How to Create a Simple Volume

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the term simple volume has been expanded to include both partitions on basic disks and simple volumes on dynamic disks. If your only need is a simple volume, your best choice is a basic disk because a simple volume doesn't use the advanced features of a dynamic disk.

To create a simple volume, open the Disk Management snap-in and follow these steps:

1. Right-click an unallocated space on one of the disks and then click New Simple Volume. The New Simple Volume Wizard appears.
2. Click Next. On the Specify Volume Size page, enter the size of volume you want to create in megabytes. The default is the maximum space available on the disk. Click Next.
3. On the Assign Drive Letter Or Path page, assign a drive letter or mount point. Click Next.
4. On the Format Partition page, choose the formatting options for the volume and then click Next.
5. Click Finish on the summary page of the wizard and the volume will be created and formatted according to your selections.

Note The Disk Management snap-in always creates simple volumes on dynamic disks or primary partitions on basic GPT disks. For basic MBR disks, the first three volumes created will be primary partitions. The fourth simple volume on a basic MBR disk is created as an extended partition and a logical drive. Further simple volumes on the basic MBR disk are logical drives.

Creating simple volumes using the command line or a script requires that you know whether the disk you're creating the volume on is a dynamic or basic disk. The DiskPart tool is not as flexible as the Disk Management snap-in, which automatically adjusts to create either a volume or a partition depending on the disk type. With DiskPart, you must create a partition on a basic disk and a volume on a dynamic disk.