Manage disks with DiskPart

Warning: The commands available in the DiskPart utility have the potential to cause data loss. Proceed with caution.

Access DiskPart

Note: Your user account must have administrator privileges to use DiskPart.

To access DiskPart, use the following steps:

1. Open an elevated, or Administrator, PowerShell window by using one of the following methods:

   • Use the Start button: Right-click the Start button and click Windows PowerShell (Admin).
   • Use the search function: Type PowerShell. Right-click Windows PowerShell under Apps in the results and choose Run as Administrator.

2. In the PowerShell window, type diskpart and press Enter.

If successful, you should have a prompt that looks like this: DISKPART>

Note: You can also access DiskPart by running the cmd command to access the command prompt.

List disk and partition details

Use the following instructions to access disk and partition details.

Disk information

From the DiskPart prompt, type list disk and press Enter.

This command returns the Disk Number, Status, Total Size, Free Space, whether it is a Dynamic Disk, and if the partition table is GPT.

Partition information

1. From the DiskPart prompt, type select disk #, replacing the # symbol with the number of the disk found in the Disk Information section.

2. After you select a disk, type list partition and press Enter.

This command returns the Partition Number, Type, Size, and Offset from the start of the disk.

Important: The Primary partition typically stores user and operating system (OS) data. The system creates partitions with the types Recovery, System, and Reserved, so you should not alter these partitions.

Important DiskPart commands

The following list describes common DiskPart commands:

Note: These commands run on the selected disk/partition, as previously described.

• Create: Used to create a partition, a volume, or a virtual hard disk (VHD).

  • Example commands:

  create partition

  create volume

  create vdisk

• Delete: Used to delete a partition or volume (Running this command causes all data on the partition or volume to be lost).

  • Example commands:

  delete disk

  delete partition

  delete volume

• Format: Used to format a partition or volume by using the specified file system (Running this command causes all data on the partition or volume to be lost).

  • Example command:

  format d:

• Clean: Removes any formatting on the partition or volume (Running this command causes all data on the partition or volume to be lost).

  • Example commands:

  clean

  clean all

• Convert: Used to convert a FAT or FAT32 partition or volume to NTFS while keeping data intact.

  • Example command:

  convert d: /fs:ntfs /v

• Online: Sets a disk's status to ONLINE.

  • Example commands:

  online disk

  online volume

• Offline: Sets a disk's status to OFFLINE.

  • Example commands:

  offline disk

  offline volume

• Exit: Exits DiskPart and returns you to a PowerShell prompt.

  • Example:

  exit