Implementing a RAID 1 Array

I have two questions relating to implementing a RAID 1 array. The server is
running Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition with SP 2.

System Setup Information

I have two identical SATA hard drives. During the hardware setup, I
configured the array management software and disk controller as a RAID 1
array. When installing the operating system I partitioned Disk 0 [Basic]
into two partitions: C drive 20GB and D drive 49GB. The drives was formatted
using NTFS. The operating system is on drive C and I assume because this is
Windows 2003 Server Family this may also be the boot volume. [During set up
I never specified anything different.] D drive has users shared folders,
shared applications, exchange store, client apps among other things.

Drive 1 was not partitioned or formatted at the time of installation. I
recently created a single partition [Basic] and formatted this drive using
NTFS. The drive letter is F. I have since unmounted this volume and deleted
the partition.

First Question:
I have been reading Dynamic disks and volumes in Help [Yes, before all else
fails!] and I am unsure about how to handle this area

Shadow copies
Volume C is disabled
Volume D is set to run on ??/??/???? and run on 9938 MB on D:\

[Windows Help]
Shadow copies storage area. If you are using a basic disk as a storage area
for shadow copies and you intend to convert the disk into a dynamic disk, it
is important to take the following precaution to avoid data loss. If the disk
is a non-boot volume and is a different volume from where the original files
reside, you must first dismount and take offline the volume containing the
original files before you convert the disk containing shadow copies to a
dynamic disk. You must bring the volume containing the original files back
online within 20 minutes, otherwise, you will lose the data stored in the
existing shadow copies. If the shadow copies are located on a boot volume,
you can convert the disk to dynamic without losing shadow copies.
The disk or partition is a not the boot volume but is the same as where the
original files resides. Now what do I do? Can I disable the shadow copies
on volume D and wait 20 minutes before proceeding? I don’t need the data in
the existing shadow copy. Do I still have to dismount and take offline this
volume?

Second Question
I cannot find out what happens to the two partitions on Disk 0 when I
convert from a basic drive to a dynamic drive? Are the partitions
eliminated? What happens to the data on volume D in this scenario?

[Windows Help]
Boot and system partitions. You can convert a basic disk containing the
system or boot partitions to a dynamic disk. After the disk is converted,
these partitions become simple system or boot volumes (after restarting the
computer). You cannot mark an existing dynamic volume as active. You can
convert a basic disk containing the boot partition (which contains the
operating system) to a dynamic disk. After the disk is converted, the boot
partition becomes a simple boot volume (after restarting the computer).
Mirroring the boot and system volumes. If you convert the disk containing
the boot and system partitions to a dynamic disk, you can mirror the boot and
system volumes onto another dynamic disk. Then, if the disk containing the
boot and system volumes fails, you can start the computer from the disk
containing the mirrors of these volumes. For more information, see To create
and test a mirrored system or boot volume which I have read and think I
understand.

But…What about mirroring volume D where all the shared files and the
exchange store is located? Do I follow the same procedure as in the boot and
system partition? Do I need to convert Disk 1 to a Dynamic drive and I
assume that there are no partitions in Dynamic Drives? Is this correct?

Ok so that was more than two questions. Thank you for your help. Ed Podowski

On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 11:24:08 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
<> wrote:

>I have two questions relating to implementing a RAID 1 array. The server is
>running Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition with SP 2.
>
>System Setup Information
>
>I have two identical SATA hard drives. During the hardware setup, I
>configured the array management software and disk controller as a RAID 1
>array. When installing the operating system I partitioned Disk 0 [Basic]
>into two partitions: C drive 20GB and D drive 49GB. The drives was formatted
>using NTFS. The operating system is on drive C and I assume because this is
>Windows 2003 Server Family this may also be the boot volume. [During set up
>I never specified anything different.] D drive has users shared folders,
>shared applications, exchange store, client apps among other things.

You conflicted yourself in this paragraph. First you said that you
configured the hardware side of things to run using a mirrored array,
then you say you did the granular partition setup using both disks.
If you had configured the array before you would only see one logical
disk in Windows setup.

I have the same setup here, and I have the motherboard doing all the
array controler (probably not much faster than doing it using Windows,
but was easier and less painful) - I have an Intel chipset, and when
booting up the system, I can go into the array setup to create the
mirrored drive.

