Harddrive Basic to Dynamic but can I change it back or recover my data?

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk: 1. Back up all the data on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.  
2. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
3. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.  
4. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.  
5. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
6. Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.
8. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.
9. After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk, right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Convert to Basic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1.


Reference is here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309044&sd=tech

Do have access to another PC where you can set the drive up as a slave, in order to save the data?

JBin is right in his solution, but I don't think he addressed your data concerns.  Doing his solution would erase all data on the drive.  Well, technically, make it inaccessible and difficult to recover.  

You can try software from www.ontrack.com (I think you have to buy it).  In addition, there is a manual way to convert the disk back to BASIC, provided you haven't made it part of a RAID.  However, that process is risky and "high level" as it requires using a byte level editor to change a particular byte on the disk.

I would suggest that you do not convert the disk back, until you have tried other ways to recover the data.

Can you load an OS on the drive that is now empty......then set your original drive up as a slave to recover the data?

DON'T WRITE ANYTHING to that disk that you say has your data but is being seen as empty - doing so will guarentee either a VERY costly recovery or a loss of at least some of your data.  The most you want to do is try to recover it with appropriate recovery tools.  You install windows to it, you WILL make lots of data effectively unrecoverable.

I have Windows up and running on another drive.  I have also managed to get the 2 more 120Gb IDE harddrives up and running on my workstation. I have removed the drive with my data however when I try to install it the workstation can see the drive and it assigns a drive letter to the drive but when I try to click on the drive I am face with a pop up that states. The drive is not formated. and the question Do you want to format this drive YES or NO. That is where the head scraching starts!

JBinRI
Yes I do have another PC and have tied loading the drive into to it as a slave but I am still faced with the same results. The pop-up that asks me to reformat the drive.

I am still looking for a way to recover the data from my drive before reformating it. Thank you again for all the comments. I will continue to try and solve the problem and check back every half hour for new suggestions.

Can you tell me more about this process?

 In addition, there is a manual way to convert the disk back to BASIC, provided you haven't made it part of a RAID.  However, that process is risky and "high level" as it requires using a byte level editor to change a particular byte on the disk.

Brendle,

Check this out

http://www.win2000mag.com/Article/ArticleID/25375/25375.html

If this is unsuccessful....you should try to recover the data using Ontrack's Easy Recovery Pro. I have had a lot of success with Ontrack software.

GL let us know

Brendle,

You stated that you made the disk a slave to another computer.Which OS is on that computer. It looks like Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro will be able to see the volume and not XP Home Edition.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314343/EN-US/

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;175761

JBinRI,
I am running XP-Pro on all my machines. I have also tried loading the drive into the workstation where the probelm orignated and I am still getting the same pop-up asking me to reformat. Thanks for continuing to help. I will look at the links you sent and see if I can find any more info.

I will purchase a coy of Ontracks Easy Recovery Pro and give it a try. Thank you for the suggestion.

The Ontrack software worked although it took a few minutes to figure out. Thank you for your help. Have a great day.