What is Disk Management & How to use it?

You have all seen, lots of folders in File Explorer like Windows (C:), Recovery (D:), New Volume (E:), New Volume (F:) and more. Have you ever wondered are all these folders are automatically available on a PC or laptop, or someone creates them? What is the use of all these folders? Can you delete these folders or make any changes in them or their number? All the above questions will be answered below. Let’s see what are these folders and who manages them.

What is Disk Management?

It is a Microsoft Windows utility that allows the full management of disk-based hardware. It was first introduced in Windows XP and is an extension of the Microsoft Management Console. It is now available in all Windows versions i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and 11. Although it is available in all Windows operating systems, Disk Management has small differences from one Windows version to another.

How to Open Disk Management in Windows 10

Unlike other software available in computers with shortcuts to access directly from Desktop or Taskbar or Start Menu, Disk Management does not have any shortcut to access directly from Start Menu or Desktop. Although, it does not mean it takes much time to open it. It takes very less time, let’s see how.

Method 1: Using Control Panel

To open Disk Management using Control Panel follow below steps:

1. Open Control Panel by searching for it using the Search bar and hit the enter button on Keyboard.

2. Click on System and Security.

Note: System and Security are found in Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7. For Windows Vista, it will be System and Maintenance, and for Windows XP, it will be Performance and Maintenance.

3. Under System and Security, click on Administrative tools.

4. Inside Administrative tools, double-click on Computer Management.

5. Inside Computer Management, click on Storage.

6. Under Storage, click on Disk Management which is available under left window pane.

7. Below Disk Management screen will appear.

Note: It may take several seconds or more to load.

8. Now, your Disk Management is open. You can view or manage disk drives from here.

Method 2: Using Run Dialog Box

This method applies to all versions of Windows and is faster than the previous method. To open Disk Management using Run Dialog Box, follow below steps:

1. Search for Run (Desktop app) using the search bar and hit Enter on the keyboard.

2. Type below command in Open field and click OK:

diskmgmt.msc

3. Below Disk Management screen will appear.

Now Disk Management is open, and you can use it for partition, change drive names and manage drives.

Also Read: Fix New Hard Drive not showing up in Disk Management

How to use Disk Management in Windows 10

It enables the users to view and manage disk drives installed in their PCs or laptops like hard disk drives or solid-state drives (Internal and External), optical disk drives, flash drives, and partitions associated with them.

Disk Management is used to format drives, partition hard drives, assign different names to drives, change a letter of drive and many other tasks related to disk.

How To Shrink A Disk Memory using Disk Management

If you want to shrink any disk, i.e. reduce its memory, then follow the below steps:

1. Right-click on the disk you want to shrink. For example: Here, Windows(H:) is being shrunk. Initially, its size is 248GB.

2. Click on Shrink Volume. Below screen will appear.

3. Enter in MB the amount you want to reduce space in that particular disk and Click on Shrink.

Note: It is warned that you cannot shrink any disk beyond a particular limit.

4. After Shrinking Volume (H:), Disk Management will look like as given below.

Now Volume H will occupy less memory, and some will be marked as unallocated now. Size of disk volume H after shrinking is 185 GB and 65 GB is free memory or unallocated.

Also Read: Best HDD Cloning Software

Set Up New Hard Disk & Make Partitions In Windows 10

Above image of Disk Management shows what drives and partitions are currently available on the computer. If there is any unallocated space which is not used up, it will mark with black, which means unallocated. If you want to make more partitions follow below steps:

1.Right-click on unallocated memory.

2. Click on New Simple Volume.

3. Click on Next.

4. Enter the new disk size and click on Next.

Note: Enter the disk size between given Maximum space and Minimum space.

5. Assign the letter to new Disk and click Next.

6. Follow the instructions and click on Next to continue.

7. Click on Finish.

A new disk volume I with memory 60.55 GB will be now created.

Also Read: How to Perform Disk Cleanup in Windows 11

How to change a drive letter using Disk Management

If you want to change a drive name, i.e. want to change its letter then follow below steps:

1. In the Disk Management, right-click on the drive whose letter you wants to change.

2. Click on Change Drive Letter and Paths.

3. Click on Change to change the letter of the drive.

4. Choose a new letter you want to assign from the drop-down menu and click on Ok.

By performing the above steps, your drive letter will be changed. Initially, which was I now changed to J.

How to delete a Drive or Partition in Windows 10

If you want to delete a particular drive or partition from window, follow the below steps:

1.In the Disk Management, right-click on the drive you want to delete.

2. Click on Delete Volume.

3. Below warning box will appear. Click on Yes.

4. Your drive will be deleted, leaving the space occupied by it as unallocated space.

Recommended:Apps to Protect External Hard Disk Drives With Password

I hope this article was helpful and you can now easily Use Disk Management in Windows 10 to shrink a disk, set up a new hard drive, change drive letter, delete a partition, etc. but if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial then feel free to ask them in the comment’s section.