1

Chapter Overview

Managing Data Storage Creating Dynamic Disks Implementing Storage Quotas Managing Compression and Encryption

2

Managing Data Storage

Microsoft Windows 2000 supports two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic. Each hard disk must be either basic or

dynamic; you cannot use both storage types on the same disk.

If a computer has more than one hard disk, you can use either basic or dynamic storage on each hard disk.

3

Using Basic Storage Basic storage is the traditional industry

standard for hard disk drive management. In basic storage, the hard disk is divided into

partitions. Partitions function as physically separate storage

units. Windows 2000 recognizes two types of partitions:

primary and extended. Partitions must be formatted with a specific file

system—NT file system (NTFS), file allocation table (FAT), or FAT32.

By default, all disks (including newly installed disks) are basic disks.

4

Using Basic Storage (Cont.)

You must perform several tasks to prepare a basic disk to store data.1. Initialize the disk to use the basic storage

type.2. Create partitions on the disk.3. Format the partitions on the disk.

5

Understanding Partition Types

A basic disk can be divided into primary and extended partitions.

A basic disk can contain up to four primary partitions, or up to three primary partitions and one extended partition, for a maximum of four partitions.

Only one of the partitions on a basic disk can be an extended partition.

6

Basic Disk Partition Types

7

Primary Partitions

The active partition is a specially marked primary partition that contains the boot files to start the operating system.

The system partition is the active partition that contains the hardware-specific files needed to load the operating system.

The boot partition is the primary partition or logical drive where the operating system files are installed.

8

Extended Partitions

An extended partition is created from free space that remains on a disk after the primary partitions are created.

A disk can have only one extended partition.

You do not format extended partitions or assign drive letters; you divide them into segments called logical drives.

9

Selecting a File System

Windows 2000 supports three file systems: NTFS: used when file-level and folder-level

security, disk compression, disk quotas, or encryption is required

FAT: used when dual booting with another operating system (such as Microsoft Windows 98) is required

FAT32: used when dual booting with another operating system (such as Windows 98) is required

10

Using the Disk Management Snap-In

You can use the Disk Management snap-in to perform most Windows 2000 storage management tasks.

To access Disk Management, you can use either of these methods: Use the Computer Management console in

Administrative Tools. Add the Disk Management snap-in to a

custom Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

11

The Disk Management Snap-In

12

Viewing and Updating Information

You can view and update information for a disk or volume by using the Disk Properties dialog box.

Information you can view and update in this dialog box includes Disk number Disk type Disk status Disk capacity

13

Refresh and Rescan Disks Commands

Use Refresh to update the drive letter, file system, volume, and removable media information. To update this information, on the Action

menu, select Refresh. Use Rescan Disks to update hardware

information. To rescan, on the Action menu, select

Rescan Disks.

14

Managing Disks on a Remote Computer

Use Disk Management to manage disks on a remote computer running Windows 2000. You must be a member of the

Administrators group or Server Operators group on the remote computer.

Use Computer Management to connect to the remote computer. Then open Disk Management and perform disk tasks on the remote computer.

15

Creating Partitions When using basic storage, the first step in preparing

a disk for use is to create one or more partitions on it. If you start a Windows 2000 installation with a clean

hard disk, the setup program creates the first partition on the disk (an active primary partition) for you.

After Windows 2000 is installed, you can use the Disk Management snap-in to create additional partitions.

After you create a partition on a basic disk, you cannot modify its size or convert between primary and extended partitions without deleting the partition and re‑creating it.

16

Selecting a Partition Type

17

Specifying the Partition Size

18

Assigning a Drive Letter or Path

19

Formatting a Partition

20

Creating Logical Drives

If you create an extended partition on a disk, the Create Partition Wizard only creates the partition and displays it as Free Space in the Disk Management snap-in.

Before you can use a new extended partition, you must use Disk Management to create one or more logical drives on the extended partition, as follows:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click the extended partition, and then click

Create Logical Drive.

21

Creating a Logical Drive

22

Formatting

Before data can be stored on a volume, the volume must be formatted.

To use Disk Management to format a new volume or to reformat an existing volume:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click the volume, and then select

Format.

23

The Format Dialog Box

24

Converting FAT to NTFS

Use Convert.exe to convert a volume from FAT (or FAT32) to NTFS without having to reformat the volume or erase the data.

Run Convert.exe from a Windows 2000 command prompt, using the following syntax: Convert volume /FS:NTFS /V Replace volume with the drive letter of the

volume you want to convert.

25

Lesson Summary Windows 2000 supports two types of

disk storage: basic and dynamic. All disks use basic storage by default. Before you can store data on a disk, you

must partition the disk. There are two types of partitions:

primary and extended. Use Disk Management to perform most

storage management tasks on both basic and dynamic disks.

