Microsoft KB Archive/232463

= The option to upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk is not available on a portable computer =

Article ID: 232463

Article Last Modified on 4/16/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Windows Vista Home Basic
 * Windows Vista Home Premium
 * Windows Vista Ultimate
 * Windows Vista Business
 * Windows Vista Enterprise
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q232463



Important Dynamic discs are only supported for Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate, not supported for Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Premium.

As an exceptional case, when you upgrade your computer from Windows XP Media Center Edition to Windows Vista Home Premium, some dynamic discs are handled and supported.



SYMPTOMS
When you try to use the Windows Disk Management (Diskmgmt.msc) console to upgrade your laptop or portable computer from a basic disk to a dynamic disk, you cannot do so.

If you move an existing Dynamic disk from another system to a laptop, the disk will appear as foreign in Disk management. However, the option to import it will be dimmed.



CAUSE
This issue occurs because the Windows Disk Management console does not support this upgrade on a portable computer. Portable computers usually only support a single internal hard disk. Therefore, they cannot take advantage of the advanced volume options that dynamic disks provide. Dynamic disks have advantages over basic disks only when there are two or more dynamic disks in the system. This feature lets the small 1 MB database that contains the disk partitioning and FT volume membership information be replicated across all dynamic disks and provides a layer of redundancy.

Note Users of portable computers rarely have a use for FT volumes that can only be created on dynamic disks in Windows. Also, if a portable computer has a second hard disk contained in a docking station or other external device, they will most likely be separated for long periods of time. Therefore, the database on the separated storage device would soon become out of date or contain false information, possibly causing data loss.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
All the dynamic disks that share the same database are members of the same disk group. Within the group, the dynamic disk database is replicated. With the disk management in Windows, you are only permitted one group. An add-in product produced at a later date could allow for additional groups for more manageability.

For more information about dynamic disk groups in Windows 2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

227364 Dynamic volumes are not displayed accurately in text-mode Setup or Recovery console

Additional query words: idm veritas

Keywords: kbprb kbui KB232463

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