# Cannot convert Basic disk to Dynamic disk



## NozzaC (Aug 28, 2009)

I have a 1TB drive with a 50GB system and boot partition and the rest as data storage. I want to convert it to a Dynamic disk. However when try I get the error ""there is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation"

On the system partition there is 10GB free and on the data one about 350GB.


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## Jonathan_King (May 30, 2010)

First, try moving some stuff from the OS partition to the data partition, maybe 5-10GB if you can.

You can also try shrinking the data partition by about 20GB, and leave that as unallocated space at the end.


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## NozzaC (Aug 28, 2009)

Why? Can you point me to any documentation referring to a certain % of free space or unallocated space being required in order to convert to dynamic disks?


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## Jonathan_King (May 30, 2010)

Sorry, I can't. It's just trial-and-error.


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## NozzaC (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks for the thought but I don't think it can really be about space on the disk. I've converted to dynamic before on a disk because it was so full and I wanted to implement spanning with no problems. I can't find anything in the MS docs that points to it either. The only references to this error about about having too many partitions so I'm wondering if somehow the partition info is corrupted or something.


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## Jonathan_King (May 30, 2010)

You could try a disk defragment. Perhaps that will "free up" some space.


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## NozzaC (Aug 28, 2009)

I've solved it now. Clearly something was corrupted. I cloned the drive to another drive, deleted the 2 volumes, recreated them, cloned it back so it looked exactly as before. Then it converted normally.


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## Jonathan_King (May 30, 2010)

Great, thanks for reporting your solution. Glad it's working for you now.


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

You have to have at least 1 MB of unallocated space at the end of the disk to create the database for the dynamic disk. If Windows created the partition(s) it does this automatically, and this unallocated space is not shown in Disk Management with Windows 7. Win2K and early versions of XP will show this space, typically 7-8 MB. I think MS decided to hide it so people would stop asking why that space couldn't be included in a partition.
If you created or resized the partitions using a 3rd party tool, this space may have been allocated, which will prevent converting to Dynamic.

[WEBQUOTE="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309044"]You must have at least 1 megabyte (MB) of free space on any master boot record (MBR) disk that you want to convert. This space is automatically reserved when the partition or volume is created in Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. However, it may not be available on partitions or volumes that are created in other operating systems.[/WEBQUOTE]
Not Enough Space Available to Upgrade to a Dynamic Disk


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