26

Creating Dynamic Disks Dynamic storage gives you greater storage

management flexibility than basic storage does.

In dynamic storage, you create a single partition that includes the entire disk, and then you divide the disk into volumes.

Dynamic storage replaces the primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives used in basic storage with more flexible and extensible volume types.

You create a dynamic disk by upgrading a basic disk.

27

Changing the Storage Type

You can upgrade a disk from basic storage to dynamic storage at any time, with no data loss.

When a basic disk is upgraded to dynamic storage, basic disk partitions, stripe sets, and volume sets are changed to dynamic disk volumes.

28

Basic Disk to Dynamic Disk Conversion Parameters

This Basic Disk Organization

Becomes This Dynamic Disk Organization

System partition Simple volume

Boot partition Simple volume

Primary partition Simple volume

Extended partition

Simple volume for each logical drive and any remaining unallocated space

Logical drive Simple volume

Volume set Spanned volume

Stripe set Striped volume

29

Upgrading Basic Disks to Dynamic Disks A disk to be upgraded to dynamic storage must

contain at least 1 MB of free space. If you are dual booting with another operating

system, that operating system will no longer run after the conversion to dynamic storage. Only Windows 2000 can access a dynamic disk.

Always back up data on a disk before converting the storage type.

To use Disk Management to upgrade a basic disk:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click the disk you want to upgrade, and then click

Upgrade To Dynamic Disk.

30

The Disks To Upgrade Dialog Box

31

Reverting to a Basic Disk from a Dynamic Disk You can revert to a basic disk only after all

volumes and data have been deleted from a dynamic disk.

To use Disk Management to revert to a basic disk:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click the dynamic disk you want to change.3. Click Revert To Basic Disk.

Once the system drive is converted to a dynamic disk, if you change it back to a basic disk you must reinstall Windows 2000.

32

Understanding Volume Types

After you convert basic disks to dynamic storage, you can create Windows 2000 volumes.

You can create three types of volumes on dynamic disks: Simple volumes Spanned volumes Striped volumes

33

Working with Simple Volumes

A simple volume consists of part or all of the disk space from a single hard disk.

After you create a simple volume, you can format it with NTFS, FAT, or FAT32.

When a simple volume is formatted with NTFS, the simple volume can be easily extended.

34

Creating a Simple Volume

To create a simple volume:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click an unallocated area of the

dynamic disk, and then click Create Volume to launch the Create Volume Wizard.

3. Use the Create Volume Wizard to complete this task.

35

The Select Volume Type Page

36

The Select Disks Page

37

Extending a Simple Volume

After you create a simple volume and format it with NTFS, you can increase its size if unallocated space is available on the disk.

To extend a simple volume: 1. In Disk Management, right-click the simple

volume you want to extend, and then click Extend Volume.

2. Use the Extend Volume Wizard to complete this task.

38

Working with Spanned Volumes A spanned volume consists of disk space from

multiple (2 to 32) dynamic disks, joined together into a single data storage unit.

The areas of free space can be different sizes and located anywhere on the disks.

Windows 2000 writes data to spanned volumes by filling up all allocated space on one disk before proceeding to the next one.

Spanned volumes help you to use the total available free space on multiple disks more effectively.

Spanned volumes do not provide fault tolerance.

39

Creating a Spanned Volume

To create a spanned volume:1. Open Disk Management.2. Right-click an unallocated area of the disk,

and then click Create Volume.

3. Use the Create Volume Wizard to complete this task.

40

Specifying the Disks to Add to a Spanned Volume

41

Extending and Deleting Spanned Volumes

You can extend any spanned NTFS volume (except the system volume or the boot volume).

You cannot extend FAT or FAT32 volumes.

You cannot delete any portion of a spanned volume without deleting the entire volume.

42

Working with Striped Volumes A striped volume combines areas of free

space from multiple (2 to 32) dynamic disks and provides better performance than other volume types.

Windows 2000 writes data evenly across all the disks in a striped volume in 64-KB units.

Striped volumes do not provide fault tolerance.  

You cannot extend a striped volume. You use the Create Volume Wizard in Disk

Management to create a striped volume.

43

A Striped Volume

44

Lesson Summary In dynamic storage, you create a single partition

that includes the entire disk, and then you divide the disk into volumes.

You create a dynamic disk by upgrading a basic disk.

You can create three types of volumes on dynamic disks:

Simple volumes Spanned volumes Striped volumes

You use Disk Management to upgrade disks and to create and manage volumes on dynamic disks.

45

Implementing Storage Quotas

A disk quota is a limitation on the amount of disk space a user can occupy on an NTFS volume.

Windows 2000 allows administrators to set disk quota limits and warning levels for all users or for individual users.

