Diskpart is a utility that you can use to convert two or more basic disks to dynamic disks. You will need the following in order to do this:DiskPart, an installation CD for Windows NT 4.0, and any other necessary files.
A computer with at least one basic disk which has not been converted into a dynamic disk yet (i.e., you cannot convert basic disks into dynamic disks if they are already being used)
At least one free partition on the hard drive from which you want to create your new dynamic disk (i.e., there must be at least one unused partition available).
There are two ways to use Diskpart. One way is the manual way, which you can do with or without a graphical user interface (GUI). The other way is via an automated script file, such as “convert_basic.bat”.
DiskPart lets you convert one basic disk into one dynamic disk that uses all of the space available on that drive. You can also create more than one new dynamic disks from a single basic disk by dividing it up and telling DiskPart how much space each partition should take up in megabytes for example. Keep in mind that if you divide your hard drive but have less free space left over than what was previously allocated for partitions, then there will be no room left to create any new partitions.
In the manual way, you can use DiskPart by opening up a Command Prompt window and typing “Diskpart”. The prompt should then change to DISKPART>. You will then type in commands such as “list disk” or “convert basic disk.”
The automated script starts with the command line that tells it which drive letter represents your hard drive. It also includes how many dynamic disks you want created from each partition on the original single one (e.g., if there are two partitions on a hard-drive, you would input “-c -f 20G”). If you only wanted one new dynamic disk from this specific partition, just enter “-c”. This program automatically converts all of these drives into dynamic disks.
In both of these methods, you can use a utility to convert two or more basic disks into dynamic ones.
If the disk has been previously initialized as an MBR partition it will be converted automatically without any user intervention required on that drive letter’s partitions. Otherwise, Diskpart is used with lines such as “convert mbr” and “assign letter=d.” However, in some circumstances you might need additional commands for the conversion process to work properly (see below). You may also want to resize your partition before converting it to Dynamic Disk. This should only apply if resizing isn’t possible after a conversion because of system requirements – see below for details about this case too!
Tips:
If you can’t resize a partition before converting it to Dynamic Disk, you may want to shrink your basic volume and delete any unneeded volumes. Note that this will destroy any data on the other partitions in your system!
You should only convert disks created with Windows Server 2003 or earlier versions if they’re not used for booting. Otherwise, errors could occur during startup when trying to access them from Windows Vista SP0 or later versions of Windows.
To find out which version of diskpart is available in Windows, use “diskpart /?” at the command prompt – see screenshot below as an example.
This is a screenshot of the Windows Command Prompt:
diskpart /?
The commands available in diskpart depend on which version you have. For example, there are more options for converting disks when running it from Windows Server 2003 R32 than with XP SP0 or later versions. You should only convert disks created with these older Windows versions if they’re not used for booting – otherwise errors can occur during startup and accessing them from Vista SP0 or higher operating systems. This article will show you how to use Diskpart to Convert Two or More Basic Disks to Dynamic Disks using both methods (Windows Server 2003 and XP).
First type “diskpart” at the command prompt like this:
DiskPart
Next, type “list disk” to list all disks available in the system. This will show you which and how many basic disks are present:
