Convert dynamic disk back to basic disk under Windows XP/2000/2003/2008/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8?

Why to convert basic disks to dynamic disks?

Windows 2000 introduces the concept of dynamic disks. It allows you to use basic disks to convert to dynamic disk to take advantage of additional features. When you first install Windows 2000/XP Professional, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2000/2003/2008, all disks are initialized as basic. You can easily convert basic disk to dynamic disk using 'Convert to Dynamic Disk' option with Windows built-in partition manager without losing any data and get additional features as follows:

• Disk and volume management tasks are performed without having to restart the computer afterwards.
• Create volumes that span multiple disks.
• Extend a simple or spanned volume.
• Dynamic disks support an unlimited number (up to 2000) of volumes.
• Dynamic disks do not use a Master Boot Record (MBR). Disk layout information is stored on the last 1 MB of the disk.
• A dynamic disk can contain simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes.

Why to convert dynamic disks to basic?

Although dynamic disks contain too many advantages than basic disks, it also has some problems as below which make you have to convert dynamic disks back to basic:

1. According to Microsoft Windows users, to convert drive with Windows Vista installed from basic to dynamic disk may result in:

• The dynamic Drive volumes could not be deleted when you try to reinstall Microsoft Windows Vista.

2. Accidentally convert basic disk to dynamic disk.

3. Some examples in the forum as follows:

• I am having Windows Vista ultimate SP2 running on my computer & want to convert dynamic type disk to a basic one, but without formatting the computer....!
• I have to install the Windows system under 2000 but the dynamic disk does not allow me to, how can I change dynamic disks back to basic?

How to convert dynamic disk to basic disk?

As we know, once you changed basic disk to dynamic disk, you cannot convert dynamic disk back to basic disk directly without deleting the partitions and rebuilding the disk under Windows Disk Management.

In this case, third party dynamic disk convert software like EaseUS Partition Master will save a lot trouble to safely convert dynamic disk to basic without data loss.

To change dynamic disk back to basic disk without data loss, please follow the steps below:

Case 1: Convert dynamic disk containing simple volumes to a basic disk.

EaseUS Partition Master can change dynamic disk containing simple volumes into a basic disk directly.

1. Choose right edition of EaseUS Partition Master and install it. After that, launch EaseUS Partition Master.

2. Select dynamic disk which you want to Convert to basic disk on the disk map, click "Disk" on main menu and choose "Convert to basic disk" or right click the dynamic disk and choose "Convert to basic disk".

3. After you choose "Convert to basic disk", you will see the dynamic disk has become basic disk on the disk map.

4. Click "Apply" to convert dynamic disk to basic disk. After EaseUS Partition Master applies these changes, you will see the dynamic disk has become basic disk in Windows Disk Management. And then you can use "Resize/Move partition" feature to resize partitions on the basic disk. (Tips: It is important to backup data before resizing partition, because nothing is 100% secure.)

Case 2: Convert dynamic disk containing mirrored volumes to a basic disk.

EaseUS Partition Master can change dynamic disk containing mirrored volumes into a basic one indirectly. To convert mirrored volumes, you need to break mirrored volumes by using Windows Disk Management and then convert dynamic disk to basic disk with the "Convert to basic disk" feature of EaseUS Partition Master.

1. Right click "My Computer" and choose "Manage" -> "Storage" -> "Disk Management", right click the mirrored volumes and choose "Break Mirrored Volume" to break mirrored volumes or choose "Remove Mirror" to remove mirror. If the boot/system partition is on the mirrored volumes, you can only choose "Remove Mirror" to remove mirror. Please backup your important data before this operation.

2. After choosing "Break Mirrored Volume" or "Remove Mirror", the mirrored volumes on the dynamic disk which you want to Convert to basic disk will become simple volumes. Follow the steps in Case 1 to complete converting dynamic disk containing simple volumes to basic disk.

More features of EaseUS Partition Master.

 

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