What's the DiskPart utility?

A. DiskPart is similar to the MS-DOS Fdisk utility, which lets you create and view partitions from the command line. However, DiskPart does much more than Fdisk. In addition, the DiskPart UI matches the graphical interface of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Disk Management snap-in.

DiskPart is part of the Win2K Server Resource Kit and the Win2K Professional Resource Kit. (Microsoft includes DiskPart as a core utility in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.) You can download the tool for free from Microsoft's Web site.

To run DiskPart, type

diskpart

at the command prompt, then press Enter. Rather than relying on command-line execution, you actually run commands inside the DiskPart environment. When you're finished, type

exit

to leave the DiskPart environment. For example, the screen might display

   C:Documents and Settingsjohn>diskpart   Microsoft DiskPart version 1.0   Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation.   On computer: TRINITY   DISKPART> exit   Leaving DiskPart...   C:Documents and Settingsjohn>

during a DiskPart session.