Lab 3: Managing Disks and File Systems

Overview:
This lab contains the following activities:
 Formatting a Partition
 Converting FAT32 Partitions to NTFS
 Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
 Examining Drive Properties
 Using NTFS Compression
 Using EFS Encryption
 Assigning Disk Quotas

Scenario:
Currently, the workstations in the Labs, all have one partition and use basic disks. Backups of
data are completed by backing up selected parts of the system partition.
To make backing up data simpler, and to make disaster recovery easier by separating data and
operating system partitions, you need to create dynamic disks with NTFS simple volumes. There
will be an operating system (OS) volume and a data volume on each computer. This will allow
data backup to be performed by making backups of a particular drive and will make installing a
new OS (if necessary in the event of a disaster) easier without disturbing data.

Objectives:
After completing this lab, you will be able to:
 Manage hard disks using the Computer Management console.
 Create and format partitions.
 Convert basic disks to dynamic disks.
 Use NTFS compression.
 Use Encrypting File System (EFS) encryption.
 Assign disk quotas.
 Use Disk Tools.

This lab uses the variable xx to refer to your number so that your computer name is referred to as
Computerxx and your student identity as Studentxx. You are asked to pair with another student
in this lab. Your partner's number will be referred to as yy.
By default, Windows OS hides certain files and folders. This lab asks you to access some of
these files. If they are hidden, a message in the Windows Explorer pane in which you are trying
to access them will read "These Files Are Hidden;' To show the files, in the task pane on the left,
in the System Tasks section, select Show The Contents Of This Folder. The files and folders will
appear. Once you have completed this task once, you will not have to do so again for this user
account. Also, this lab uses the Internet to update Windows. You might receive security
warnings while using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Answer affirmatively to these messages to
allow the lab to continue.
Task 1: Formatting A Partition
To create a data partition, you need to format the unpartitioned space remaining on your hard
drive. To allow backward compatibility to legacy disk management tools, you need to format this
partition using the FAT32 file system.
1. Log on to System with your student account.
2. From the Start menu, select Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, click Performance And Maintenance.
4. In the Or Pick A Control Panel Icon section, click Administrative Tools.
5. In the Administrative Tools window, right-click Computer Management and select Run
As.
6. In the Run As dialog box, select The Following User.
7. In the User Name text box, ensure that Computerxx\Administrator (this should be the
default that appears) is entered. In the Password text box, type your password. Click OK.
TIP: When performing administrative tasks, it is a good practice to log on to a computer
with an ordinary user or domain user account, and then to use Run As to apply
credentials with the appropriate permissions. This helps to limit the chances of a
malicious program running with Administrator privileges and also limits the damage that
somebody else could do if you were to neglect to log off.
8. In the Computer Management console, in the console tree, under Storage, select Disk
Management.
9. In the graphical view pane, in Disk 0, select the unallocated disk space. A hatch pattern
will appear on the graphical representation of the unallocated space, as shown in the
following figure.

Note: the C: partition does not have the same size as the partition you created.
10. From the Action menu, point to All Tasks, and then select New Partition.
11. In the New Partition Wizard, on the Welcome page, click Next.
12. On the Select Partition Type page, ensure that Primary Partition is selected, read the
description provided. and then click Next.
Question 1: How many primary partitions can a basic disk contain?
13. Click Next.
14. On the Specify Partition Size page, in the Partition Size In MB text box, type 6000. Click
Next.
NOTE It is important that there be a small amount of space left over. When a basic disk
is converted to a dynamic disk (which you will do later in the lab), 1 megabyte (MB) of
empty space is required to create a database. Windows 2000 and Windows XP reserve 1
MB or one cylinder, whichever is greater, when creating partitions on a hard drive. Other
0S’s, however, might not reserve any room, making the conversion impossible without
resizing the partitions to leave some empty space.
15. On the Assign Drive Letter Or Path page, select Do Not Assign A Drive Letter Or Drive
Path and then click Next. (You are not instructed to select a drive path at this point only
so that you can be shown how to assign a drive letter through the Disk Management
interface later.)
16. On the Format Partition page, ensure that Format This Partition With The Following
Settings is selected. In the File System drop-down list, select FAT32. In the Volume
Label text box, type Data.
17. Select the Perform A Quick Format check box. Your settings should match those in the
following figure.
18. Click Next.
19. On the Completing The New
Partition Wizard page, review
the summary and then click
Finish. After a few moments, in
the graphical view pane, a
representation of the new
partition should appear and be
labeled DATA. The new drive
configuration should look like
this:

Note: the C: partition does not have the same size as the partition you created.
20. In the graphical view pane, right-click DATA and then select Change Drive Letter And
Paths.

