Windows 7 - Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

Yes, this is important to remember. And whether the little partition is called system partition or not, it is the active partition that contains the boot record and you must NOT instruct the image restore to replace the MBR.

Hi guys,

I have read the post and it looks to have many answers, yet I seemed to not find what I was looking for!

I have an dynamic hard drive that I used to have in a desktop computer. The computer crashed (not due to the hard drive) and I want to be able to get access to the data on the dynamic disk.

I got an external hard drive case for the hard drive, but I run into the classic problem of not being able to access it in Windows 7. Any advice on how I can accomplish this?

I just need to be able to get the data of the drive - I can copy all the files unto another hard drive to do that.

Any advice or help would be deeply appreciated!

Thank you!

Hello,

You will need to use a third-party tool, such as Partition Wizard 4.2.

4.2 is no longer available, and the updated version removes the ability for free users. Here is a copy of 4.2 though:

Thank you for you help and sorry about the delay in my response!

I worked great and I was able to recover the whole disk

Cheers,
Jonas

Thanks for the report.

Glad it worked so well!

As for any method:
Backup personal files/folders & Image all partitions
These Two methods use Partition Wizard 5.2 and don't rely on earlier versions.
Method 1 - Change Partition Type ID
In the MBR (first 512 bytes of the HDD) towards the end of the partition table are 4 bytes which define the "Partition Type ID"
In Hex
0x07 - defines a basic partition (primary/logical)
0x42 - defines a dynamic extended partition
Reference
Here is the MBR for my PC

The 4 partition type IDs have been highlighted.
0x27 - Primary hidden partition (my factory recovery)
0x07 - 2nd primary partition (100MB system Reserved)
0x07 - 3rd primary partition (Boot, OS)
0x07 - 4th primary partition (Data)

Step 1 - Open a Hex Editor (such as HxD)
Step 2 - Select the partition entries corresponding to the type ID showing 0x42
Step 3 - Change 0x42 to 0x07.
Step 4 - Repeat for each partition up to 4.
Step 5 - Save changes in hex editor
Step 6 - Open Partition Wizard and observe partition structure
step 7 - If partitions appear deleted, use the Partition Recovery Wizard to recover deleted partitions.
step 8 - Run a "Check File System" on each partition.
step 9 - Close Partition Wizard and reboot PC.

Method 2 - Delete and Recover
Step 1 - Open Partition Wizard
Step 2 - Delete all Dynamic partitions to unallocated
Step 3 - Use the Partition Recovery Wizard to recover deleted partitions
Step 4 - Apply changes
Step 5 - Convert partitions to primary as required & apply changes
Step 6 - Close Partition Wizard and reboot PC

The general approaches have been discussed at this Reference 2

Thank you Michael. I believe I will only add Method 2 later tonight since it would be the easiest way.

All done Michael. I have added this as OPTION THREE in the tutorial to convert a dynamic disk to a primary disk without losing the data on it.

It looks good Shawn. You added very detailed detailed easy to follow set of instructions.

Thank you. I do try to be thorough.