Foreign Disk

[mcp6453]

I'm moving a computer from Windows 2000 to XP, which I have done
hundreds of times. After I got XP SP3 installed and updated, I added a
data drive that had been installed when the computer was Win2K. It had
been on the secondary channel of IDE0, but since there was an unused
channel on the Maxtor ATA-133 PCI IDE controller, I added it there.

When I booted the computer, the drive did not show up with a letter.
Computer Management allowed me to see the drive, but it was marked
"Foreign". Never having seen that designation before, I went to Help,
which advised me to "Import Foreign Disks...", which I did. Now
everything seems to be working correctly, but I don't understand some of
the information I see in Disk Management. The drive is a "Dynamic Disk",
and its Layout is "Simple". I was expecting to see Partition/Basic.

The research I have done indicates that converting from a Dynamic disk
to a Basic disk will wipe out the content of the drive. Should I back up
the drive and covert it to a Basic disk? Please help me understand why
this disk is a Dynamic disk. (Could it have been a Dynamic disk in
Windows 2000?) The computer belongs to a friend, so I don't know much
about the pre-XP configuration.

 

[Bill Blanton]

I'm moving a computer from Windows 2000 to XP,

When I booted the computer, the drive did not show up with a letter. Computer Management allowed me to see the drive, but it was
marked "Foreign". Never having seen that designation before, I went to Help, which advised me to "Import Foreign Disks...", which
I did. Now everything seems to be working correctly, but I don't understand some of the information I see in Disk Management. The
drive is a "Dynamic Disk", and its Layout is "Simple". I was expecting to see Partition/Basic.

The research I have done indicates that converting from a Dynamic disk to a Basic disk will wipe out the content of the drive.
Should I back up the drive and covert it to a Basic disk? Please help me understand why this disk is a Dynamic disk. (Could it
have been a Dynamic disk in Windows 2000?)

Could have been, and most certainly was set up as a dynamic disk.

If it were me, I would back up the files and convert it.

Basic disks are more easily moved to other machines in case disaster strikes,
and not all data/file recovery tools work with the proprietary dynamic disk
layout. There's no good reason to have a dynamic disk "of one".

 

[mcp6453]

Could have been, and most certainly was set up as a dynamic disk.

If it were me, I would back up the files and convert it.

Basic disks are more easily moved to other machines in case disaster strikes,
and not all data/file recovery tools work with the proprietary dynamic disk
layout. There's no good reason to have a dynamic disk "of one".

That's what I thought. Thanks for the advice!