21. In the Change Drive Letter And Paths For DATA dialog box, click Add.

22. In the Add Drive Letter Or Path dialog box, ensure that Assign The Following Drive
Letter is selected, and in the drop-down list, select L. Click OK.

23. Leave the Computer Management console as is for the next exercise.

Task-2: Converting FAT32 Partitions To NTFS

The Labs has upgraded its disk utility software and no longer requires backward compatibility to
FAT32. Therefore, all partitions that are FAT32 are to be converted to NTFS.
1. In the Computer Management console, in the graphical view pane, right-click the DATA
(L:) partition and then select Open.

NOTE The Disk Management console may also be opened with the command
diskmgmt.msc. From the Start menu, select Run, and type the command in the Open text
box.
2. In the DATA (L:) window, from the File menu, point to New and then select Text
Document.

3. Name the text document Data.txt.

4. Close the DATA (L:) window.

5. From the Start menu, point to All Programs, Accessories, right-click Command Prompt,
and then select Run As.

6. In the Run As dialog box, enter your local administrator credentials (user ID and
password) and then click OK.

7. At the command prompt, type convert L: /fs:ntfs and then press ENTER.

8. At the Enter Current Volume Label For Drive L: prompt, type Data and then press
ENTER. The following figure shows an example of this command being executed.

9. Close the command

prompt window.

10. In the Computer

Management console, in
the graphical view pane,
right-click the DATA (L)
partition and then select
Open.

Question 2: Did the data on the

partition survive the conversion
from FAT32 to NTFS?
11. Close all windows except
the Computer Management console, which is used in the next exercise.

Task 3: Converting A Basic Disk To A Dynamic Disk

Technical support has decided to convert basic disks on some computers used as file servers to
dynamic disks to take advantage of their greater flexibility. This will allow drives to be mounted
in shared folders, among other things, such as software-based RAID.
The computers where the drives need to be converted are not easily accessible, so you need to
connect to them remotely to make the changes.
The following steps will convert the basic disk on your partner's computer to a dynamic disk.
1. If the Computer Management console is not currently open, open it using your local
Administrator credentials.
2. In the Computer Management console, in the console tree, right-click Computer
Management (Local) and then select Connect To Another Computer.
3. In the Select Computer dialog box, ensure that Another Computer is selected and type
Computeryy (this is the computer number of your partner) in the text box. Click OK.
4. In the Computer Management console, in the console tree, expand Storage and then
select Disk Management.
5. In the Graphical view pane, right-click Disk 0 and then select Convert To Dynamic Disk.
6. In the Convert To Dynamic Disk dialog box, ensure that the Disk 0 check box is selected
and then click OK.
7. In the Disks To Convert dialog box, shown in the following figure, click Convert.

8. In the Disk
Management message
box, click Yes to
indicate that you want
to convert.
9. In the Convert Disk To
Dynamic message box
warning that file
systems on the
converted disks will be
dismounted, click Yes
to continue the
Operation.

IMPORTANT
When you click OK in the next step, your partner's computer will restart.
10. In the Confirm text box indicating that the computer needs to restart, click OK.
11. On the computer that just restarted you will see a message about having to restart again
do so.
12. Once the computer has restarted again have your partner log on to Contoso with his
student account. Upon logging on, the computer might want to restart again. If so, restart,
and log on again the same way.
13. Once your partner's computer has restarted, on your computer, in the Computer
Management console, from the Action menu, select Refresh.
14. In the Disk Management message box, click Yes to reconnect.
Question 3: In the graphical view pane, what word has changed in the Disk 0 graphical
representation?
15. Close all open windows.

