How to Convert Basic Disk to Dynamic or Dynamic Disk to Basic in Windows 10/8/7
5 Ways to Convert Basic Disk to Dynamic/Dynamic Disk to Basic
If you want to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk, you need to delete everything on a dynamic disk and then convert it back to a basic disk with Windows built-in tool or Command Prompt. Qiling Partition Master is such a professional dynamic disk converter that can help you convert dynamic disk to basic without data loss. What's more, if you want to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, either of the methods can do you a favor.
2. Convert to dynamic using CMD
4. Convert to basic with Diskpart
5. Use Qiling Partition Master to Convert Basic to Dynamic (Recommended)
How to Convert to Dynamic Disk in Windows 10/8/7
It's safe to convert basic disk to dynamic disk using the following three conversion ways, which is theoretically not going to cause data loss. However, better safe than sorry. It's always a risk-free action to back up hard drive data before taking unfamiliar activities. Now, you can convert a basic disk to a dynamic one with three effective methods:
Method 1. Use Disk Management to Convert Baic to Dynamic
If you prefer to use the built-in tool rather than use a basic-to-dynamic converter, you can use Disk Management. With the help of Disk Management, you can easily convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk without downloading any third-party software.
Step 1. Right-click on This PC (for Windows 10/8 users) or My Computer (for Windows 7 users) and select "Manage".
Step 2. Open Computer Management and click on "Disk Management".
Step 3. Select the basic disk that you need to convert and right-click on it, select "Convert to Dynamic Disk".
Step 4. Make sure that you are converting the right disk to dynamic and click "OK" to finish the process.
Method 2. Use CMD Command to Convert Basic to Dynamic
If you are familiar with the command prompt, you can also use CMD to convert to dynamic disk without data loss. Follow the guide below and convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk as you wish.
Step 1. Open Command Prompt by pressing Win + R at the same time in Windows 10/8/7.
Step 2.Type the following command and hit "Enter" after each command. Do remember the number of the disk that you want to convert to Dynamic.
- diskpart
- list disk
- select disk #
- convert dynamic
Note: # is the disk number of the disk that you want to convert.
Step 3. When the process is finished, type: exit and hit "Enter" to end the disk converting process.
Method 3. Convert Dynamic to Basic with Disk Management
Caution: Again, being different from converting to dynamic, when you try to convert a dynamic disk to basic, you'll be asked to delete all volumes first. This is why we emphasize the necessity of creating a backup beforehand.
Step 1. Open Disk Management tool and right-click on the dynamic disk which you need to convert or change to basic.
Step 2.Select "Delete Volume" for each volume on the disk.
Step 3. All volumes on dynamic disk have been deleted, right-click on it and select "Convert to Basic Disk".
Method 4. Use Diskpart Command to Convert Dynamic to Basic Disk
Step 1. Open command prompt diskpart window. Note the disk number of which you need to convert to basic.
Step 2. Then, enter the following command and hit "Enter" after each command. (Note: 0 is the disk number, and 1 is the volume number.)
- list disk
- select disk #
- detail disk #
- select volume= 1
- delete volume
- select disk #
- convert basic
list disk - Displays a list of disks and information about them, such as their size, the amount of available free space, whether the disk is a basic or dynamic disk.
select disk - Selects the specified disk, where disk number is the disk number and gives it focus.
detail disk - Displays the properties of the selected disk and the volumes on that disk
select volume - Selects the specified volume, where the disk number is the volume number and gives it focus. If no volume is specified, the select command lists the current volume with focus.
delete volume - Deletes the selected volume. You cannot delete the system volume, boot volume, or any volume that contains the active paging file or crash dump.
convert basic - Converts an empty dynamic disk into a basic disk.
Important: If there are multiple partitions on the disk, you can continue to select the partitions and repeat the delete volume command until all partitions are deleted.
Step 3. After this, type: exit to finish the process.
Method 5. Use Qiling Partition Master to Convert Basic to Dynamic (Recommended)
Qiling Partition Master supports to convert dynamic disk to basic within simple steps. You can also resize partition, or clone/copy the dynamic disk with this software. Download and install Qiling Partition Master, activate it on your PC with a serial key, and follow the below guidelines to convert a basic disk to dynamic.
