• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

How Safe are Dynamic Disks?

L

lithium726

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
8,195
ok, so ive got about 4 gigs left on my drive, its 200GB is paritioned out to 40 for the OS and 160 for storage, and im almost out of space. what i want to do is ghost my OS over to a 36gb raptor(which im gonna pick up soon) and then convert the 200gb disk to dynamic, delete the 40gb partition, and change the size of the 160gb to take up the entire drive. what are my chances of losing data? this stuff would be impossible to replace so im hoping i dont have to back it all up to dvds before i attempt this...
 
I would back up the 160 partition before attempting to use a program to resize that partition just in case.
Just install the new drive and leave it 160/40.
 
WS6 said:
I would back up the 160 partition before attempting to use a program to resize that partition just in case.
Just install the new drive and leave it 160/40.
Click to expand...
well resizing is part of dynamic disks.. its a feature in windows xp/2000 pro, just wondering if anyone has any experience with it

but yeah, im not looking forward to backing all this up...
 
lithium726 said:
well resizing is part of dynamic disks.. its a feature in windows xp/2000 pro, just wondering if anyone has any experience with it

but yeah, im not looking forward to backing all this up...
Click to expand...

Oh, I did not know that. It will allow you to resize without formatting?
 
WS6 said:
Oh, I did not know that. It will allow you to resize without formatting?
Click to expand...
yup. it also allows for software raid 0/1/5(with a hack to the registry, raid5 is supposed to be a 2k3 server feature only)
 
WS6 said:
Oh, I did not know that. It will allow you to resize without formatting?
Click to expand...

lithium726 said:
yup. it also allows for software raid 0/1/5(with a hack to the registry, raid5 is supposed to be a 2k3 server feature only)
Click to expand...

Not true. Dynamic Disks allow you to *extend* the drivespace by adding additional drivespace from the same or different drives, but you'll still have two sets of drivespace that appear to be as one. In no way can Windows natively rewrite the "partition" size.

You need to use a utility like Partition Magic if you want to resize it.
 
SJConsultant said:
Not true. Dynamic Disks allow you to *extend* the drivespace by adding additional drivespace from the same or different drives, but you'll still have two sets of drivespace that appear to be as one. In no way can Windows natively rewrite the "partition" size.

You need to use a utility like Partition Magic if you want to resize it.
Click to expand...
well shit. that worthless hack of a professor i had for windows OS was wrong, there is nothing in the book about resizing volumes.

and before you ask, yes i took a windows OS class, it was an easy 100 for my GPA:D

edit:
John-St said:
If you just want to resize the partition, you can extend it without converting it to a dynamic disk.

How to use Diskpart.exe to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000
Click to expand...
thanks for that, any idea of how often it fails and destroys all your data?
 
lithium726 said:
thanks for that, any idea of how often it fails and destroys all your data?
Click to expand...

I've done it once before, and all of my data survived. NTFS is a pretty robust filesystem, so it's probably pretty safe.
 
I do know there have been tons of posts in this thread about not being able to remount, back up and or restore dynamic disks after they were created. Do a search on it.
 
lithium726 said:
yup. it also allows for software raid 0/1/5(with a hack to the registry, raid5 is supposed to be a 2k3 server feature only)
Click to expand...
I've been playing with that, but did not know of the raid5 hack for XP! Can you share?
 
daks001 said:
I've been playing with that, but did not know of the raid5 hack for XP! Can you share?
Click to expand...
oy, i thought it was at anandtech but i cant for the life of me find it... you might be on your own, sorry :(
 
@$%$#@ Dynamic Disks, use diskpart.exe ;)

there are very few legitimate reasons to employ Dynamic Disks
they are like a really incomprehensible dialect of a language you speak
and once converted you cant go back short of shelling out $$$ or reformating
if you insist first read all of these


Dynamic Disks
Description of Disk Groups in Windows Disk Management
Dynamic vs. Basic Storage in Windows 2000
Basic and Dynamic Disks @ Windows & .net Magazine
HOW TO: Recover an Accidentally Deleted NTFS or FAT32 Dynamic Volume
Dynamic Disk Hardware Limitations (No firewire, USB, removable or laptop)
HOW TO: Set Up Fault-Tolerant Sets on Dynamic Disks in Windows 2000
Dynamic Disk Numbering and the DmDiag.exe Tool
HOW TO: Regenerate a Dynamic Mirrored Volume in Windows 2000
Restrictions on Extending or Spanning Simple Volumes on Dynamic Disks

