprise the stripe set. You should first back up all the data on the stripe set before clicking Delete.

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

See Also

Creating a Stripe Set

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


To create a stripe set with parity

1	Select three or more areas of free space (on from 3 to 32 hard disks) by selecting the first area of free space on the first disk, and then pressing CTRL and clicking each additional area of free space on each of the other hard disks.

2	On the Fault Tolerance menu, click Create Stripe Set With Parity.

Disk Administrator displays the minimum and maximum sizes for the stripe set with parity.

3	Type the size of the stripe set that you want to create and then click OK.

Notes

Recovery from the failure of a disk in a parity stripe set is more time consuming, than for mirror sets.

Disk Administrator divides the total size by the number of disks to create equal-sized unformatted partitions in each of the selected disks and assigns a single drive letter to the collection of partitions that make up the stripe set with parity. If you choose a number that cannot be divided equally, Disk Administrator rounds to the closest higher or lower value.

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Deleting a Stripe Set with Parity

Creating a Stripe Set


To delete a stripe set with parity

1	Select the stripe set with parity that you want to delete.

2	On the Partition menu, click Delete.

3	When a warning message appears, advising you that all the data on the partition will be lost, click Yes to proceed with the deletion.

Notes

Deleting a stripe set with parity deletes all the data on the partitions as well the partitions that comprise the stripe set with parity. You should first back up all the data on the stripe set with parity before clicking Delete.

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

See Also

Creating a Stripe Set with Parity

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


To establish a mirror set

1	Select the partition that you want to duplicate.

2	Hold down CTRL and click an equal-sized or larger area of free space on another hard disk.

3	On the Fault Tolerance menu, click Establish Mirror.

Disk Administrator creates an equal-sized partition in the free space for the mirror.

Notes

The same drive letter is used for both partitions of a mirror set. Any existing partition, even the system and boot partitions, can be mirrored onto another partition of equal or greater size on another disk using either the same or a different controller.

The changes you have made will not be saved until you click Commit Changes Now or quit Disk Administrator.

See Also

Creating an Extended Partition

Creating Primary Partitions

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Breaking a Mirror Set


To break a mirror set

1	Select the mirror set that you want to break.

2	On the Fault Tolerance menu, click Break Mirror.

3	When a warning message appears, click Yes to end the mirror relationship and create two independent partitions.

4	Click Commit Changes Now or quit and then restart Disk Administrator.

5	Select one of the partitions that was a part of the mirror set.

6	On the Partition menu, click Delete; then click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Notes

Before deleting a mirror set, you should first break the mirror set to prevent data loss. Breaking a mirror set does not delete data, but it is still safer to do a backup first. You will then be ready to regain free space by deleting one or both of the partitions that made up the mirror set.

Once you have committed the changes, you can create a new mirror-set relationship from unused free space on another disk.

See Also

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives

Establishing a Mirror Set


To regenerate a recoverable stripe set with parity

1	Select the recoverable stripe set.

2	Select an area of free space of equal or greater size.

3	On the Fault Tolerance menu, click Regenerate.

4	Quit Disk Administrator and restart your computer.

When you restart the computer, the fault-tolerance driver reads the information from the stripes on the other member disks, and then recreates the data of the missing member and writes it to the new member.

Notes

When a member of a stripe set with parity fails in a severe manner (such as a loss of power or a complete head crash), it becomes an orphan. If this happens, you can regenerate the data for the orphaned member from the remaining members of the stripe set with parity.

If the stripe-set failure is due to a power failure or cabling failure on a single device, you can regenerate within the orphaned member of the original stripe set once the hardware state is restored.

The regeneration process occurs in the background, and the stripe set with parity will not appear as healthy in the Disk Administrator status bar until regeneration is complete.

See Also

Creating a Stripe Set with Parity


Delete

Clicking Delete displays a confirmation message which advises you that all data will be lost and asks you to confirm your action.

Before you delete partitions, volumes, or logical drives under Windows NT, you need to ensure that the information on the partitions is either no longer needed or has been backed up onto another storage medium and verified.

See Also

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


Mark Active

Marks a primary partition on an x86-based computer with an asterisk to show that it is the active partition for operating-system startup.

See Also

Marking Partitions as Active


Exit

Quits Disk Administrator. If you have made any changes to your disk partitions, it also displays a message asking whether you want to save the changes.

See Also

Starting and Quitting Disk Administrator


Search

Searches for your disk configuration information among different installed versions of Windows NT. You can then select one from a list and overwrite the current information in one installation with the information from the different installation. Any changes that were already made during the current session are lost.

