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Invalid Dynamic Drive - Is there a simple soln?

Posted: 20 Dec 2015, 21:56
by NotAnAce
I've found TestDisk and it seems fantastic. I'll be sending money! But before I make the process any more complex than it needs to be, I have a SATA Maxtor 3.5" 100Mb drive connected via USB. Windows (both 7 Pro and 10) recognizes it as an external device, but sadly can't the files. In Disk Management the drive shows with the problematic "Dynamic - Invalid" description.

I've found an awesome YouTube that shows how to copy files off the drive using TestDisk (which seems to work flawlessly, but it would be a VERY lengthy process to go grabbing all the files on the drive), and then go to Disk Management and use Windows to change the disk type to BASIC. (Which if I'm understanding correctly, erases the drive in the process, which is why the YouTube shows copying files off first.)

Since all the files can be seen by TestDisk, the drive is continuous (ie., there is only a single partition) and the drive is not a bootable drive (it just holds data), is there a simpler way in TestDisk to make the drive into a BASIC disk without first needing to copy all the files to another location?

Thanks for any ideas, or for simply confirming that, yes, I must start copying all those files!

Re: Invalid Dynamic Drive - Is there a simple soln?

Posted: 22 Dec 2015, 12:00
by Fiona
Since all the files can be seen by TestDisk, the drive is continuous (ie., there is only a single partition) and the drive is not a bootable drive (it just holds data), is there a simpler way in TestDisk to make the drive into a BASIC disk without first needing to copy all the files to another location?
TestDisk can convert a dynamically disk back to basic automatically.
You can run TestDisk / Analyse / Quick Search and when nothing would be found, Deeper Search also.
When more partitions are found, you must set your partition for recovery to primary etc.. through select your affected partition and use the left or right arrow key on your keyboard.
You can watch it at the left side.
Confirm with enter, select write and confirm with enter and yes.
When your boot sector is damaged, it's possible that you see a message that you should repair it.
In case, select BackupBS and confirm too.
But it will only appear in case if your boot sector is damaged.!
Quit TestDisk and restart your computer and test it.

Fiona