If you have such a setup option when your system starts, you may be
able to set up the array this way, mirroring the contents of disk 1,
all data that was previously on disk 2 will be erased. Disk1 will
then mirror onto disk 2 as you go along. You shouldn't need to do any
fiddling in Windows, but it may be a good idea to ensure you have the
latest RAID drivers installed from the manufacturer - I had to ensure
I ran latest Intel drivers, as earlier versions caused SBS setup to
fail.

Alternatively, convert the disk to a dynamic disk, and add mirroring
to each partition individually - see later.
>
[...]
>
>[Windows Help]
>Shadow copies storage area. If you are using a basic disk as a storage area
>for shadow copies and you intend to convert the disk into a dynamic disk, it
>is important to take the following precaution to avoid data loss. If the disk
>is a non-boot volume and is a different volume from where the original files
>reside, you must first dismount and take offline the volume containing the
>original files before you convert the disk containing shadow copies to a
>dynamic disk. You must bring the volume containing the original files back
>online within 20 minutes, otherwise, you will lose the data stored in the
>existing shadow copies. If the shadow copies are located on a boot volume,
>you can convert the disk to dynamic without losing shadow copies.
>The disk or partition is a not the boot volume but is the same as where the
>original files resides. Now what do I do? Can I disable the shadow copies
>on volume D and wait 20 minutes before proceeding? I don’t need the data in
>the existing shadow copy. Do I still have to dismount and take offline this
>volume?

Yes.
>
>Second Question
>I cannot find out what happens to the two partitions on Disk 0 when I
>convert from a basic drive to a dynamic drive? Are the partitions
>eliminated? What happens to the data on volume D in this scenario?

They will be present still but are not mirrored. You will need to
mirror individually.
>
[...]
>
>But…What about mirroring volume D where all the shared files and the
>exchange store is located? Do I follow the same procedure as in the boot and
>system partition? Do I need to convert Disk 1 to a Dynamic drive and I
>assume that there are no partitions in Dynamic Drives? Is this correct?

When you convert the disk to dynamic you will see the same partitions.
You just then need to mirror the partitions to the second disk.

One other advantage to using a hardware type RAID setup is that if the
one disk fails, you don't have to mess with boot.ini files when you
want to boot from the second disk.

Andrew.
--
Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.

Andrew,

Thank you for your response.

I really did set up the hardware configuration and thought that was all I
needed to do to set up the RAID 1 array. I did not find anything else in the
hardware documentation.

I am using an ASUS K8N-DL [
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?m...3&l2=17&l3=173 ]
server motherboard which supports dual AMD Opteron CPU and has a NVIDIA
CK8-04 Professional chipset with support for 4 x SATA-II Gb/s drives in a
RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0 configurations.

After all the hardware was connected as the computer was booting, I went
into the NVIDIA set up and defined the RAID 1 array.

After partitioning and installing the SBS 2003 operating system, the second
drive did not have any data. So I thought that I needed to do something in
SBS 2003. That is when I started to read the help screens.

I went to ASUS web site but was unable to locate any further steps I needed
to take. I would prefer to set up the RAID 1 as defined by the hardware. I
think there are performance advantages as you mentioned to using the hardware
as opposed to SBS 2003. This is the reason for using this motherboard. What
step am I missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your time.
Ed Podowski

"Andrew Hodgson" wrote:

