Problem with dynamic disk hard drive

[Azndude51]

I reinstalled WinXP Pro after upgrading my computer. I didn't realize that one of my hard drives was a dynamic disk. Now after reinstalling windows, it can't read off that hard drive, though it is detected. It's a 300GB drive and I didn't back anything up on it (I know, that was stupid of me). I know that it's impossible to convert it back to a basic drive w/out losing the data, but is there anyway I can somehow copy the data off that drive first? Luckily I don't have anything irreplaceable on it and I backed up my REALLY important stuff, but I don't really want to lose all those files.

 

[Jiggz]

You can convert to dynamic without losing data. But not the other way around. Read this

 

[RebateMonger]

This isn't necessarily the solution to the OP's problem, but there's a non-MS-supported method to convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk without data loss. Here's the Windows 2000 method, but either it also works with XP, or there's a similar method for XP. It's been mentioned on the Anadtech Forums several times before. I suggest a web search for the XP method:

Arstechnica: Convert a dynamic disk back to a basic disk without data loss.

 

[Azndude51]

It seems like data recovery software might do the trick. I found this program, using the free trial I am able to view all the files on that drive. However, It costs $69.99 in order to actually save those files. Do guys know of any, cheaper, alternatives to that program?