Convert Basic Disk to Dynamic

  • Thread starter Thread starter David
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D

David

Our Windows 2003 server has a three-drive hardware RAID 5. Windows Disk
Management MMC sees one 150 GB Disk 0 with three volumes: 31 MB unused, 4.01
GB NTFS basic disk C:\, and 144.94 GB basic disk E:\. Windows is installed
on the C:\ volume. I followed a recommendation to install Windows 2003
Server on a 3-4 GB partition, but Windows 2003 Server is already telling me
that disk space is low on the 4.01 GB C:\ drive (192 MB free). Can I safely
convert the basic disk (that the OS is installed on) to a dynamic disk, so I
can then make it larger? If both C: & E: are converted to dynamic disks, I
can resize them, right?
Thanks in advance,
David
 
David,

Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk is a disk-wide change; you will
not be able to make this change on a volume-by-volume basis. You're entire
Disk 0 would be converted to a Dynamic Disk.

Also, you can only extend Dynamic Disk volumes into unused space. If you
have data on your E: volume, you would lose that data (could restore later)
because you would have to delete the partition and then extend C: into it.

If you want to keep the data intact on your E: drive while you change sizes,
you could try using VolumeManager from Symantec (previously PowerQuest).
This is the server version of PartitionMagic. The downside is that it is
expensive: $724.50. It also may not support Windows Server 2003. For your
reference, below is the link to this product:

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=345&EID=0

I hope this helps.

Cordially yours,
Jerry G. Young II
 
Thank you very much for the input!
D

Jerry G. Young II said:
David,

Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk is a disk-wide change; you will
not be able to make this change on a volume-by-volume basis. You're entire
Disk 0 would be converted to a Dynamic Disk.

Also, you can only extend Dynamic Disk volumes into unused space. If you
have data on your E: volume, you would lose that data (could restore later)
because you would have to delete the partition and then extend C: into it.

If you want to keep the data intact on your E: drive while you change sizes,
you could try using VolumeManager from Symantec (previously PowerQuest).
This is the server version of PartitionMagic. The downside is that it is
expensive: $724.50. It also may not support Windows Server 2003. For your
reference, below is the link to this product:

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=345&EID=0

I hope this helps.

Cordially yours,
Jerry G. Young II

so
Click to expand...
 
Our Windows 2003 server has a three-drive hardware RAID 5. Windows
Disk Management MMC sees one 150 GB Disk 0 with three volumes: 31 MB
unused, 4.01 GB NTFS basic disk C:\, and 144.94 GB basic disk E:\.
Windows is installed on the C:\ volume. I followed a recommendation to
install Windows 2003 Server on a 3-4 GB partition, but Windows 2003
Server is already telling me that disk space is low on the 4.01 GB C:\
drive (192 MB free). Can I safely convert the basic disk (that the OS
is installed on) to a dynamic disk, so I can then make it larger? If
both C: & E: are converted to dynamic disks, I can resize them, right?
Thanks in advance,
David
Click to expand...

You can never extend a Dynamic Volume that was converted from Basic. It
has to be created Dynamic first. That means you can never extend your OS
partition. Recommended OS partition size 2000 or 2003 is 10 gig. It was
4 gig for Windows NT 4.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team
 
The recommendation came from the Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Administrators Companion: "Although a single partition is the simplest
option for servers, you gain flexibility (and security) by creating a 3- to
4-GB partition for the operating system, and another partition with the
remaining space." I really should have used my own rule: when in doubt,
double it! BTW, where is the 10 GB recommended OS partition size published?
I never saw that figure before.
Thanks,
David
 
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