XP Raid Enable

[bodhammer]

I found this and it sounds cool : Tom's Hardware - Using WindowsXP to Make RAID 5 Happen


Question - What if Microsoft updates the 3 dll's through automatic Windows Updates?

C:\windows\system32\drivers\dmboot.sys
C:\windows\system32\dmconfig.dll
C:\windows\system32\Dmadmin.exe

Are you then screwed?

 

[Nothinman]

Even if someone posts here and says you'll be fine, do you really trust them enough to take the risk?

 

[LatinJones]

I would definately like to see some feedback on this. A cheap 3-4 drive IDE raid 5 array for a home server would really be nice.

 

[Canterwood]

The page is gone for me. Maybe MS 'got to them'

But it sounds like someone's found a way to enable software raid 5 on XP the same as in 2003 Server?
It'd be fun to try on a test box, but I wouldn't trust it on my main rig.

 

[bodhammer]

try this: http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20041119/

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: bodhammer
I found this and it sounds cool : Tom's Hardware - Using WindowsXP to Make RAID 5 Happen


Question - What if Microsoft updates the 3 dll's through automatic Windows Updates?

C:\windows\system32\drivers\dmboot.sys
C:\windows\system32\dmconfig.dll
C:\windows\system32\Dmadmin.exe

Are you then screwed?

Yes, the modification suggested has you modify system binaries with a hex editor. Once those get updated in a SP, your hosed.

I can't stress enough what a bad bad idea this is. Buy a cheap raid 1 board, raid 5 (especially software) is slow as heck.

Bill

 

[LatinJones]

Yea, it sounded a little too good to be true....

 

[Bradley99]

Yes, the modification suggested has you modify system binaries with a hex editor. Once those get updated in a SP, your hosed.

I can't stress enough what a bad bad idea this is. Buy a cheap raid 1 board, raid 5 (especially software) is slow as heck.

Bill

Bad bad idea or not, I've been running a media server with this mod since March '04 or something. The system has three 200GB disks configured with two partitions, a RAID 1 partition (OS) and a RAID 5 partition (data). This was an inexpensive way to get a RAID 1 and RAID 5. The speed is acceptable for this application; reads are faster than a single disk, writes slower.

Regarding the Tom's Hardware article, it shows only SP1 files; the SP2 files are different and require their own similar modification - the mod does work with SP2 though.

Tom's left out some points.

1) A software update can destroy the RAID capability. This is exactly what happened with SP2, and is why when you choose to do this you should configure automatic updates off. Before I switched to SP2 I tested with three spare drives to see if the mod to the SP2 files would work.

2) Run a UPS. Any power glitch will cause the RAID to rebuild - not fatal but the 350 GB RAID 5 takes about 4 hours on the 1 GHz Nehemiah machine.

A more recommended solution would be that if you want to do software RAID with a Microsoft product buy a copy of Server.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Interesting. Curious - does the upgrade to SP2, destroy the RAID 5 array itself, or eliminate access to it, until you patch the newly-updated binaries again? In other words, is there any risk to the data itself, or just the risk of not being able to access it after an update? (Good argument for using it for only non-critical, non-system files.)

 

[Bradley99]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
... does the upgrade to SP2, destroy the RAID 5 array itself, or eliminate access to it, until you patch the newly-updated binaries again? In other words, is there any risk to the data itself, or just the risk of not being able to access it after an update?

I experimented a couple of ways.

1) I created a patched SP1 with the RAID 1 and RAID 5 partitions. Upgrading it to SP2 failed; during the SP2 upgrade process the binaries were overwritten and bad things happened. (blue screen - missing files upon reboot).

2) I created a patched SP1 with the RAID 1 and RAID 5 partions, then removed the RAID 1 mirror. At this point the RAID 5 was still accessible. Then I replaced the modified binaries with the original unmodified versions. This made the RAID 5 inacessible though it was visible using Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage/Disk Management. Then I applied the SP2 patch and replaced the three system files with the modified versions; the RAID 5 became accessible. Then I rebuilt the RAID 1 (mirror) and all was as before.

It appears that SP2 does nothing to the RAID 5, just the files that enable its access.

 

[exodus454]

I was looking at that article the other day, attempted to modify the files and the originals on Tom's and the ones on my computer were different, so i stopped right there not wanting to screw anything up majorly.

Does anyone know exactly how to get this working with SP2? I'd love to see if this works, but I really dont want to use any of my rigs as gunea pigs..

 

[Bradley99]

This link has more info and also the modified SP2 files. I have not tried them - mod'd my own.

Patch XP to SP2.
Save the three original files somewhere.
Enter safe mode - copy in the modified versions.
Reboot.
Use the Administrative Tools to convert disks to dynamic, RAID them, etc..