[mncoughlin]

We have added 2 new drives to our RAID5 (SmartArray431 Compaq controller) and expanded the primary disk (Disk 1) to incorporate the new space.

Through the disk management GUI we have 2 partitions- 1-system and another 2-Exchange with the remaining 17GB being unallocated. To test, we partitioned 5GB from the unallocated and made a patition. All partitions are 'Basic' and all are on the same drive.

We then opened cmd and ran 'diskpart' to extend the Exchange partition. We receive an error stating that we cannot Extend this partion.

The issue is that we need to extend both the system partition & the Exchange partition as we are running out of space.

Is there something we are missing?

Thanks

[topper]

I might have misunderstood what you are trying to do but you cannot extend a partition on a Basic Disk, this functionality is only available with Dynamic Disks.

Topper

[mncoughlin]

Thanks- I looked through the MS site and they say extention can be done on basic disks also. But, if you can only do it on dynamic so be it.

Are there any issues converting the System disk to a dynamic? I am trying to head off any issues prior to the changes.

[justinmirsky]

I don't know if this helps or not but I ran across this on Microsoft's website:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

Cheers!

[jasonboche]

Sure you can extend partitions on basic disks. I've done it frequently.

You cannot extend system/boot partitions though using diskpart. You'd need 3rd party software for that such as Partition Magic.

Also, when dealing with Compaq arrays, you need to wait for them to finish their extension/expansion from a hardware level before extending will be available inside the OS using diskpart.