How to Partition a Dynamic Disk

Many people, especially server users want to resize dynamic disk or partition the dynamic disk for new volumes. Here are some real cases:

"I have Windows 2000 server with two hard drive configured to do a software RAID; the hard drive is set as dynamic mirroring disk0 and disk1. Currently "C" is 8G, "D" is 22G, I want to resize "C" to 16G and "D" to 14G".

"I want to resize my Windows Small Business Server 2003 boot disk partition. The disk is 73 GB; the boot partition is 15 GB. The boot partition is mirrored and is a dynamic disk."

"I was trying to move free space from the "D" drive to the "C" drive (the boot drive) on a Windows Server 2003 dynamic disk for Small Business Server. The C drive has filled up."

"Can I create a second partition on a SATA 320Gb Seagate drive that is a Dynamic Disk without any data loss on the original partition?"

Why do people need to partition the dynamic disk?

After creating different dynamic volume, you can use the volume as a partition on the basic disk, and you can create, format, change the drive letter, etc., but there is a problem that if one dynamic volume is out of space, you cannot expand it, except Simple Volume and Spanned Volume. Generally, the low disk space problem is more likely occurred in system volume, but this volume cannot be expanded in Disk Management before Windows Vista. Currently, there is no tool that can partition dynamic disk directly.

Why is it hard to partition the dynamic disk

In a basic disk, all partitions are in the same physical hard disk, and they are easy to be controlled by MBR, partition table, DBR, etc. But to dynamic disks, the dynamic volume is constructed by two or more physical disks, so to partition a dynamic disk means you have to change all disk information, as well as all data. Except for a dynamic disk with only Simple Volume, it is easier to manage, as Simple Volume does not span different physical disks.

Is there a way to partition the dynamic disk

EaseUS Partition Master provides the following ways to help you partition the dynamic disk.

• You can resize dynamic volume directly on dynamic disk.
• You can use the partitioning tool - EaseUS Partition Master to convert dynamic disk to basic disk, after you partition the basic disk, you can convert the basic disk to dynamic one in Disk Management.
• You can copy dynamic volume to basic disk and then resize the partition.

The following steps will show you how to create a new volume on a dynamic disk.

 

Step 1: You can create a volume on unallocated space with EaseUS Partition Master. First, right-click on the allocated space and choose "Create".

Step 2: Choose a volume type among Simple Volume, Spanned Volume, Striped Volume, Mirrored Volume, and RAID-5 Volume (only available in the Server Edition). You can differentiate the types by referring to the Description box for each item. Make your choice and click "Next".

Step 3: Which disk do you wish to create the volume on? Click "Add" to select the disk you're going to use, and then "Next".

Step 4: Choose a drive letter, file system, cluster size and name a partition label to the new volume. Also, you can resize the volume at this step. Click "OK".

Step 5: On the home menu, click the "Execute Operation" button and then "Apply". You've created a new volume successfully.

If you want to upgrade your computer, EaseUS Partition Master also is a good tool, no matter you want to copy basic disk or dynamic volume. It can copy to hardware RAID disk directly, too.