Dynamic disk status invalid.

[Mayank Joshi]

Prior to installing Windows Vista, I was having a old hard drive which was having Windows XP installed on it and I thought og making a backup of it on the second hard drive. But later on when I installed Vista on it, that drive is not accessible anymore and in disk manager it gives me error that "dynamic disk status invalid"? Now i dont know a way to get back the data from it without formatting the drive which is the only option left for me I guess.

[manishdk]

Which version of Windows Vista have you installed in your system. If it is a Windows Vista Home version then you will have to connect the hard drive to a pc that will have the proper versions of Windows and afterwards you can use the Import a foreign disk wizard to access a file. Actually, the problem with the Windows Home version is that it cant access the dynamic disks.

[Sheru]

Since the disk isnt accessible in Windows Vista Home version, you can try to use a software called Dynamic Disk Converter 3.0 that will convert the hard disk to basic drive and thus you will be able to browse its content. Dynamic Disk Converter is a practical application for the management of the disk that can convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without loss of data. After completing the conversion, it can ensure the integrity of the bootable operating system and data. Its user friendly interface allows to use it more efficiently and its high safety makes the data protected during the conversion process.