Any Built-In WinXP Pro RAID (JBOD)?

[Elfear]

I'm trying to determine if WinXP Pro has the capability to do JBOD or if I'll need to buy a third-party ide raid controller. If WinXP Pro doesn't have that capability, does Server 2003?

 

[TGS]

Dynamic disk can't be configured as a jbod (spanning)? Why would you want to run like that anyways? You can't even get RAID 0 performance, and you still have the lack of fault tolerance.

 

[Elfear]

We have a bunch of old hdds laying around and we're building a backup rig for our file server. It's a fairly non-critical backup as the file server is using a RAID 0+1 so we're not too worried about the lack of fault tolerance.

 

[nweaver]

get a tape drive

 

[Elfear]

How much do those run?

 

[nweaver]

Ebay for one. I have an Onstream ADR50 in my home PC. I have an HP Surestore library w/DLT 8000 at work. The onstream has 30 gig and 50 gig tapes, and I just schedule backups for the middle of the night. I think I might need it too, my wife called and it looks like my raid0 may have gone down!

 

[stash]

Dynamic disk can't be configured as a jbod (spanning)?

Sure it can: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu...kit/en-us/prkb_cnc_yuys.asp?frame=true

edit: fixed link

 

[engineereeyore]

Just a tip. JBOD usually only works on one hard drive, which I agree is very stupid. If you want multiple drives and don't want to stripe or mirror the drives, then don't use RAID. If you set up the drive as JBOD and then try to turn off the RAID, as I just did, your partition table sometime goes bye bye, like mine just did. Then you end up spending 8 hours trying to recover the data because your partition table is gone. I would ONLY use RAID if you plan on striping or mirroring your data, and if that's the case, use your motherboards built in RAID. Otherwise, leave it alone. Better safe than sorry. There is a concatenate feature on some of the newer motherboard that basically just makes a bunch of drives look like big drive. Maybe you'd want that.

 

[SGtheArtist]

In a JBOD setup if a disc fails using the Windows Dynamic disc spanning it may loose the data for the entire JBOD span. I've never used it so I'm not sure.

Nevermind, I just read the link its true

 

[Valkerie]

So your system doesn't offer RAID capabilities?

 

[lansalot]

We have a bunch of old hdds laying around and we're building a backup rig for our file server. It's a fairly non-critical backup as the file server is using a RAID 0+1 so we're not too worried about the lack of fault tolerance.

So just make it a stripe - forget JBOD. You have no fault tolerance, might as well get the performance at least.

 

[TGS]

Yes. A JBOD will fill one disk at a time, thus negating any benefits of multiple disk configuration. IE an actually RAID setup. Spanning is a horrible concept as you use the disk in the span, but won't actually utilize the disks until the previous volume has filled up.

The pros to spanning is you can keep tossing more disk at it if your need for storage growth exceeds the current available amount on the volume.

Originally posted by: STaSh

Dynamic disk can't be configured as a jbod (spanning)?

Sure it can: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu...kit/en-us/prkb_cnc_yuys.asp?frame=true

edit: fixed link

I know, that's why I specifically mentioned spanning

Forgot to mention. Tape although it seems easy, you have to take into account that the electrical charges overtime will dissipate on the tapes. So if this is long term storage, tape may not be the best option. If the tapes are put through a fairly regular cycle, the charges should be refreshed in sufficient amount of time. Nothing worse than pull data off an old backup tape and having garbage data written to it. Though it does take a while, and most tape backup systems except for a few that I've seen will reutilize tapes within a month or so. Just keep in mind they make a REALLY bad idea for long term archiving and recovery. Well the archiving is easy, the recovery... meh not so hot.