Volume (computing)

Volume (computing)

In the context of computer operating systems, a volume or logical drive is a single accessible storage area with a single file system, typically (though not necessarily) resident on a single partition of a hard disk. Although a volume can be different from a physical disk drive, it can be still accessed with an operating system's logical interface. However, a volume differs from a partition. In Linux systems, volumes are usually handled by the Logical Volume Manager or the Enterprise Volume Management System and manipulated using mount(8). In NT-based versions of Microsoft Windows, volumes are handled by the kernel and managed using the Disk Management MMC snap-in.