DiskPart (Windows 7)

Disk Administration, Partition a disk. This page documents the Windows 7/2008 version of Diskpart, an earlier version of Diskpart is supplied in the 2003 Resource kit with a reduced set of options.

Syntax
      DISKPART

Commands you may then issue at the DISKPART prompt:

 LIST Disk
 LIST Partition
 LIST Volume

 SELECT Disk=n
 SELECT Partition=n
 SELECT Volume=n_or_d  (Number or Drive Letter)

 DETAIL Disk
 DETAIL Partition
 DETAIL volume

 ACTIVE  (set the current in-focus partition to be the system partition)
 ASSIGN         (allocate the next free drive letter)
 ASSIGN LETTER=E   (Choose a free letter)
 ATTRIBUTES DISK [{set | clear}] [readonly] [noerr]
 ATTRIBUTES VOLUME [{set | clear}] [{hidden | readonly | nodefaultdriveletter | shadowcopy}] [noerr]
 AUTOMOUNT [enable] [disable] [scrub] [noerr]
 FILESYSTEMS     (Use 'Select Volume' first)
 HELP
 INACTIVE   (mark a system/boot partition as inactive [don’t boot], use 'Select Partition' first)
 OFFLINE disk [noerr] (Take the current disc offline, use 'Select Disk' first)
 ONLINE {disk|volume} [noerr]
 REM  (remark/comment)
 REMOVE letter=E [dismount] [noerr]  (Remove drive letter E from the in-focus partition)
 REMOVE mount=path [dismount] [noerr]  (Remove mount point from the in-focus partition)
 REMOVE /ALL [dismount] [noerr]    (Remove ALL current drive letters and mount points)
 RESCAN     (Locate new disks that have been added to the computer)
 SHRINK [desired=n] [minimum=n] [nowait] [noerr]  (Reduce the size of the in-focus volume)
 SHRINK querymax [noerr]
 EXIT
 UNIQUEID disk [id={dword | GUID}] [noerr]   (Display or set the GUID partition table identifier
                                              or MBR signature for the disk with focus)

Commands to Manage Basic Disks:

 ASSIGN MOUNT=path  (Choose a mount point path for the volume)

 CREATE PARTITION Primary Size=50000  (50 GB)
 CREATE PARTITION Extended Size=25000
 CREATE PARTITION logical Size=25000
 DELETE Partition
 EXTEND Size=10000
 GPT attributes=n   (assign GUID Partition Table attributes)
 SET id=byte|GUID [override] [noerr]   (Change the partition type)

Commands to Manage Dynamic Disks:

 ADD disk=n   (Add a mirror to the in-focus SIMPLE volume on the specified disk
               see 'Diskpart Help' for more.)
 BREAK disk=n  (Break the current in-focus mirror)
 CREATE VOLUME Simple Size=n Disk=n
 CREATE VOLUME Stripe Size=n Disk=n,n,...
 CREATE VOLUME Raid Size=n Disk=n,n,...
 DELETE DISK
 DELETE PARTITION
 DELETE VOLUME
 EXTEND Disk=n [Size=n]
 EXTEND Filesystem [noerr]
 IMPORT [noerr]   (Import a foreign disk group, use 'Select Disc' first)
 RECOVER [noerr]  (Refresh disc pack state, attempt recovery on an invalid pack,
                   & resynchronize stale plex/parity data.)
 REPAIR disk=n [align=n] [noerr]  (Repair the RAID-5 volume with focus, replace with the specified dynamic disk)
 RETAIN   (Prepare an existing dynamic simple volume to be used as a boot or system volume)

Commands to Convert Disks

 CONVERT basic
 CONVERT dynamic
 CONVERT gpt
 CONVERT mbr
 CLEAN [ALL]   (remove all partition and volume info from the hard drive)
 FORMAT [{fs=ntfs|fat|fat32] [revision=x.xx] | recommended}]
           [label="label"] [unit=n] [quick] [compress]
              [override] [nowait] [noerr]

The diskpart commands may be placed in a text file (one command per line) and used as an input file to diskpart.exe:

DiskPart.exe < myscript.txt 

Example:

SELECT DISK=0
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
ASSIGN LETTER=E
SELECT PARTITION=1
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="New Volume" QUICK
EXIT 

noerr - This option is for scripting only. With noerr set, when an error is encountered, DiskPart will continue to process commands as if the error did not occur. Without this parameter, an error causes DiskPart to exit with an error code.

When selecting a volume or partition, you may use either the number or drive letter or the mount point path.

The Windows Recovery Console, includes a simplified DISKPART command. It only provides functionality for adding and deleting partitions, but not for setting an active partition.

Always back up the hard disk before running diskpart.

“Divide et impera” ~ Latin saying (Divide and conquer)

Related:

Q325590 - Use Diskpart.exe to extend a data volume
Q300415 - Diskpart for Win XP
FSUTIL - File and Volume utilities
DISKSHADOW - Volume Shadow Copy Service
Equivalent bash command (Linux): fdisk - Partition table manipulator for Linux