How to Recover Data from Dynamic Disk

A basic storage device differs from a dynamic disk in terms of the way it saves the content. Irrespective of the use of the device, everyone runs into trouble and loses the data at some point. The situation leads to frustration, but with a simple solution, it is possible to restore dynamic disk data.

What is a Dynamic Disk?

A dynamic disk is a physical storage unit and saves content and manages the volumes using the LDM database. LDM stands for Logical Disk Manager. There is a 1Mb hidden space that the drive uses to build a database at the end of the disk. The database records information about the volumes present on the disk, such as drive letter, beginning sector, volume label, the file system of the volume, size, and so on.

If there are many dynamic disks present on a computer, each individual dynamic disk stores the required information accordingly. It means that all such drives have inter-relationship. Such relevance helps you to notice a missing volume displayed in Windows Disk Management. The LDM database holds the same importance as that of the basic disk’s partition table.

The noticeable blue region at the beginning is MBR that saves the partition table information. However, it is different from that of the basic disk. The primary reason for its presence is that it tells Windows and disk managing programs that it is a dynamic disk. Even with such complicated setup, the chances for loss of data are the same as those of a basic disk. Learning how to retrieve files from dynamic disk will help everyone overcome frustration and get back the stored content with ease.

What Is The Difference Between Dynamic Disk and Basic Disk?

The Windows operating system gives two options to store data – basic and dynamic. A basic disk is the commonly used storage device on any Windows computer. The disk contains primary partitions and logical drives. The following are the significant differences between a basic disk and dynamic disk:

• The basic disk uses MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, Millennium Edition, NT, 2000, Server 2003, and XP supported partition tables for storage. A dynamic disk uses Windows XP Professional, 2000, and Server 2003.
• The initialization of the basic disk is for basic storing. In contrast, a disk initialized for dynamic storage helps in storing data dynamically.
• Volumes, primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives are part of a basic disk. Besides, it is possible to create multi-disk volumes in basic volumes using Windows NT 4.0 and earlier editions. A dynamic disk contains simple volumes, spanned volumes, dynamic volumes, mirrored volumes, RAID 5 volumes, and striped volumes. Volume and disk management in a dynamic drive is possible without a restart of the computer.
• Windows XP is incapable of reading multi-disk volumes of the basic disk. A computer running on Windows XP Home edition and portable computers do not offer support to the dynamic disk.
• Before installing Windows XP Professional, it is essential to backup and delete volume sets, mirror sets, stripe sets, and stripe sets with parity or convert it to a dynamic disk.
• You can create mirrored or RAID 5 volumes on remote computers and computers running on Windows 2000 Server, 2000 Advanced Server, and several other versions.

How to Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic Disk

You can restore dynamic disk contents even if there is a loss of data during the conversion process of the dynamic disk to basic disk. You can carry out the process of conversion using the two methods mentioned below:

Method 1: Using Disk Management

Ensure that you created a backup of the contents present on the dynamic disk before proceeding with the steps. A message appears asking to delete all the volumes of the drive.

1. Open the Disk Management tool and choose the dynamic disk that you want to convert to basic disk.
2. Select individual volumes present in the disk and delete.
3. With no volumes present, you can choose the "Convert to Basic Disk" option from the list that appears when you right-click the dynamic disk.

Method 2: Using Diskpart Command

1. Note the dynamic disk number of the disk that you want to convert to basic disk. Open the Diskpart window.
2. In this step, you will be entering a few commands in the command prompt window. Ensure to use the "Enter" button after each line: list disk > select disk 0 > detail disk 0 > select volume= 1 > delete volume > select disk 0 > convert basic. If there are multiple partitions in the disk, you can continue to repeat the process by changing the partition number. Ensure that there are no partitions.
3. Input "Exit" and press "Enter" to leave the command prompt.

How to Restore Files from Dynamic Disk

You can dynamic disk recovery in a few simple steps using iBeesoft Data Recovery software. It is a standalone tool and an effective medium to find data with ease. Apart from getting back data from a dynamic disk, it can do the following:

Guide to Use iBeesoft Data Recovery to Get Back Files from a Dynamic Disk

Before starting, download the trial version of the hard disk recovery software from the website and install it.

1. Launch the program, select your dynamic disk and press "Scan" to next the process.
2. After completion, iBeesoft will show all the recoverable files arranged according to file type. You can preview the content, mark the records, and press "Recover" to store them on your computer.

In the result window, you can also see the option "Deep Scan". It will help you find more files, lost or deleted, from the dynamic disk. It’s more powerful than the default Quick Scan mode. See how easy it is to recover deleted files from dynamic disk. Try your luck now!!!