Raid, NTFS & partitions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shap
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Shap

I am building a PC. This is known as I have asked a few questions along the
way, and have always gotten great feedback. Things are coming along well,
but curiosity has struck again and I turn to you all for help....

I am going to place 2 Western Digital 40gig 5400 Drives in Raid 1, so the
files that are on them are backed up.

Can I partition these drives and can I still format them as NTFS? I mean I
assume you can format them whatever you like, but Can they be partitioned,
for instance 15/25.

Also, if I partition them in advance, can I then only raid, say the 25 gig
partitions?

I will most likely be running Windows XP, though I may opt for 2000. I would
be using a raid card to mirror them.
 
Shap said:
I am building a PC. This is known as I have asked a few questions along the
way, and have always gotten great feedback. Things are coming along well,
but curiosity has struck again and I turn to you all for help....

I am going to place 2 Western Digital 40gig 5400 Drives in Raid 1, so the
files that are on them are backed up.

Can I partition these drives and can I still format them as NTFS? I mean I
assume you can format them whatever you like, but Can they be partitioned,
for instance 15/25.

Also, if I partition them in advance, can I then only raid, say the 25 gig
partitions?

I will most likely be running Windows XP, though I may opt for 2000. I would
be using a raid card to mirror them.
Click to expand...

You create the raid array before you partition.
Then you partition it as you would any other drive.

Jim Manning
 
Another question in this context:
Is it possible to create a RAID 0 on VIA controller with _3_ harddisks?
 
Gustav Medler said:
Another question in this context:
Is it possible to create a RAID 0 on VIA controller with _3_ harddisks?
Click to expand...

The performance would be SEVERELY affected by having two of the drives on
the same channel. Put two of the drives in a RAID 0 array, and keep the
other one seperate.
 
John said:
RAID-1 isn't a very good "backup" in my opinion.
Click to expand...
That is not the intent of RAID 1 (to backup the data). It is so that if there
is a failure of a drive, the system will continue to run until a timely shutdown
can occur and the defective drive "serviced". You should always have a plan for
backing up your important data no matter what RAID level you run.


If you get a virus, both
drives are affected.
Click to expand...

That is why you should have a good AV program running on a Windoze machine.

If you accidently delete a file its gone from both
drives.
Click to expand...

That is why I use Norton Protection Recyle Bin

Paul

-- snip --
 
John said:
RAID-1 isn't a very good "backup" in my opinion. If you get a virus, both
drives are affected. If you accidently delete a file its gone from both
drives.
Click to expand...

If you get a power surge, or some other hardware issue, it's likely to
affect both drives.
If Windows trashes one of your partitions, then both drives are affected.
etc. ect.
Unless you need the security of knowing everything I did 2 hours ago is
already "backed up", you might like to consider keeping the second drive in
a removable drawer and using Norton Ghost to backup on to the second drive
at the end of each day.
Click to expand...

Seconded.
RAID 1 is a complete waste of time - a removeable tray only costs $10. I set
mine going every Friday morning when I go to work, and it's finished by the
time I get home.
 
I just like being able to use the extra IDE setup for the extra drives.

I installed an extra drive in my computer and called it "image". About once
a week I back up to it using drive image from my data drive and my three
operating systems or sooner if I have made any changes to them. I them
delete the oldest image files. You would be surprised how much an 80 gig
drive will hold with compressed image files. Has saved me more then once
when all of a sudden something would stop working, I just restore from the
last good operating system instead of spending hours trying to figure what
caused the problem. Some times a known problem cannot be fixed without a
clean install. Also if something stops working and you restore from an image
file and it still does not work good chance it is a hardware problem. The
image drive can be hidden if young hands like to mess with the computer.
Hard to get a straight answer from a 4 year on old how he trashed your whole
operating system.


Joltjocky
 
if it was me I'd do up the 2 drives in raid 0 trying to get the best
performance possible out of the 5400 rpm drives and back up important data
on disk or a spare hardrive, the OS make a 10 gig say then partition as you
see fit the other 70 gigsno way to make some of your partitons raid and not
another part you have to create the raid using the 2 drives first then
parttion as others have mentioned already. You would also see a big
improvement going to a wd 7200 80 gig jb drive with the bigger cache and not
in raid compared tot he 2 40 gig 5400 rpm drives you have now even when
raided.


Neil
 
Donald Witmer said:
I just like being able to use the extra IDE setup for the extra drives.

I installed an extra drive in my computer and called it "image". About once
a week I back up to it using drive image from my data drive and my three
operating systems or sooner if I have made any changes to them. I them
delete the oldest image files. You would be surprised how much an 80 gig
drive will hold with compressed image files. Has saved me more then once
when all of a sudden something would stop working, I just restore from the
last good operating system instead of spending hours trying to figure what
caused the problem. Some times a known problem cannot be fixed without a
clean install. Also if something stops working and you restore from an image
file and it still does not work good chance it is a hardware problem. The
image drive can be hidden if young hands like to mess with the computer.
Hard to get a straight answer from a 4 year on old how he trashed your whole
operating system.
Click to expand...

Excellent plan - but spend $10 on a removeable tray, and take out the backup
drive, and store it in a cupboard. Otherwise, a voltage-surge, Virus,
4-year-old, whatever, may take out your backup aswell !
 
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