Disk Configuration

Provided by the Microsoft, Windows 2000 Resource Kit

Question

Which type of storage configuration is better for your Windows 2000 Desktop/Server, Basic Disk or Dynamic Disk?

Answer

Basic Disks, which is the default storage configuration for Windows 2000 Server, has the ability to create and delete Primary and Extended Partitions with the ability to mark these partitions as Active. Also, Microsoft Windows 2000 allows you to create and delete Logical Drives within Extended partitions.

Dynamic Disks have the ability to create and delete Simple, Spanned, RAID-5, Striped, Stripe with parity, and Mirrored Volumes. Dynamic Disks also provides you with the ability to extend certain volumes, such as Simple and Spanned volumes. If implemented correctly, Dynamic Disks can provide you Fault Tolerance in-case of disk failure.

*Use caution when upgrading to Dynamic Disks, you will not be able to boot previous versions of Microsoft Windows.

An additional feature of Dynamic Disks is to remove a mirror from a mirrored volume or break mirrored volumes into separate volumes.

Note: You can have both Dynamic Disks and Basic Disk on your Windows 2000 Server. However, all the volumes must be either Basic or Dynamic.

Question

How do I convert my current Storage Configuration?

Answer

You must first connect to the local or remote desktop/server of your choice using MS Computer Management Console. You can then set your Windows 2000 Desktop/Server Storage configuration by using Disk Management in under the “Storage” tree view.