Question Extending existing NVME volume gives dynamic drive error

[jordow47]

I recently bought a new 2tb NVME to replace my 1tb NVME as it was running low on space. I cloned the drive and replaced it no issue at all. I also extended one (Design) of the two volumes on this drive no issue either but when I now come to extend the second volume (Games) with Windows Disk Management, I am given an error message of 'The operation you selected will convert the basic disk to dynamic disk'.

This drive isn't my Boot OS drive but rather a secondary drive for games and my design work, and although there isn't any OS associated data on the second drive I worry that attempting to convert it to a dynamic might give me unwanted results?

Here is an image of my disk partitions -

https://imgur.com/a/iAtzK33

View: https://imgur.com/a/iAtzK33


Can I convert it without causing any issues, or is there a better way for me to extend the 'Games' volume with the remaining unallocated space?

 

[USAFRet]

In Disk Management, you can't Extend the G partition into the unused space at the right.
You could with the D partition, but not the G at the left.

 

[hotaru.hino]

As mentioned you can't extend G:\ because D:\ is in the way. For this I would say

• Extend D:\ to fill the remaining space
• Move the games over to D:\
• Move the contents of D:\ minus the games to G:\
• Flip the letters around
  • You'll have to assign one partition to another letter first.

Note: If at some point you want to have one partition, you'll have to delete where D:\ is now first, then extend G:\. You can't say move D:\ "to the left" since the starting point of a partition is fixed.

 

[jordow47]

Thanks for the help! I didn't realize that partitions worked like that, I assumed it was just space that can be put anywhere. Is there any programs that could circumvent the whole issue of it 'being in the way'?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the help! I didn't realize that partitions worked like that, I assumed it was just space that can be put anywhere. Is there any programs that could circumvent the whole issue of it 'being in the way'?

Proper planning is the primary way...😉

Splitting a physical drive into multiple partitions used to be a good thing.

Not so much these days.

In your case, a single partition encompassing the whole drive, with 2 top level folders.
Design and Games.

But what happened in your clone process could have been fixed in the process.
Macrium Reflect lets you manipulate the partition sizes of the target drive.
A 500GB partition on the source could have been told to use the entirety of a 1TB target.

Finally, cloning a non_OS drive is not really necessary.
Simple copy/paste, and then swap drive letters around would have done the trick.

 

[jordow47]

As mentioned you can't extend G:\ because D:\ is in the way. For this I would say

• Extend D:\ to fill the remaining space
• Move the games over to D:\
• Move the contents of D:\ minus the games to G:\
• Flip the letters around
  • You'll have to assign one partition to another letter first.

Note: If at some point you want to have one partition, you'll have to delete where D:\ is now first, then extend G:\. You can't say move D:\ "to the left" since the starting point of a partition is fixed.

Or would I be able to make a new partition using the unused space, move everything from G:\ onto the new one, then wipe the original G:\ partition to the extend the new one, or would that still leave the now deleted partition in the same spot on the left?

 

[USAFRet]

Or would I be able to make a new partition using the unused space, move everything from G:\ onto the new one, then wipe the original G:\ partition to the extend the new one, or would that still leave the now deleted partition in the same spot on the left?

Question #1...
Do you have a known good backup of ALL data on this drive?
Messing with partitions like this can end up in a total fail.


Basically, copy ALL this data to some other drive.
G partition goes into a Games folder, D partition data goes into a Design folder.
Not 'clone'...a simple copy/paste.

Then, do whatever you like with the partitions

Copy the relevant data back into its respective partition.

 

[jordow47]

Question #1...
Do you have a known good backup of ALL data on this drive?
Messing with partitions like this can end up in a total fail.


Basically, copy ALL this data to some other drive.
G partition goes into a Games folder, D partition data goes into a Design folder.
Not 'clone'...a simple copy/paste.

Then, do whatever you like with the partitions

Copy the relevant data back into its respective partition.

I still have the 1TB NVME that I used as a clone the other day, I haven't done much on my pc so it should be okay to just use that again as the data.

Would I then format the 2TB back to blank and make the half & half partition and as you say just copy all data back over to the new ones?

 

[USAFRet]

I still have the 1TB NVME that I used as a clone the other day, I haven't done much on my pc so it should be okay to just use that again as the data.

Would I then format the 2TB back to blank and make the half & half partition and as you say just copy all data back over to the new ones?

The 1TB has the 2x partitions?

If so....

Delete the current partitions on the 2TB.
Format and create 2 partitions, D and G, copy the relevant data into the desired partition.

 

[jordow47]

The 1TB has the 2x partitions?

If so....

Delete the current partitions on the 2TB.
Format and create 2 partitions, D and G, copy the relevant data into the desired partition.

Yeah the 1TB was identical as it was split into two 500GB partitions so I upgraded to essentially double both their spaces.

That sounds good though, I really appreciate the help and will give that a go!