Windows 7 Dynamic Disk Invalid

[bdonk]

I've been using Windows 7 for a while now but all the sudden I'm having an issue with one of my Hard Drives. I have a 320gig SATA as my primary system drive, a 500gig SATA data drive (this one is set to 'dynamic') and then an 120gig ATA drive (That I currently have no data on yet.)

For a couple of months now all was fine. My primary drive was assigned the letter C: (durr,) the 500gig was set to G: and the ATA was set to D:.

I have all of my music and stuff on my big drive, the 'dynamic' one. So I turn on my computer and click a shortcut to my music on my desktop and I get a message saying the link has no target, so I open My Computer and lo and behold, G: is gone. I go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management and I see:

"Disk 0, (D) basic, healthy, primary partition"
"Disk 1, (C) basic, healthy, primary partition"
"Disk 2, (supposed to be G), dynamic, invalid"

When I right-click on it, I get the option to 'convert to basic disk' (lose all data on it,) or 'reactivate disk.' Selecting the latter option gives me the error "This operation is not allowed on the invalid disk pack."

Properties reports the device is working properly, my bios sees the drive as well...???
There is a tiny white bubble with a red down-facing arrow over the drive icon there too that's looking kind of bad...

Please help!

!!!FIXED!!!

I downloaded HxD, a disk hex editor and opened the disk in it. In sector 0, location 1C2, the value read "42." This means dynamic drive, so I changed the value to "07" and saved the changes and rebooted.

Upon reboot I went back to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management and there it was, no longer 'invalid' but instead said 'healthy, NTFS, basic.' Glee!

I had to reboot again though for some reason because I was unable to change the drive's name (not path, just name) and also the drive was not appearing on the left in my library's window. After a 2nd reboot though it was back to the way it was and the disk is no longer dynamic.

I thought this was odd to begin with though because I used Windows7 to make that drive dynamic in the first place, so I have no idea as to why it would suddenly lose support for dynamic disks

Oh well, I'm happy.

For anybody that may be having the same issue, here's the link to the fix and the app: Convert Dynamic Disk back to Basic Disk without data loss - Wilders Security Forums

 

[kenny782]

Have any tips for a failed dynamic volume on multiple disks?

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-support/21562-windows-dynamic-volume-failed-import.html

 

[hatemf23]

Hi,

I just registered to say thank you, this was unbelievably easy, and probably saved me from hours of looking for a solution, my 500gb disk is now basic and working

 

[larysee]

Yes, bdonk talking about is really a good way, thanks.
I found out a more detailed method for back to basic disk at:
Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk without loss of data

 

[RedruM-X]

OMG, bdonk, you are THE man !!!!

Seriously !!!!

I also have an external 500Gb disk, first time I used it it was via a SATA connector to test stuff, and I guess it was back then the disk was made dynamic or something, I never bothered to change it as in XP I could always reactivate the disk without problems.

Not in Windows 7, I had the exact same problem as you had !

This disk was full of data so I was going crazy.

What you said worked PERFECTAMUNDO !

I just want to add something, as when you use HxD and you choose "Extras" and then "Open disk" it first showed me 3 physical disks in the bottom !!! So I didn't know which one it was !!!
How I solved this : I went to the diskmgmt.msc (start\run\...) or like you say via Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management, and I right clicked on the disk in question, and there I took properties to see which disk it was under Volumes.

I especially registered to say thank you for this, as the more detailed guide which larysee gave didn't work, because the "Dynamic disk converter" application which he gave asked me to first import my disk via the "Disk management" application from windows, which wasn't possible. So I finally chose your way and I'm glad about it

OWNAGE !!!

You rule dude !

Thanks a million !!!!

 

[bshanti]

Hi

I also Registered to say Thanks i Owe Big all of you guys are great

Thanks very much to you all i've just founded my 1TB HDD

 

[Nipsy]

Much easier soloution I found if the above issue doesn't work was a program called Restorer 2000 Pro, pay for the software (I found it for about $30-50 dollars on most sites) and re-raid your disk in the vurtial disk in the raid you originally had (0,1,5,10, what ever) but make sure you setup the disk in the correct order you raided them in (disk 00, disk 01, disk02, etc.) then once the Vurtial disk array is set in Restorer 2000 pro, right click it and choose recover, you will need to copy the recovered files to a drive large enough to hold the data (usb drive, slave drive, etc.). It is a long process I restored 1 TB of data and it ran for about 9 hours, but no folders, files, or data was lost. I took the original invalid array and re-raided them with the hardware array program through the BIOS start up, never use the software, 48 hours of blogs, forums, freeware, and it is all found! Safe the time if the fix above fails and get the program it is a life and data saver! Cause of my problem was upgrading from Windows Vista x64 Business to Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and during this upgrade my disk went foreign and when I reattached them from foreign it asked to reboot, after rebooting the disks were all tagged invalid! Never again will I software Raid my drives!

