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Windows 10: This new Settings feature makes managing your disks and volumes easier

Microsoft is offering Windows 10 users a modern take on its Disk Management tool.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

Microsoft's latest effort to improve the Settings experience in Windows 10 focuses on bringing disk management into the control interface.

After making optional Windows 10 updates visible in the Settings app last month, Microsoft is now working on bringing what it calls a "modern" take to its Disk Management console or "snap-in" tool, which is used to manage hard disks and the volumes and partitions they contain. 

Disk Management within the Settings app arrived in preview build 20197 of Windows 10 for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

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"As of today's build you'll now be able to manage your disks and volumes from within the Settings app," said Brandon LeBlanc, a senior program manager for the Windows Insider Program.  

Users will be able to view disk information, create and format volumes, and assign drive letters. The new Disk Management experience in the Settings app enhances accessibility features and integrates more tightly with the RAID-like Storage Spaces disk protection software and the Windows 10 Storage breakdown page. 

Storage Spaces is a feature of Windows and Windows Server that supports systems with multiple drives and lets users bundle up separate drives to create a pool of storage space and protect data from drive failures.      

To test the new take on Disk Management, users can go to Settings > System > Storage and click Manage Disks and Volumes. 

For now the current Disk Management Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in is still available for people who need it.

Microsoft has also decided to pull back the new Tips app it started testing with Insiders in the preview Build 20190 from earlier this month.

The company dubbed it the "new post-update experience", which highlights new features in a feature upgrade that users may not have been aware of. 

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It's not clear whether Microsoft plans to continue with the Tips app at a later stage or reformulate the experience with some future tools. 

According to Le Blanc, it was a "trial run" to get feedback and gauge interest and was "specific only to Build 20190". Insiders will definitely not see the Tips app in newer builds, but LeBlanc notes that participants "may see other experiences like this one on newer builds coming soon".

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The new Disk Management experience in Settings lets users view disk information, create and format volumes, and assign drive letters.  

Image: Microsoft
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