Dynamic disk unreadable

[Martmcd]

Hi,
I have had to perform a repair install on win xp pro which went fine except
the second drive (120gb ide listed as Dynamic in disk manager) is no longer
accessible.

I can convert it to basic disk but that will lose all data.

I have tried connection it to my laptop with ide to usb converter with the
same results

Event viewer reports
The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block.

yet there were no errors before the repair install.

I have seen suggestions such as roll back the changes but cant do that with
a repair install.

All I really need is to get the data off, then I am happy to convert it or
reformat etc.

any suggestion, much appreciated

Martin

 

[seth]

How To Use Disk Management to Configure Dynamic Disks in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308424/en-us#EQACAAA

 

[Martmcd]

Thanks for the suggestion, I have tried to reactivate the disk but got an
error, event log says - source LDM event id 2 details,
INTERNAL Error - The disk group contains no valid configuration copies
(C10000B6).

any other suggestions?
Martin

 

[Martmcd]

Thanks Seth and to any others that were looking for a solution.
I have managed to get round the problem using iRecover to get the required
data off the disk, I am now going to convert it to a basic disk.
I may even take the opportunity to reformat everything and start afresh with
a nice clean computer.

(celebrated by booking a holiday)
Cheers,
Martin

 

[Steve N.]

Hi,
I have had to perform a repair install on win xp pro which went fine except
the second drive (120gb ide listed as Dynamic in disk manager) is no longer
accessible.

I can convert it to basic disk but that will lose all data.

I have tried connection it to my laptop with ide to usb converter with the
same results

Event viewer reports
The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block.

yet there were no errors before the repair install.

I have seen suggestions such as roll back the changes but cant do that with
a repair install.

All I really need is to get the data off, then I am happy to convert it or
reformat etc.

any suggestion, much appreciated

Martin

Everyone including MS says you can't revert a dynamic disk back to basic
disk without losing data, but it isn't true. It can be done using
dskprobe.exe (a disk editor) that is in Support Tools on an XP or Win2K CD.

This was written for Win2K but it works in XP, I've tested it:

http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1806

Good luck.

Steve N.