Manage disks

Applies To: Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

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.