Task 4: Examining Drive Properties

A computer that is primarily used as a file server for critical data needs to be secured against data
loss. To accomplish this, you need to disable write caching on its hard disk.
NOTE: Write caching delays writing data to the disk until the OS decides that it is necessary. In
the meantime, changes to the disk are cached, or stored, in memory. This saves time by
performing costly write instructions in batches. However, if the computer loses power or halts,
any data in the cache will not be written to the disk and will be lost.
1. Open the Computer Management console with the local Administrator credentials, and
access Disk Management.
2. In the graphical view pane, right-click Disk 0 and then select Properties.
3. In the Drive Properties dialog box, in the Policies tab, clear the Enable Write Caching On
The Disk check box.
4. Click the Volumes tab and fill in the following table;
Disk
Type
Status
Partition Style
Capacity
Unallocated space
Reserved space

Question 4: How many volumes are on Drive 0 and what are their names?
5. Close all open windows.

Task 5: Using NTFS Compression

The department uses lots of image files, which are quite large. To save room, they had been
saving images as .jpg files, but noticed degradation in the images when they were printed.
They have therefore decided to use Windows bitmap (.bmp) files to store images, which are
uncompressed. You need to implement NTFS compression, to save space, on a folder in which
they store the .bmp images.
Note: NTFS compression is a type of compression known as nonlossy. Nonlossy
compression is compression that does not lose data. In other words, nonlossy compressed
data, when uncompressed, looks exactly like the original data. Lossy compression,
however, loses data in the interest of compression. An example of lossy compression
is .jpg compression. Images encoded in the JFEG File Interchange Format do not contain
the same data as the original file when uncompressed, and the quality of the image is
therefore reduced.
1. From the Start menu, select My Computer.
2. In the My Computer window, browse to C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Shared
Documents.
3. In the Shared Documents folder, from the File menu, point to New and select Folder.
4. Name the folder Brochure Images.
5. Right-click Brochure Images and then select Properties.
6. In the Brochure Images Properties dialog box, on the General tab, click Advanced.
7. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, select the Compress Contents To Save Disk Space
check box, as seen in the following figure. Click OK.
NOTE: Remember that it is not possible to select both the Compress Contents To Save Disk
Space check box and the Encrypt Contents To Secure Data check box simultaneously. It is not
possible to use NTFS compression to compress data encrypted using EFS, or vice versa.

8. In the Brochure Images Properties

dialog box, click OK.
Question 6: What color is the font for the
Brochure Images folder?
9. In the Shared Documents folder,
right-click blank space, point to
New, and then select Bitmap
Image.
10. Name the image Picure1.bmp.
11. Right-click Picture1.bmp, and then
select Edit.
12. In Microsoft Paint, from the Image
menu, select Attributes.
13. In the Attributes dialog box, in the Width and Height text boxes, type 2048, as shown in
the following example, and then click OK.

14. From the File menu, select Save.

15. Close Microsoft Paint.
16. In the Shared Documents folder, right-click
Picture1.bmp and then select Properties.
Question 7: How large is the Picture1.bmp file on the
disk?
17. Close the Picture1.bmp Properties dialog box.
18. In the Shared Documents folder, move the
Picture1.bmp file into the Brochure Images
folder by dragging the file into the folder.
19. Open the Brochure Images folder.
20. In the Brochure Images folder, right-click Picture1.bmp and then select Properties.
Question 8: The image file has been moved into a folder using NTFS compression. Why isn't the
file any smaller?
21. Close the Picturel.bmp Properties dialog box.
22. Right-click Picture1.bmp, and then select Cut.
23. Click the Up icon in the standard buttons toolbar (a folder with a green arrow on it).
24. In the Shared Documents folder, from the Edit menu, select Paste.
25. Right-click Picture1.bmp, and then select Copy.
26. Open the Brochure Images folder.
27. From the Edit menu, select Paste.
28. Right-click Picture1.bmp, and then select Properties.
Question 9: What is the size on disk of the Picure1.bmp file now?
Question 10: Why did the file shrink, when it remained full size when it was moved?
29. Close the Picture1.bmp Properties dialog box.