 

[Mattguy]

Hello bdonk,
I just registered to say THANKS!!! Your solution saved all of my home video files and Adobe Premiere Elements creations. Most of these are irreplaceable if lost. After building a new Win 7 machine, I removed my 500 gig HD from the XP machine and installed in the Win 7 machine. I had done this with no problems during previous machine builds (Win98, multiple XP's); however, this time, my Win 7 machine is set to RAID since I have created a RAID 1 disk to protect these very videos and other photos. Did not give it a thought until Win 7 would not recognize the drive. When I returned it to the XP machine, it would no longer recognize the drive. Your solution solved the problem. I immediately copied the drive contents to an external drive via USB. Will now transfer this backup to the new Win 7 RAID. Thanks again for your post!

 

[larysee]

For Dynamic Disk Invalid, typecally your operating system can't support for dynamic disk. such as WinXP Home Edition, Win7 Home Edition will show a dynamic invalid disk in disk management. It seems that upgraded Dynamic Disk Converter 3.0 can revert an dynamic unreadable disk and invalid dynamic disk back to basic disk. I tested the program on VMware fine.

 

[devan151]

A thanks and a question/problem

First, thanks so much for sharing this info. I DL'd and did as you said but i only see one volume I had 4 on my drive i believe the other 3 were X, Y, and Z. Does anyone know how to recover them???

Also: It still shows as dynamic invaled under disk manager, but the drive does come up under my computer.

 

[mikekian]

Using HxD Worked for me also

Hi,
Had the same issue as many on this thread.
Had a 1TB drive installed along with a 500 GB Drive system was running Win XP.
Rebuild the PC removing the 1TB and installing windows 7.
Tried to add 1TB back into system and got the dynamic invalid error.
Used HxD and changed the 42 to 07 and worked perfectly.

Thanks,
mikekian

 

[Nazgûl]

Problem with Dynamic Drive Invalid

I have a WD7500AAKS internal hard drive that I've converted to an external USB drive via ATA/ATAPI Bridge. The disk was fine with Windows XP & Vista. Now, when I try opening it with Windows 7, I cannot. At max, I can make the disk offline/online or disable it. When I tried opening the disk with HxD, first of all, even though I unchecked the 'Readonly' option, when it tried to read the disk, the readonly option was automatically enabled and shaded out thus not letting me uncheck it. Once it opened the physical disk, there was no data in the Sector 0. I mean all the offsets have 0 as the value. The first instances of data are only in sector 16.
The hard disk does not even show up in 'My Computer' or in Disk Management's list (i.e the top part). So, there is an indication of the hard disk being present only in the bottom part and in device manager. When I go to the volume properties, there is no display either. And, when I try updating the driver, I always get a message that it is up to date.
I haven't converted the disk to 'Basic' or tried anything else.

Can someone please tell me what's wrong?

 

[PaulCusden]

Thanks for the info Bdonk - the HxD solution worked for me too.

 

[Doire77]

In awe of finding this article so quick! I too have registered to say THANK YOU!!!!

I'm transferring Rigs & decided to leave my OS/Prog Drive + Music drive in old rig for new owner (with some retwigging). Did the moves a week ago & noticed that my Tunes drive was not displaying.

Only tonight after watching Germany beat Argentina & wait for Spain to play Paraguay (Time stapms thsi comment lol) did I decided to investigate why.

When I discovered all the symptons reported in your original query/resolve I could not believe so easy. I too have Windies 7 (but Pro ed) & drive worked fine up until the removal of extra drives.

I wanted to make sure I had a backup of my data before I swap the SATAs out for PATAs (new owner - sis in law - is not techy savvy to notice & it's free for her). The cold sweats kicked in until I found this article & then when I edited the file I forgot to reboot & momentary freak.

One restart later & bang TUNES ARE BACK IN THE HOUSE!!! (duplicating this data asap lol)

Thanks again & thanks again

 

[DjPan Koumpare]

I've been using Windows 7 for a while now but all the sudden I'm having an issue with one of my Hard Drives. I have a 320gig SATA as my primary system drive, a 500gig SATA data drive (this one is set to 'dynamic') and then an 120gig ATA drive (That I currently have no data on yet.)

