Converting USB disk to Dynamic

[Jason]

Hi there,

I am trying to convert 3 eternal USB disks to dynamic so I can RAID them. My
friend has done this on his PC by removing them from the USB enclosure and
then attaching them internally as IDE disks. He could then convert them to
dynamic, he then simply put the drives back in the USB enclosures and he has
dynamic disks. I cant do this as I have a laptop, I cant believe its
impossible but I have tried searching everywhere but cant find a solution
that work in Vista. I am running Vista Home Premium.

Does anyone have any ideas I could ty please?

Cheers

Jason

 

[Guest]

I don't think Vista Home Premium can recognize all types of Dynamic disks. I
have one that was created by my XP Pro 64-bit and whether installed as USB
drive or internal disk, my Vista Home Premium 64-bit would not recognize it.
(It was GUID disk. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/302873) I had
to reload XP Pro 64-bit on another drive in different computer to read drive
and network with Vista box to access data.

While researching this issue, I found documentation that Vista would not
recognize dynamic disk via USB. I know you can buy special enclosures that
will run as RAID and connect via USB but I think Vista would see this as
regular drive not RAID.
Per Microsoft only Vista Enterprise and Ultimate support dynamic disks.
(Created by OS.) However, if motherboard will give you hardware solution you
can run RAID.

On laptop, you should look for enclosure that runs as RAID, some will also
run as stand alone network server.

 

[Jason]

Hi William,

If I can find a solution to this then I will upgrade Vista. If I cant then I
wont bother.

Cheers

Jason