Limits of Dynamic Disks in Windows 2000
LDMDump (Freeware utility) @ sysinternals
LDM Database @ Linux-NTFS project
LDM FAQ @ Linux-NTFS project

from the Advanced HDD Issues Linkfarm
 
YAY! Ice Czar is here, the all knowing guru of hard drives

ok, i dont want to read all that so ill take your word for it and not use dynamic disks, i wasnt sure of it anyway. Ice, do you know of any shortcomings or things i should be worried about using diskpart?
 
well things happen very fast with a commandline
there is no "are you sure you want to do that" stuff involved
no graphical interface that might clue you in that your about to do your system partition unto death because your confused over the letter assignments ect

thats why its often said the commandline is what seperates the men from the boys \ the pros from the dilettantes :p

there is a learning curve involved with diskpart as well and some limitation when you use it to expand a partition
1. it can only grow a partition into adjecent unallocated space
2. it cant grow a partition that contains a pagefile
3. even if you relocate the pagefile from your system partition it still cant grow it
(but if you run multiple pagefiles and the partition your looking at growing happens to have one,. but isnt the system partition you can temporarilly relocate the pagefile and then use diskpart on it)

have you done much with the commandline?
learning the syntax is the general barrier
in addition to John-St link
diskpart.exe at the commandline
Syntax

so access diskmanagement (Start > Run > diskmgmt.msc) and verify which disk is which and which partition is which

Code: 
DISKPART>
DISKPART> SELECT DISK = 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk
DISKPART> SELECT PARTITION = 1
Partition 1 is now selected
DISKPART> extend = 10000



disk zero is the first disk listed in Disk Management
there is however no "zero" partition, so starting with the first partition as counted from the disk focus is on
there must be unallocated space adjecent to the partition to expand into

see the html in the download
like Unix commandline arguements [ ] or < > arent actually typed

so extend [size=n] [disk=n] [noerr]

Code: 
 DISKPART> extend size=666666 disk=0 noerr

good luck ;)

and if you think Im all knowing, your as deluded as I am :p
 
Dynamic Disk Hardware Limitations
Article ID : 254105
Last Review : December 3, 2003
Revision : 1.0
This article was previously published under Q254105
On this page
SUMMARY
MORE INFORMATION

SUMMARY
This article lists the hardware that does not support dynamic disks.
MORE INFORMATION
Dynamic disks are not supported on the following hardware: • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 serial bus
• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• Removable disks
• Disks in laptop computers or laptop docking stations

Dammit! There goes my plan to RAID 0 two USB drives!!!!! The external cases will be delivered from NewEgg TONIGHT too!
 
yeah, i have exp with the command line and disk locations, but i still think i might just back it all up anyway... twould suck if a struck the wrong key.

oh well, now ill have all my stuff backed up in case the drive goes down...
 
Ice Czar said:
you should always maintain up to date backup ;)
Click to expand...
i know i know.. but i just recently got this DVD burner, you see... and there wasnt a way in hell i was gonna put all this stuff on CD's
 
As long as we are on this topic and lithium's question has been answered, I would also like some information.

I have dual Raptors; not a tremendous amount of space. Not only that, but it is a pain not being able to utilize both disks effectively. Raid 0 would be nice but I'm not willing to take that much of a risk. Using Raid 1 simply gives up too many bytes. Ideally, I would have applications and Windows striped. I'm not necessarily looking for a speed increase, just a good way to bridge the two drives together. Then, my user created content would be mirrored for safety.

I believe I know enough to get through this. However, I'm questioning how to install Windows. Should I install it to a basic partion on one of the drives, then re-install it on a striped partition? Or is there a way to stripe it in the beginning?

