Scenario

“I have a USB hard drive which was made into dynamic disk in XP can be read by XP system, but it is "invalid" in Win7 and cannot be read. I try to convert it back to basic disk in Windows 7 to solve this problem, but only find that the option of “Convert to Dynamic disk grayed out..? Is there a way to convert disk to basic? Thanks!”

Dynamic disk VS basic disk

Basic disk: A kind of physical disk which can be visited by MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) and all Windows-based operating systems. It can contain up to 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition which contains several logical partitions.

Dynamic disk: It is also a kind of disk whose function is similar to that of the primary partition on basic disk. However, it can split or share data between or among disks. For example, a dynamic disk actually can consist of the storage space which is separated on two single disks. Besides, dynamic disk can copy data between or among disks in case of certain disk damage. This function needs more disks, but it is more reliable.

Dynamic to basic converter software is necessary

An increasing number of users want to use dynamic disk instead of basic one and they are design to convert their basic drives into dynamic ones. However, since some Windows operating systems (Windows 98/NT, MS-DOS and all Microsoft operating system Home editions, Vista Home Basic Edition, Windows 7 Home Basic Edition…) do not support dynamic disk. In some situations, you have to convert dynamic disk into basic.

Unfortunately, Windows disk manager doesn't support converting a dynamic disk which contains volume(s) or partition(s) into basic disk, and it will only allow you to convert those disks which contain no volumes or partitions.

If you don't want to delete the existing volumes on the dynamic disk, you can ultilize a third party program, for example, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. With the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, you could easily convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without data loss. Except converting dynamic to basic disk, AOMIE Partition Assistant can also convert partition between primary type and logical type, convert system/ data disk between MBR and GPT and so on.

How to convert dynamic disk to basic with Partition Assistant

Prerequisites for dynamic disk conversion

• Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant on a Windows computer.
• Connect the dynamic disk you want to convert.
• In case of data loss results from accidents due to wrong operation or other unexpected factors, you’d better have a backup of your data. To do this, AOMEI Backupper can help you.

This converter is very useful for you to fast and easily convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without data loss. If you would like to use this feature, please upgrade to a paid version of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, Server, or above versions.

How to convert dynamic disk to basic steps by steps

1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. In the main tab, please click the "Convert" main tab and select "Dynamic Disk Converter".

2. It will launch AOMEI Dynamic Disk Converter. Click "Next".

3. Here provides two methods: "Convert a dynamic disk back to basic disk" and "Convert any dynamic volume to basic partition". Here we choose Method 1. Click "Next".

Tips: If you have spanned/striped/mirrored/RAID-5 volumes, the program cannot convert them directly. Please choose Method 2 to copy data to other locations first. After that, you could delete these volumes and use Method 1 to continue the conversion.

4. Select the dynamic disk that you want to convert to basic disk. Click "Next".

 

5. Here will show you the conversion operation has been completed successfully. You can click "OK" to restart the computer to take effect the conversion operation.

Conclusion

Followed by the above steps, you can easily convert a dynamic disk to a basic one without data loss. After you convert a dynamic disk to a basic one,

Dynamic disk conversion to a basic one is basically due to the following situations:

1. Some operating systems or disk management tools may not support or be incompatible with dynamic disks. Converting to basic disks ensures that the disks can be properly recognized and used in various environments.

2. In some cases, it is easier to perform data recovery and rescue operations using the basic disk structure in case of data loss or system failure. Some data recovery tools and methods may not be supported or may be difficult to operate on dynamic disks.

Notes:

• Currently, Dynamic Disk Converter does not support converting a GPT Dynamic Disk. If you would like to convert a GPT Dynamic Disk to a Basic one, you can use Dynamic Disk Manager.
• To ensure the conversion take effect, it will restart the computer, so do not surprise by the sudden shutting down of your PC.
• If your desktop or laptop cannot load Windows 11/10/8/7 successfully, you can install this software on another working computer. Then create a bootable media with a USB flash drive or CD.DVD to boot the other computer that fails to boot. To boot from AOMEI bootable media, you need to press a specific key (usually, Del for desktop, F2 for laptop) at computer startup to enter BIOS and change boot order. Then it will load the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant in which you can change dynamic disk to basic disk without losing data referring to the steps above.

 

FAQs:

Q: Will my data lose after convert a dynamic disk to a basic one?

A: Normally, the conversion process will not cause data loss. But it is not guaranteed depends on different system environments and disk conditions. For data security, it is still recommended to make a backup of important data before the conversion operation.

Q: I get the error message "Some volumes will lose when converting, so the program can not convert this disk". How to solve it?

A: You may encounter this error in some cases, please click here for more instructions.