How to Add a Virtual Hard Disk to Windows7

One way to have a separate drive is to create a partition. For that, you would need a partition creating program. But there is another way to create a separate hard drive. You can create a virtual hard drive in Windows 7. This is one of the new features added to Windows 7. The Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format is an image format specification that creates a virtual hard disk incorporated in a single file. It is capable of hosting different native file systems and also providing support for standard disk and file operations.

Here are the steps necessary to create that virtual hard disk.

Dskmgmt.msc

[2] Go to Administrative Tools

In Administrative Tools - Disk Management

[3] Now Create VHD

Start the Create VHD operation

[4] Create And Attach Virtual Hard Disk

[5] Create a New Folder

Set Up A New Folder

[6] Location of virtual hard drive

Location Of Virtual Hard Drive

[7] The New Virtual Hard Drive is Created

New Virtual Hard Drive

[8] Now you must attach VHD

Attach VHD

[9] Locate  and Attach the hard drive

Locate and Attach

[10] VHD – Unallocated Drive. The Drive is created but not allocated.

VHD-Unallocated

[11] Initialize the Disk

To Make the Disk Available Initialize the Disk

[12] Initialize the Disk so the Local Disk Manager can access it.

Initialize Disk With Details

[13]

Start The Volume Wizard

[14] Set the Volume Size

Set the Volume Size

[15] Set the Drive Letter

Drive Letter

[16] Format Partition

Format Partition

[17] The Format is Complete

Complete

[18] The New Volume Displayed

The New Volume

The Virtual Hard Drive is now available to be used. It can be accessed as the other drives on the system.