See Also

Searching for Disk Configuration Information


Save

Saves the following currently defined disk configuration information from the Windows NT registry onto a floppy disk, but does not save any changes that were made during the session:

Assigned drive letters

Volume sets

Stripe sets

Stripe sets with parity

Mirror sets

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information


Restore

Restores the following currently defined disk-configuration information from a floppy disk. Clicking Restore overwrites the current disk-configuration information with information that was previously saved and with any changes made during this session:

Assigned drive letters

Volume sets

Stripe sets

Stripe sets with parity

Mirror sets

See Also

Restoring Disk Configuration Information

Saving Disk Configuration Information


Establish Mirror

Establishes a fully redundant copy of a partition on another disk that uses the same or a different controller. Both partitions have the same drive letter and volume label.

See Also

Establishing a Mirror Set

Breaking a Mirror Set


Break Mirror

Breaks the selected mirror set and creates two independent partitions or logical drives. It does not delete any information.

See Also

Breaking a Mirror Set


Regenerate

Regenerates data for an orphaned member from the remaining members of a recoverable stripe set with parity.

See Also

Regenerating a Recoverable Stripe Set with Parity


Toolbar

Displays or hides the toolbar. By default, Volumes, Disk Configuration, and Properties appear on the toolbar. A check mark next to Toolbar means that it is displayed.

See Also

Showing or Hiding the Toolbar, Status Bar, and Legend

Customizing the Toolbar


Status Bar

Displays or hides the status bar at the bottom of the Disk Administrator window. The status bar shows basic information about the selected partition. A check mark next to Status Bar means that it is displayed.

See Also

Showing or Hiding the Toolbar, Status Bar, and Legend


Legend

Displays or hides the legend that is above the status bar at the bottom of the Disk Administrator window. The color-coded legend shows what the different partition colors and patterns represent. A check mark next to Legend means that it is displayed.

See Also

Showing or Hiding the Toolbar, Status Bar, and Legend


Contents

Starts Help and displays the topics in Disk Administrator Help.


Search for Help on

Opens the Help Topics dialog box with the Index tab selected. You can search for information about Disk Administrator using keywords in the dialog box.


How to Use Help

Describes how to use Help.


About Disk Administrator

Displays version and copyright information about Disk Administrator.


Control Menu

The Control menu contains the following commands:

Restore

Restores the window to its former size after it has been maximized or minimized.

Move

Enables you to use the keyboard to move the window to another position.

Size

Enables you to use the keyboard to change the size of the window.

Minimize

Reduces the window to an icon.

Maximize

Enlarges the window to its maximum size.

Close

Quits an application, or closes a window or dialog box.


Create Primary Partition

The Create Primary Partition dialog box creates a primary partition from an area of free space on a disk, starting at the beginning of the available space.

You can specify a size for the partition and then click OK.

See Also

Creating Primary Partitions

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


Create Extended Partition

The Create Extended Partition dialog box creates an extended partition from an area of free space on a disk. An extended partition can be one of the four partitions on a disk that you can create under Windows NT. You can use the free space in the extended partition to create multiple logical drives or use all or part of it when creating volume sets or other kinds of volumes for fault-tolerance purposes.

You can specify a size for the extended partition and then click OK.

See Also

Creating an Extended Partition

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


Create Logical Drive

The Create Logical Drive dialog box creates a logical drive in an area of free space in an extended partition. You can create multiple logical drives only in the free space of an extended partition.

You can specify a size for the logical drive and then click OK.

See Also

Creating Logical Drives in an Extended Partition

Deleting Partitions, Volumes, or Logical Drives


Create Stripe Set

The Create Stripe Set dialog box creates a larger logical volume by combining areas of free space on any number from 2 to 32 disks. The partitions in stripe sets are all approximately the same size so that the data can be written in multiple stripes across each partition.

You can specify a size for the stripe set and then click OK.

See Also

Creating a Stripe Set

Deleting a Stripe Set

Saving Disk Configuration Information


Create Stripe Set With Parity

The Create Stripe Set With Parity dialog box creates a larger logical volume by combining areas of free space on a number of disks from 3 to 32. The partitions in stripe sets are all approximately the same size so that the data can be written in multiple stripes across each partition. Stripe sets with parity include one additional parity-information stripe per row, and these stripes are distributed across all the partitions.