46

Understanding Windows 2000 Disk Quota Management Disk quotas track and control disk usage

on a per-user, per-volume basis. The characteristics of disk quotas are as

follows: Disk space usage calculations are based on

a user's file and folder ownership. Compression is ignored when hard disk

space usage is calculated. The free space that Windows 2000 reports

is the amount of space remaining in the user's disk quota limit.

47

Setting Disk Quotas

You can enable disk quotas and configure warning levels for all users at once or for individual users.

To enable disk quotas for all users:1. In Windows Explorer, right-click an NTFS

volume, and then click Properties. 2. Click the Quota tab, select the Enable

Quota Management check box, and then configure the options on the tab.

48

The Quota Tab

49

Determining the Status of Disk Quotas

Determine the status of disk quotas by viewing the traffic light icon in the Properties dialog box for a volume. Red light: indicates that disk quotas are

disabled Yellow light: indicates that Windows 2000 is

rebuilding disk quota information Green light: indicates that the disk quota

system is active

50

Monitoring Disk Quotas

You can use the Quota Entries dialog box to monitor the amount of disk space occupied by users of a volume.

This dialog box displays The amount of hard disk space each user

occupies The warning threshold and disk quota limit for

each user Users who are over their warning threshold Users who are over their disk quota limit

51

Lesson Summary

Disk quotas are limits you can impose on the amount of disk space users can use on an NTFS volume.

You can impose disk quotas for all users at once or for one or more individual users.

When quota management is enabled, Windows 2000 monitors the disk space usage for all users, whether or not quotas are enforced.

52

Managing Compression and Encryption

Windows 2000 supports both compression and encryption of files and folders stored on NTFS volumes.

You can use compression to store more data on a volume.

NTFS encryption and compression are mutually exclusive. You cannot configure both compression and encryption on the same file or folder.

53

Using Compressed Files and Folders

Each file and folder on an NTFS volume has a compression state: compressed or uncompressed.

Windows 2000 NTFS compression automatically compresses files and dynamically uncompresses them as needed.

The compression processes are transparent to users.

54

Compressing Files and Folders

To compress files or folders:1. In Windows Explorer, right-click the folder or

file, select Properties, and then click Advanced.

2. Select the Compress Contents To Save Disk Space check box, click OK, and then click Apply.

3. In the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box, choose one option:

Apply Changes To This Folder Only Apply Changes To This Folder, Subfolder, And Files

55

Copying and Moving Compressed Files and Folders

Specific rules determine whether the compression state of files and folders is retained when these files and folders are copied or moved within or between NTFS and FAT volumes.

Copying a compressed file might cause performance degradation.

56

Using NTFS Compression

Best practices for using compression: Select file types to compress based on

anticipated compressed file size. Do not store compressed files in a

compressed folder. Use a different display color for compressed

files and folders. Compress static data, rather than data that

changes (or is copied or moved) frequently.

57

Understanding EFS The Microsoft Encrypting File System (EFS)

provides encryption for data in files stored on NTFS volumes.

EFS can be implemented from Windows Explorer or from the command line.

You can also use group policies to enable or disable EFS for a computer, domain, or organizational unit (OU).

Use EFS to encrypt data stored on an NTFS volume only; EFS cannot encrypt data for transmission over a network.

58

Understanding EFS (Cont.)

Some of the key features of EFS are Transparent encryption Strong protection of encryption keys Integral data recovery Secure temporary and paging files

59

Encrypting

Compressed files cannot be encrypted, and encrypted files cannot be compressed.

After you encrypt a folder, when you save a file in that folder, the file is encrypted by using file encryption keys.

Encrypted files cannot be shared.

60

Recommended Method of Encrypting Files

1. Create an NTFS folder.2. Encrypt this folder as follows:

a. Click the General tab in the folder's Properties dialog box.

b. Click Advanced, and then select the Encrypt Contents To Secure Data check box.

3. Place the files you want encrypted in this folder.

61

Decrypting

Once decrypted, the file or folder can be shared.

To decrypt a file or folder:1. Right-click the file or folder in Windows

Explorer, and then, in the General tab of the Properties dialog box, click Advanced.

2. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, clear the Encrypt Contents To Secure Data check box.

62

Using the Recovery Agent The recovery agent uses a special certificate

and associated private key that permit data recovery.

If the owner's private key is unavailable, a person designated as the recovery agent can open the encrypted file by using his or her own private key. The default recovery agent is the administrator

of the local computer unless the computer is part of a domain.

In a domain, the domain administrator is the default recovery agent.

63

Lesson Summary Windows 2000 supports compression and

encryption of files and folders stored on NTFS volumes.

NTFS compression and encryption are mutually exclusive.

Compression and encryption are configured in a file or folder's Properties dialog box.

If the owner's private key is unavailable, the recovery agent can open the encrypted file.