upi:How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

Differences Between Basic and Dynamic Disks:

• Basic disks are supported (readable) by all Windows operating systems since MS-DOS.
  • Dynamic disks are only supported (readable) by Windows 2000, XP Professional, Windows Server 2003, Vista Ultimate, Vista Enterprise, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008.
• Basic disks can have up to 128 GPT primary partitions, or 4 MBR primary partitions or 3 MBR primary partitions and 1 extended partition with up to 128 logical volumes in the extended partition.
  • Dynamic disks can have up to 2000 dynamic volumes that function like a primary partition used in basic disks.
• Basic disks cannot share or split data with other primary or logical partitions, or basic disks. Each partitiion on a basic disk is treated as if it was a separate hard disk on the basic disk.
  • Separate dynamic disks can be combined into a single dynamic volume (spanning), split data among several dynamic disks (striping) for increased performance, or duplicate data among several dynamic disks (mirroring) for increased reliability.
• Hard disks are basic disks by default, including removable disks and disks on a laptop (notepad).
  • Removable disks cannot be converted to a dynamic disk.
  
  
  VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THIS FIRST.
  
  • You must be logged in as an administrator to do this inside Windows.
  • Before you convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk, be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose on that dynamic disk. Converting the dynamic disk back to a basic disk using either OPTION 3-5 below requires that all dynamic volumes are deleted on the disk first.
  • See OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO below if you wanted to be able to convert a dynamic disk back to a basic disk without losing the data on it.
  • If you disable the Disk Defragmenter service, then you will get the error below when you try to do anything in Disk Management. If you get this error, then make sure that the Disk Defragmenter service is set to only Manual.
  
    Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
  
  To Use Partition Wizard 4.2 Free in Windows 7
  

  A) Download the "Partition_Wizard_4.2_free.zip" file here to your desktop.
  B) Open the ZIP file, and extract (drag and drop) the PW folder to your desktop.
  C) Open the PW folder, and run the PWIZ.exe file.
  D) Click on No for the new version avialable update. (see screenshot below)

  E) Right click on the Disk # (ex: Disk 1) of the dynamic disk you want to convert, then click on Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk. (see screenshot below)
  F) Click on OK. (see screenshot below)
  G) Click on the blue Apply check mark toolbar button at the top right corner, and click on Yes. (see screenshot below)
  H) If prompted to restart, click on Restart Now. (see screenshot below)
  NOTE: This is normal if the dynamic disk you wanted to convert to basic is the disk that the currently running Windows is installed on. 
  When finished, the selected dynamic disc will now be converted to a basic disk without losing any data on it.   Thanks to Sevenforms..
  
  w.r.t http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html