30. Click the Up icon in the standard buttons toolbar to return to the Shared Documents
folder for the next exercise.

Task 6: Using NTFS Encryption

The graphic design team is working on a brochure for proprietary software. The software is
expected to give the company an edge over other companies, and management is very paranoid
about keeping the new concepts secret. To help protect this data, you need to create an encrypted
data store using EFS on the computers of all the members of the graphic design team who are
assigned to the project.
1. In the Shared Documents folder, from the File menu, point to New and select Folder.
2. Name the folder Sensitive Data.
3. Right-click the Sensitive Data folder and then select Properties.
4. In the Sensitive Data Properties dialog box, on the General tab, click Advanced.
5. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, select the Encrypt Contents To Secure Data check
box. Click OK.
6. Click OK in the Sensitive Data Properties dialog box.
Question 11: What color is the font for the Sensitive Data folder?
7. In the Shared Documents folder from the file menu, point to New and then select Text
Document.
8. Name the document Sensitive Text.txt.
9. Open the Sensitive Text.txt file.
10. In Notepad, type Encrypted Data.
11. From the File menu, select Exit. When asked if you want to save changes, click Yes.
12. In the Shared Documents folder, move the Sensitive Data.txt file to the Sensitive Data
folder.
13. Open the Sensitive Data folder.
14. Open the Sensitive Text.txt text file.
Question 12: Can you read the Sensitive Text.txt file?
15. Close Notepad.
16. Minimize the Sensitive Data folder.
17. From the Start menu, select Run.
18. In the Run dialog box, in the Open text box, type mmc.
19. In the Console 1 console, from the File menu, select Add/Remove Snap-In.
20. In the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box, click Add.
21. In the Add Standalone Snap-In dialog box, select Certificates and then click Add. Click
Close.
22. In the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box, click OK.
23. In the console tree, expand Certificates, Personal, and then select Certificates. An
example from Computer26 is shown in the following figure.
24. In the Details pane, on the
right-hand side, right-click
the certificate and then
select Delete.
25. In the Certificates message
box, click Yes to delete the
certificate.
26. Close the Console 1
console, and click No when
asked if you want to save
changes.
27. Log off and log back on to Contoso with your Student credentials.
28. Open the Sensitive Data folder (C:\Documents And Settings\All
Users\Documents\Sensitive Data).
29. In the Sensitive Data folder, open Sensitive Text.txt
Question 13: What occurs when you try to open the Sensitive Text.txt file and why?
Task 7: Assigning Disk Quotas
A multiuser workstation with user data stored on a local data drive is in danger of running out of
storage space. Some of the users are downloading images from the Internet, which take a lot of
space and do not have any purpose besides entertainment.
First, you want all new users of the system to be limited by quotas. New users should be subject
to a disk quota of 500 MB. They should be warned when they have used more than 400 MB of
space. You also want a log of users who exceed the warning level so that you can ask them what
they are saving that is taking up so much space.
Also, you need to give the same quota to the existing local user Computerxx\ Studentxx.
1. Log off and log on with your local Administrator account.
2. From the Start menu, select My Computer.
3. In the My Computer window, right-click DATA (L:) and then select Properties.
4. In the DATA (L:) Properties dialog box, in the Quota tab, select the Enable Quota
Management check box.
5. Select Limit Disk Space To. In the corresponding text box, type 500, and in the drop-
down list, select MB.
6. In the Set Warning Level To check box, type 400, and in the drop-down list, select MB.
7. Select the Log Event When A User Exceeds Their Warning Level check box. The
following figure shows the correct settings.
8. Click Quota Entries
9. In the Quota Entries For DATA (L:) window, from the
Quota menu, select New Quota Entry
10. In the Select Users dialog box, in the Enter The Object
Names To Select (Examples) text box, type
Computerxx\Studentxx and then click OK.
11. In the Add New Quota Entry dialog box, select Limit Disk
Space To, and in the corresponding text box, type 500. Select
MB in the drop-down list.
12. In the Set Warning Level to text box, type 400 and select
MB in the drop-down list. You Quota tab should look like the one below. Click OK.
13. Close the Quota Entries For DATA (L:)
window.
14. Click OK in the DATA (L:) Properties
dialog box.
15. In the Disk Quota message box,
Question14: What does the message say in the
Disk Quota message Box?
16. Click OK to enable the quota system.
17. Close all open windows.

