An important advantage of dynamic disks over
basic disks is that you can easily move them from one computer to
another. For example, if after setting up a computer, you decide that
you don't really need an additional hard disk, you can move it to
another computer where it can be better used. Before moving disks, you
should complete the following steps:
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Access Disk Management on the computer where the
dynamic disks are currently installed and check their status. The
status should be Healthy. If it isn't, you should fix any problems
before moving the disks.
| Caution |
Drives with Bit Locker Drive encryption cannot be
moved using this technique. Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate
editions include Bit Locker Driver Encryption that wraps drives in a
protected seal so that any offline tampering is detected and results in
the disk being unavailable until an administrator unlocks it.
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Check the hard disk subsystems on the original
computer and the computer to which you want to transfer the disk. Both
computers should have identical hard disk subsystems. If they don't,
the Plug and Play ID on the system disk from the original computer
won't match what the destination computer is expecting. As a result, the destination computer won't be able to load the right drivers, and boot might fail.
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Check whether any dynamic disks that you want to
move are part of a spanned, extended, or striped set. If they are, you
should make a note of which disks are part of which set and plan on
moving all disks in a set together. If you are moving only part of a
disk set, you should be aware of the consequences. For spanned,
extended, or striped volumes, moving only part of the set will make the
related volumes unusable on the current computer and on the computer to
which you are planning to move the disks.
When you are ready to move the disks, complete the following tasks:
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On the original computer, start Computer
Management. Then, in the left pane, select Device Manager. In the
Device list, expand Disk Drives. This shows a list of all the physical
disk drives on the computer. Right-click each disk that you want to
move and then select Uninstall. If you are unsure which disks to
uninstall, right-click each disk and select Properties. In the
Properties dialog box, select the Volumes tab and then choose Populate.
This shows you the volumes on the selected disk.
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Next, select the Disk Management node in Computer
Management on the original computer. Right-click each disk that you
want to move and then select Remove Disk.
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Once you perform these procedures, you can move
the dynamic disks. If the disks are hot swappable and this feature is
supported on both computers, remove the disks from the original
computer and then install them on the destination computer. Otherwise,
turn off both computers, remove the drives from the original computer,
and then install them on the destination computer. When you're
finished, restart the computers.
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On the destination computer, access Disk
Management and then select Rescan Disks from the Action menu. When Disk
Management finishes scanning the disks, right-click any disk marked
Foreign and click Import. You should now be able to access the disks
and their volumes on the destination computer.
| Note |
The volumes on the dynamic disks should retain
the drive letters that they had on the original computer. If a drive
letter is already used on the destination computer, a volume receives
the next available drive letter. If a dynamic volume previously did not
have a drive letter, it does not receive a drive letter when moved to
another computer. Additionally, if automounting is disabled, the
volumes aren't automatically mounted and you must manually mount
volumes and assign drive letters.
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