CHANGE THE DRIVE LETTER FOR A VOLUME

10-27Lesson 1 Managing and Troubleshooting Disks and Volumes

Lesson Summary

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Windows XP Professional supports two types of disk storage: basic disks and

dynamic disks. Portable computers support only basic disks. All disks are basic

disks by default. When you need to take advantage of the functionality that

dynamic disks provide, you must upgrade the basic disks to dynamic disks

(remember that this feature is available only in Windows XP Professional and Win-

dows 2000 Professional). You can perform this operation with no loss of data.

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Windows XP Professional provides the Disk Management utility to configure,

manage, and monitor hard disks and volumes. Using this utility, you can accom-

plish tasks such as the creation and formatting of volumes, moving disks from one

computer to another, and remote disk management.

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You can manage disks on a remote computer by using Computer Management to

connect to that computer. After connecting to the remote computer, you can use

the Disk Management tool in the same way as on a local computer.

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You can manage disks from the command line by using the Diskpart command.

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Disk Management displays the status of disks and volumes. Using this status dis-

play, you can quickly determine whether disks are healthy, have errors, or are

offline or missing.

Lesson 2: Managing Compression

Windows XP Professional supports two types of compression: NTFS compression

and the Compressed Folders feature. NTFS compression enables you to compress

files, folders, or an entire drive. NTFS compressed files and folders occupy less space

on an NTFS-formatted volume, which enables you to store more data. Each file and

folder on an NTFS volume has a compression state, which is either compressed or

uncompressed. The Compressed Folders feature allows you to create a compressed

folder so that all files you store in that folder are automatically compressed.

After this lesson, you will be able to■

Explain the purpose of compressed folders.

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Compress files, folders, or volumes by using NTFS compression.

Estimated lesson time: 60 minutes

What Is the Compressed Folders Feature?

The Compressed Folders feature is new in Windows XP Professional and allows you to

compress folders, while retaining the ability to view and work with their contents.

To create a compressed folder, start Windows Explorer, click File, click New, and then

click Compressed (Zipped) Folder. This creates a compressed folder in the current folder.

You can drag and drop files into the compressed folder and the files are automatically

compressed. If you copy a file from the compressed folder to another that is not com-

pressed, that file will no longer be compressed. A zipper icon is shown, marking com-

pressed folders (see Figure 10-13), and these folders are labeled Compressed Folder.

Benefits of using compressed folders generated with the Compressed Folders feature

include the following:

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You can create and use compressed files and folders on both file allocation table

(FAT) and NTFS volumes.

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You can open files directly from the compressed folders and you can run some

programs directly from compressed folders.

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You can move these compressed files and folders to any drive or folder on your

computer, the Internet, or your network and they are compatible with other zip

programs.

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You can encrypt compressed folders that you created using this feature.

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You can compress folders without decreasing performance.

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You can compress individual files only by storing them in a compressed folder. If you

move or extract the files into an uncompressed folder, they will be uncompressed.