Software RAID solution for XP Home?

[Scarpozzi]

I'm used to using Windows Server 2003, etc...but figured there would be some form of RAID available for XP for free or cheap. I've got 2 drives and just need RAID 1. Anyone know of anything? Thanks-

 

[Nothinman]

Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

By BIOS-assisted, I figure you mean a mobo with a built-in controller. I've not seen one worth anything because most of them don't have a true battery pack to support write functions in the case of system power failure... Of course, you don't get that with software either....😛

I'm probably going to configure XP Home to do NTBackup and just do a nightly or weekly copy of data to the second volume. It's not real-time, but at least it's free.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

I think XP Pro will do striping.

edit: Oops, I guess not.

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

By BIOS-assisted, I figure you mean a mobo with a built-in controller. I've not seen one worth anything because most of them don't have a true battery pack to support write functions in the case of system power failure... Of course, you don't get that with software either....😛

I'm probably going to configure XP Home to do NTBackup and just do a nightly or weekly copy of data to the second volume. It's not real-time, but at least it's free.

that is probably a better solution anyway...


REALIZE THAT RAID IS NOT A BACKUP!

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

By BIOS-assisted, I figure you mean a mobo with a built-in controller. I've not seen one worth anything because most of them don't have a true battery pack to support write functions in the case of system power failure... Of course, you don't get that with software either....😛

I'm probably going to configure XP Home to do NTBackup and just do a nightly or weekly copy of data to the second volume. It's not real-time, but at least it's free.

that is probably a better solution anyway...


REALIZE THAT RAID IS NOT A BACKUP!

But isn't it better to have RAID 1, or better yet RAID 10 on your home system than to rely on weekly backups of data? With SATA drives, the drives are hot-swappable, therefore, your RAID config should be able to rebuild a drive in the event of a failure without downtime as long as you can get a valid replacement..... I was down for a week when my main hard drive failed while I waited for my replacement drives to arrive.

Since RAID isn't a cheap option and I don't have anymore PCI slots free in my Dimension 4700, I'll have to rely on backups.... At least we're fortunate enough to have cheap SATA drives available so it's only costing me $60 or so for Daily backups of my system. If you've never used NTBackup, it comes with XP on the cd. You can configure it for just about anything you need.....including incremental backups and copies....it's impressive for a backup utility that's free. You can even use it with a CD or DVD burner, I believe....I'm just copying to my second drive though.....so we'll see how that works out. 😉

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

By BIOS-assisted, I figure you mean a mobo with a built-in controller. I've not seen one worth anything because most of them don't have a true battery pack to support write functions in the case of system power failure... Of course, you don't get that with software either....😛

I'm probably going to configure XP Home to do NTBackup and just do a nightly or weekly copy of data to the second volume. It's not real-time, but at least it's free.

that is probably a better solution anyway...


REALIZE THAT RAID IS NOT A BACKUP!

But isn't it better to have RAID 1, or better yet RAID 10 on your home system than to rely on weekly backups of data? With SATA drives, the drives are hot-swappable, therefore, your RAID config should be able to rebuild a drive in the event of a failure without downtime as long as you can get a valid replacement..... I was down for a week when my main hard drive failed while I waited for my replacement drives to arrive.

Since RAID isn't a cheap option and I don't have anymore PCI slots free in my Dimension 4700, I'll have to rely on backups.... At least we're fortunate enough to have cheap SATA drives available so it's only costing me $60 or so for Daily backups of my system. If you've never used NTBackup, it comes with XP on the cd. You can configure it for just about anything you need.....including incremental backups and copies....it's impressive for a backup utility that's free. You can even use it with a CD or DVD burner, I believe....I'm just copying to my second drive though.....so we'll see how that works out. 😉

what happens to your raid1 when your house burns down?

What happens to your raid1 when a virus attacks and infects files on your hard drive, or formats it?

What happens to your raid1 when a controller or user error causes data corruption?


I can tell you what happens to my backup when all of these happen...nothing. Raid is meant to have lots of uptime, not to provide data integrity/redundancy. Raid is a good thing, but it's NOT A REPLACMENT FOR A BACKUP!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: nweaver
I can tell you what happens to my backup when all of these happen...nothing. Raid is meant to have lots of uptime, not to provide data integrity/redundancy. Raid is a good thing, but it's NOT A REPLACMENT FOR A BACKUP!

I agree. Get a backup solution first. THEN install RAID if you have the money.

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nope, XP Pro only lets you do RAID0 and spanning. If you want something redundant you'll need to pay for Server or use one of the cheesy BIOS-assisted RAID setups.

I've had good luck with brand-name BIOS-assisted PCI RAID cards. I think they are a good compromise between no RAID and the high-end hardware-RAID cards. Obviously, I'd only run them in RAID1 mode.

Since they are PCI cards, you can move the whole array to a new motherboard if needed.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: nweaver

what happens to your raid1 when your house burns down?

What happens to your raid1 when a virus attacks and infects files on your hard drive, or formats it?

What happens to your raid1 when a controller or user error causes data corruption?


I can tell you what happens to my backup when all of these happen...nothing. Raid is meant to have lots of uptime, not to provide data integrity/redundancy. Raid is a good thing, but it's NOT A REPLACMENT FOR A BACKUP!

So where do you keep your home backups?

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

what happens to your raid1 when your house burns down?

What happens to your raid1 when a virus attacks and infects files on your hard drive, or formats it?

What happens to your raid1 when a controller or user error causes data corruption?


I can tell you what happens to my backup when all of these happen...nothing. Raid is meant to have lots of uptime, not to provide data integrity/redundancy. Raid is a good thing, but it's NOT A REPLACMENT FOR A BACKUP!

So where do you keep your home backups?

I have one set at work

and another set that is in another state....

check the details of the DRP 😉

 

[bsobel]

So where do you keep your home backups?

I keep two copies on a removable drive I bring one back to each of the other houses about twice a year. I also use that drive as my media drive to run the Sonos at each location.

The last copy is on dvd and is in the safe deposit box.

You only lose two drives in 10 minutes on a raid-5 system once in your life 😉

Bill

 

[coupland]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
NTBackup ... You can even use it with a CD or DVD burner, I believe....

No can do on the CD or DVD option, wrote the exam today. Local drive, remote share, tape drive, or removable media.