Raid 1 on NT

[nosremark]

I have a Legacy NT system I need to upgrade, here are two things I would like to do:

Change the unreliable tape backup to a DVD+RW with new backup software.

Install a RAID controller Card and a new 36GB drive to mirror.

My questions are, can I use a IDE DVD+RW when the system is using SCSI for the HD, CD, and Tape? Can I install and configure RAID 1 without having to format the original drive?

This will be the last upgrade performed before we scrap the server so I need to make it inexpensive.

If further info is needed on the MB or other hardware please ask.
Thank you for any input.

 

[johnny99]

As I see it, a good tapedrive will always be more stable then DVD+RW.

You should have no problems using a IDE DVD together with SCSI HD's.

When we talk about the raid 1 stuff I would like to have more info on what you are running now.
If what you want to do is to move your current HD onto the new RAID cntl. without loosing the data you have on the drive, I can't see a way to do that.
If you just want to keep the current drivesetup and then add new drives on the new RAID cntl to your system, no problem. Just remember to make sure that you still boot on the old drives.

When you but the RAID cntl. make sure that it has drivers for NT and that 36 GB drives are supported under NT.

/johnny

 

[nosremark]

Thanks Jonny

This is what I'm working with:
Inel N440BX MB
1) SCSI CD ROM drive
1) Segate 36.7GB SCSI HD
2) Intel PII-450
2) 128MB 100MHZ SDRAM

The SCSI is contolled from the MB, I have gone through 6 tapes in the last 2 months, the Tape drive was new 8 months ago and I backup to a seperate tape each night using Veritas software. I had to replace the drive because of the same problem but it's back, now management wants an alternative solution for backup's with some hardware redundency. Your saying I cannot install the RAID controller with the existing HD and add a mirror drive? Should I use the new backup software to image the current drive everynight and write it to a second drive, perhaps an IDE?

 

[johnny99]

I would ask another way.

How long does this server has to run before you plan to scrap the server?

What you could do if you can't rebuild the server is just to add the new cntl and HD's. Implement the new HD's and then use the NT software raid to build it onto the new harddisks.
This will add some protection. Not the same level as a real hardware based raid system, but it could give you one alternative to rebuilding your system from scratch.
Don't remember how to do this on NT (hasn't done that for years) but I know it can be done.

About your tapeproblem, what kind of tapedrives do you use?
And what do you use for the rest of your servers (expecting you have more then this one)
About the backup software. Do you use BackupExec or Netbackup and what version.

/johnny

 

[nosremark]

The server is the only one at this location and will be here for another year if it holds up, we have some legacy software that will only run on NT. I could configure a seperate Linux box with RAID and multiple of HD's but the budget will not allow it at this time.

The tape drive is a Seagate and we use Seagate Travan 20's, I can't get any response from Seagate's tech support outsource so we've decided to scrap the tapes until the next server. The software is BackupExec, I cannot check the version at this time but I will post it later.

Since I am in the wrong field (Industrial Electronics) I will probably not try the RAID cntl install without some more knowledge on the OS, hopefully the risk of losing crucial data will scare management enough to get someone in here to set up a new network server soon. I will implement the DVD+RW backup system for now and I very much appreciate you help on this issue.

Thank you