> On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 11:24:08 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
> <> wrote:
>
> >I have two questions relating to implementing a RAID 1 array. The server is
> >running Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition with SP 2.
> >
> >System Setup Information
> >
> >I have two identical SATA hard drives. During the hardware setup, I
> >configured the array management software and disk controller as a RAID 1
> >array. When installing the operating system I partitioned Disk 0 [Basic]
> >into two partitions: C drive 20GB and D drive 49GB. The drives was formatted
> >using NTFS. The operating system is on drive C and I assume because this is
> >Windows 2003 Server Family this may also be the boot volume. [During set up
> >I never specified anything different.] D drive has users shared folders,
> >shared applications, exchange store, client apps among other things.
>
> You conflicted yourself in this paragraph. First you said that you
> configured the hardware side of things to run using a mirrored array,
> then you say you did the granular partition setup using both disks.
> If you had configured the array before you would only see one logical
> disk in Windows setup.
>
> I have the same setup here, and I have the motherboard doing all the
> array controler (probably not much faster than doing it using Windows,
> but was easier and less painful) - I have an Intel chipset, and when
> booting up the system, I can go into the array setup to create the
> mirrored drive.
>
> If you have such a setup option when your system starts, you may be
> able to set up the array this way, mirroring the contents of disk 1,
> all data that was previously on disk 2 will be erased. Disk1 will
> then mirror onto disk 2 as you go along. You shouldn't need to do any
> fiddling in Windows, but it may be a good idea to ensure you have the
> latest RAID drivers installed from the manufacturer - I had to ensure
> I ran latest Intel drivers, as earlier versions caused SBS setup to
> fail.
>
> Alternatively, convert the disk to a dynamic disk, and add mirroring
> to each partition individually - see later.
> >
> [...]
> >
> >[Windows Help]
> >Shadow copies storage area. If you are using a basic disk as a storage area
> >for shadow copies and you intend to convert the disk into a dynamic disk, it
> >is important to take the following precaution to avoid data loss. If the disk
> >is a non-boot volume and is a different volume from where the original files
> >reside, you must first dismount and take offline the volume containing the
> >original files before you convert the disk containing shadow copies to a
> >dynamic disk. You must bring the volume containing the original files back
> >online within 20 minutes, otherwise, you will lose the data stored in the
> >existing shadow copies. If the shadow copies are located on a boot volume,
> >you can convert the disk to dynamic without losing shadow copies.
> >The disk or partition is a not the boot volume but is the same as where the
> >original files resides. Now what do I do? Can I disable the shadow copies
> >on volume D and wait 20 minutes before proceeding? I don’t need the data in
> >the existing shadow copy. Do I still have to dismount and take offline this
> >volume?
>
> Yes.
> >
> >Second Question
> >I cannot find out what happens to the two partitions on Disk 0 when I
> >convert from a basic drive to a dynamic drive? Are the partitions
> >eliminated? What happens to the data on volume D in this scenario?
>
> They will be present still but are not mirrored. You will need to
> mirror individually.
> >
> [...]
> >
> >But…What about mirroring volume D where all the shared files and the
> >exchange store is located? Do I follow the same procedure as in the boot and
> >system partition? Do I need to convert Disk 1 to a Dynamic drive and I
> >assume that there are no partitions in Dynamic Drives? Is this correct?
>
> When you convert the disk to dynamic you will see the same partitions.
> You just then need to mirror the partitions to the second disk.
>
> One other advantage to using a hardware type RAID setup is that if the
> one disk fails, you don't have to mess with boot.ini files when you
> want to boot from the second disk.
>
> Andrew.
> --
> Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
> My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.
>

Hi Ed Podowski,

Thanks for posting here! Also thanks for Andrew's input.

For your description, I understand that you have some concerns about
install SBS 2003 on the hardware RAID 1 drive. If I am off base, please
don't hesitate to let me know.

For your RAID 1 drive is hardware RAID 1, you will not see the mirrored
drive in the Disk Management console.

What is your mean "After partitioning and installing the SBS 2003 operating
system, the second drive did not have any data."? Do you mean you can not
find data in the second partition? If so, it is normal since the SBS 2003
installation by default install all applications in the main partition.

If not, how you find there is no data in the drive? Through which interface
to find that?

£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½
If you don't like so many data on the main partition, you can take some
actions to move client programs folder, sharepoint database, monitor
database, and so on to different partition or drive.

You can refer to the following MS white paper to move data folders as you
want to:

Moving Data Folders for Windows Small Business Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../movedata.mspx

830254 How to move the client programs folder to another location in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=830254

821915 How to move Exchange databases and logs in Exchange Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=821915

£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½
The Volume Shadow Copy Service provides the backup infrastructure for the
Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems,
as well as a mechanism for creating consistent point-in-time copies of data
known as shadow copies.

