W2K "invalid boot partition"

[Mal Kruck]

I upgraded my OS disk from basic to dynamic, rebooted, and
now all I get is "invalid boot partition".

Of course, since it's a dynamic disk it isn't visible to
pre w2k disk management applications, and I'd really like
to recover it.

I thought the system partition, which is hidden, might
have been made active and therefore interfere with my
existing active disk. I can see the disk using some
utilities, but it is called unknown.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I upgraded my OS disk from basic to dynamic, rebooted, and
now all I get is "invalid boot partition".

Of course, since it's a dynamic disk it isn't visible to
pre w2k disk management applications, and I'd really like
to recover it.

I thought the system partition, which is hidden, might
have been made active and therefore interfere with my
existing active disk. I can see the disk using some
utilities, but it is called unknown.

If you haven't done any work on your disk after the conversion then you can
most likely convert it back to "basic" by changing the partition type
number. Here is how it's done:

- Get a free copy of ptedit.exe from the PowerQuest site.
- Boot with a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com
- Run ptedit.exe
- Make a note of your partition type.
- Change the partition type to what it should be. ptedit gives
you a list of types for FAT, FAT32, NTFS etc.

As long as you make a note of your changes, you can reverse anything you do
here.