Software Raid?

[WestCoastKid]

Hi Gang,
I noticed that Windows XP Pro doesn't support software raid.
I need to figure out a way to configure a windows xp system with raid 1. Hardware raid is an option of course however I'm wondering if there are any alternatives?


Thanks.

 

[hidden75]

I think if you go to disk management under computer mangement and right click on the disks where it says

Disk 0
Basic
244
online


If you convert to Dynamic I think you have more options. If you right click you have an option to convert to Dynamic, but I don't know if you loose all the information on the disk when you do this. So don't try it on a drive that you can't afford to loose the information.


I'm almost sure you have Raid options after the disk is dynamic.

 

[WestCoastKid]

I asked in the Microsoft Forums and the response I received was:

"Mirrored volumes are not available on computers running Windows XP. You cannot create mirrored volumes or RAID-5 volumes on Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition-based computers."

 

[hidden75]

That is a rediculous response on there part. I know for a fact that Windows XP can do it.

do what I said above and you will have the options to do it.

For more information on this check his site out.

http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149

Should answer your questions.

 

[WestCoastKid]

Before posing this question I did in fact convert my disks to dynamic, of course, because only through dynamic disks can you have software raid.
However the link you've provided doesn't support your view that software RAID is possible on Windows XP based on what I see...
Even some of the posts reinforce the fact that XP Does Not support Raid 1 or 5

For example:
"I've followed these directions numerous times and I've never had any options except Simple Volume. The others are always grayed out. And the following is from the Disk Management Help files in XP:

You can create mirrored volumes only on computers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server."

and

"without an adapter card, Windows 2000/XP do not feature any redundancy arrays for their harddisks. Only Windows 2000 Server/Adv. Server/Datacenter, and Windows 2003 Server and up feature redundancy through software.

It is possible, however, to have redundancy through adapter cards as mentioned before."

I appreciate your help.

 

[hidden75]

Okay. All my systems are running RAID cards at home so I can't really do it to give you the instructions.


How many physical disks do you have connected to your box? I don't think you can do it if you have 1 physical harddrive that is partitioned multiple times.

How many disks do you have? They all have to be dynamic and then you probably have to highlight more than one disk to get the options. Not sure. just speculating.

 

[hidden75]

Okay I do see where the confusion is. The article says one thing and the people replying to it are saying the reverse. Weird.

Try it with two physical disks , 1 on primary controller and 1 on secondary controller.

 

[Freestone]

From XP Disk Management Help

"Using mirrored volumes

Mirrored volumes are available on all computers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. Mirrored volumes are not available on computers running Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. ..."

"Using RAID-5 volumes

RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional and cannot be mirrored or extended. ... "

No software raid support in XP, period

 

[jurgen36]

Yes win Xp has software raid build in but it is disabled in the registry, you have to hack into the registry and change two values around. However I would not recommend doing that as it is very easy to dammage your registry. Also you will not gain too much as software raid works much slower as dedicated raid controllers. I believe the idea is that people should buy windows 2003 server software.
Regards

Jurgen