changing one drive letter all 3 partitions change to that drive letter

[himansh]

sir,

i have windows 7 desktop. there are some partition on it.but there is problem with these partition. All the three partition have the same drive letter.i attach a link showing the picture. all three partitions are dynamic , simple. if i open these drives only the contents of one drive are appeared. another two drive data are not shown in any manner.

i don't want to lose any data from any drive ......
please help me sir...
my windows is installed in c:\ drive which is also dynamic and there are no recent changes.only one change i did which is i shrink dynamic volume 50 GB from 206 GB and again mixed with 206 GB without allocating free space.

and only the c drive is on and d drive is off.but in my other desktop same configuration exist.
please help me...and please don't say change and remove drive letter...........waiting for response

 

[pscowboy]

First thing you're going to do is fill in the specs of the desktop whose snips you are showing us.

Then you're going to do the same with the second pc opening a second post with snips. Give it a different title like "Second pc with drive letters the same". Don't forget the snips.

You should not have dynamic disks in either machine. What did you do to accomplish this?

There exists a bevy of spectacular experts on this site that will be happy to help you. But give us ALL the info please.

 

[TVeblen]

What you have created is a "Spanned Volume" of those partitions, a feature of the Dynamic Disk System.

Pscowboy is right: you do not want to have your Windows machine set up with Dynamic Disks. They should be Basic Disks.

The subject is covered well here:
What is the Dynamic disk? Data recovery, backup and manage dynamic disk easily.

To correct this you first must work to back up your data. If you do not have a backup drive or external drive get one. While there are conversion options that can try and retain your data they can go wrong for several reasons.

Then you can do the conversion as explained here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html

 

[himansh]

thanks sir ....i know that there should be basic disk. but the snips are real.....please tell me what kind of information you want.....the partition tool which showed in the link are not working.... partition tool says a error massage " partition wizard cannot convert the specific dynamic disk to basic disk.Because partition wizard cannot convert any dynamic volume type expect the simple and mirror volume."

 

[TVeblen]

I'm not sure. I've never seen that message before. It is because of the spanned volume. You need to Break the spanned volume (without losing data) before you can convert.

If you right click on the spanned volume, is there an option to "Break" it?

I've asked for more help.

 

[himansh]

no sir there is no option to break ...

 

[TVeblen]

I have not been able to find anything that will allow you to break a spanned volume without losing your data.

It seems (to me) that this is your best (only?) option:

• Backup your data from spanned volume(s) D: to another drive (external or another physical hard disk)
• Once you have secured your data, then REMOVE (not Delete!) the spanned volume (this will delete all data in the volume!)
• Once the spanned volume is removed then you should be able to convert with Partition Wizard without losing the OS on C:

EDIT: If you have PROGRAMS installed on D: then you may still be able to restore these installations from the backup on the new basic disk labeled D: as long as you make the conversion, create the basic volume D:, and copy everything back into D: before starting Windows.
If Windows starts and finds the programs missing then you would probably need to reinstall them all.

 

[himansh]

i think after my so much try this is my last and final option.but there is a query how you know that it is spanned volume...how ever it shows it is simple volume.....

 

[TVeblen]

Look at your screenshot in the first post. In the lower portion of Disk Management it graphically shows the Volume setup. The first D: volume is 200.20 GB. The second is 206.97 GB. That totals 407.17 GB.

Now look at the top section of DM. It shows one D: volume of 407.17 GB. This proves that the two volumes are combined and treated as one spanned volume by the OS.

 

[himansh]

thank you sir...............

 

[gregrocker]

The problem is that you converted your HD to Dynamic which is only meant to be used to span a partition across multiple HD's. Apparently you didn't see the warning message.

The solution to solve this non-destructively is to boot free Partition Wizard CD version 4.2 which is the last one which offers this as a free feature: pw422.zip ISO - Windows Live.

Download the ISO, rightclick to burn it to CD using Windows Image Burner, or use ImgBurn.

Boot CD. You will need to delete the extra partition(s) you created which tipped it to convert to Dynamic before it will convert back to Basic.

Then follow these video steps: How to convert dynamic disk to basic disk with Partition Wizard?

If Win7 will not start and you confirm it's been converted successfully, then confirm that the 100mb System Reserved partition (preferred if you have it) or C is Set Active partition -Partition Wizard Video Help, then run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times.

After conversion if you want help adding a partition post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Mgmt drive map with listings, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu, attached using paper clip in Reply Box.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

himansh and TV if all is needed is to change the partition label / letter that is easily done with Partition Wizard
Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Open the wizard right click on the partition you want to rename go to change letter and scroll down the letter list and pick one hit OK and it changes automatically.

One thing you cannot do is change the C: drive partition letter see pic

 

[essenbe]

himansh, Would you go into your bios and tell me what your sata controller is set to, Please. It should be set to either, IDE, AHCI or raid. If it is set to raid, that will be your problem. I may be able to help you break the raid volume if it is set to that. Please let us know, before making any changes.