Basic versus Dynamic partitions

[jugheadTN]

I got a 200 gb SATA HDD for x-mas, and I had to fumble with it for a while before I got Windows xp pro to recognize it. When I finally got the option to format, it wouldn't let me choose basic partition, so I made it a dynamic volume. I went to the MS site to read about it, but it had a bunch of stuff about striping and mirroring. Now i'm even more confused... I don't want a RAID setup or anything, I just want something to store games, mp3s, etc. Should I be OK leaving it as a dynamic volume, or should I try to make it a basic volume?

-MW

[Xaotic]

Welcome to the forums!

You can revert to basic disk in diskmgmt.msc, but it will lose all current data. I always keep disks as basic, since dynamic volumes are only accessible through W2K and higher OS. Even so, there can be problems in moving disks or reinstalls.