Dynamic drive

[Guest]

Having cloned a source drive to a target drive I casually made it
dynamic. Now I find that Acronis True Image won't work with dynamic
drives. Is there anyway I can unstitch this without losing data? My
O/S is XP Pro.

Colin

 

[Guest]

Only way to return to a basic disk from a
dynamic volume is to delete the entire volume,
create a new partition and format.

 

[compsalvage_cscs]

You should Clone the Primary HD's Individual Partitions to a Second
NTFS Formatted HD.
You then zero-fill and re-partition the Primary HD.
Then Clone the Individual Partitions back from the Second HD.

You may be required to perform a repair installation following this
procedure.

Good Luck.

 

[Guest]

You should Clone the Primary HD's Individual Partitions to a Second
NTFS Formatted HD.
You then zero-fill and re-partition the Primary HD.
Then Clone the Individual Partitions back from the Second HD.

You may be required to perform a repair installation following this
procedure.

Good Luck.

A couple of days ago I clone a 15Gb primary drive to a 160Gb secondary
drive. Then I removed the 15Gb drive and stored it safely. I jumpered
the 16oGb drive as master and it was fine until I made it dynamic.

I think the easiest way forward is to install the 15Gb and make it
master. Make the 160Gb the slave and clone all over again. Should I
format the 160Gb first?

Colin

 

[compsalvage_cscs]

I think the easiest way forward is to install the 15Gb and make it
master.
(You are correct. This is the fastest way to get back to a basic disk
setup.)

Make the 160Gb the slave and clone all over again. Should I

format the 160Gb first?
(Yes, you need to remove the Dynamic Disk by Zero filling the 160Gb HD.
Partition and Format to NTFS, then Clone back from your 15Gb HD. You
cannot do this with the XP CD, you must use your 160Gb HD's
Installation Software.)

 

[Colin Bearfield]

master.
(You are correct. This is the fastest way to get back to a basic disk
setup.)

format the 160Gb first?
(Yes, you need to remove the Dynamic Disk by Zero filling the 160Gb HD.
Partition and Format to NTFS, then Clone back from your 15Gb HD. You
cannot do this with the XP CD, you must use your 160Gb HD's
Installation Software.)

I'm glad you told me this.It's a western digital disk and i have no
installation software so i guess I need to download some from their
website.

Many thanks. Forewarned is forearmed.

Colijnj

 

[Colin Bearfield]

Hi

I have found this page on the web:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309044&sd=tech#XSLTH3141121122120121120120

To cut to the chase I have pasted the relevant bit here:

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk: 1. Back up all the data
on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.
2. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
3. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
4. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and
then double-click Computer Management.
5. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
6. Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to
a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.
8. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.
9. After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk,
right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk,
and then click Convert to Basic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title
on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1.

Does this sound right? Will I not have to look for WD software after
all?


Colin

 

[compsalvage_cscs]

Download this ISO to create a cd for zero filling the drive.
http://websupport.wdc.com/rd.asp?p=...//support.wdc.com/download/dlg/Diag504cCD.iso

After you have zero filled the 160Gb HD you can clone a copy of the
15Gb disk to the newly zeroed HD using your copy of Acronis.