Drive no longer boots after converting to Dynamic

jackdup

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I wanted to use drive mirroring which requires changing the drives to dynamic however before I did that I wanted to be sure the conversion would leave the drive still bootable and that there would not be any data loss so posted on Technet.Microsoft.com and was advised I could convert to dynamic without any data loss and the drive would still be bootable. To be on the safe side I cloned drive C to the drive that will be the second drive in the mirror setup and then converted drive C to dynamic. All went fine and after exiting dish management everything was working fine so went back into disk management and coverted the other drive to dynamic as well which again seemed to go just fine. It showed both drives as dynamic and healthy and drive C as a bootable system drive.

I shut down and restarted however as soon as it started to reboot there was a message saying Preparing Automatic Repair and then Diagnosing PC and then Attempting repairs. Then I get a message saying automatic repair couldn't repair your PC with two options, shut down and advance options. Selecting advance options brings up another screen with three choices. The first is continue which if you select it it just reboots. The third option is turn off your PC. The second option is troubleshoot and selecting it brings up another screen giving three choices, Refresh your PC, Reset your PC and advanced options. I don't want to have to reinstall all of my software which I would assume I would have to do if I select either of the first two options but would appreciate if someone could confirm that. The third option is again advance options which takes you to another screen with six options. System restore, System Image recovery, Startup repair, Command prompt, UEFI Firmware and Startup settings. Selecting system restore brings up an error saying system restore could not find the offline boot volume. Please insure it is currently accessible. I don't have an image recovery, startup repair does not solve the problem. Selecting command prompt and then going to drive c: shows a 16 GB partition named Samsung Rec 2. Going to Drive d: shows Samsung Rec which is 325 MB, so assume these two partitions were the recovery partitions. It would appear the original system partition that had all of my files as well as the system files, in other words the primary partition on drive c is now drive X so am not sure if that is the reason it is not booting or what I need to do to make it bootable again.
Thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Yeah, that happens...

The key is to have the system boot off a basic drive from a separate System Reserve Partition.
Since you're well past that see if this tutorial gets your machine back in shape.

Read though it carefully, understanding all of the caveats (pay attention the warning, tip and info colored boxes)

If you have any questions - ask FIRST.

See: Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk - Windows 7 Help Forums
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
    Browser
    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
    Other Info
    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
Thank you for the reply and I had already read that post and tried it however get a message that says failed to convert the specified dynamic disk, but no other explanation.

The display of mine is pretty much the same as what is shown in the tutorial that is posted except under type mine is shown is GPT and the tutorial shows logical, and my drive is larger but what is shown is correct for my drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Did you use PW 4.2?

Minitool dropped the Convert Dynamic to Basic function from the FREE Home Edition of Partition Wizard sometime after 4.2

The ISO for PW 4.2 is lited in step 2 of the tutorial.

Let me know.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
    Browser
    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
    Other Info
    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
Any suggestions for a free program to write the ISO to a USB drive? I downloaded Imgburn and understood it wrote to CDs and USBs but it appears it only writes to CDs.

Thanks

Never mind, downloaded ISO to USB so will let you know how I make out.

The version I used was 4.2 so I believe that version still had the capability to convert.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Free buring utility? Windows 8 - burn to disk.

No 3rd party software needed.

To create a bootable Flash drive - I use Rufus
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

um... if you're asking questions about how to burn an ISO, then I'm not sure you used PW 4.2 before. If you did, it wasn't from a bootable disk.

You're changing the drive schema, so you can't do that when Windows is running.

Try booting to the PW 4.2 disc. You'll probably have more success (at least I hope you will :))

edit: I suppose a bootable USB thumb drive will work as well - if not try a bootable disc. I don't see where it makes much difference (although some utilities require FAT32 and some utilities write NTFS to thumb drives). The UDF format of discs don't have those same issues.

I hope it works with the USB so you don't have to burn a disc, but if it doesn't - try creating a disc.

Bill
.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
    Browser
    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
    Other Info
    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
The tutorial at sevenforums has a link to download both the Windows Partition Wizard 4.2 and the ISO. I downloaded the 4.2 and ran it from my VISTA laptop with the drive connected through a USB port on the VISTA machine. There is also free verion of version 9 which I tired after 4.2 didn't work and the messaqe from it was that feature is not available in the free version. I had also downloaded the ISO but so far have not had any success in getting it too boot so will try the program you suggested if that still fails may have to run over and buy some CDs and burn it to one of them.

