dynamic disk conversion avoidence

robbybobs · 19 Sep 2014

I'm using Windows 8.1 pro and I've just expanded my raid 6 (via a raid controller) from 4 x 4TB to 8 x 4 TB (22.3TB). I have two partitions on this disk, one at .5 TB and the other has been expanded a bit as I expanded the raid disk size. At the moment its at 13.8 TB and I've got 8 TB spare, but as I try to increase this partition to utilise all the spare space, Windows tells me that it can only do so by converting it to a dynamic disk. From what I understand about dynamic disks, they're great unless you want to expand them, and you never know!
Why does Windows insist on converting to a dynamic disk and can I avoid it?
Many thanks,
Robby

whs · 19 Sep 2014

It looks like windows regards your extension like a new disk and wants to create a spanned (dynamic) disk. I would try with Partition Wizard and see whether it can be done without the dynamics.

Free Partition Manager for Window PC | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition

robbybobs · 19 Sep 2014

Hi Whs,
Thanks for your thoughts. Is there a risk running that software to the current partitions?

whs · 19 Sep 2014

There is always a risk with any partition manipulation. I usually recommend to protect yourself with an image. But given the amount of data we are talking about here, that may be difficult.

robbybobs · 21 Sep 2014

Hi Whs,
Do you consider the risk of loosing everything, if I run Partition Wizard to be 1 in 2 or 1 in 1000000? I have to idea of the risk I'd be taking!

whs · 21 Sep 2014

This is really hard to say. If everything is correct and it runs normally, there should be no problem. I have done that several times and all went well.

But once I made a very small mistake with PW and lost all partitions on the disk. Fortunately I had images of all and it was not a big problem for me.

LMiller7 · 21 Sep 2014

The risk is hard to quantify but I would consider it much higher than 1 or 2 in 1000000. I have experienced a failure during a repartition and have heard of others.