Re-installed XP Pro. Now cannot access Dynamic Disk data on 2nd HD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Idle
  • Start date Start date
I

Idle

Hey all. Okay here we go...

My system has TWO SATA HDDs. About a year ago I converted them both to
Dyamic Disks thinking I would use them in a RAID but decided against doing
that. So, since that time I've been using Disk1 as the OS + critical data and
Disk2 as a backup (compressed image of Disk1).

My issue is now I have re-installed XP Pro on Disk 1 and my computer will
not allow me to see the data in Disk2. XP Pro detects Disk 2 as "Basic" and
asks me to format it. However, My BART PE bootdisk shows Disk 2 as Dynamic
and cannot read from it.

This is where I'm at. I really am trying to figure out how to read the data
from
Disk 2. Be it some 3rd party software utility or a way to get XP Pro to see
the data.

Thanks all!
 
Idle said:
Hey all. Okay here we go...

My system has TWO SATA HDDs. About a year ago I converted them both to
Dyamic Disks thinking I would use them in a RAID but decided against doing
that. So, since that time I've been using Disk1 as the OS + critical data and
Disk2 as a backup (compressed image of Disk1).

My issue is now I have re-installed XP Pro on Disk 1 and my computer will
not allow me to see the data in Disk2. XP Pro detects Disk 2 as "Basic" and
asks me to format it. However, My BART PE bootdisk shows Disk 2 as Dynamic
and cannot read from it.

This is where I'm at. I really am trying to figure out how to read the data
from
Disk 2. Be it some 3rd party software utility or a way to get XP Pro to see
the data.

Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Check the knowledgebase for best practices with dynamic disks.

http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

Example.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329707

"Dynamic disks use a private region of the disk to maintain a Logical Disk Manager
(LDM) database, which contains volume types, offsets, memberships, and drive
letters of each volume. The LDM database is also replicated, so each dynamic
disk knows about every other dynamic disk configuration. This feature makes
dynamic disks more reliable and recoverable than basic disks."

That would suggest your second disk may still have a copy of its LDM info.
That is, as long as you haven't "committed a sin" as defined in that
article.

See "To import disks" here, and see if "Foreign" appears for the
disk in Disk Management. Disk Management is where you want to look
for info about the drive.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457110.aspx#EEAA

Paul
 
Thanks Paul. I read the "import foreign disk" section but didn't actually get
it working until I updated the system partition to SP2. Now it shows as a
foreign disk rather than Basic. Importing worked great! Thanks again.
 
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