And Czar, I don't care if I am a "boy" or a "dilettante", I prefer to use Disk Manager
 
software RAID0 is still RAID0 (stripe)
half of each file would be written to each drive, loose one loose it all
and I dont see any reason to "bridge" the space but if you must mount the other drive\partition as a folder in the first, that way if either drive fails the other is available
RAID1 in software would mirror data to each drive, but again your at 50% storage efficiency

in either event the array appears as a single drive to the OS (just different sizes)
 
Ice Czar said:
and I dont see any reason to "bridge" the space
Click to expand...
Because if I don't then I have awkward spaces that my organizational style just doesn't know how to cope with ;)

Creating a sequential list of partitions that use the entire 128 GB suits me best; not finagling them to fit on two 74GB drives.
 
getting to know diskpart.exe has other advantages of course
but I do use Partition Magic more often than not, since its not limited by the system partition caveate, and can shrink and move a partition in addition to expanding one

having seen so many people get sideways with Partition Magic in here
I offer these words of wisdom
avoid "merge"
and do one task at a time (resize>apply>reboot, move>apply>reboot ect)
following those parameters Ive had error free use for 4 years (with regular almost monthly use too) ;)

and make those rescue disks
 
MirrorIK said:
Because if I don't then I have awkward spaces that my organizational style just doesn't know how to cope with ;)

Creating a sequential list of partitions that use the entire 128 GB suits me best; not finagling them to fit on two 74GB drives.
Click to expand...

well...there is JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) which will span disks without as much risk (as RAID0), generally recovery of data on any disk that didnt bite the dust in a JBOD array is possible, just not quite as easy as a mounted drive. which simply needs a new path to be back online, but often in a JBOD its an actual data recovery exercise, meaning you might need to write the data to a different array\drive to recover it instead of adding a new drive into the array and rebuilding the array with a hole in it, or down grading a JBOD 2 (now one) drive array to a single online dynamic drive
 
Ice Czar said:
and once converted you cant go back short of shelling out $$$ or reformating
Click to expand...

Not true. Well, sort of. I had to pay $250 to fix a server here at work last year and it was totally worth it. Now you don't have to pay if you need to temporarily revert back to a basic disk. :D

**************************************************

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO IMPLIED WARRANTY FOR THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION. IF YOU F-CK UP YOUR DISK, IT'S YOUR FAULT, NOT MINE.

**************************************************



To revert to a basic disk configuration from a dynamic situation, these are the steps you need to take. This is a TEMPORARY solution only.

Okay, you'll need the diskprobe utility. It's a part of the support tools on the 2000 Server disk.

You have to open up diskprobe. Select "Drives," then "Physical Drives." You have to select your drive here. "PhysicalDrive0" is your first drive, "PhysicalDrive1" is your second drive, so on and so forth. Double-click the drive. Under "Handle 0," you see your drive selected. There's a button there named "Set Active." Click it. Then click OK.

Click "Sectors" on the pull-down menu, then "Read." Click "Read" again in the window that pops up. You're Reading sectors 00 and 01. Now you should see the window populate the drive's sector information.

In row "01C0," and the third column over, you will see the data "42." Navigate to this block and change the "42" to "07." Click the "Sectors" pull down menu again. Click "Write." You will have to allow write access to the drive, so click Yes/Ok.

Click on "Drives," then "Physical Drives" again. "Close Handle" for the drive that you edited information on.

Reboot or load up the Disk Management console and import your drives. They will show up as foreign when you first view them, but that's perfectly fine.

Now get the data off of that drive, delete the partitions on said drive, and rebuild it.

That's it. Really.
 
Ice Czar said:
@$%$#@ Dynamic Disks, use diskpart.exe ;)
Click to expand...

indeed, I had a RAID-1 array on Dynamic disks once. They were 'out of sync' at some point and then suddenly i couldn't get "SH*T" off my hdd anymore.. thanks for something like EZ recovery, otherwise my stuff would have been gone... *grr*
:mad:
 
kinda advanced stuff but once you master it
you can do alot more than just Partition Magic Repair disks ;)

Those are all DOS or Win32 based there is also the other side of the fence with bootable CD based on Linux or BSD

Like Knoppix, g4u, STD

Knoppix is fairly well documented for "add ons" but Im not sure how that would acually relate to Partition Magics Repair disks which I assume are DOS, if any emulation options are available
 
offdigital2 said:
I think this is the hack you're looking for:
http://members.home.nl/rvandesanden/raid3.html

It will allow you to build a RAID5 array with Windows XP. It's a bit more than a registry tweak, but I can confirm it works. (WinXP SP2)
Click to expand...