You can specify a size for the stripe set with parity and then click OK.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Creating a Stripe Set with Parity

Deleting a Stripe Set with Parity


Create Volume Set

The Create Volume Set dialog box creates a larger logical volume set by combining various-sized areas of free space on from 1 to 32 disks. This combination is then treated like a single partition, and information is stored sequentially on the disks.

You can specify a size for the volume set and then click OK.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Creating a Volume Set

Deleting a Volume Set


Extend Volume Set

The Extend Volume Set dialog box enables you to extend existing NTFS volumes and volume sets by adding free space to them. Disk Administrator forces the system to restart after you quit and save your changes, and then formats the new area without affecting any existing files on the original volume or volume set.

You can specify a size to extend the volume set and then click OK.

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Extending Volumes and Volume Sets

Deleting a Volume Set


Configuration

Opens the Configuration menu, which you can use to save, restore or search for a different configuration.


Assign Drive Letter

The Assign Drive Letter dialog box assigns a drive letter to a partition or logical drive or CD-ROM drive.

Click the following for information about this dialog box:

 Assign drive letter

 Do not assign a drive letter

See Also

Saving Disk Configuration Information

Assigning Drive Letters


Assign Drive Letter

Under Windows NT, you can create more than 24 volumes, but you will not be able to assign more than 24 drive letters for accessing these volumes. Drive letters A and B are reserved for floppy disk drives. If you do not have a physical B drive, you can use the letter B for a network drive.


Do Not Assign a Drive Letter

This can be useful if you create more than 24 volumes. However, you cannot access these volumes unless you assign them a letter.


Format

Specifies formatting options for a selected partition. Usually, this command is available only after you have saved your changes, either by clicking Commit Changes Now or by quitting and then restarting Disk Administrator.

See Also

Formatting and Labeling Partitions


Eject

Ejects a compact disc from a CD-ROM drive.


Properties

Opens the Properties dialog box, which you can use to view and change information about the selected disk, just as you can using Windows NT Explorer.


Volumes

Displays the disk volumes in a sequential list. This view does not display the disk on which the volume resides. A dot appears next to the command when this view is in effect.


Disk Configuration

Displays color-coded volume configuration information about each disk. Additional information about the volume or partition is displayed in status bar at the bottom of the Disk Administrator window. A dot appears next to the command when this view is in effect.


Refresh

Updates the Disk Administrator window.


Commit Changes Now

Commits changes that you have made to your disk partitions without quitting Disk Administrator.

See Also

Starting and Quitting Disk Administrator


Colors and Patterns

Changes the colors and patterns that are used to distinguish between the items on the screen in the legend and disk displays.

Click the following for information about this dialog box:

 Color and pattern for

 Colors

 Patterns

See Also

Changing the Colors and Patterns Used to Distinguish Your Disk Volumes


Color and pattern for

Lists all the items for which you can change the color and pattern.


Colors

Used to select a display color to apply to the selected item.


Patterns

Used to select a display pattern to apply to the selected item.


Disk Display

Changes the relative display size of disks, as follows:

To display disk sizes proportionally, click Size disks based on actual size.

To display all disks the same length, click Size all disks equally.

See Also

Changing How Disk Sizes are Displayed


Region Display Options

Changes the relative display size of partitions.

Click the following for information about this dialog box:

 All disks

 For disk

 Reset all

 Region size choices

See Also

Changing How Regions are Displayed


All disks

Sizes the display of all disks the same way.


For disk

Sizes the display of each disk on your system differently.


Reset all

Lets Disk Administrator determine how to display all the disks connected to your system.


Region size

You set the regions on each disk to appear in the display based on their relative size or with all the regions sized equally. Or, you can have Disk Administrator determine how to size the regions.


Customize Toolbar

Adds and removes buttons from the toolbar.

The dialog box also shows which command a button performs. Buttons currently displayed on the toolbar appear in Toolbar buttons. Buttons you can add to the toolbar appear in Available buttons.

See Also

Customizing the Toolbar


Select Installation

Lists the different Windows NT installations that were found with by pointing to Configuration on the Partition menu and then and clicking Search.

After you select an installation, Disk Administrator initiates a restart of your computer and copies the relevant registration information to the current registry.

See Also

Searching for Disk Configuration Information


Secure System Partition

Available only on RISC systems and does not take effect until you reboot. A check mark appears if the system partition is secure. If the system partition is secure, only System Administrators can access that partition. Select Secure System Partition again if you want to clear the check mark and undo security.

See Also

Securing System Partitions