My only Windows 8 machine is the one that no longer is bootable. My old laptop that I am using right now is a Vista and my desktop is a Windows 7.

I used the ISO to USB but it will not boot. I tried make bootable option and without the option but will still not boot from the USB drive so not sure what I have done wrong or why it won't boot. It I go into the setup it is set to boot from the USB first on both computers I have tried it in. In the one with the drive that needs to be fixed it is like it doesn't even see it and in the Windows 7 machine it goes through the normal POST and then says remove any disks and press any key to restart and when you do that it boots into Windows 7. Not sure what I am doing wrong unless when it writes the drive it should be NTFS but still not sure whether to make it bootabl. I assume the ISO will make it bootable but would appreciate your input on the correct parameters for writing the ISO to the USB.
Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Open the ISO - (mount it) double click, imgburn viewer, what have you
then copy the iso contents to usb
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Good tool to know about - have you run it before?

Thanks I've added it to my tool box and will try it at some point.

Jack, I've never used the EASEUS tool, but I trust KYHI to only recommend a good tool. This might be easier than trying to get the 4.2 PW to work.

The directions look fairly straight forward - read it over and give it a try Please let us know the results.

Bill
.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
    Browser
    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
    Other Info
    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
I've used partition master for years - never made the mistake of converting to dynamic disk - so that option was never needed..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I'm not sure I would call it a mistake converting as in order to use mirroring (RAID 1), which I need, the drives have to be dynamic. I was very paranoid about the potential for losing data or not being bootable so as I mentioned posted on technet at Microsoft and was assured it wouldn't be a problem, howver they were obviously wrong.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Followed the directions on that page and when I select convert to basic I get a message saying EFI/MSR partition will lost after conversion if they are existed on GPT disk. Are you sure to continue? Not exactly sure what that means.

Also finally created a CD with the ISO posted on the sevenforums tutorial however get the same message as just running the program from within Windows.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
what happened with your RAID setup? Did you set the BIOS for raid? do you have intel storage manager installed?

not sure how the conversion from dynamic to gpt works - as long as the partitions are not removed during the conversion - we can rewrite the missing boot files..

Via booting to windows media and F10 command prompt

C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I know the big mistake I made was to convert the second drive to Dynamic as well without rebooting the computer first as I had cloned drive c before converting it. When it showed the conversion went fine and after exiting Dish Management and reentering it showed the disk as dynamic and healthy and a system disk as well as oher notations so made the big mistake of not actually rebooting it. Had I rebooted I would have realized the problem and could have simply swapped out the disk with the cloned one and cloned it back to the original drive. Being a Microsoft product I should have known better and had another separate backup beside the cloned disk but all of my external hard drives were full enough the data from this disk wouldn't have fit.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
How are you accessing the PC? You mentioned X which means your booting into ram and windows recovery?

See the links in my sig below - windows 8.1 se - recovery tools - download a create bootable media.. there are imaging tools and partitions tools.. and it gives you access to all the drives.. it is basically the windows environment booted into ram
Or a GUI version of winpe
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
what happened with your RAID setup? Did you set the BIOS for raid? do you have intel storage manager installed?

not sure how the conversion from dynamic to gpt works - as long as the partitions are not removed during the conversion - we can rewrite the missing boot files..

Via booting to windows media and F10 command prompt

C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows

On my desktop I have hardware RAID however on the Samsung laptop is not an option in the BIOS. I do have Intel Storage Manager installed but creating a RAID is not an option. I checked with Intel and the chipset I have does support RAID but they also told me many manufacturers disable it. I have no idea why but it would appear Samsung has disabled it so the second option was to use a software RAID or mirroring however to use it the drives need to by dynamic. I wish I could use the hardware RAID but don't see it as an option.

I can get to a command prompt but the drive letters seem to be all over the place and don't know how to get a complete list. If I remember correctly c and d are recovery partitions and x is where it would appear most of the data and programs are. I would think that drive x is the original drive c, and I don't know how all of this will get tied back together on a bootable drive.

I'm not sure if you are familiar with TESTDRIVE by cgsecurity I believe but it finds I believe 6 or 7 partitions and I may be able to get the data back as I believe it has a function to copy the data to another drive and also to write the partitions. If I cannot get it converted back to a basic disk with data intact I think the next option is to copy everything off onto another drive and try writing all of the found partitions but am really hoping to find a solution which doesn't require the extra work that would require.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
well you have two drives with the same data - so you should only test with one drive..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
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