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3 Basic concepts
This section gives you a clear understanding of basic and dynamic disks and volume types.
After reading this section, you will know the advantages and limitations of each possible volume
configuration. In addition, you will be able to decide what types of disks and volumes best suit your
needs for organizing data storage.
In this section
Basic and dynamic disks ........................................................................... 11
Types of basic volumes ............................................................................ 12
Types of dynamic volumes ....................................................................... 12
Active, system, and boot volumes ........................................................... 13
Dynamic volume types support ............................................................... 14
Volume alignment in disks with a 4-KB sector size .................................. 14
3.1 Basic and dynamic disks
Each disk on your machine can be one of two types: basic or dynamic.
Basic disks
This is the type of disk that most computers originally have.
Basic disks can normally be used by any operating system, including any version of Windows.
A basic disk can store one or more volumes—called basic volumes. A basic volume cannot occupy
more than one disk.
When to use basic disks:
On a machine that has only one hard disk drive
On a machine that runs an older Windows operating system, or an operating system other than
Windows
By using Acronis Disk Director, you can convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk.
Dynamic disks
These disks provide a greater functionality as compared to basic disks.
Dynamic disks can be used only by the Windows operating systems starting with Windows 2000.
A dynamic disk can store one or more volumes—called dynamic volumes. Unlike a basic volume, a
dynamic volume can occupy more than one disk.
When to use dynamic disks. Dynamic disks are most effective if your machine has more than one
hard disk drive. In this case, you can:
Create a large volume that occupies several disks.
Add fault-tolerance to your system and data, by mirroring a volume—such as the one with the
operating system—to another disk. If a disk with one of these mirrors fails, no data will be lost on
such volume.
By using Acronis Disk Director, you can convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk. You may need to do so,
for example, to install an operating system other than Windows on that disk.
