diskmgmtmsc

Diskmgmt.msc, commonly referred to as Disk Management, is the Disk Management console in Windows. It is an MMC snap-in that provides a graphical view of computer storage, showing physical disks, partitions, and volumes, along with their status and available space. The tool is used to perform routine storage management tasks on local drives.

Access to diskmgmt.msc is via the Run dialog (type diskmgmt.msc), or through Computer Management under Storage. The interface typically presents a top pane listing disks and a bottom pane showing the volumes on each disk. Each item displays size, type, health status, and drive letters or mount points. Unallocated space is highlighted to indicate free capacity.

Key capabilities include initializing new disks as either MBR or GPT, creating, deleting, formatting, and resizing partitions or volumes, and assigning or changing drive letters and labels. It can also mark a partition as active, extend or shrink volumes within available space, and delete volumes. Disk Management supports both basic and dynamic disks, allowing the creation of dynamic volumes such as mirrors, striped volumes, or spanned volumes on suitable hardware.

Limitations and notes: Disk Management primarily handles local disks and may not manage Storage Spaces or network storage. Converting an existing basic disk from MBR to GPT or vice versa is not generally supported within the tool for disks with data; such conversions often require backup and alternate methods. As with all partitioning tasks, data loss can occur if operations are performed incorrectly.