Can a RAID 0 array be partitioned?

[wpcoe]

I combined two identical (new) 160GB SATA drives to create a 320GB array. I'm accustomed to keeping small, manageable partitions in non-RAID systems and would like to do the same with this RAID 0. 320GB is just too big for me. However, Norton Partition Magic, Paragon Partition Manager and Windows XP (64-bit) hard-disk management don't work.

I'm new to RAID and wonder if it's even possible to partition a RAID 0 array, or if I must delete the current setup and build new stripes (one per "partition")? If the latter, is there a way to later resize the stripes the way one can resize hard disk partitions, retaining all data?

It's an ASUS P5LD2 mobo, Intel D930 dual-core, with 2GB RAM. I used the Intel Matrix Storage Manager to set up the array.

WinXP complains that I used a 3rd party manager to set up the array so it can't partition. Is there a way to create an array within WinXP itself? I used the Intel manager just because it was included with the mobo.

Partition Magic and Partition Manager do nothing when they reboot to apply a partition change.

Do I need to revert to 32-bit WinXP Pro?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Freestone]

I'm not familiar with the Intel Matrix Storage Manager but after a quick search through Intel's site it looks like you'll have to use Intel's Application Accelerator to build individual volumes as your suspected.

The bottom of this page has a User's Manual link:

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

which leads to:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imst/sb/CS-012543.htm

I hope this helps.

 

[wpcoe]

Thanks for the lead, even if it does look like I need to delete my current array and rebuild the RAID setup with multiple volumes/stripes....

The Intel Application Acclerator user manual .pdf file is dated November 2004 so its included list of supported chipsets doesn't include the Intel 945P chipset, nor the ICH7R controller hub on the Asus P5LD2 mobo.

In the next day or two, I'll probably give it a shot on the assumption that Intel just didn't update the docs. If the Intel Application Accelerator itself is from 2004, it might not even load on 64-bit WinXP.

I hope there is an easier (and more flexible ... thinking of the future when I may want to resize or move a "partition") way to divide the 320gb "drive" into smaller "partitions"?

 

[Freestone]

Hmmm...

I went back to the first link I gave you and clicked again on the link for the User's Manual. It led me to a more current guide (January, 2006):

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020670.htm

I apologize for the link to the Application Accelerator. I am not sure just how I got it...

 

[wpcoe]

Thanks again, Freestone.

Here's a progress report (with a happy ending!):

I went back to delete my 320gb stripe to see if I could replace it with multiple stripes, as it seemed from the first set of Application Accelerator docs. Well, yes and no: the Intel software will only let you create TWO volumes, so I figured I'd do that with the intent to see if I could creatively partition the non-boot volume.

While re-installing Windows, I realized that Windows Setup will do all the partitioning ... I don't know how I missed that the first time! Just press C (for create) when the unformatted space is highlighted and VOILA! a new partition with the size you specify. Woo hoo!

So, I decided to delete the two volumes and go back to one big 320gb RAID0 stripe, and then created the partitions I wanted.

After Windows was installed, I installed Partition Magic to experiment and sure enough: it can resize and move the partitions. I had a false scare: when I experimented with the size of a partition, somehow the "drive letter" got erased, so the partition didn't show up in Windows Explorer, but it was easy enough to assign the letter again via Computer Management.

"All's well that ends well" and "Third time's a charm"?

 

[Freestone]

Great news, and thank you for keeping me posted.

I'm not sure you missed anything the first time you installed Windows, as from your posts it appears as if no other program wanted to do any partition manipulation either. I suspect the first time around Intel's Storage Manager wrote some kind of signature to the volume that other programs didn't recognize so consequently they didn't know how to deal with the volume(s).

Ah well, that's all speculation. I'm glad you got it working!