Partitions and volumes are terms used to describe a block of disk space used to store files. These blocks of space must be reserved for a particular partition or volume and cannot be shared between other partitions and volumes. Before the partitions or volumes on a hard disk can store files they must be formatted with either a FAT or NTFS file system.

• The term partition is used to describe reserved regions of space on a basic disk. Volume is used to describe regions of reserved space on a dynamic disk.
• Not all dynamic volume types are supported in Windows 7.
  
  
  
  
• The common administrative tasks for partitions and volumes are:
• Creating Partitions and Volumes
• Deleting Partitions and Volumes
• Extending Partitions and Volumes
• Shrinking Partitions and Volumes