Previous to the Volume Shadow Copy Service and its standard set of
extensible application programming interfaces (APIs), there was no standard
way to produce "clean" (uncorrupted) snapshots of a volume. Snapshots often
contained corruptions due to "torn writes" that required the use of
utilities such as Chkdsk.exe to repair. Torn writes occur when an unplanned
event (such as a power failure) prevents the system from completely writing
a block of data to disk. The Volume Shadow Copy Service APIs prevent torn
writes by enabling applications to flush partially committed data from
memory.

The Volume Shadow Copy Service has native support for creating consistent
shadow copies across multiple volumes, regardless of the snapshot
technology or application. The Volume Shadow Copy Service can produce
consistent shadow copies by coordinating with business applications,
file-system services, backup applications, fast recovery solutions, and
storage hardware. Several features in the Windows Server 2003 operating
systems use the Volume Shadow Copy Service, including Shadow Copies for
Shared Folders and Backup.

For more detail information about how to create shadow copy and how it
works:

What Is Volume Shadow Copy Service?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../library/TechR
ef/3cf204e6-709a-4eb8-8cbc-ad9655de91ba.mspx

How Volume Shadow Copy Service Works
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../library/TechR
ef/2b0d2457-b7d8-42c3-b6c9-59c145b7765f.mspx

Storage Management Using Windows Server 2003 and Windows Storage Server
2003 Virtual Disk Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...plandeploy/sto
rmgtusingvdsvss.mspx

£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½
To the change basic drive to dynamic drive question, when we change basic
drive to dynamic drive, data can not be lost in Windows 2003 OS. However if
we convert the dynamic disk to a basic disk, the data on the dynamic disk
will be lost. Therefore, please backup the data to a secure location such
as tape or network locations.

There should be no problem to convert Basic to Dynamic disk (note that
it''s a one-way change and you cannot convert back without reinstalling the
System.) However, a backup before doing anything big is still recommended.
Nothing beats a well prepared backup. :

The following article has more details:
HOW TO: Use the Disk Management Snap-in to Manage Basic and Dynamic Disks
in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;323442

Restrictions on Extending or Spanning Simple Volumes on Dynamic Disks
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;225551

To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro.../library/Serve
rHelp/2999d73d-4c49-45c6-96cb-ec6d7686317b.mspx

£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½£½
Hope above information helps! If you have any further concern on the issue
please let me know. I am happy to be assistance of you and look forward to
your reply!

