Raid via software with Windows Server 2003

Portal Home > Knowledgebase > Articles Database > Raid via software with Windows Server 2003

Posted by bmorejon, 06-22-2008, 02:32 AM
I'm running a busy web hosting server with about 300 domains with no raid mirroring. I just installed a new HD in it. Is it possible to make a raid1 via software? Does someone already did it ?
Posted by boonchuan, 06-22-2008, 03:45 AM
Yes for Windows server edition you can do that. Just ensure that the two Hard disks are of the same capacity, upgrade them to dynamic and you can mirror them as Raid 1 software Raid.
Posted by bmorejon, 06-23-2008, 01:41 AM
Is there any tutorial you recommend me ?
Posted by maxknight, 06-23-2008, 03:46 AM
Hi, It's not that complicated. Just open Disk Manager after putting in a new disk of the same size as your original one. Update the disk to Dynamic as explained by boonchuan. That should allow you to create a mirror set. You can also refer to the following articles: http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323432 Hope that helps.
Posted by bmorejon, 06-23-2008, 04:36 AM
Not dangerous ? I'm scared to do it any chance to ruin my server?
Posted by maxknight, 06-23-2008, 04:40 AM
So far I've not seen any issues in converting a Basic Disk to Dynamic. There has never been any data loss. One thing you should note here is that once you make the disk Dynamic, you will not be able to change that back to Basic. If you are not confident then you should probably use some server administrator to do this job for you.
Posted by bmorejon, 06-23-2008, 05:09 AM
But I'm trying to do the mirroring of the C: (currently runnig the OS). Is it possible?
Posted by A Grateful Dad, 06-23-2008, 08:55 AM
It is possible, just ensure you convert both disk to Dynamic disks. It is very straight forward to do a RAID 1 in Windows, once yor disks are conerted to Dynamic, you will see some new options regarding your disks. Cheers! /bin/false
Posted by bmorejon, 06-23-2008, 06:48 PM
When I click to in the Drive to convert to Dynamic nothing happens. I tryed to search it on google and nothing..
Posted by fastdeploy, 06-23-2008, 07:38 PM
Look at it like this - for every problem, there is a solution. Surely something happened when you converted to dynamic. You should be prompted to reboot. If you weren't prompted, you must have not accepted the process. And Google always has the answer
Posted by pkoutoupis, 07-23-2008, 12:41 PM
There was a time when creating logical volumes on a Windows OS and utilizing the Windows dynamic grouping method that it did not support hot-sparing. Is this still the case? I would be extremely concerned if a drive went down and your array was not redundant and it did not properly inform you of the situation to address it.
Posted by plumsauce, 07-23-2008, 06:05 PM
Why bother with software raid when even an older generation raid card will outperform it? These older generation cards can be had for as little as $10.

Add to Favourites Print this Article