Converting a disk between dynamic and basic types allows you to change how storage is managed on your Windows system. Basic disks use primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives, making them suitable for most standard configurations. Dynamic disks offer advanced features like spanning, striping, and mirroring volumes, but are now deprecated and not recommended for new deployments. Instead, use basic disks or the newer Storage Spaces technology when you want to pool disks together into larger volumes. If you want to mirror the volume from which Windows boots, you might want to use a hardware RAID controller, such as the one included on many motherboards.
Prerequisites
You must be a member of the Administrators group (or have equivalent privileges) to convert a disk.
Important
Before you convert a disk, back up any data on the disk, and close any programs that access the disk.
Convert a disk
You can convert your disk using either the Disk Management tool or the command line. Follow these steps for your method of choice.
Before you convert your disk type, back up or move the data off the disk.
Select Start, type diskmgmt.msc, then hit Enter.
Right-click on the volume pertaining to your disk.
Select Delete Volume, then select Yes. Repeat this step for all volumes on the disk.
Right-click on the disk and select either:
Convert to Dynamic Disk, select the correct disk that you want to convert, then select OK.
Convert to Basic Disk.
Once conversion is complete, you'll see either Basic or Dynamic under your disk. If a new volume is created, you can see the disk type under the Type column.
Before you convert partition styles, back up or move the data off the disk.
Open an elevated command prompt window, type diskpart, then hit Enter.
Prepare your disk for conversion by cleaning (deleting) any partitions or volumes.
Note
If your disk doesn't have any partitions or volumes, skip to step 3 to convert your disk.
Type list disk and press Enter. Note the disk number that you want to convert.
Type select disk <disk number>, replace <disk number> with the number you noted in the previous step, and then press Enter.
To verify the details of the currently selected disk, type detail disk and press Enter. The detail disk command displays information about the currently selected disk and doesn't accept a disk number as an argument.
Type clean and press Enter to delete all partitions and volumes on the disk.
Caution
The clean command permanently destroys all data on the selected disk. Ensure you back up or move all important data before running this command.
Type convert basic or convert dynamic, and then press Enter.
Once conversion is complete, you're notified of the process.
Before you convert partition styles, back up or move the data off the disk.
Open an elevated PowerShell window.
Prepare your disk for conversion by cleaning (deleting) any partitions or volumes.
Note
If your disk doesn't have any partitions or volumes, skip to step 3 to convert your disk.
To list all disks, run the following command:
Get-Disk
Note the disk number you want to convert.
To remove all partitions and volumes from the disk, run the following command. Replace <Disk Number> with the disk number you noted earlier:
Clear-Disk -Number <Disk Number> -RemoveData -Confirm:$false
To convert the disk type to basic, run the following command and replace Disk Number with your actual disk number:
$diskNumber = Disk Number
$convert = @(
"select disk $diskNumber",
"convert basic"
)
$convert | ForEach-Object { $_ } | diskpart
To convert the disk type to dynamic, run the following command and replace Disk Number with your actual disk number:
$diskNumber = Disk Number
$convert = @(
"select disk $diskNumber",
"convert dynamic"
)
$convert | ForEach-Object { $_ } | diskpart
Once conversion is complete, you're notified of the process.