The essentials
Quick reference
One focused task per row. Jump to the related section for complete, working examples.
| Use | Syntax | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| List disks | list disk | View examples |
| Select a dynamic disk | select disk 2 | View examples |
| Inspect disk membership | detail disk | View examples |
| List dynamic volumes | list volume | View examples |
| Convert a basic disk to dynamic | convert dynamic | View examples |
| Create a simple volume | create volume simple size=20480 disk=2 | View examples |
| Span onto another disk | extend disk=3 size=10240 | View examples |
| Create a striped volume | create volume stripe size=10240 disk=2,3 | View examples |
| Create a mirrored volume | create volume mirror size=10240 disk=2,3 | View examples |
| Add a mirror plex | add disk=3 | View examples |
| Break a mirror | break disk=3 | View examples |
| Create a RAID-5 volume | create volume raid size=10240 disk=2,3,4 | View examples |
| Repair a RAID-5 volume | repair disk=5 | View examples |
| Recover a disk group | recover | View examples |
| Import foreign disks | import | View examples |
| Convert an empty disk to basic | convert basic | View examples |
Dynamic disks are deprecated for all uses except mirrored boot volumes and are not recommended for new deployments. Prefer basic disks or Storage Spaces for new storage. This guide exists for inventory, repair, and controlled migration of legacy dynamic-disk environments. Dynamic operations can span multiple disks, so verify every member, preserve backups, and account for edition, cluster, boot, and application constraints.
Step by step
Detailed examples
Inventory legacy storage before touching it
Every dynamic disk stores metadata about its disk group, and a volume can depend on extents across several disks. Capture list disk, list volume, detail disk for every member, volume paths, health, application ownership, and backup status. Preserve all members together during recovery; importing only part of a group can leave volumes incomplete.
list disk
list volume
select disk 2
detail disk
select disk 3
detail disk
rem Repeat for every member and correlate each volume extent.Do not create new dynamic-disk dependencies
Microsoft deprecates dynamic disks except for mirrored boot volumes and recommends basic disks or Storage Spaces for new deployments. Convert dynamic changes an eligible basic disk in place, but tool and workload support is narrower than for basic disks. Before any legacy conversion, verify at least 1 MB of required metadata space, boot support, edition support, backups, and the documented migration exit.
list disk
select disk 2
detail disk
list partition
list volume
rem Prefer Storage Spaces or basic disks; do not run convert dynamic without a legacy requirement.Understand capacity without resiliency
A simple volume uses one disk. Extending a dynamic volume onto another disk creates a span whose availability depends on every member. A striped volume can improve sequential throughput but has no redundancy; failure of any member loses the whole volume. Use these only to maintain an approved legacy design, never as a substitute for backup.
rem LAB ONLY: disks 2 and 3 must be empty approved dynamic disks.
create volume simple size=20480 disk=2
format quick fs=ntfs label="LegacySpan"
extend disk=3 size=10240
list volumeKnow mirror and RAID-5 platform limits
Mirrors duplicate data across two dynamic disks. RAID-5 uses three or more disks and creation is limited to supported Windows Server editions. Neither replaces backup, and rebuilds stress surviving media. Break changes a mirror's structure; options determine which plex keeps paths. Test every recovery procedure on the exact Windows release before production use.
list volume
select volume 7
detail volume
list disk
rem Confirm both plexes, health, backup, and replacement-disk identity before add, break, or repair.Import and recover complete disk groups
A foreign status often appears when dynamic disks move between hosts. Connect all expected members, verify identifiers and cabling, then select one member and import the group. Recover refreshes group state and can resynchronize stale mirrored or RAID-5 data; it is not data recovery from missing members. Image or back up readable data before experimentation.
rescan
list disk
select disk 2
detail disk
list volume
rem Connect and identify every expected group member before running import.Plan migration back to basic storage
DiskPart convert basic requires an empty dynamic disk, so the normal migration is backup or copy data elsewhere, remove every dynamic volume on the disk, convert, recreate basic partitions, and restore. This is destructive and can affect volumes spanning other disks. For resilient new storage, design Storage Spaces separately instead of mechanically translating legacy RAID levels.
list disk
list volume
select disk 2
detail disk
rem Document every dependent extent, restore test, outage, and target basic or Storage Spaces design.Sources and further reading
References
Authoritative documentation used to verify and expand this cheat sheet.
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