How to configure software raid in windows 2008

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Plans and Pricing. Contact Us. Certified Expert Program. In this section a mirrored set will be created using two similarly sized disk drives connected to a Windows Server system. Begin the process by invoking the Disk Management snap-in. This can be achieved by typing compmgmt.

The system used in this example contains three disks numbered 0, 1 and 2 respectively. Disk 0 is the system disk and disks 1 and 2 will be used to create a mirrored set. Within the Disk Management tool right click on the unallocated space in the graphical view of the first disk to be used in the mirror set and select New Mirrored Volume Click Next on the welcome screen to proceed to the disk selection screen. As mentioned previously, a mirrored set must be comprised of two disk drives.

Initially, the wizard only lists the currently selected disk in the Selected column. In order to proceed, one more disk is required. To add a disk to the mirrored set, select a suitable disk from the available disks in the left hand column and click on Add to add it to the selected disks list:.

With the necessary disks selected click Next to proceed and assign a drive letter or mount point for the volume. The Next button will then proceed to the Format Volume screen where the file system type and compression options may be selected. To view the summary screen, press the Next button. Assuming the summary is acceptable the Finish button will format the volumes and create the mirrored volume ready for use.

This may be launched either from a command prompt window, or from the Run dialog simply by entering diskpart at the prompt. The first step in creating a mirrored set using diskpart is to identify the disks to be used. Open Server Disk Management. Right-click one of the volumes on the dynamic disk and select the "Add Mirror".

In software RAID 1, due to some reasons, you may need to convert dynamic disk back to basic disk. To convert dynamic disk back to basic in Server Disk Manager, you have to delete all existing partitions before conversion. A software RAID 5 requires three disks at least; it not only can enhance the efficiency of the disk but also provide the best fault-tolerant.

A RAID 5 is a fault-tolerant volume in which the data is striped across an array of three or more disks. Parity a calculated value that can be used to reconstruct data after a failure is also striped across the disk array. If a physical disk fails, the portion of the RAID 5 that was on that failed disk can be recreated from the remaining data and the parity. At least 3 disk will be required.

If this value is omitted the volume will be sized to match the smallest contiguous block of unallocated space on the designated disk drives:. This can take a considerable amount of time depending on the size of the volume. During this process, the status of the volume will be listed as Rebuild when the list volume command is executed:. Once the resynch is complete the volume status will change to Healthy at which point the volume may be formatted the RAW type listed above indicates the volume has yet to be formatted.

The volume may be formatted using the format command as follows:. In order to function, all the disks in a RAID 5 configuration must be online and healthy. If the status is Offline or Missing , check that the disk is connected and powered up. If the problem is resolved select Rescan Disks from the Actions menu. Once the rescan is complete right click on the problematic drive and select Reactivate. All being well the drive status will change to Regenerating as the data is rebuilt using the parity information on the other drives in the array.

If, once regeneration is complete, the status does not return to Healthy , right click once again and select Regenerate Parity. If this fails the disk may be unrecoverable and will need to be replaced. To achieve this, right click on the volume on the failed disk and select Remove Volume from the popup menu. Once the volume has been removed, right click on a suitable block of unallocated space on another dynamic disk which is not already part of the RAID 5 array, has sufficient space and has a matching partition style and select Repair Volume.