Dynamic Disk Conversion

[Chris Zarate]

I have some basic questions about dynamic disk storage that I hope someone
can answer.

Here is my situation. I have two physical drives, each 80 GB. One is
partitioned into 20 GB and 60 GB. XP Pro is installed on the 20 GB
partition. The other drive is just 80 GB in one partition. All are NTFS.

I would like to convert the 60 GB partition of the first drive and the 80 GB
second drive into one "super drive." My questions are:

1. Can dynamic disk storage do this?
2. If so, can I convert and "merge" the drives without losing my current
data?
3. One of my drives is significantly faster than the other (it has 8MB
cache); will combining the two partitions slow access to data on the faster
drive, when accessed via the new "super drive"?

Thanks for any help!

Chris

[Nicholas]

1. No
2. No
3. No "super drive"

--=20
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------------------

"Chris Zarate" > wrote in message: =20
...

| I have some basic questions about dynamic disk storage that I hope =
someone
| can answer.
|=20
| Here is my situation. I have two physical drives, each 80 GB. One is
| partitioned into 20 GB and 60 GB. XP Pro is installed on the 20 GB
| partition. The other drive is just 80 GB in one partition. All are =
NTFS.
|=20
| I would like to convert the 60 GB partition of the first drive and the =
80 GB
| second drive into one "super drive." My questions are:
|=20
| 1. Can dynamic disk storage do this?
| 2. If so, can I convert and "merge" the drives without losing my =
current
| data?
| 3. One of my drives is significantly faster than the other (it has 8MB
| cache); will combining the two partitions slow access to data on the =
faster
| drive, when accessed via the new "super drive"?
|=20
| Thanks for any help!
|=20
| Chris
|=20
|

[Chris Zarate]

Ok, thank you for the quick response.

"Nicholas" > wrote in message
...
1. No
2. No
3. No "super drive"

--
Nicholas

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------

"Chris Zarate" > wrote in message:
...

| I have some basic questions about dynamic disk storage that I hope someone
| can answer.
|
| Here is my situation. I have two physical drives, each 80 GB. One is
| partitioned into 20 GB and 60 GB. XP Pro is installed on the 20 GB
| partition. The other drive is just 80 GB in one partition. All are NTFS.
|
| I would like to convert the 60 GB partition of the first drive and the 80
GB
| second drive into one "super drive." My questions are:
|
| 1. Can dynamic disk storage do this?
| 2. If so, can I convert and "merge" the drives without losing my current
| data?
| 3. One of my drives is significantly faster than the other (it has 8MB
| cache); will combining the two partitions slow access to data on the
faster
| drive, when accessed via the new "super drive"?
|
| Thanks for any help!
|
| Chris
|
|

[Chris Zarate]

Ok, I did some research and found this:

http://www.techtutorials.com/tutorials/xp/xpdiskmanagementtool.shtml

"When you have converted a basic disk to dynamic storage, you can create
Windows XP Professional volumes, of which there are three different types
that can be utilized on the local system:

Simple volumes. All of the disk space from a single disk is used and it is
not fault tolerant.

Spanned volumes. Includes disk space from multiple disks up to a total of
32. Data is written to a spanned volume on the first disk, completely
filling the space, and continues to the next until it is full and then the
next, and so on, through each disk that you include in the spanned volume.
These volumes are not fault tolerant either. If any one single disk in the
whole entire spanned volume fails, all the data in the entire volume is
lost.

Striped volumes. Combines areas of free space from multiple hard disks (up
to 32) into one logical volume. In a striped volume, Windows XP Professional
optimizes performance by adding data to all disks at the same time in
succession, a direct contrast to spanned volumes. If any one single disk in
the whole entire striped volume fails, all the data in the entire volume is
lost."

However, it doesn't answer my question #2, does anyone know the answer?

> "Nicholas" > wrote in message
> ...
> 1. No
> 2. No
> 3. No "super drive"
>
> --
> Nicholas
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ---------------
>
> "Chris Zarate" > wrote in message:
> ...
>
> | I have some basic questions about dynamic disk storage that I hope
someone
> | can answer.
> |
> | Here is my situation. I have two physical drives, each 80 GB. One is
> | partitioned into 20 GB and 60 GB. XP Pro is installed on the 20 GB
> | partition. The other drive is just 80 GB in one partition. All are NTFS.
> |
> | I would like to convert the 60 GB partition of the first drive and the
80
> GB
> | second drive into one "super drive." My questions are:
> |
> | 1. Can dynamic disk storage do this?
> | 2. If so, can I convert and "merge" the drives without losing my current
> | data?
> | 3. One of my drives is significantly faster than the other (it has 8MB
> | cache); will combining the two partitions slow access to data on the
> faster
> | drive, when accessed via the new "super drive"?
> |
> | Thanks for any help!
> |
> | Chris
> |
> |
>
>

[Sharon F]

Converting a basic disk to dynamic or dynamic-to-basic, will destroy all
data stored on the disk. When I installed a hard drive, I clicked the Next
button in the new drive wizard for Initialize. Then clicked next for
Dynamic. When I went to switch the drive back to Basic, the screen that
tells you all data will be lost appears. As with most Windows disk tools,
the drive layout and status is addressed only. Once it is established, you
can add/remove data files. There may be third party tools that can make this
change without data loss but I'm not aware of any.

--
Sharon F
Microsoft MVP, Windows - Shell/User


Chris Zarate wrote:
> Ok, I did some research and found this:
>
> http://www.techtutorials.com/tutorials/xp/xpdiskmanagementtool.shtml
>
> "When you have converted a basic disk to dynamic storage, you can create
> Windows XP Professional volumes, of which there are three different types
> that can be utilized on the local system:
>
> Simple volumes. All of the disk space from a single disk is used and it is
> not fault tolerant.
>
> Spanned volumes. Includes disk space from multiple disks up to a total of
> 32. Data is written to a spanned volume on the first disk, completely
> filling the space, and continues to the next until it is full and then the
> next, and so on, through each disk that you include in the spanned volume.
> These volumes are not fault tolerant either. If any one single disk in the
> whole entire spanned volume fails, all the data in the entire volume is
> lost.
>
> Striped volumes. Combines areas of free space from multiple hard disks (up
> to 32) into one logical volume. In a striped volume, Windows XP
Professional
> optimizes performance by adding data to all disks at the same time in
> succession, a direct contrast to spanned volumes. If any one single disk
in
> the whole entire striped volume fails, all the data in the entire volume
is
> lost."
>
> However, it doesn't answer my question #2, does anyone know the answer?
>
>> "Nicholas" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> 1. No
>> 2. No
>> 3. No "super drive"
>>
>> --
>> Nicholas
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>> --
>> ---------------
>>
>> "Chris Zarate" > wrote in message:
>> ...
>>
>>> I have some basic questions about dynamic disk storage that I hope
someone
>>> can answer.
>>>
>>> Here is my situation. I have two physical drives, each 80 GB. One is
>>> partitioned into 20 GB and 60 GB. XP Pro is installed on the 20 GB
>>> partition. The other drive is just 80 GB in one partition. All are NTFS.
>>>
>>> I would like to convert the 60 GB partition of the first drive and the
80
>>> GB second drive into one "super drive." My questions are:
>>>
>>> 1. Can dynamic disk storage do this?
>>> 2. If so, can I convert and "merge" the drives without losing my current
>>> data?
>>> 3. One of my drives is significantly faster than the other (it has 8MB
>>> cache); will combining the two partitions slow access to data on the
>>> faster drive, when accessed via the new "super drive"?
>>>
>>> Thanks for any help!
>>>
>>> Chris