Windows XP Profession support Windows base (software) mirror?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cat bite
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Cat bite

Dear,

I have a computer supplied a Windows XP Professional SP2 and using SATA
HDD. Can I add one more SATA HDD and setup those as mirror drive?

In case of it support, how can I set it up?

Thanks!
-david
 
It's called RAID 1, and depends on your motherboard having simple RAID built
in, or an add-on RAID card. Newer motherboards (NOT those in pre-built
systems by large manufacturers like Dell) will have RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID
(0+1) built in unless it is a budget board.

Since you are asking this question, you should also ask few additional
questions.

What advantage do you expect to get from a simple two drive RAID 1 mirror
setup?

Any malware infection, program error, or user error will be exactly
replicated on BOTH drives. The only advantage of simple RAID 1 is when one
of the drives physically fails; usually a much less common occurrence than
[malware infection, program error, user error]. Enterprise usage of RAID is
indicated because of the much larger number of drives involved, so the
chances of 1 out of a 100 failing is much greater than the home user's 1
chance out of 2 failing. Enterprise operations suffer a much more expensive
failure when data is not available, so they use a more complex RAID
arrangment that will tolerate the complete failure of any one drive in a
set, and transparently begin to reconstruct the contents of the failed drive
if an empty replacement is on line, or as soon as a replacement is
hot-swapped for the failed drive. A home user gets much more utility out of
frequent backups and good malware protection than from simple drive
mirroring.

Phil Weldon

| Dear,
|
| I have a computer supplied a Windows XP Professional SP2 and using SATA
| HDD. Can I add one more SATA HDD and setup those as mirror drive?
|
| In case of it support, how can I set it up?
|
| Thanks!
| -david
|
|
 
Yes, you can. Drive mirroring is called RAID 1. The same data is written to
both drives as it occurs. You may need to buy an enabling PCI card as well
as an additional hard drive in order to set it up. For additional
information, inquire on Google.
 
Thanks! I had a Brand PC with XP SP2 Pro already setup. I am not expecting
the Mainboard supported RAID1.

I am looking for to add a second HDD and setup a Mirror in Windows XP while
not affect the first disk (yes, mirror with first disk).

Can I do that? or I need to reformat and setup the XP?

Because of I can't find "Mirror" function in "Disk Managment" (I don't have
the second HDD to simulate but I need to respond my customer is this way
work or not!)

Thanks!
-david
 
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