For a couple of months now all was fine. My primary drive was assigned the letter C: (durr,) the 500gig was set to G: and the ATA was set to D:.

I have all of my music and stuff on my big drive, the 'dynamic' one. So I turn on my computer and click a shortcut to my music on my desktop and I get a message saying the link has no target, so I open My Computer and lo and behold, G: is gone. I go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management and I see:

"Disk 0, (D) basic, healthy, primary partition"
"Disk 1, (C) basic, healthy, primary partition"
"Disk 2, (supposed to be G), dynamic, invalid"

When I right-click on it, I get the option to 'convert to basic disk' (lose all data on it,) or 'reactivate disk.' Selecting the latter option gives me the error "This operation is not allowed on the invalid disk pack."

Properties reports the device is working properly, my bios sees the drive as well...???
There is a tiny white bubble with a red down-facing arrow over the drive icon there too that's looking kind of bad...

Please help!

!!!FIXED!!!

I downloaded HxD, a disk hex editor and opened the disk in it. In sector 0, location 1C2, the value read "42." This means dynamic drive, so I changed the value to "07" and saved the changes and rebooted.

Upon reboot I went back to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management and there it was, no longer 'invalid' but instead said 'healthy, NTFS, basic.' Glee!

I had to reboot again though for some reason because I was unable to change the drive's name (not path, just name) and also the drive was not appearing on the left in my library's window. After a 2nd reboot though it was back to the way it was and the disk is no longer dynamic.

I thought this was odd to begin with though because I used Windows7 to make that drive dynamic in the first place, so I have no idea as to why it would suddenly lose support for dynamic disks

Oh well, I'm happy.

For anybody that may be having the same issue, here's the link to the fix and the app: Convert Dynamic Disk back to Basic Disk without data loss - Wilders Security Forums

man..U R THE MAN!! i was afraid to do it, but i said lets do it! and it perfectly worked

thx mate.. cheers!

 

[comfujunky]

Re: A thanks and a question/problem

bdonk!! Thank You!! However, I wasn't savvy enough to figure out how to use HxD - I gave it a good 5 minutes of effort But, your info. led me to use MBRTool (I use this all the time to modify/create/manipulate partitions). Changing 42 to 07 did the trick perfectly. If you want an easy way to find/use MBRTool just download and burn to disk the newest UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD). I'm sure you can find MBRTool on the net somewhere but I first found it on UBCD and it's been a very handy tool. Again, bdonk, thank you!!

 

[inneedofsupport]

I bought a new Dell studio XPS and have all my data from a previous computer stored on a 160GB HD. I obtained a USB 2.0 IDE Adaptor can can't locate the device on Explorer.

The problem is, HxD doesn't even detect the drive connected to the USB. But, the drive does show up when I go to Computer > Device Manager > Disk Drives . It also shows up under "Disk Management" but with the same problem as you...

Can anyone provide a bit more support for a complete novice?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TorrentG]

In disk management, right click on the bar graph for the drive and assign a drive letter to it.

 

[auden100]

I'm having the exact same problem as Inneedofsupport. Brand, spanking new Dell XPS with a IDE external enclosure. The HD comes up in disk manager, but is unable to assign any drive letter (at least with the right-click method). So I searched and found this other method to assign drive letters:

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-support/5406-cant-assign-drive-letter-paritition.html

Click Start and in Search programs and files box type CMD
From top of Start menu under Programs (1) RIGHT-click CMD> Run as administrator
At the Command prompt (>) type Diskpart and press [ENTER]
Type List Disk [ENTER]
Type Select Disk N ( N = your Disk Number) [ENTER]
Type List Partition [ENTER]
Select Partition n (n=the partition you want) [ENTER] *This is when the process broke down for me*
Type Assign [ENTER]

Everything works fine until I try to select the partition on that disk. It says that 'this operation is not allowed on an invalid disk'.

Seems like I'm so close, but have just hit a wall. I'm still searching, but any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gavster31]

aHello, I'm Another person who has just registered to say a massive THANKYOU to bdonk. You have just ended a coupla of weeks of frustration and avoided me losing 7 years worth of largely un-backed up photos and videos, and an insane CD-Collection which I would never have the heart or time to re-rip.. I'd make you a cup of tea if I knew where you were man - thanks!