Managing disks and volumes from the command line

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Managing disks and volumes from the command line

In addition to using the Disk Management snap-in, you can use command-line utilities to manage disks and volumes.

For example, you can use:

  • chkdsk to check disks for errors and repair any errors found.

  • Convert to change FAT or FAT32 volumes into NTFS volumes.

  • DiskPart to extend basic or dynamic volumes, add or break mirrors, assign or remove a disk's drive letter, create or delete partitions and volumes, convert basic disks to dynamic disks, or convert master boot record (MBR) disks to GUID partition table (GPT) disks, import disks and bring offline disks and volumes online.

  • Format to format a volume or mounted drive with a file system.

  • Fsutil to perform many NTFS file system related tasks, such as managing disk quotas, dismounting a volume, or querying volume information. Because fsutil is quite powerful, it should be used only by advanced users who have a thorough knowledge of Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

  • Mountvol to mount a volume at an NTFS folder or unmount the volume from the NTFS folder.

For information about other command-line utilities, see Command-line reference A-Z.