You can convert dynamic disk to basic using CMD (Command Prompt), if you encounter issues, such as can’t install Windows on a dynamic disk, invalid disk, etc.
“There are three hard disks on my laptop: one 500GB basic disk that contains Windows 10, two 1TB dynamic disks. Now, I want to change one dynamic disk to basic disk. Is it possible to complete disk conversion from dynamic to basic using CMD? How to do it?
If the dynamic disk is not unallocated (without any volumes), you can directly convert it back to basic. If there are volumes on the dynamic disk, you need to delete all volumes at first and then you can convert the disk to dynamic. Otherwise, you will encounter the error: The disk is not empty when you convert the disk into basic using CMD.
Check out the following steps on how to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk using CMD in Windows 11/10/8/7, when the dynamic disk contains volumes.
Warning: “delete volume” command will erase all data on the volume; if you don’t want to suffer from data loss, you can back up important data in advance. Or you can turn to third-party software to convert dynamic into basic without losing data.
Step 1. In the search box, type “cmd” right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
Step 2. Type the commands given below and press Enter key after typing each command.
◆ diskpart ◆ list disk ◆ select disk n, (“n” refers to the disk number of the dynamic that you want to convert) ◆ list volume ◆ select volume m,(“m” is the number of the volume on the dynamic disk) ◆ delete volume (repeat these two commands to delete all volumes) ◆ select disk n ◆ convert basic
After Diskpart successfully converted the selected disk to basic format, you can input exit and hit Enter to close this window.
PS.：When there is more than one volume on the dynamic disk, repeat select volume m and delete volume to delete all volumes on the dynamic disk.
You can use CMD to convert dynamic disk to basic, but it can make all data gone. To avoid data loss, you need to back up data and then restore the data after converting. The process can be a lit bit complicated and cumbersome. What’s more, if the dynamic disk contains OS, you won’t be able to delete system volume when the system is running.
Thus, if you want to convert boot dynamic disk into basic without losing data or want to complete conversion effectively and simply, it’s recommended to apply AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This software’s built-in tool, AOMEI Dynamic Disk Converter, allows you to convert dynamic disk to basic disk without deleting any volumes. Besides, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional supports you to convert system MBR disk to GPT without data loss, perform Windows hard drive bootable clone, etc.
It can work under Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, XP, and Vista. When you are a Server user, please employ AOMEI Partition Assistant Server, which can be used under Windows Server 200/2019/2016/2012 (R2)/2008 (R2)/2003, and so on. Now, see how to use it to convert dynamic disk into basic without volume deletion in Windows 11/10/8/7.
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click “Convert” in the top toolbar, and choose “Dynamic Disk Converter”.
Step 2. Choose one between Convert a dynamic disk back to basic disk and Convert any dynamic disk volume to basic partition and click Next.
Step 3. Select the dynamic disk that you want to convert to a basic disk. Then, click Next and Proceed.
Step 4. When the conversion is completed, click OK to restart your computer, and then you can see that the disk has been converted to basic.
Further reading: About basic disk and dynamic disk
All the above content has demonstrated how to convert dynamic disk into basic using CMD or third-party software AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Here will show you the differences between dynamic and basic disk and when you can convert disk between basic and dynamic.
► Basic disk, a kind of storage type, supports GPT and MRB partition styles. It is most commonly used with Windows and supported by all Windows operating systems from MS-DOS to Windows Server 2019. It can contain primary partition, extended partition, and logical partition, which are called basic volumes. You can extend, shrink, delete basic volumes and all these operations are confined in one disk. For example, you have two basic disks: one with a partition running out of space, one with enough unused space; but you are not allowed to add the unallocated space into the partition that is full. ► Dynamic disk, as well as basic disk, is a kind of storage type and supports GPT and MBR. It is not compatible with all Windows operating systems and can be used in Windows Server OS, Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, XP, and Windows 2000. But it is more flexible than a basic disk. It can contain simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes, which allows you to do much more basic disk, such as than enables you to data between two or among multiple tasks.
In a nutshell, if your OS supports dynamic disk and you need to merge multiple unallocated spaces from different physical disks, create a copy of data in mirrored volume, improve disk performance with striped volume, and so on, it’s not a bad choice to convert basic disk into dynamic.
When your basic disk contains partitions that will be nonfunctional after conversion, such as OEM partition, when you need to install OS on the basic disk, when there are two or multiple boot environments on your disk, it’s not recommended you to convert it from basic into dynamic. If you have accidentally converted a basic disk into dynamic, you can convert it back to basic using CMD or AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional based on your specific situation.