Volume

Updated: 01/31/2023 by Computer Hope

A volume may refer to any of the following:

Speaker volume controls

1. With sound, volume refers to the amplitude of the sound being projected from a speaker. The picture shows two knobs that change the volume level: one controls the subwoofer, and the other controls the main (overall) sound volume. Turn the knob to the right or clockwise to increase the sound level. Turn the knob to the left or counterclockwise to decrease the sound level.

2. With data storage, a volume refers to a logical drive (e.g., hard drive), which has a single file system and is usually on a single partition. For instance, on a typical Microsoft Windows computer, the volume named C: contains the operating system. In Windows, any drive which has an assigned drive letter is a volume.

C: volume on a Windows 10 computer, viewed in the File Explorer

3. In the Windows, MS-DOS, and OS/2 operating systems, the vol command displays the volume label and the serial number of a volume.

Output of the vol command executed in the Windows 10 command prompt

Hardware terms, Sound terms