Primary Partition Became Simple Volume

[ammar7may]

Hi,
I accidentally converted my Primary Partition into Simple Volume. Please view the exact story in the attached image files, and tell me how can I revert my partition to be Primary Partitions.

 

[AddRAM]

Did you mean to say you made your disk Dynamic ?

Didn`t you get a message warning you it could turn to Dynamic ?

You can`t have more than 4 primary partitions on 1 hard drive in windows, or it will turn the disc to dynamic.

 

[bigmck]

So we get our terms correct, you have made them Dynamic when they should be Basic. Primary is something else. Dynamic is going to cause you many problems. Read this tutorial to get them back to Basic. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html Post back if you need some follow up.

 

[ammar7may]

Hi AddRAM,
So, do you mean that my disk has become Dynamic and now I need it to become Basic? Yes, I received the warning message, but I thought the message was for the new partition to be created.
Hi bigmck,
I feel the tutorial you have shared seems much helpful. I shall try to follow option 3 of this tutorial without any third party software. I am away from my desktop PC now, so when I convert my dynamic disk into Basic disk, I shall post again.
Hi all,
I shall
1) copy all my data except windows drive (except C drive) on an external drive,
2) take backup of windows 7 on an external drive,
3) Delete all my dynamic disk partitions one by one except that of windows 7 partition (C drive). It shall now become one big drive (C drive )
4) It shall itself become Primary drive / or I right click on convert to Basic Disk, if it is still Dynamic
5) I shall shrink the C drive (the only drive now) to create unallocated space.
6) I shall create 2 more Basic drives from the unallocated space.
7) Now, I need to create an Extended Partition of rest of the unallocated space, so that I can create as many logical drives, as I need. This was my actual problem before falling into this problem.
So, please also send me a tutorial for how can I create an Extended Partition from unallocated space.
Thanks

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/146694-partition-extended-logical-drives.html?ltr=P

There are lots of helpful tutorials like this in the Tutorial Section of the forum. Hope this one helps.

 

[AddRAM]

I would convert it back to basic using the partition wizard boot cd before you attempt any of that.

 

[bigmck]

ammar7may -- What you are going to do, step by step sounds good. Just make sure you have your backups. Good luck.

 

[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 Open with Windows Image Burner, or use ImgBurn to burn to CD.

Boot CD. You will need to delete the extra partition G 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?

You should never have shrunk the Recovery Partiition to begin with as now it may not run. If you haven't done so yet, after conversion try making your Recovery Disks to see. If Recovery won't boot you can delete it and create new partition there.

 

[TOriTOmo]

a little bit different problem

Hi
I recently had an exactly same problem (I turned my primary partition into simple volume too). But it's a little bit different.
I accidentally restart my laptop, so my windows won't start anymore.
What should I do? Thanks before

 

[gregrocker]

The steps in Post #8 are written so that they can be performed from the Partition Wizard boot disk without having to boot into Win7.

Once you reconvert the Dynamic disk to Basic, if Win7 won't start confirm the Active flag is on C or System Reserved (preferred) and run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times from the Win7 Disk or Repair CD. Post back a camera snap of the PW drive map if you have problems.

For a Win7 installation DVD for your version or to rescue important files if needed, see Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start