Convert to dynamic disk / option disabled

diskmanagementhard driveraidsoftware-raidwindows-server-2008

I'm trying to setup a software RAID-1 at a new hosted server. It has two 3TB disks in and I've installed a fresh copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Edition with SP1 on one of those disks.

A step-by-step tutorial that I found on the Internet says that I need to convert to dynamic disks first. Unfortunately this option is disabled in the Disk Management window. Please see this Screenshot.

What is going wrong here?

Best Answer

From Working with Basic and Dynamic Disks:

  • You can't convert drives that use sector sizes larger than 512 bytes. If the drive has large sector sizes, you'll need to reformat before converting.
  • You can't use dynamic disks on portable computers or with removable media. You can only configure these drives as basic drives with primary partitions.
  • You can't convert a disk if the system or boot partition is part of a spanned, striped, mirrored, or RAID-5 volume. You'll need to stop the spanning, mirroring, or striping before you convert.
  • You shouldn't convert a disk if it contains multiple installations of the Windows operating system. If you do, you might be able to start the computer only using Windows Server 2008.
  • You can convert disks with other types of partitions that are part of spanned, striped, mirrored, or RAID-5 volumes. These volumes become dynamic volumes of the same type. However, you must convert all drives in the set together.

Maybe point 1 in particular is one you should check? Aditionally Point 3 might be relevant(not sure if it only applies to software or hardware and software)

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