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Windows 7 Disk Management: How to Access & Use it
Disk Management can also help you extend or shrink partitions
5 min. read
Updated onOctober 4, 2023
updated onOctober 4, 2023
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Key notes
The Windows 7 Disk Management tool is extremely helpful because it allows you to partition the drives, change the drive letter, or format them. In this article, we will show you how to access Disk Management in Windows 7 and use it.
If you’re wondering where is Disk Management in Windows 7, its executable file is diskmgmt.msc and you can find it in the System32 folder on your PC:C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc.
How do I get to Disk Management in Windows 7?
1. Using the search field
This is probably the easiest and quickest way of starting Disk Management whether you’re running Windows 7, 10 or 11.
2. Using the Run console
3. Using Control Panel
4. Using Command Prompt
Exploring the User Interface of Windows 7 Disk Management
In the upper part, you have the command tabs, and right below, you will see the list of your volumes with their drive letter, type, file system, status, capacity, free space on each one in data volume, and percentage.
You will also notice that your partitions will also feature the operating systems, whether you have one or more on the same PC.
Right below, you will have the color-coded list of drives and the partitions on each one. On the bottom, the Disk Management interface shows you the color map.
The disk partitions can be modified, extended, or merged, as long as they have the same file system. You can’t merge an NTFS partition with a FAT partition unless you delete or convert one of them first.
We also have a helpful guide onhow to resize a partition without losing dataif that’s what you’re looking for.
How do I use Disk Management in Windows 7?
All the functions of the tool are available at a right click away. Select the drive you want to modify, right-click on it, and you will see all the available options.
For instance, to delete a volume, right-click on that volume, and select Delete from the drop-down menu.
If you have unallocated space on your disk, you may either create a simple volume or extend an adjacent partition to its left with the amount of space of the unallocated one.
Right-click on the volume to its left and select Extend Volume. The app will detect and add the unallocated volume to its right.
With Disk Management, you can only extend the partition to the left of the unallocated disk space, whereas more advanced tools will allow you more options.
What are the differences between Basic and Dynamic Disk?
Some of our readers ranked us if they should go for a Basic Disk or a Dynamic Disk. By default, when setting up a disk, the settings lead you to a basic one and if you have a simple PC for personal use, it’s the simplest way to go.
The main difference between basic and dynamic disks is that basic disks are structured in partitions, and dynamic disks can be split into volumes. Basic drives can have a maximum of four partitions (three primary and one extended).
Dynamic disks can have an infinite number of volumes. You will also benefit from advanced features like disk spanning, software RAID, fault tolerance, and more so they are used by more advanced users in complex hardware environments.
Why is Disk Management not working?
These are the main problems why this app is not working but luckily, our guide onhow to fix Disk Management issueswill help you straighten things out.
We hope that our guide provided useful information on how to access the Disk Management utility in Windows 7 and how to use it.
If the built-in tool is not up to your standards, you may also check our list of thebest disk management tools for Windows.
Feel free to use the comments section below if you have any questions about any of the information provided.
More about the topics:disk management
Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, Claudiu is focused on whatever comes new from Microsoft.
His abrupt interest in computers started when he saw the first Home Computer as a kid. However, his passion for Windows and everything related became obvious when he became a sys admin in a computer science high school.
With 14 years of experience in writing about everything there is to know about science and technology, Claudiu also likes rock music, chilling in the garden, and Star Wars. May the force be with you, always!
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Claudiu Andone
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Oldtimer in the tech and science press, with 14 years of experience in writing on everything there is to know about science, technology, and Microsoft
