Recipe 7.2. Converting a Basic Disk to Dynamic

Problem

You want to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the Computer Management snap-in.

2. In the left pane, expand Storage and click on Disk Management.

3. In the lower-right pane, right-click the disk you want to convert and select Convert to Dynamic Disk.

4. Check the box beside the disk(s) you want to convert and click OK.

5. Click Convert and click Yes to confirm the conversion.

Using a command-line interface

You can use the diskpart utility to convert a disk to dynamic. First, run diskpart to enter interactive mode:

> diskpart

You need to get a list of disks so you can select the one you want to convert:

> list disk

In the following example, we'll select disk 0:

> select disk 0

Now, run the following command to convert the disk:

> convert dynamic

You may be asked to reboot for the change to take effect.

Using VBScript

None of the WMI classes support converting a disk to a dynamic disk.

Discussion

By default, disks are initialized as basic on both Windows 2000 and Windows XP. You can convert a disk to dynamic to take advantage of features such as the ability to dynamically extend partitions. Some additional benefits of dynamic disks include the following:

• You can perform disk and volume management without needing to restart the operating system.

• You can organize dynamic disks into disk groups. Configuration information for all disks in a group is shared and kept up-to-date even if a dynamic disk fails or is moved to another system.

• You have more options for configuring volumes. Dynamic disks support the following dynamic volumes: simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes.

• You are not limited on the number of volumes you can create on a dynamic disk. With a basic disk you can create up to four primary partitions or three primary partitions and one extended partition.

Once you convert a disk to dynamic, you cannot convert it back to basic unless you delete all of the dynamic volumes on the disk.

See Also

MS KB 175761, "Dynamic vs. Basic Storage in Windows 2000," MS KB 309044, "How To Convert to Basic and Dynamic Disks in Windows XP Professional," MS KB 254105, "Dynamic Disk Hardware Limitations," and MS KB 314343, "Basic Storage Versus Dynamic Storage in Windows XP"