Task 8:
1. What formatting file system options does
Windows XP offer for hard drives using
basic disks?
2. When you converted the disk on your
partner's computer to a dynamic disk,
what type of volumes were created from
the existing primary partitions?
3. Once you instruct Windows to convert a
basic disk to a dynamic disk, you are warned that you will no longer be able to do what
on any volumes on the converted disk?
4. What happens when you move an unencrypted and uncompressed file into an EFS
encrypted folder or to an NTFS compressed folder?
5. What happens when you lose or remove a certificate issued for EFS?
6. When specifying disk quotas, for which two events can you enable logging?
Task 9:
You are working at the corporate help desk at Contoso, supporting users by phone. You have a
user that complains that it seems to take longer to load large Microsoft Excel files than it used to
on his computer. He also reports that he received an error while trying to load an Excel file the
other day, but when he rebooted, it loaded fine.
He has plenty of empty space on his hard drive. You ask him if he has ever defragmented his
hard drive, and he says that he has not. You have him print a report of the fragmentation status of
his hard drive, and this is what it says:
Volume size = 49.34 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 16.64 GB
Free space = 32.71 GB
Percent free space = 66 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 46 %
File fragmentation = 92 %
Free space fragmentation =0%

File fragmentation
Total files = 8,222
Average file size = 3 MB
Total fragmented files = 2,208
Total excess fragments = 20,280
Average fragments per file = 3.46

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 0 bytes
Total fragments =0

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 756
Fragmented folders = 28
Excess folder fragments = 222

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation

Total MFT size = 22 MB
MFT record count = 9,005
Percent MFT in use = 39 %
Total MFT fragments =3

Fragments File Size Most fragmented files

848 83 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\year_end_data.xls
251 50 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\War of the Species Project\Rhino Models\Deer\tutorial\Financial_projections.xls
134 536 KB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10
100 6 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0006069.cpl
100 6 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0004549.cpl
100 6 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008065.cpl
86 6 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\8\ch08da_p1.pdf
86 5 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\2\ch02da_p1.pdf
83 164 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0006180.msi
83 164 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008486.msi
83 164 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008176.msi
75 5 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{63100537-12E8-49FB-99DE-1483BB9C654D}\RP243\A0021414.exe
69 35 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\War of the SpeciesProject\New Folder (3)\dragon 002.3dm
68 4 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\4\ch04da_p1.pdf
60 4 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-296\grouppolwp.doc
60 23 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\War of the SpeciesProject\Rhino Models\elephant\Elephant 3-xxx.3dm
59 4 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0006167.dll
59 4 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008473.dll
59 4 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\6\ch06da_p1.pdf
59 4 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008163.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{63100537-12E8-49FB-99DE-1483BB9C654D}\RP243\A0021415.dll
55 3 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0006078.exe
55 3 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0004558.exe
55 3 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0008074.exe
54 3 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\10\ch10da_p1.pdf
51 3 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP5\A0005236.dll
51 3 MB \System Volume Information\_restore{A1768CD3-D50E-4D89-BF76-492D52D2A6F2}\RP10\A0006948.dll
51 3 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-296\Labs\11\WinXP\Display\nv4_disp.dll
50 3 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-272\Pages Reviews\5\ch05da_p1.pdf
49 3 MB \User Data\Owen\Documents\Work\als-296\Labs\11\WinXP\AudioUtl\SSWAV06.WAV

Question 1: Excel files use the .xls extension. Of how many fragments are the two .xls files in
the Most Fragmented Files list composed?
Question 2: What is the fragmentation percentage of all files on the volume?
After looking at the fragmentation status of his hard drive, you decide to run Chkdsk first and
then perform a defragmentation of his hard drive. To complete this lab challenge, you must do
the following:
1. Run Chkdsk on drive L:.
2. Output fragmentation information on drive L to a file on your desktop, and view the
information.
3. Defragment drive D.
After completing the defragmentation open the file you created in step 2 on your desktop (the file
name should be VoluemL.txt) and fill in the chart below:
Volume size
Used /space
Free Space
Percentage Free Space
Total Files
Average file size
Total MFT size
MFT record count
Percent MFT use
Total MFT fragments