Manage disks

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This article and the related topics show you how to use Disk Management to manage the disks in a computer. It includes information about how Windows manages the online status of new disks.

Online and offline status

Disk Management displays whether a disk is online (available) or offline.

• In Windows, by default, all newly discovered disks are brought online with read and write access.
• In Windows Server, by default, newly discovered disks are brought online with read and write access unless they're on a shared bus (such as SCSI, iSCSI, Serial Attached SCSI, or Fibre Channel). Disks on a shared bus are offline the first time they're detected.

If a disk is offline, you must bring it online before you can initialize it or create volumes on it.

To bring a disk online or take it offline, follow these steps.

1. Open Disk Management. In the search box on the taskbar, enter Computer Management and select Storage > Disk Management.
2. Right-click the disk name, then select the appropriate action.

Related topics

• Initialize new disks
• Move disks to another computer
• Change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk
• Covert an MBR disk into a GPT disk
• Convert a GPT disk into an MBR disk
• Manage Virtual Hard Disks