onlinespending
Junior Member
I'm looking to setup a server and have opted to go with Windows as the operating system. I want to use 3 750GB hard-disk drives to create a RAID-5 array for the files. However, I feel far more confident with my ability to migrate this array to a new system if I go with a software RAID (I am more confident I would not switch OSes, but it's far more likely the hardware will change). This has led me to believe that using a Windows software RAID solution is best for me.
However, I'd like to get by without having to use a dedicated hard drive just for the OS, and would prefer to install the OS on to the same disks used by the RAID-5 array.
To do this I anticipate that I would partition the 3 drives to each have a small partition for the OS. Lets say 10GB. This way the remaining partition of each drive will match at 740GB. One solution it would seem, would be to install the OS on one of the 3 drives, and set it as the primary boot-up disk in the BIOS. And within Windows I would setup the software RAID-5 support for the 3 740GB partitions.
However, if my OS dies, then I'd have to reinstall Windows and would presumably have no problems recovering the RAID-5 array. But, I'd like to use the fact that I have 3 hard-drives to add redundancy to the OS partition by using RAID-1. In essence, I would first install Windows to one of the drives, but tell it to mirror its own partition to the other 2 disks. Each of the disks' 10GB OS partition would have the MBR and could therefore bootup in the event 1 of the other disks has died. It would seem as if this would be feasible, but it wouldn't surprise me if this is not supported within Windows. Is this possible? Has anyone done something similar, by mirroring the OS partition?
Also, as a side question, can I somehow save a backup of the RAID signature information to a CD-R or USB pen drive in the event that my OS dies and I need that info to recover the RAID-5 array?
Thanks!
However, I'd like to get by without having to use a dedicated hard drive just for the OS, and would prefer to install the OS on to the same disks used by the RAID-5 array.
To do this I anticipate that I would partition the 3 drives to each have a small partition for the OS. Lets say 10GB. This way the remaining partition of each drive will match at 740GB. One solution it would seem, would be to install the OS on one of the 3 drives, and set it as the primary boot-up disk in the BIOS. And within Windows I would setup the software RAID-5 support for the 3 740GB partitions.
However, if my OS dies, then I'd have to reinstall Windows and would presumably have no problems recovering the RAID-5 array. But, I'd like to use the fact that I have 3 hard-drives to add redundancy to the OS partition by using RAID-1. In essence, I would first install Windows to one of the drives, but tell it to mirror its own partition to the other 2 disks. Each of the disks' 10GB OS partition would have the MBR and could therefore bootup in the event 1 of the other disks has died. It would seem as if this would be feasible, but it wouldn't surprise me if this is not supported within Windows. Is this possible? Has anyone done something similar, by mirroring the OS partition?
Also, as a side question, can I somehow save a backup of the RAID signature information to a CD-R or USB pen drive in the event that my OS dies and I need that info to recover the RAID-5 array?
Thanks!
