AffordableComputers
asked on
How to convert HDD from Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk without losing data
I have a customer who's secondary HDD and external USB HDD connected to an XP machine both suddenly became unable to be accessed eg did not show up in 'my computer'
The drives still appeared in Disk Manager, but were marked as dynamic rather than basic disk initialization, hence the inability to access
The external usb drive did not contain essential data , so i converted it to basic, and assigned a drive letter after which it became accessible
the secondary HDD contains data that needs to be kept so my question is:
1. How can i convert HDD to basic / be able to access drive without losing data?
2. What might have caused this to happen in the first place?
The drives still appeared in Disk Manager, but were marked as dynamic rather than basic disk initialization, hence the inability to access
The external usb drive did not contain essential data , so i converted it to basic, and assigned a drive letter after which it became accessible
the secondary HDD contains data that needs to be kept so my question is:
1. How can i convert HDD to basic / be able to access drive without losing data?
2. What might have caused this to happen in the first place?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Test disk worked a treat - I was able to back up the data to another drive, convert the problem dynamic drive to basic and then copy all the data back over. Drive contained a kids school assignments so I have some good news to tell the kids parents now !
ASKER