Dual Boot Win 7 with Dynamic Disk Partition

Hope someone can help with this one.

I tried to install Zorin OS9 as a dual boot on my desktop but was not able to proceed to installation because my disk type is "Dynamic".

System: ASUS EB1501 / Intel Atom 330 / 1.6 GHz Dual-Core / Ram: 2gb DDR2 / 250gb HDD

Any way around this without complications or risking data loss?

Hi,

for dynamic disk problems; look here:

http://incisiveradar.com/how-to-convert ... asic-disk/

We also need more info, does your PC have UEFI installed for example, make and model/specs would be nice!.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... I-and-BIOS

Thanks for your reply. I updated previous post with system info.

Regarding instructions on how to convert a disk from Dynamic to Basic; I read that I need to delete all dynamic partitions which means deleting the entire disk including the recovery partition. If that's the case them I'm snookered.

UEFI - no idea what this is. Tried to search for a way to find out without success.

Hi,

it seems fairly straightforward to me but then I don't have the same setup as you:

"Converting Dynamic disks to Basic Disks in Windows:

Before converting the dynamic disks into basic disks in Windows, I would recommend you to create a recovery media of your operating system and move the other important files into an external hard drive. Once you are ready, you can use the following steps to convert dynamic disks to basic disks.

Step 1: Open the Run dialog box by using the hot key combination Windows Logo Key + R

Step 2: In the Run dialog box type in diskmgmt.msc and hit enter.

Step 3: Now in the Disk Management window look for the dynamic disk you want to convert into a basic disk.

Step 4: Right click on each volume of the corresponding dynamic disk and click Delete Volume for each volume on the disk.

Step 5: When you have completed deleting all the volumes, right click on those disks and select Convert to Basic Disk.".

If you want to install Windows and Linux (Ubuntu) based systems, I can really only suggest (if you can't follow the given steps above) you wipe your entire drives and first install windows and then install Zorin (Ubuntu), see the partitioning guide for more info, I don't have any more info on dynamic disks as I have never had that problem sorry!:

(Backup all your data before commencing with partitioning!).

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

I hope it helps!.

Firstly, I would backup any data you have on Windows 7 (You won't have EFI/UEFI as this came out with Windows 8/8.1 preinstalled machines).

Go to Advanced options in System Properties and look to create a backup image - in fact in the Windows 7 search bar of the menu, search for 'backup' and see what appears - you will need an external drive in order to do this - I don't know if there will be any issues in respect of the external drive requiring 'dynamic' partitions, as I have not come across this.

What I have come across, having an HP Notebook is that they splatter 4 partitions, all marked as 'Primary' and you can only have 4 Primary Partitions on any system - regardless of how many hard drives you have!

Hope this helps!

Footnote: You may want to get an external drive, back up your data, then try this free software:

http://redobackup.org/

Thanks for all of your help. That redo backup looks just like what I've been looking to find for some time.

Yes all the instructions do seam straightforward. What isn't straightforward to me is this:

1. By deleting all of the partitions I will delete everything on the disk - is that correct?
2. I will have to do a system restore - there is no other way right?
3. There is a hidden recovery partition on the disk that I can use just by re-starting and pressing F9 key. If I conduct a system restore using this revovery method and without deleting the dynamic partitions, will that action reset the partitions back to their original Basic type?

Thanks for all of your help. That redo backup looks just like what I've been looking to find for some time.

Yes all the instructions do seam straightforward. What isn't straightforward to me is this:

1. By deleting all of the partitions I will delete everything on the disk - is that correct? Yes!!!
2. I will have to do a system restore - there is no other way right? If you mean restoring from an image - remember you will have to delete everything so ensure that somehow you can back up that hidden partition - I have never done that - in uncharted waters on that one!
3. There is a hidden recovery partition on the disk that I can use just by re-starting and pressing F9 key. If I conduct a system restore using this recovery method and without deleting the dynamic partitions, will that action reset the partitions back to their original Basic type?Sorry man - you are asking the wrong guy on that one!