Книга: Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage, Security, & Networking Pocket Consultant

Managing virtual hard disks

Managing virtual hard disks

By using Disk Management, you can create, attach, and detach VHDs. You can create a VHD by choosing Create VHD from the Action menu. In the Create And Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialog box, tap or click Browse. Use the Browse Virtual Disk Files dialog box to select the location where you want to create the.vhd file for the VHD, and then tap or click Save.

In the Virtual Hard Disk Size list, enter the size of the disk in megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes. Specify whether the size of the VHD dynamically expands to its fixed maximum size as data is saved to it or instead uses a fixed amount of space regardless of the amount of data stored on it. When you tap or click OK, Disk Management creates the VHD.

The VHD is attached automatically and added as a new disk. To initialize the disk for use, press and hold or right-click the disk entry in Graphical View, and then tap or click Initialize Disk. In the Initialize Disk dialog box, the disk is selected for initialization. Specify the disk type as MBR or GPT, and then tap or click OK.

After initializing the disk, press and hold or right-click the unpartitioned space on the disk and create a volume of the appropriate type. After you create the volume, the VHD is available for use.

After you’ve created, attached, initialized, and formatted a VHD, you can work with a virtual disk in much the same way as you work with other disks. You can write data to and read data from a VHD. You can boot the computer from a VHD. You are able to take a VHD offline or put a VHD online by pressing and holding or right-clicking the disk entry in Graphical View and selecting Offline or Online, respectively. If you no longer want to use a VHD, you can detach it by pressing and holding or right-clicking the disk entry in Graphical View, selecting Detach VHD, and then tapping or clicking OK in the Detach Virtual Hard Disk dialog box.

You can use VHDs created with other programs as well. If you created a VHD using another program or have a detached VHD you want to attach, you can work with the VHD by completing the following steps:

1. In Disk Management, tap or click the Attach VHD option on the Action menu.

2. In the Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialog box, tap or click Browse. Use the Browse Virtual Disk Files dialog box to select the.vhd file for the VHD, and then tap or click Open.

3. If you want to attach the VHD in read-only mode, select Read-Only. Tap or click OK to attach the VHD.

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