Disk Concepts and Troubleshooting

Understanding disk structures is critical to maintaining your hard disks and troubleshooting disk-related problems. Use this guide to find the information you need to understand Windows 2000 disk configurations and how these configurations affect your fault tolerance and disaster recovery strategies.

 Determine whether to configure your hard disks as basic or dynamic.

Understand the differences between basic and dynamic disks. Determine the advantages and restrictions of each type of disk and which of these configurations best meets your needs.

• See Basic and Dynamic Disks in this chapter.

 Understand how disk sectors are used during system startup.

The master boot record (MBR) and the boot sector are critical to starting your computer. Review the structure of these sectors and how they affect the startup and use of your computer to help you troubleshoot a variety of disk problems.

• See Disk Sectors Critical to Startup in this chapter.

 Troubleshoot problems affecting your hard disks.

Disk structures, such as the MBR and boot sector, can become corrupted by viruses and other causes. Depending on the severity of the problem, you might need to run antivirus tools or repair or restore the MBR and boot sector.

• See Troubleshooting Disk Problems in this chapter.