creating a system image of Windows 8 on a dynamic disk

renka

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Hi, I have a laptop that runs Windows 8 (64 bit), and the hard drive is apparently a dynamic (as opposed to basic) disk. My problem comes when I try to make a backup image of my active drive. I know a lot of backup software has troubles making an image of a dynamic disk. Now after researching, I know that Windows 8 comes with its own imaging tool, "Windows 7 File Recovery". I tried to create a basic partition, and used the file recovery tool to create an image file, but the file would not be saved, maybe because the partition itself is on the same dynamic hard-drive (the error said something about the partition not being large enough etc... even though I made it 40GB).

My question is, is the native system imaging tool of Windows 8 unable to copy a dynamic drive, or is it because I need to save the image file to some place other than the hard drive (maybe a whole bunch of DVDs, since it is an option). The last computer that I own is as old as a dinosaur, so I really did not keep up with all these advancement- I just feel that dynamic format is a beast to work with. Any help in the matter is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Making a backup to an external USB disk (relatively cheap) or even to DVDs is always a good idea anyway , otherwise , if the internal disk goes down , you've lost your backup...

I make 3 backups , 1 on a seperate internal disk , then copy that to my networked storage drive (kept elsewhere in the house) and also to an external ESATA drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Memory
    6 GB
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    12 TB in 6 disks
    PSU
    TX650
    Keyboard
    G15
    Mouse
    Intellimouse 3.0
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbits
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Trend Micro
I know a lot of backup software has troubles making an image of a dynamic disk

Why did you convert your Basic HDD to dynamic?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I know a lot of backup software has troubles making an image of a dynamic disk

Why did you convert your Basic HDD to dynamic?

I didn't. I didn't even know what dynamic disk was. That was how the computer was out of the box. I would convert it back to basic but I would most likely lose all of my data.

So can the utility in windows 8 actually make a backup of a dynamic disk? Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
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