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Jenny Wu
Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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--------------------
>Thread-Topic: Implementing a RAID 1 Array
>thread-index: AcXgJyfllbXsC64gSpGAvkg8XHZTCg==
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>From: "=?Utf-8?B?RWQgUG9kb3dza2k=?=" <>
>References: <9E18DF84-AF05-4092-B25F->
<>
>Subject: Re: Implementing a RAID 1 Array
>Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 19:32:02 -0800
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>
>Andrew,
>
>Thank you for your response.
>
>I really did set up the hardware configuration and thought that was all I
>needed to do to set up the RAID 1 array. I did not find anything else in
the
>hardware documentation.
>
>I am using an ASUS K8N-DL [
>http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?m...3&l2=17&l3=173
]
>server motherboard which supports dual AMD Opteron CPU and has a NVIDIA
>CK8-04 Professional chipset with support for 4 x SATA-II Gb/s drives in a
>RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0 configurations.
>
>After all the hardware was connected as the computer was booting, I went
>into the NVIDIA set up and defined the RAID 1 array.
>
>After partitioning and installing the SBS 2003 operating system, the
second
>drive did not have any data. So I thought that I needed to do something
in
>SBS 2003. That is when I started to read the help screens.
>
>I went to ASUS web site but was unable to locate any further steps I
needed
>to take. I would prefer to set up the RAID 1 as defined by the hardware.
I
>think there are performance advantages as you mentioned to using the
hardware
>as opposed to SBS 2003. This is the reason for using this motherboard.
What
>step am I missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you again for your time.
>Ed Podowski
>
>"Andrew Hodgson" wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 11:24:08 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> >I have two questions relating to implementing a RAID 1 array. The
server is
>> >running Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition with SP 2.
>> >
>> >System Setup Information
>> >
>> >I have two identical SATA hard drives. During the hardware setup, I
>> >configured the array management software and disk controller as a RAID
1
>> >array. When installing the operating system I partitioned Disk 0
[Basic]
>> >into two partitions: C drive 20GB and D drive 49GB. The drives was
formatted
>> >using NTFS. The operating system is on drive C and I assume because
this is
>> >Windows 2003 Server Family this may also be the boot volume. [During
set up
>> >I never specified anything different.] D drive has users shared
folders,
>> >shared applications, exchange store, client apps among other things.
>>
>> You conflicted yourself in this paragraph. First you said that you
>> configured the hardware side of things to run using a mirrored array,
>> then you say you did the granular partition setup using both disks.
>> If you had configured the array before you would only see one logical
>> disk in Windows setup.
>>
>> I have the same setup here, and I have the motherboard doing all the
>> array controler (probably not much faster than doing it using Windows,
>> but was easier and less painful) - I have an Intel chipset, and when
>> booting up the system, I can go into the array setup to create the
>> mirrored drive.
>>
>> If you have such a setup option when your system starts, you may be
>> able to set up the array this way, mirroring the contents of disk 1,
>> all data that was previously on disk 2 will be erased. Disk1 will
>> then mirror onto disk 2 as you go along. You shouldn't need to do any
>> fiddling in Windows, but it may be a good idea to ensure you have the
>> latest RAID drivers installed from the manufacturer - I had to ensure
>> I ran latest Intel drivers, as earlier versions caused SBS setup to
>> fail.
>>
>> Alternatively, convert the disk to a dynamic disk, and add mirroring
>> to each partition individually - see later.
>> >
>> [...]
>> >
>> >[Windows Help]
>> >Shadow copies storage area. If you are using a basic disk as a storage
area
>> >for shadow copies and you intend to convert the disk into a dynamic
disk, it
>> >is important to take the following precaution to avoid data loss. If
the disk
>> >is a non-boot volume and is a different volume from where the original
files
>> >reside, you must first dismount and take offline the volume containing
the
>> >original files before you convert the disk containing shadow copies to
a
>> >dynamic disk. You must bring the volume containing the original files
back
>> >online within 20 minutes, otherwise, you will lose the data stored in
the
>> >existing shadow copies. If the shadow copies are located on a boot
volume,
>> >you can convert the disk to dynamic without losing shadow copies.
>> >The disk or partition is a not the boot volume but is the same as where
the
>> >original files resides. Now what do I do? Can I disable the shadow
copies
>> >on volume D and wait 20 minutes before proceeding? I don’t need the
data in
>> >the existing shadow copy. Do I still have to dismount and take offline
this
>> >volume?
>>
>> Yes.
>> >
>> >Second Question
>> >I cannot find out what happens to the two partitions on Disk 0 when I
>> >convert from a basic drive to a dynamic drive? Are the partitions
>> >eliminated? What happens to the data on volume D in this scenario?
>>
>> They will be present still but are not mirrored. You will need to
>> mirror individually.
>> >
>> [...]
>> >
>> >But…What about mirroring volume D where all the shared files and the
>> >exchange store is located? Do I follow the same procedure as in the
boot and
>> >system partition? Do I need to convert Disk 1 to a Dynamic drive and I
>> >assume that there are no partitions in Dynamic Drives? Is this correct?
>>
>> When you convert the disk to dynamic you will see the same partitions.
>> You just then need to mirror the partitions to the second disk.
>>
>> One other advantage to using a hardware type RAID setup is that if the
>> one disk fails, you don't have to mess with boot.ini files when you
>> want to boot from the second disk.
>>
>> Andrew.
>> --
>> Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
>> My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.
>>
>

On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 19:32:02 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
<> wrote:

>Andrew,
>
>Thank you for your response.
>
>I really did set up the hardware configuration and thought that was all I
>needed to do to set up the RAID 1 array. I did not find anything else in the
>hardware documentation.

In that case go back there and check what the status of the RAID is.
If you are seeing a second disk this isn't running in a RAID
environment unless you have more than two drives and the third one is
not part of an array.

It should be easy to configure the mirror from the hardware config
screens.

Andrew.
--
Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.

Andrew,

Thank you again for your imput. Without it I would not have been able to
make the distinction between the hardware RAID setup and SBS 2003 RAID setup.

