Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 92045 2008-07-27 01:26:00 Dynamic disk management vs basic disk garyasta (1151) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
692569 2008-07-27 01:26:00 I have been advised that to increase flexibility of disk management, I should change my disc management from basic to dynamic. What are the benefits?

I have a laptop partitioned single drive running WINXP Home SP3. Partitions are; C - Programs, E - Data, F - Swap File, G - Backup. These are all "Basic".There is of course, the D - CDROM drive.

There is also an unknown (?) drive - BACKUP which is still FAT32. What is this file? I run a backup aplication each day, and these files are placed in the G partition.

C,E,F,G are all NTFS but, as mentioned, the unknown BACKUP is still FAT32.

The big questions are, should I change to dynamic and what is the BACKUP (not the G partition) drive?

Cheers
Gary
garyasta (1151)
692570 2008-07-27 01:35:00 AFAIK Windows XP Home does not support dynamic disks - so Home wouldn't install on one or be able to access one if installed onto a basic disk. jwil1 (65)
692571 2008-07-27 02:01:00 The unknown FAT 32 section could be a recovery console, not saying that it is definately but could be how big is it? gary67 (56)
692572 2008-07-27 02:35:00 Hi Guys

Thanks jwil1.

gary67 - The unknown drive (BACKUP) is 4gb out of a total 60gb for the computer.

Cheers
Gary
garyasta (1151)
692573 2008-07-27 02:39:00 Is the computer a brand name system? If so as Gary mentioned the manufacturers often make a partition with a backup of the systems original state. stormdragon (6013)
692574 2008-07-27 02:40:00 Here's the diff between the 2 ( . microsoft . com/kb/314343" target="_blank">support . microsoft . com)

Thats if you had Pro or 2000

But then if you had one of the above:

WARNING: After you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, local access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional .

Additionally, after you convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk, the dynamic volumes cannot be changed back to partitions .

You must first delete all dynamic volumes on the disk and then convert the dynamic disk back to a basic disk . If you want to keep your data, you must first back up the data or move it to another volume .
Speedy Gonzales (78)
692575 2008-07-27 03:01:00 Speedy Gonzales - Thanks for the link.

stormdragon - The laptop came with XP installed. The BACKUP drive doesn't show in "My Computer", only when I go into Disk Management.

Cheers
Gary
garyasta (1151)
692576 2008-07-27 03:03:00 Speedy Gonzales - Thanks for the link.

stormdragon - The laptop came with XP installed. The BACKUP drive doesn't show in "My Computer", only when I go into Disk Management.

Cheers
Gary

Highly likely it will be a recovery partition then with the systems original state backed up.

You won't see it in my computer as it hasn't been assigned a drive letter.
stormdragon (6013)
692577 2008-07-27 03:11:00 Thanks all.

Cheers
Gary
garyasta (1151)
692578 2008-07-27 03:14:00 stormdragon - The laptop came with XP installed. The BACKUP drive doesn't show in "My Computer", only when I go into Disk Management.

Cheers

Gary

It may also be hidden / if hide protected operating system files is ticked

You wont see it in my computer. Until you untick this option.
Speedy Gonzales (78)
1 2