Raid 1 and Partition

[determinist]

I have a MSI 815 MB that support RAID and only a WD 30GB HD which was partitioned, i thought of getting another similar HD and set it to RAID 1 Mirroring. If so, will it actually also mirrored the origin partitions that was on the master HD? (meaning the entire HD with it's partitions)... or just only drive C?


Thanks for reading.. 🙂 my first post, greetings to all!!

 

[SUOrangeman]

REMOVING MY UNEDUCATED RESPONSE.

Thanks to Nelson for correcting me.

-SUO (needs to be slapped silly)

 

[determinist]

So presume if i partition a D: drive on the new HD.. will both the C: and D: drive mirrored? Asumming both HD are same brand, model and partition the same capacity..

 

[SeTeS]

Not quite. You don't "partition" the new drive at all (assuming the new drive is the second drive in the array).

You'll setup the Raid 1 array in bios, then it'll seem just like you've got only 1 drive (your original drive). The second (mirror) drive is invisible to whatever os you install. It just retains a constant dupe of everyting on the main drive.

 

[determinist]

Does the mirroring apply to all contents on both partitions of my existing drive?

Mean if i save a file into partitioned drive D: (or vice-versa) will it still be mirror into the arrayed HD? do i need to partition the arrayed HD too?


Thanks for the all above replies.. 🙂 Raid is totally new to me and it really give me a better idea with your help.. 🙂

 

[NelsonMuntz]

The RAID creation will take care of the new drive for you. You shouldn't have to do anything with the partitioning. If the drive is exactly the same size as the original drive, when you insert the new drive and set up the RAID array it will give you the option to copy an existing image on to the new drive and you should do this so that the array can be formed. From then on you will not even know the new hard drive is there. Your existing partitions C: and D: will still be there, but whenever you save anything to either one of the original drive it will automatically be saved to the new drive as well whether it goes into c: or d:.

 

[determinist]

ooo.. this explained my question.. thanks!

 

[MplsBob]

Very nice post NelsonMuntz!

I had wondered about this issue myself.

 

[virtuamike]

NelsonMuntz hit it right on the mark. If you're mirroring, BIOS will give you an option as to whether you'd like to create the image from an existing drive.

I actually ran into the exact same scenario earlier this week, needed to install Win2K on a system w/ a Promise RAID controller. Ended up installing OS with one drive attached to the CUSL2-C IDE controller, installed drivers for the RAID controller, and then imaged the Win2K drive after connecting it to the Promise. Worked great. I could've also imaged before I even installed the OS but I went the other route instead.