XP Pro Disk Management does not setup basic disks; only dynamic disks?

[Knack]

WinXP Pro(SP2).

I was configuring a brand new external HDD last night. Disk Management's
wizard advised me that I was about to configure a dynamic disk. There was no
optional choice to configure a basic disk. So instead I used Partition Magic
8.0 to configure the new HDD as a basic disk with logical partitioning.

There is no way to configure basic disks with WinXP Pro's integral disk
utility? Why?

 

[George Hester]

I do it all the time. It will try to make a dynamic disk as soon as you get
to the desktop after installing the new drive. Go ahead and let it do that.
Note you have not formatted anything yet. After it makes the dynamic disk
right click on it in Drive Manager and choose return to Basic Disk. Then
format away.