Dynamic disk vs. RAID

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom
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Tom

Greetings experts,

I'm considering using either Win XP pro's dynamic disk feature or
buying a RAID PCI card to maximize the data transfer rate from my
HDD's. I just ordered a second, identical 120GB (7200 rpm & 8mb
cache) drive, and since I'm already taking daily backups of my data,
fault tolerance is not an issue. Thus I'm planning on using the
striped dynamic disk or RAID-0 if I go the hardware route.

Does anyone have any pro or con thoughts about this?

(My MB is a rather new ABIT Nvidia2 board without RAID, so I don't
want to replace it quite yet with one that has RAID on it.)

Thanks for any insights,

-=tom=-
 
Tom;

For the most part you will get the same results either way you go.
Each method has advantages, and disadvantages. With a hardware
controller the controller it self is doing all the work. This means
that the stripe is maintained regardless how you boot your computer,
and what OS you run on it. If you use Windows XP's striped volume
feature only Windows 2000 and higher will be able to recognize the
volume. If you go with a hardware solution the pair of disks will end
up looking like a single disk to the OS. If you use the striped volume
feature the OS will see both disks, and be able to report is we are
seeing any errors for the disks, and identify which disk is having
trouble. If you do decide to go with the stripped volume feature it is
recommended that each disk be installed on different IDE channels.
This will allow you to maximize the rate at which you can read a write
data from the disks.

If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you for choosing Microsoft products.

Best regards,

Harley Henderson MCSE 2000
Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support
Windows Server Setup Support Team

Microsoft Security Announcement: Have you installed the patch for
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039? If not, Microsoft strongly
advises you to review the information at the following link regarding
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-039.asp and/or
to visit Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to
install the patch. Running the Windows Update scan will help to
insure you are current with all security patches, not just MS03-039.



Microsoft also highly recommends to all customers that you visit the
http://www.microsoft.com/protect site and perform the three
straightforward steps listed to improve your computer’s security.
 
Harley Henderson said:
Tom;

For the most part you will get the same results either way you go. ......
If you do decide to go with the stripped volume feature it is
recommended that each disk be installed on different IDE channels.
This will allow you to maximize the rate at which you can read a write
data from the disks.

If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you for choosing Microsoft products.

Best regards,

Harley Henderson MCSE 2000
Click to expand...
Thanks Harley,

Your comment about using different IDE channels answered the next
question I was going to ask. And it makes sense to keep them separate.

But I will take you up on the offer to ask more questions ;-))

How would I proceed when I get my new disk:
- install it as slave on the second IDE ch.
- format it
- go to Disk Management
- right click on 'disk 0' and pick 'convert to dynamic disk'???

Will that give me the option to select striping which would include my
new 2nd disk??
Or do I need to convert the 2nd disk to dynamic disk first?
But then, how would I combine them for striping?

Will my logical drive letters be kept? I have 4 partititions right
now, C thru F, on my present disk. If not, how will the drive letters
to the DVD (G) and CD-burner (H) be adjusted?
Does the conversion also adjust the registry entries to reflect any
such changes?

I already created my backups - 'cause I know I will mess up and loose
some/all data ;-))))))

But that's part of the learning process .....

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

-=tom=-
 
Harley Henderson said:
Tom;

For the most part you will get the same results either way you go.
Click to expand...

Oh - one more question: Do these changes require a re-authentication
of Windows XP??

Thanks,

-=tom=-
 
Tom,
I have used the Promise IDE RAID cards with great success. I am running XP
Pro on one machine with four identical drives striped and have had no
problems.
 
Tom;

One thing I would like to point out here is that if you are planning
to user your existing hard disk as a part of a stripe set it will
require that you erase all of the existing data on the disk.

In Windows XP you would follow the process below to setup a stripe
set.

