What Is Dynamic Disk | Everything About Windows Dynamic Disk - Qiling  

What Is Dynamic Disk | Everything About Windows Dynamic Disk


What is Dynamic Disk

The dynamic disk is a physical disk that manages its volumes by using the LDM database.

What is the LDM database? LDM is an acronym of Logical Disk Manager, and it is a 1MB hidden database at the end of the dynamic disk. The 1MB database records all the information of the volumes on a single disk, and also holds some related information on each dynamic disk, such as drive letter, volume label, the beginning sector of the volume, volume size, the file system of Volume, the current dynamic disk and so on.

Each dynamic disk will hold the mentioned information if there are several dynamic disks on your computer. This means that all dynamic disks are interrelated. The relevance of each dynamic disk allows you to see a "Missing" disk shown in Windows Disk Management when you remove a dynamic disk from your system. All this will be saved in the LDM database, which makes LDM database as the same important as partition table of a basic disk. You can know clearly as follows:

dynamic disk volume structure

The blue area at the beginning of dynamic disk is the MBR which saves the information of the partition table on the disk. This partition table is not the same as the ones of a basic disk. Its main function is to make Windows and other disk managers know the disk is a dynamic disk, not an empty disk. And the blue area at the end of the dynamic disk is the LDM database.

What's the Difference Between Basic Disk and Dynamic Disk in Windows

Microsoft Windows offers two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic. Basic disks are the disks that are most frequently used on Windows computers. A basic disk contains partitions which we called primary partitions and logical drives. To know more about the difference between basic disks and dynamic disks:

Basic Disk Storage

Dynamic Disk Storage

Dynamic Volumes

A volume is a storage unit made from free space on one or more disks. It can be formatted with a file system and assigned a drive letter. Volumes on dynamic disks have the following types: simple, spanned, mirrored, striped, or RAID-5.

simple volume

spanned volume

striped volume

mirroredvolume

raid5 volume

The system volume contains the hardware-specific files needed to load the Windows (for example, Ntldr, Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com). The system volume can be, but does not have to be, the same as the boot volume.

The boot volume contains the Windows operating system files located in the %Systemroot% and %Systemroot%\System32 folders. The boot volume can be but does not have to be, the same as the system volume.

How to Manage Dynamic Disks

If you use dynamic disks on your Windows computer, you will inevitably need to manage or convert dynamic disks. Here we will show you how to create volumes on dynamic disks and how to convert a dynamic disk.

How to Create a Volume on Dynamic Disk

With the help of Disk Management, you can create volumes on dynamic disks by yourself. Here we will show you how to create simple volumes.

Step 1. Go to "This PC" > "Manage" > "Disk Management".

Step 2. Right-click the unallocated space on the dynamic disk and choose "New Simple Volume".

Step 3. Follow the onscreen instruction to finish the remaining process.

Depending on the type of volume you want to create, the way to create a new volume is slightly different.

How to create a volume on a dynamic disk

How to Convert Between Dynamic Disk and Basic Disk

Disk Management also allows you to convert a basic disk to dynamic disk.

Step 1. Go to "This PC" > "Manage" > "Disk Management".

Step 2. Right-click your basic disk and choose "Convert to Dynamic Disk" > "OK" > "Convert".

Step 3. Confirm your operation in the windows coming up. When it has done, you have successfully converted a basic disk to a dynamic disk.

How to convert basic disk to dynamic disk

However, if you want to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk, Disk Management won't help. Yes, it only enables you to change a basic disk into a dynamic one. Thus, if you want to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk, you will definitely need a third-party tool. Qiling Partition Master, the professional partition tool, is a good choice for you. It allows you to resize/move/clone/check/create/format/delete/explore volumes on a dynamic disk. With the help of this tool, you can manage your disks better.

How to Restore Lost Data on Dynamic disk

Data loss happens everywhere on various kinds of devices. Dynamic disk is no exception. So what to do when you lose data on dynamic disk? Powerful hard drive recovery software - Deep Data Recovery can help! It enables you to effectively recover lost or deleted dynamic disk volume data within three simple steps in Windows 10/8/7 PCs. To retrieve your precious data with Deep Data Recovery:

Step 1. Select file types

Launch Qiling file recovery software on your Windows computer and select the file types. Click "Next" to start.

Select file types that you want to recover

Step 2. Choose the exact location where you lost the files and click the "Scan" button.

select a location to scan

Step 3. The software will immediately start scanning the drive, and the deleted files will be displayed soon. If you find the files you need during the scan, you can stop the scan. In order to find the target file quickly, you can use the file format filter.

Choose files to recover

Step 4. Select files, such as Word, Excel, PDF, photos, videos, or emails and click the "Recover" button. You can browse for a different location to keep the recovered files.

The Bottom Line

Now you know what is a dynamic disk and other dynamic disk related knowledge. Whether you are using a dynamic disk or basic disk, you use it to store your data. To manage your computer disks better and protect your data, it's advisable to get both the partition manager and data recovery software on your computer. These two tools will not only help you with the dynamic disk but also with a basic disk, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, memory card, and more. Give it a try and you will know how powerful it can be.

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