Step 1. Install and open Qiling Partition Master on your Windows computer.
Step 2. Select the disk that you want to convert, tight-click it and choose the conversion option:
- Basic to Dynamic: click a basic disk, click "More..." and select "Convert to Dynamic".
- Dynamic to Basic: click a dynamic disk, click "More..." and select "Convert to Basic".
Step 3. Click "OK" on the pop-up notice window and the app begin to convert the basic disk to dynamic or dynamic to basic.
Additional Information About Basic Disk and Dynamic Disk
Many of us are cooperating with a computer hard drive every day, and it's necessary to know some hard drive basics in order to make full use of it. For example, what does convert to dynamic disk mean?
There are two storage types of hard drives, namely the basic disk, and dynamic disk. As you know, dynamic disks come after basic disks, but now both are well supported by prevalent Windows operating systems, like Windows 10,8,7. If you're interested in the main difference between the two items, here is a full explanation.
1. Number of volumes
- Basic disk support only primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives. The number of primary partitions + extended partitions is not allowed to exceed 4.
- When you change a basic disk to dynamic, you can create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes). Though the recommended number is 32 or less, you can still create up to 2000 volumes on a system.
2. Flexibility for volume management
Dynamic disks are able to create fault-torrent volumes like mirrored and RAID-5 volumes, and most importantly, go compatible with all Windows OS from Windows 2000 to Windows 10.
To know the differences between the basic disk and dynamic disk, you can check the table to know more information.
| Features | Basic Disk | Dynamic Disk |
|---|---|---|
| Supported operating systems | Basic disks are supported by all Windows operating systems | The older operating systems do not support dynamic disks |
| Expanding the capacity of volumes | No | Yes |
| Number of partitions | Limited | Unlimited |
| Convertibility | Basic disks can be converted to dynamic disks without any data loss | The only option to avoid losing data is to use third-party tools |
Bonus Tips: Restore Lost Data After Dynamic-to-Basic Conversion
It's quite clear that the data loss issue is unavoidable to convert or change the disk to dynamic or basic. If you forget to create data backups for your disk data, you'll have to suffer data loss issue then.
Fortunately, you don't have to worry about this issue anymore. Powerful data recovery software from Qiling will help you fix this issue. Deep Data Recovery will simply help you restore lost data due to basic to dynamic or dynamic to basic disk conversion. Need to restore your lost data? Let Deep data recovery software help now!
Conclusion
The top 4 ways can help you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, or convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk with ease. I hope you can benefit from these tried-and-true methods. If you have any questions on the subject of using Qiling Partition Master to change dynamic disk to basic disk or convert dynamic disk to basic, let us know as soon as possible.
Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic or Basic Disk to Dynamic FAQs
If you still have problems after using the 6 methods, you can read on to get additional help.
Can you convert a dynamic disk to basic without losing data?
The basic disk can be directly converted to a dynamic disk using the Windows disk management tool in the supported system without data loss. However, if you must convert the dynamic disk to a basic one, you have to delete all the volumes and data on the dynamic disk with Disk Management. However, with professional dynamic disk converter Qiling Partition Master, you have no problem converting dynamic disk to basic without data loss.
What happens when you convert to a dynamic disk?
Converting a basic disk into a dynamic disk is a semi-permanent operation. Once you convert a basic disk into a dynamic disk, you can not convert it back into a basic disk unless you delete every volume on the entire disk.
What is the difference between the basic disk and dynamic disk?
- A basic disk is a conventional storage model that uses partition tables or logical drives to manage data on the hard disk.
- A dynamic disk does not use partition tables, but dynamic volumes instead of partitions.
How do I undo a dynamic disk?
Here are the basic steps:
Step 1. Open Disk Management tool and right-click on the dynamic disk which you need to convert or change to basic.
Step 2. Select Delete Volume for each volume on the disk.
Step 3. All volumes on dynamic disk have been deleted, right-click on it and select Convert to Basic Disk.
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