1: Install both disks that will be a member of the stripe set.
2: Remove any existing partitions on the disks.
3: Convert each disk to dynamic.
4: Right click on either disk and select New Volume
5: Follow the prompts in the Wizard
6: Select striped fro the volume type, and add both disks to the set.
7: Follow the remaining prompts.

This will configured the disks as a stripe set.

With Windows based software stripe sets the operating system can not
be installed on the stripe set. It must be on a separate volume.

If you only have the two disks, and would still like to create a
software stripe set you could create a small volume on the first disk
and install Windows XP there. Once Windows XP is up and running you
can then convert the two disks to dynamic then use the remaining
unallocated space on the first disk with the equal amount of
unallocated space on the second disk to create a striped volume.
This will result in a small C: volume that Windows is installed on,
and a striped volume that utilizes the remaining free space on the
first disk, and an equal chunk of the second disk. This will leave a
small piece of the second disk unused. You could then create a third
volume there to use that space.

If you have any further questions, or need further clarification just
let us know.


Best regards,

Harley Henderson MCSE 2000
Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support
Windows Server Setup Support Team

Microsoft Security Announcement: Have you installed the patch for
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039? If not, Microsoft strongly
advises you to review the information at the following link regarding
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-039.asp and/or
to visit Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to
install the patch. Running the Windows Update scan will help to
insure you are current with all security patches, not just MS03-039.



Microsoft also highly recommends to all customers that you visit the
http://www.microsoft.com/protect site and perform the three
straightforward steps listed to improve your computer’s security.
 
Tom;

If you are to use your exiting hard disk in a stripe set regardless if
it is hardware, or software you will have to re-install Windows. As a
result yes you will have to reactivate. If you leave your existing
disk as is, and add two new disks to stripe on no it will not require
reactivation.

Best regards,

Harley Henderson MCSE 2000
Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support
Windows Server Setup Support Team

Microsoft Security Announcement: Have you installed the patch for
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039? If not, Microsoft strongly
advises you to review the information at the following link regarding
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-039
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-039.asp and/or
to visit Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to
install the patch. Running the Windows Update scan will help to
insure you are current with all security patches, not just MS03-039.



Microsoft also highly recommends to all customers that you visit the
http://www.microsoft.com/protect site and perform the three
straightforward steps listed to improve your computer’s security.
 
Well, I did the conversion and have a few comments in case someone
else wants to give this a try:

1. Install the new disk without formatting. This leaves the free space
needed later.
2. Go to Disk Management (Control Panel->Admin tools->Computer
management->storage->disk management)
In the lower right graphical display of your disks and partitions, you
first need to RIGHT click on the left hand box identifying the disk
not a partition - I.e.: disk 0 or 1
3. chose 'new volume' from there - no data is lost at this point.
4 .if you want to span volumes (which is what the old partitions are
called now), all you need to do is click on the volume/partition and
select 'extend volume'. You can then select how much space you want to
take from the new disk to add to the partition you're spanning.
5. for striping, you need to delete the volume. When you recreate it,
you have the option to request a striped volume. Obviously data is
lost when the volume is deleted.

But, if you have multiple volumes you can copy all the data from the
volume you want to stripe to another volume. If there's not enough
space, you can create a spanned volume first and copy all data from
the volume you're going to stripe to the spanned one. Then proceed
with the striping and copy the data back!

My example:
I had 4 partitions, C thru F, on the original disk #0, a 120 Gig
drive.
First I installed a new 120 gig disk #1
Then I converted disk 0 and 1 to dynamic disk.
I then spanned partition D and doubled it's size from about 40gig to
80gig.
I copied all data from E and F to D. If both don't fit, you can do it
in 2 separate steps.
I deleted E & F and recreated them as striped volumes.
E & F data was copied back from D.
Then I copied the D data to F. (It had enough space since the striping
in effect doubled its size). I deleted D and rebuilt it as a striped
volume.
I left C alone as my basic boot disk.

Simple really ;-))))

-=tom=-
 
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