emekadavid said:
I have a dynamic volume which I have already backed up though a workgroup shared computer. I want to convert the volume in the drive to a basic volume so I can dual boot. At the computer management screen, I was told that deleting the volume could cause risk of losing the data on it. I have only one drive on the system. if i lose my data, how do I boot my system then?
I backed the system up through network groups sharing with another laptop at home. Is it possible to restore the system after deleting the volume? Puzzled why Microsoft tech advised on it for converting from dynamic to basic volume and did not specify what to do in case the system fails.
Help PLEASE!
The backup method used, determines the restoration method.
If I want to run NTBACKUP, I use my BartPE disc with a NTBACKUP plugin.
I used that as a test once. I don't know right off hand, how you
do a "bare metal restore" from NTBACKUP without that. While it would make sense,
to boot the WinXP installer CD, and attempt it from recovery console,
I don't know if that is the recipe or not.
On Windows 7, the place where you make a System Image, also has
the option to burn a boot disc, to be used during restoration.
I've used that, and it works great. It can back up C: "hot", even
with open files.
So each backup method, has a restoration method. On Macrium Reflect Free,
they provide a CD image suitable for booting the computer, and restoring.
In general, a boot CD of some sort is created, and that's how you
boot and run the restoration. That's for when there is no C:,
and you're trying to put it back.
Not all restoration methods, support network locations for backup files,
so that's another issue. Just because you managed to get the files moved
there, does not mean the restore tool is ready and able to use them. Some
tools have been neutered on purpose, by the company providing the tool.
On Windows 7, I think certain versions support network restore. I don't
think my copy of Home Premium does. I use an external USB drive for
restores. And, I've had to use my restore once, when the laptop wouldn't
boot. So I've actually tested the Windows 7 method. Worked fine.
*******
So first, you want to check and recheck, that you have a workable bare metal
restoration method. If you cannot restore from backup, then you cannot
do anything below (safely).
*******
Rather than me write one of my goofy "recipes", you can take a look
at these methods instead. These use commercially written "freebie" tools
for the operation.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html
*******
Next, some idle chatter - you can ignore this.
I've done this one (to convert Dynamic to Basic), and it works.
But there is a bunch of stuff to check first. There can only be a single
partition, as seen in Disk Management, and you need to know the
partition type, to know that 07 is the correct number to use.
FAT32 would be 0C. (You might be able to use TestDisk, if there
were multiple partitions. But no "complicated" setups, that only
Dynamic Disk understands, could be fixed with simple MBR edits.
Just some of the simpler cases.)
http://help.wugnet.com/windows/reactivating-offline-dynamic-disks-ftopict625039.html
"You can probably convert it to a simple NTFS volume simply
by changing the type from 42 to 07. I know this works with
a dynamic volume "spanning" only 1 disk. (assuming it's
healthy of course.)"
The partition types are documented here. That's how I know what
07 and 0C are for.
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html
And the "before" picture for your disk, looks like this.
The single "42" warns the system, that it is to look at the
dynamic disk map at the end of the drive, for partition info.
This picture is of PTEDIT32.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac133/chukkamental1964/myslavedrive-1.jpg
This picture describes how dynamic works. The "42" up front, says
"look down near the end". The dynamic disk driver, then reads the
info down there. And pointers to the two containers in the example,
are located. Now, if your disk only had one data partition on
it, changing the 42 to 07 (if NTFS), is a quick way of using MBR
(basic disk) pointing techniques, so nothing gets lost. I would
be verifying the "sector count" in the 42 line, matches the size
of the NTFS partition. I use tools like "dd --list" to get
the size info I need.
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/images/dynamic-layout.gif
But I'm not recommending messing around like that. Use the
Sevenforums tutorial, find an available tool, and do it
that way. Then I won't have to listen to any "crying", when
your disk is broken
Safety first,
Paul
