RAID n00b! Setup RAID1 to duplicate a currently used HDD?

Skeeter

Skeeter

Skeeter

Caporegime
Joined
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Surrey
Hey all

Im a total RAID newbie as ive never realy seen the point to it when ive had my data backed up, but now ive started thinking it might be a good idea on my server. Ive got a 1TB drive wth WHS on it on my home server. Could I stick in another 1TB drive, and setup RAID1 so that they are identical to each other yet appear to WHS as a single drive? And can I do this without having to format the disks as my server has a lot of stuff on it and is setup just right atm. If I could do this I wouldnt have to turn on folder duplication at all and should any disk die I assume the server would continue to function fine, and I can just swap in a new HDD and it will rebuild itself?

Is this possible? Some uber noob friendly guides would be nice :). Its an older nForce2 mobo with SATA1 ports on it.

Many thanks
 
Official line - if RAID wasnt setup during initial install you are stuffed, if RAID was setup during the initial install then it's fine.

Unofficial line - I have been able to do exactly what you need, but on Windows XP.
I'm guessing you can try too, but I'd suggest backing up the drive first incase the migration later fails.

You need to download the RAID and SATA drivers for your board.
You then goto add new hardware and add the raid controller, nothing will appear afterwards. Next you need to upgrade to the "IDE" disk controllers to the SATA drivers.
Reboot and when loading the system it'll blue screen - this is normal.
Shutdown and go into the BIOS and switch the disks from IDE to RAID and enable the port the disk is in. Reboot, hit F10 and go into the RAID config and set it up as a RAID0 striped and add the 1 disk. This effectively adds the disk to an array but does nothing to it. Reboot and the system should boot and it'll find the previously added raid controller and the Sata raid device (the disk). Mediashield should report the RAID operating fine. Add the second disk and enable it's port in the BIOS.
Boot back into windows and Mediashield should add another Sata raid device and prompt you with some options in the GUI. You want to migrate the RAID0 to 1. Mine took 72hours or so to migrate but all the data was fine. I've subsequently migrated again from RAID1 to RAID5 by adding a 3rd 1Tb disk and that migrated fine too (in about 48 hours).
 
RAID is included on most motherboards these days, but not all of them. Do you know if yours supports it?

If not, you can buy a pci express SATA RAID card, which you can put into your computer, attaching the drives that you want to RAID from there.

If your motherboard does support RAID then you just need to buy an identical hard drive to your current one, prefferably of the same make model as your current one. You will have to back up all the data that you want to keep on your current drive as the RAID setup process involves wiping your drives to be added to the RAID array.

When you set up the RAID you will get several options, including setting up RAID0 and RAID1. Select the drives you wish to add to the RAID, choose the disks to add, the stripe setting (128k is a good option) and then you will be prompted to save the settings and probably restart. Format the new single logical volume as normal, copy the data back onto it and you should have a working RAID volume set up.

Any more questions? Feel free to ask :)
 
Seeing as you've only got 1 SATA port, you'll need to buy a PCI SATA RAID controller to run both disks from.

Couldnt tell you about how easy it is to migrate from no RAID to one, but PistolPete seems to think its possible.

Remember, RAID is no exscuse not to run a back up. In RAID 1, any errors, viruses etc are copied to both drives so its not the big safety net its made out to be, still good though. I use RAID 5.
 
I have 2 Sata ports, they are just the older SATA1 (1.5Gbit) versions. As far as I know it supports RAID as i have all the RAID/SATA drivers for the mobo on a disk as Windows XP needs them to recognise Sata drives.

My WHS is my backups, but its just there is no simple way to backup the server itself. If the HDD with the 20GB WHS OS partition on dies, its not simple or easy to get it back. Its kinda pointless to have backups of my PCs and backups of backups, if the server that stores it is run from an OS stored on a single drive!

If I had a TB of free space and pleanty of cash for the HDDs, id just image the entire thing and start with a fresh twin 1TB HDD RAID1, but the fact is I have neither.
 
Nikumba said:
I thought WHS had its own RAID-esq system to do what your after?
Click to expand...

WHS has a very clever system thats a kinda of interpretaiton of RAID and JBOD that will add all disks to a 'pool' that appear as a single drive D: to the server, but it can automatically ensure select folders are on atleast 2 physical drives.

The trouble is, WHS itself is stored on a self made 20GB partition (C: ) that sits on one drive only, and isnt part of the 'pool' so isnt duplicated. So while all my data and shares are safely duplicated, the OS itself, that has all the setup information and access and structure of said shares is on a single partition on a single drive. Its something MS have seriously overlooked with WHS.
 
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