3 Ways to Convert a Disk From Dynamic to Basic in Windows

You would possibly have to convert a disk drive to Dynamic mode for a number of causes. One of many major ones is once you wish to set up a sequence of onerous drives in Raid configuration.

When you’re not used to managing partitions, volumes, and disk areas, simply the thought of changing a disk can appear daunting. Fortunately, so long as you might be cautious, it’s really a lot simpler than it would sound.

What Is the Distinction Between Primary and Dynamic Disks on Windows?

Primary and Dynamic are the 2 out there disk configurations out there in Windows. They basically do the identical issues however in barely alternative ways.

Primary disks can have as much as 4 partitions. Or three commonplace partitions and an prolonged partition that may comprise a number of logical drives. Primary disks assist two kinds of partition: MBR and GPT. Your laptop computer or desktop PC more than likely makes use of the Primary disk configuration.

Dynamic disks use volumes quite than commonplace partitions and are far more versatile in how they use area. Disk volumes will be prolonged and shrunk more simply. Dynamic disks have a number of totally different quantity varieties out there to be used, together with Easy, Mirror, and Striped. These various quantity varieties enable for more superior storage configurations, comparable to Raid-5, that are not out there on a fundamental disk.

1. How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to Primary in Disk Administration

The built-in Windows Disk Administration instrument permits you to convert any suitable disk from Dynamic to Primary. All partitions and information will probably be deleted, so it’s best accomplished with a disk that is not presently getting used.

When you want the information on the disk, create a full backup earlier than persevering with any additional.

1. Seek for and open Disk Administration in your pc. The instrument will probably be labeled as Create and format onerous drive partitions in Windows Search.
2. Find the Dynamic quantity in Disk Administration.
3. Proper-click on every partition within the dynamic disk and choose Delete Quantity. Verify deletion when prompted.

   

4. When all volumes have been deleted, right-click on the disk title and select Convert to Primary Disk from the menu.

The disk would possibly robotically convert to fundamental once you delete all of its volumes. It is dependent upon the model of Windows you might be presently utilizing.

When you have something greater than a single partition in your onerous drive, Windows Disk Administration is a really great tool to grasp nicely. Take a look at our guides to fixing SSD errors and managing exterior drives with this highly effective utility.

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk With Mirror Volumes

If the disk you wish to convert from Dynamic to Primary has mirror volumes on it, you’ll need to interrupt them down earlier than you may convert the disk.

Open Disk Administration as detailed beforehand. Discover the mirror volumes on the disk and right-click on every of them. Choose Break Mirror Quantity from the menu.

As soon as all mirror volumes have been damaged, you may proceed to delete partitions, as defined above. Observe the remaining steps to transform the Dynamic Disk to Primary.

We mentioned mirror volumes intimately in our piece about what Windows Storage Areas are.

2. How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to Primary With Command Immediate

It’s also possible to use Command Immediate to transform a Dynamic Disk to Primary. This may be helpful if you happen to can not absolutely entry Windows to make use of Disk Administration.

Run the Command Immediate instrument as an administrator. You’ll need elevated entry to make adjustments to disks.

1. In Command Immediate, kind diskpart. This begins the disk partitioning utility throughout the terminal.
2. If you do not know the label of the disk you wish to convert, kind record disk and press Enter.
3. Kind choose disk [number]. Change [number] within the command with the disk quantity you wish to convert. For instance, choose disk 1.

   

4. Now kind element disk to point out the totally different volumes on the disk you chose.
5. Kind choose quantity [number], adopted by delete quantity [number]. Change [number] within the command with the precise quantity quantity every time.

   

6. Repeat this for every quantity on the disk till all the prevailing disk volumes are deleted.
7. Lastly, kind choose disk [number] once more, then kind convert fundamental.

3. How to Change a Dynamic Disk to Primary With out Dropping Knowledge

There are methods to transform a disk from Dynamic to Primary with out dropping the information it accommodates, however you’ll need to make use of a third-party app. On this instance, we’re utilizing the EaseUS Partition Grasp.

1. Set up the EaseUS Partition Grasp Suite after which begin the Partition Supervisor.
2. Click on Disk Converter and select the kind of conversion you wish to carry out. On this case, Convert Dynamic to Primary.
3. Click on Subsequent and choose the disk you wish to convert. Then click on the Convert button.

   

When the conversion course of finishes, return to the Partition Supervisor tab. Right here, you may transfer or resize the partitions that had been copied over when changing the disk. Good-click on the disk partition and select the choice you want from the menu.

Can I Convert Primary Disks to Dynamic Disks?

Sure, you completely can. In reality, fundamental disks will be transformed to dynamic disks with none lack of information. You are able to do this within the Disk Administration instrument.

1. Proper-click on the label of the fundamental disk you wish to convert.
2. Choose Convert to Dynamic from the menu and ensure the right disk is chosen.

   

3. Test that every thing matches your necessities within the Disks to Convert window. Then click on Convert.

You would possibly encounter an error message telling you that “there’s not sufficient area out there on the disk for this operation.” It’s because the method must create a database for the dynamic operation. This requires at the least 1MB of unallocated area on the finish of the MBR disk you wish to convert.

There are different potential errors that may happen, however an absence of area is the most typical. If you’re nonetheless struggling to finish this often easy course of, instruments comparable to EaseUS Partition Grasp can assist.

Changing Dynamic Storage Disks in Windows

Changing a disk from Dynamic to Primary storage mode seems like a more difficult course of than it really is. And though it may well go incorrect if you’re not cautious about what you do, there are a number of comparatively simple methods to go about it.