10.2.1.8 Lab – Create a Partition in Windows
Instructor Note: Red font color or gray highlights indicate text that appears in the Instructor copy only.
Introduction
In this lab, you will create a FAT32 formatted partition on a disk. You will convert the partition to NTFS. You will then identify the differences between the FAT32 format and the NTFS format.
Recommended Equipment
- Computer running Windows
- Un-partitioned space of at least 1 GB on the hard disk drive
Instructions
Step 1: Open Disk Management.
Disk Management is located inside the Computer Management utility. Disk Management is a utility to manage disk drives installed in the computer, such as internal and external hard drives and flash drives.
a. Click Start and navigate to the Control Panel. Select Administrative Tools and click Computer Management. You can also right-click Start and select Computer Management in Windows 10 and 8.1.
b. In the Computer Management window, click Disk Management in the left pane under the Storage menu. You should see the disk drives installed on the computer.
Step 2: Create free space as necessary.
If the hard drive does not already have at least 2 GB of unpartitioned space, then perform the following steps to create free space which can be partitioned. In this lab, the default C: drive is used as the example.
a. Right-click the C: drive NTFS volume and select Shrink Volume from the menu.
b. In the Shrink C: window enter an amount of 2048 in the Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB: box and then click Shrink. You should now see 2 GB of Unallocated disk space.
Step 3: Create a new disk volume in the free space
a. Right-click the block of Free Space or Unallocated space. Click New Simple Volume.
b. The New Simple Volume Wizard window opens. Click Next.
c. Type 2048 or all the maximum disk space in the Simple volume size in MB field, and click Next.
d. Click the Assign the following drive letter: radio button. Select I from the drop-down menu. Click Next to continue.
Note: You may need to substitute different drive letters for the letters shown in this lab.
e. Click the Format this volume with the following settings: radio button. Select FAT32 from the File system drop-down menu and click Next.
f. Click Finish to complete the New Simple Volume Wizard.
g. The Computer Management window will display the status of the NEW VOLUME. Close the Computer Management window.
Step 4: Open the This PC window to review information about the new disk partition.
a. Open File Explorer in Windows 10 and 8.1 and click This PC to view the list of the devices and drives. In Windows 7, open Windows Explorer and click Computer to view the list of the drives.
b. Right-click on the NEW VOLUME (I:) drive and then select Properties from the drop-down menu.
Question:
What type of File System is used on the NEW VOLUME (I:)?
The file system is FAT32.
How much Free Space is shown?
Answers may vary. The drive has about 2GB free space.
List the tabs found in the NEW VOLUME (I): Properties window?
Answers may vary depend on the Windows version. The tabs are General, Tools, Hardware, Sharing, Previous Versions, Customize, and ReadyBoost.
c. On the General Tab, rename the volume from NEW VOLUME to ITE, and then click OK. Click Continue to provide administrator permission.
Step 5: Create a text document and save it to the ITE drive.
a. Double-click on the ITE (I:) disk icon to view the contents of the drive. You should see a message in the middle of the screen stating that this folder is empty. Right-click anywhere in the white space below that message to bring up a drop-down menu. Click New>Text Document.
b. Rename the New Text Document to ITE Test Document and press Enter.
c. Right-click on the ITE Test Document and choose Properties. This opens the ITE Test Document Properties window.
Question:
What tabs are listed in the ITE Test Document Properties window?
Answers may vary depend on the Windows version. The tabs are General, Details, and Previous Versions.
d. Click OK to close the ITE Test Document Properties window. Close the ITE (I:) window.
Step 6: Convert the ITE volume from FAT32 to NTFS without losing data.
In this step, you will convert the ITE volume from FAT32 to NTFS using the command line. The file system conversion can be done using the Disk Management tool. Unfortunately, the conversion requires the reformat of the drive and all the data will be lost. By using the command line, the file system can be changed from FAT32 to NTFS without losing data.
Note: In a production environment, the data should always be backed up before attempted to change the file system to prevent data loss.
a. Click Start, then type cmd (the search field will pop up as soon as you start typing). Right-click the Command Prompt program that appears, and then click Run as administrator.
b. The User Account Control window opens asking if you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer. Click Yes.
c. In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type convert I: /fs:NTFS at the prompt.
Question:
What happens if you do not run as administrator when you open the command prompt?
Access will be denied because you do not have sufficient privileges to run the command.
d. You will be prompted to enter the current volume label for drive I:. Type ITE and press Enter.
e. Review the information displayed by the convert command. When finished, enter exit at the prompt to exit the command prompt window.
Step 7: Open the This PC window to work with the ITE Volume.
a. Open File Explorer in Windows 10 and 8.1 and click This PC.
In Windows 7, open Windows Explorer and click Computer.
b. Right-click the ITE (I:) volume, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
Questions:
What type of File System is used for the ITE (I:) drive?
NTFS
What are the tabs in the ITE (I:) Properties window?
Answers will vary depending on the Windows version. The tabs are General, Tools, Hardware, Sharing, Security, Previous Versions, Quota, Customize, and ReadyBoost
When the volume was FAT32, there were six tabs. What are the names of the new tabs that were added after the volume was converted to NTFS?
Security and Quota
c. Click Cancel to close the ITE (I:) Properties window.
Step 8: Display the properties of the ITE Test Document.
a. Open the ITE (I:) drive. Right-click on the ITE Test Document, then select Properties from the dropdown menu.
Questions:
What are the tabs in the ITE Test Document Properties window?
General, Security, Details, Previous Versions
When the volume was FAT32, there were three tabs. What is the name of the new tab that was added after the volume was converted to NTFS?
Security
b. Close all open windows.
Reflection Question
Why is there an additional Security tab in the properties window of documents stored on an NTFS volume?
Answers will vary. NTFS incorporates additional security features and extended attributes. The security tab provides a way to display and change permissions of the documents.