[SOLVED] "The operation you selected will convert the selected basic disk(s) to dynamic disk(s)."

[maks kuznia]

So basically I have a 2tb external HDD with 2 partitions. 1 partition is 1tb and the other is 800gb. The 1tb partition is almost full so I wanted to extend it. So what I did was I shrunk the 800gb partition so I would have a 488gb unallocated partition. But now when I try to extend my 1tb partition this message comes up.

"The operation you selected will convert the selected basic disk(s) to dynamic disk(s). If you convert the disk(s) to dynamic, you will not be able to start installed operation systems from any volume on the disk(s) (except the current boot volume). Are you sure you want to continue?"

Here's a screenshot of everything.
https://i.imgur.com/wUIe39m.png

 

[jojesa]

Since you are working with a non boot secondary disk (disk1) , it should not affect the Boot disk (disk0).

 

[maks kuznia]

Since you are working with a non boot secondary disk (disk1) , it should not affect the Boot disk (disk0).

But why will it change to a dynamic disk and what's the difference between the two?

 

[jojesa]

Besides better performance in Windows, a dynamic disk allows to make the changes (extend or shrink partition) you are performing and other tasks like creating volumes that cover multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes).
If you try to extend or shrink a partition on a basic disk it must not be formatted (raw) with a file system. Yours is already formatted with the NTFS file system.

 

[maks kuznia]

Besides better performance in Windows, a dynamic disk allows to make the changes (extend or shrink partition) you are performing and other tasks like creating volumes that cover multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes).
If you try to extend or shrink a partition on a basic disk it must not be formatted (raw) with a file system. Yours is already formatted with the NTFS file system.

So there are no drawbacks to the dynamic disk?

 

[jojesa]

There are circumstances when you shouldn't convert a basic disk to dynamic disk.
Your Windows OS boot disk.
Multi-boot setting
OEM partitions.

 

[maks kuznia]

There are circumstances when you shouldn't convert a basic disk to dynamic disk.
Your Windows OS boot disk.
Multi-boot setting
OEM partitions.

I have this error now https://i.imgur.com/ZwS9peJ.png

 

[jojesa]

When you installed Windows, were both disk connected during the installation process?

 

[maks kuznia]

When you installed Windows, were both disk connected during the installation process?

No, Windows was installed on the SSD only.

 

[jojesa]

When you installed Windows, were both disk connected during the installation process?

No, Windows was installed on the SSD only.

That is not the answer to my question.
Even if you manually selected the SSD, I would like to know if both disk were connected during the installation process.

 

[maks kuznia]

When you installed Windows, were both disk connected during the installation process?

No, Windows was installed on the SSD only.

That is not the answer to my question.
Even if you manually selected the SSD, I would like to know if both disk were connected during the installation process.

That is what I meant. Only the SSD was connected.

 

[jojesa]

Terminate any app that could be using the disk (scanners, antivirus, etc).
Using command line, instead of the GUI, to convert to dynamic disk may work.

Open cmd as admin.
Type diskpart and hit enter.
Type list disk and hit enter. Make note of the disk number you want to convert to dynamic disk. Yours is disk 1.
Type select disk 1 and hit enter. You will see "Disk 1 is now the selected disk"
Type convert dynamic and hit enter. Wait for the process to finish.
Type exit and hit enter then close the CMD window.

 

[maks kuznia]

Can I do this in safe mode? And it won't do any harm right?

 

[jojesa]

It shouldn't be an issue.

 

[j4kub1]

Terminate any app that could be using the disk (scanners, antivirus, etc).
Using command line, instead of the GUI, to convert to dynamic disk may work.

Open cmd as admin.
Type diskpart and hit enter.
Type list disk and hit enter. Make note of the disk number you want to convert to dynamic disk. Yours is disk 1.
Type select disk 1 and hit enter. You will see "Disk 1 is now the selected disk"
Type convert dynamic and hit enter. Wait for the process to finish.
Type exit and hit enter then close the CMD window.

I've tried this and it says that the "command you selected is not available with this version of Windows." i am using the latest version of windows 10. any solution?

 

[fzabkar]

Are you running Windows in S mode? S mode prohibits the use of certain commands eg CMD.EXE.

As for extending partitions, the reason you cannot merge the first and third partitions is that a basic disk requires this space to be contiguous. A dynamic disk, OTOH, can contain a spanned volume consisting of several non-contiguous partitions spanning one or more disks.

My personal preference would be to leave the drive as a basic volume.

• Format partition 3
  
  Copy the data in partition 2 to partition 3
  
  Initialise partition 2
  
  Merge partitions 1 and 2

 

[j4kub1]

Are you running Windows in S mode?

No. full windows 10 home, It was working a few months ago and now I have an empty 100gb disk fragment laying about on disk manager.