Cannot delete volume on dynamic disk in XP

[ahsia]

I was messing around (which I shouldn't) and trying to create a extended partition in Disk Management. I thought you had to convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk. After the coversion, well, it create an unallocated 8mb volume that I can't delete. Now I can't convert back basic disk because of that unallocated volume. Can't do anything in Partition Magic either. I wanted to create another partition, now it seems like I can't do much. Please help!

 

[passign]

rma

 

[mastertech01]

To delete a dynamic volume
Using the Windows interface

Open Computer Management (Local).
In the console tree, click Disk Management.
Where?

Computer Management (Local)
Storage
Disk Management

Right-click the dynamic volume you want to delete, and then click Delete Volume.
Important

Use caution when deleting a volume. Deleting a simple volume, spanned volume, striped volume, mirrored volume, or RAID-5 volume deletes all the data on the volume as well the volume itself.
You cannot recover deleted volumes.
Notes

To open Computer Management, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
You cannot delete the system volume, boot volume, or any volume that contains the active paging file or crash dump (memory dump).
Dynamic simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Home Edition. Dynamic mirrored and RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Professional or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
Using a command line

Open Command Prompt.
Type:
diskpart

At the DISKPART prompt, type:
list volume

Make note of the number of the dynamic volume you want to delete.

At the DISKPART prompt, type:
select volume n

Select the dynamic volume, where n is the volume's number, that you want to delete.

At the DISKPART prompt, type:
delete volume

Deletes the selected dynamic volume.

Important

Use caution when deleting a volume. Deleting a simple volume, spanned volume, striped volume, mirrored volume, or RAID-5 volume deletes all the data on the volume as well the volume itself.
You cannot recover deleted volumes.
Value Description
list volume Displays a list of basic and dynamic volumes on all disks.
select volume Selects the specified volume, where n is the volume number, and shifts the focus to it. If no volume is specified, the select command lists the current volume with focus. You can specify the volume by number, drive letter, or mount point path. On a basic disk, selecting a volume also gives the corresponding partition focus.
delete volume Deletes the selected volume. You cannot delete the system volume, boot volume, or any volume that contains the active paging file or crash dump (memory dump).

Notes

To open command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
You cannot delete the system volume, boot volume, or any volume that contains the active paging file or crash dump (memory dump).
Dynamic simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Home Edition. Dynamic mirrored and RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Professional or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
For more information about DiskPart, click Related Topics.

 

[Goosemaster]

yeah, dynamic volumes are screwey like that.....they are great however for software RAID and such...


anyways....use Partition MAgic to format the drive. THe nature of the dynamic drive will not let you edit the Partition table..just get rid of the entire partition. Format with the WIndows format command should also work....


In the future, don't mess with dynamic drives if you'll regret it later...I lost 40GB due to my mistake once..

 

[ahsia]

<< The 8MB unallocated partition is a standard windows limitation from the conversion. The partition is used as a buffer during the process. The dynamic disk problem is due to the fact that you cannot convert back to a basic disk. It's similar to the NTFS conversion from FAT except that it cannot be undone by using a third party utility. The normal fix is to backup the data, delete the partition, repartition as a basic disk and format. Dynamic volumes can have some advantages, but have their limitations too. >>



Someone at TechIMO helped me out. Yup, I was pretty much screwed, so after trying for a little while, I just decided to delete all the partitions and start over. What a waste of an hour. Thanks though for all the suggestions.....