SOS! Volume Span, Hard Drive span, Dynamic Hard Drives HELP!
I have a server that has two hard drives, a C: and a D:. They both contain 186 gb each drive. Unfortunately my C drive is full, and I need to add D: to C's volume. I read that they both needed to be a Dynamic drive before merging them together, and I was able to convert D to a Dynamic drive. I was about to do C, but was concerned if it will remove any data currently on C. I wasn't sure if there is any formating involved, or will converting the C, which contains the operating system, would result in losing any data?
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
October 12, 2004 8:26 AM
UPDATED:
October 13, 2004 3:48 AM
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Answer Wiki:
** Please remember to include OS info **
Microsoft only has dynamic disks in Windows 2000/2003.
Optional in 2000 - preferred in 2003
Conversion is ONE-WAY! Going from basic to dynamic changes partition into volumes. To change back requires deleting volumes -BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!
As stated in your query, you should be ok.
reference pp263-264 Windows Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant
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Short answer: NO
As long as the C: drive was not upgraded from Windows NT, you should be fine. Those drives don’t have additional empty space needed to store dynamic volume info.
In order to prevent lossing any data, including your operating system, you should back all this up. My suggestion is using RDW CD’s, if you have Read Write CD player with your system and backup all the data that you really need.
Before you do your back up, get rid of all your TEMP files and any other files you really don’t need. Those would probably be files you haven’t accessed in 3 to 6 months or longer.
Once you have completed your back up then you can mirror your C drive to your D drive. Once this is completed, you reload your operating system to both drives. Then you can reload all your backup files to which ever drive you desire.