1 Topic by dreadgod1

  • dreadgod1
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  • Registered: 2016-09-23
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Topic: Change Dynamic partition to Simple?

I have a Windows 2008 R2 server with one partition that was (mistakenly) created as a Dynamic drive, instead of a simple one. I plan to use CloneZilla to clone the drive, use GParted to change the partition type, and then use CloneZilla again to put the cloned data back in place.

Does that sequence of events make sense, and can GParted do what I'm hoping? Or will the data going back into place just change the drive type back to Dynamic no matter what I do in GParted? Please let me know if you can think of any specific steps I should take.

2 Reply by mfleetwo

  • mfleetwo
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Re: Change Dynamic partition to Simple?

With my limited knowledge of Windows Dynamic Disks (basically a volume manage similar to LVM in Linux) and CloneZilla, I would say:

Following a clone with CloneZilla, partition with GParted and restore with CloneZilla will restore all the bits back as they were.  Therefore it will restore Windows Dynamic Disks.

There might be some Windows tool which which can convert from Dynamic Disks back to Basic Disks, but I have no idea.  Try googling.  Alternatively a backup and restore from within Windows would likely be necessary.  Added complication if that includes your Windows installation, it *may* necessitate re-installing.  (I am speculating because I really haven't got any technical knowledge on Windows.  We code GParted on Linux).