For the most part if you are trying to recover data from “Dynamic Disks” it’s because your computer or server has failed to load up windows correctly. You might also be getting a “Inaccessible boot device” BSOD very common in when using “Dynamic Disks”
There are multiple of Microsoft resolution options to try, which I will not cover because for the most part suck and can be a big risk since these solutions are “writing” to the disk and you might lose your data. (ex.) Last Known Good Configuration, bootcfg , chkdsk, Windows Repair Install and my favorite; Microsoft way to Convert Dynamic disk to Basic Disk: First Backup your data then reformat your disk as basic. (((SMH)))
I also tried connecting the dynamic disk my XP & Win7 PC and a Windows2003 server and in Disk Management right click the drive and select Import Foreign Disk, but this failed. I also tried using some “Live CD’s” like Knoppix or BartPE and they failed to read from the “Dynamic Disk”
TestDisk can backup up your data without touching/writing to the disk. TestDisk also gives you the option to fix a partition table and convert your “dynamic disk” to a “basic disk” and not destroy your data.
- Connect your dynamic disk to your working PC/Server and make sure disk-management shows the drive. (It will probably show up as an “unknown” disk)
- Download and TestDisk and launch “testdisk_win.exe” and Select Create
- TestDisk will detect all drives on your PC, Select the dynamic disk and select Proceed.
- Select Intel for PC
- Now select Analyse
- Select Backup to save a log file of your HDD partion
- Finally press P to list your files and then press C to copy the folders your need to your PC. Make sure to be patient and give it time to copy.