I think I know where I have been going wrong. I found some documentation
[way backin the motherboard user guide] and in the BIOS set up there is a
NVRAID Configuration sub-menu. It says "select the items you wish to enable
to create a RAID set."

I am not able to see the setting [because I am not at the client's office
until Monday] but I do not remember seeing this screen when I was in the
BIOS. The NVRAID may be enabled, but the First SATA Master RAID and the
Second SATA Master RAID may be disabled. This is why I was able to select
the drives for the RAID 1 array.

When I am back at this client's office on Monday and I will reboot the
server and check this screen. My only concern now is once I enable the two
SATA Masters, will this wipe out my hard drive with the operating system and
data files?

Do you know if this is a potential problem?

Thank you again,
Ed Podowski

"Andrew Hodgson" wrote:

> On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 19:32:02 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
> <> wrote:
>
> >Andrew,
> >
> >Thank you for your response.
> >
> >I really did set up the hardware configuration and thought that was all I
> >needed to do to set up the RAID 1 array. I did not find anything else in the
> >hardware documentation.
>
> In that case go back there and check what the status of the RAID is.
> If you are seeing a second disk this isn't running in a RAID
> environment unless you have more than two drives and the third one is
> not part of an array.
>
> It should be easy to configure the mirror from the hardware config
> screens.
>
> Andrew.
> --
> Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
> My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.
>

Hi Ed Podowski,

When you reconfigure the hardware RAID set, both drives will be formatted.
I am afraid the OS and data will be removed.

I am happy to be assistance of you.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Jenny Wu
Microsoft CSS Online Newsgroup Support
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>Thread-Topic: Implementing a RAID 1 Array
>thread-index: AcXg3gWv8zxV1BpxRJSfTkoVi2Zq3Q==
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>Subject: Re: Implementing a RAID 1 Array
>Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 17:21:03 -0800
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>Andrew,
>
>Thank you again for your imput. Without it I would not have been able to
>make the distinction between the hardware RAID setup and SBS 2003 RAID
setup.
>
>I think I know where I have been going wrong. I found some documentation
>[way backin the motherboard user guide] and in the BIOS set up there is a
>NVRAID Configuration sub-menu. It says "select the items you wish to
enable
>to create a RAID set."
>
>I am not able to see the setting [because I am not at the client's office
>until Monday] but I do not remember seeing this screen when I was in the
>BIOS. The NVRAID may be enabled, but the First SATA Master RAID and the
>Second SATA Master RAID may be disabled. This is why I was able to select
>the drives for the RAID 1 array.
>
>When I am back at this client's office on Monday and I will reboot the
>server and check this screen. My only concern now is once I enable the
two
>SATA Masters, will this wipe out my hard drive with the operating system
and
>data files?
>
>Do you know if this is a potential problem?
>
>Thank you again,
>Ed Podowski
>
>"Andrew Hodgson" wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 19:32:02 -0800, "Ed Podowski"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> >Andrew,
>> >
>> >Thank you for your response.
>> >
>> >I really did set up the hardware configuration and thought that was all
I
>> >needed to do to set up the RAID 1 array. I did not find anything else
in the
>> >hardware documentation.
>>
>> In that case go back there and check what the status of the RAID is.
>> If you are seeing a second disk this isn't running in a RAID
>> environment unless you have more than two drives and the third one is
>> not part of an array.
>>
>> It should be easy to configure the mirror from the hardware config
>> screens.
>>
>> Andrew.
>> --
>> Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
>> My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.
>>
>

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 12:20:07 GMT, v-
("Jenny wu [MSFT]") wrote:

>Hi Ed Podowski,
>
>When you reconfigure the hardware RAID set, both drives will be formatted.
>I am afraid the OS and data will be removed.

This is not necessairly the case though you should do an image to be
sure. In my RAID config, I am able to add another mirror no problem -
I tested this fine. However, I don't like the information you refered
to in the BIOS, and suspect this is relating to a lower level than the
RAID system. I recommend you search the mobo on the Internet and also
the chipset and see if anyone else has any RAID config
issues/questions/etc to report before going any further.

Andrew.
--
Andrew Hodgson in Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
My Email: use <andrew at hodgsonfamily dot org>.