WinXP doesn't allow external, like USB drives, to be converted to dynamic. Kills my plan of RAIDing two (or more) USB drives.

Do you know if this ^^ reg hack will allow it?
 
not 100% positive
but close

and the answer is no
Im unaware of any reg hack that will allow USB Dynamic Disks in any version of Windows
 
Ice Czar said:
not 100% positive
but close

and the answer is no
Im unaware of any reg hack that will allow USB Dynamic Disks in any version of Windows
Click to expand...

Bummer.

Anyone know if a USB card that does hardware RAID on the external ports exists?
 
HTPC Rookie said:
Bummer.

Anyone know if a USB card that does hardware RAID on the external ports exists?
Click to expand...


Only thing I can think of is getting an external SATA enclosure with a SATA port, then linking the drive and PC with SATA. Essentially that would be an external drive that appeared to the PC as an internal one. But it sounds like you already have USB in place, so it probably doesn't help that much. Linux would almost certainly do it with the USB drives though.
 
the handicap of starting out with USB throughput
and the arbitration of targeting a specific USB device for either parity or stripped RAID
makes it unlikely even Linux would do RAID

it simply doesnt make alot of sense
if your looking to use a USB as backup of an internal (mirror) use ghost or other backup strategies

irregardless of the vaunted claims to USB throughput, the reality is far bleeker in comparision to ATA or SCSI, a great number of variables impact it
and RAID has never been a hotswap technology without very specific protocols like in SCSI
drop a USB drive from a RAID and it would likely bork the array and give the OS diskmanagement fits

I would abandon your plan

whynot just tell us what your trying to accomplish?
 
I have an Antic Aria case for my HTPC setup. As you may know, it will contain 3 drives. But, on one side the drive will hit my HSF, and on the other, my video card. So much for 3 internal drives. I put a 40GB drive in the middle, for the OS (XP Pro).

Since I intend to rip all my 300+ CDs, and 60+ DVD's onto this system, external storage becomes a neccessity.

I own 2 200GB external drives. Ripping 300+ CDs isn't going to take 200GB. Ripping 60+ DVDs will take more than 200GB.

So, I could use them as seperate drives, with (these are estimates) a 150GB partition and a 50GB partion on one drive, the other the entire 200GB. I'd have to split the DVDs over the 50GB and 200GB partitions, and end up with 3 drive letters, D (150Gb), E (50Gb), and F (200Gb).

Kinda messy. So, if there was a way I could RAID 0 the two drives, I could have just two partitions, one for CDs and the other for DVDs, spanned over the two drives. It would also solve some of USB's inherent speed problems.

I may end up just dumping the Aria case. By the time I got enough fans in it, with a blowhole, it's too noisy anyways. Get one case that will take all 3 drives. And there's the option of getting one 300Gb drive and putting all the DVDs on it externally. Several options actually.

Yeah, it's piddley, but if there was a way to do it with USB, I wanted to know how. I run a 8 drive Eurologic Fibre array and a 12 drive Xyratex Fibre array on my rendering server, with a DPT RAID card. On my "play" machine I run a 8 drive U160 (software) RAID with an Adaptec 39160. Kinda partial to RAID...

I run v2i for daily differential backups, and have a 8MM DLT SCSI drive for weekly backups. I have Gigabit Fibre run between all my computer's locations (with the exception of my living room laptop, which is .11b). It's plenty fast enough so I don't need local backup on this HTPC system.
 
well as mentioned
external SATA would likely be the ticket
Highpoint has assorted kits, but sincfe your modding you likely wouldnt need everything
just a bridgecard for an external enclosure possibly an external port or card if you dont have ports on the mobo

would be how Id approach it for a hardware or software RAID

I think there might be some firewire RAID solutions, aimed towards the mac crowd
again actual implementation counts alot, the interface throughput is often quoted but realworld throughput is nowhere near that

Good Luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top