Raid 1 in installed OS

[danieldsklein]

Hello guys,

I have a small server, with windows server 2008 installed, the OS should be installed ins 2 SSDs in raid 1, but the guy who installed the OS and the network forgot to do that so now I have the OS in 1 SSD only. I would like to put both SSDs in raid 1 without having to redo all the OS installation. I was thinking about in using some software migration software to copy to a third SSD, raid both SSDs and then migrating them to the new raid 1 array. I know this is probably very confusing I will try to draw it.

 

 

The hardware is:

Mobo: P8z68v-pro

cpu: i5 2500k

ram:2x4gb ddr3 1600mhz (some generic patriot line)

PSU: Corsair HX650W

SSDs: 2x60GB OCZ agility 3 (should be in raid1)

HDDs: 2x2TB Seagate Barracuda XT (raid1)

           2x2TB Seagate Barracuda XT (raid1)

 

if anyone knows a better solution, or if these one will work, would be great, thanks

[Altecice]

Open Run type in " compmgmt.msc " this should bring up disk management.

Within the Disk Management tool right click on the unallocated space (unformatted second SSD in this case) in the graphical view of the first disk(SSD with OS) to be used in the mirror set and select New Mirrored Volume... to invoke the New Mirrored Volume wizard and follow the steps.

 

simple as that.

 

 

just remember that you will be loosing quite abit of performance on the SSD's as all the write functions have to be done twice. Unlike RAID0 that "stripes" the disks for increased speed (but zero redundancy) but i assume its redundancy that you are going for.

[ultimatemythbuster]

Hello guys,

I have a small server, with windows server 2008 installed, the OS should be installed ins 2 SSDs in raid 1, but the guy who installed the OS and the network forgot to do that so now I have the OS in 1 SSD only. I would like to put both SSDs in raid 1 without having to redo all the OS installation. I was thinking about in using some software migration software to copy to a third SSD, raid both SSDs and then migrating them to the new raid 1 array. I know this is probably very confusing I will try to draw it.

 

 

The hardware is:

Mobo: P8z68v-pro

cpu: i5 2500k

ram:2x4gb ddr3 1600mhz (some generic patriot line)

PSU: Corsair HX650W

SSDs: 2x60GB OCZ agility 3 (should be in raid1)

HDDs: 2x2TB Seagate Barracuda XT (raid1)

           2x2TB Seagate Barracuda XT (raid1)

 

if anyone knows a better solution, or if these one will work, would be great, thanks

You should be able to clone the OS to a temporary drive, then setup the RAID config which will require you to delete to original OS on the SSD, then restore from the copy you made.

[ultimatemythbuster]

Open Run type in " compmgmt.msc " this should bring up disk management.

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... to invoke the New Mirrored Volume wizard.

 

simple as that.

Depends on whether he wants software or hardware raid.

[Altecice]

That is not a RAID setup.  Spanned volumes are NOT RAID.  See  the Wikipedia article on Spanned volumes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanned_volume

 

OP said " I would like to put both SSDs in raid 1 without having to redo all the OS installation" RAID 1 = mirrored not spanned.

[ultimatemythbuster]

OP said " I would like to put both SSDs in raid 1 without having to redo all the OS installation" RAID 1 = mirrored not spanned.

Sorry, I fixed my post.

[danieldsklein]

Open Run type in " compmgmt.msc " this should bring up disk management.

Within the Disk Management tool right click on the unallocated space (unformatted second SSD in this case) in the graphical view of the first disk(SSD with OS) to be used in the mirror set and select New Mirrored Volume... to invoke the New Mirrored Volume wizard and follow the steps.

 

simple as that.

 

 

just remember that you will be loosing quite abit of performance on the SSD's as all the write functions have to be done twice. Unlike RAID0 that "stripes" the disks for increased speed (but zero redundancy) but i assume its redundancy that you are going for.

Ow thanks, this is perfect, I know hardware raid would be better, but I prefer not having to redo everything again, thanks for the help

[Altecice]

Ow thanks, this is perfect, I know hardware raid would be better, but I prefer not having to redo everything again, thanks for the help

 

no problem, not to mention you really need a good hardware RAID controller if you wanted to do it hardware

[IdeaStormer]

How do you know the two SSD's are not in RAID 1 already (properly)?

 

When a system is in RAID 1 you only see the one drive not bot unless you use the Intel RST software.

 

Something tells me you think because you only see the one drive that its not running as RAID 1.  Look at the Intel RST software and it will lay it out from RAID to physical and even port #.

[IdeaStormer]

@danieldsklein (read above)

 

Also, you can prove/disprove by going into the RAID BIOS and see what is what, but the Intel RST should be enough.

[danieldsklein]

How do you know the two SSD's are not in RAID 1 already (properly)?

 

When a system is in RAID 1 you only see the one drive not bot unless you use the Intel RST software.

 

Something tells me you think because you only see the one drive that its not running as RAID 1.  Look at the Intel RST software and it will lay it out from RAID to physical and even port #.

 

I certainlly looked at it, confimed in the bios and the raid software from intel within the OS, the SSD had its cables even disconnected. I didn't know about that functionallity on RST, I am researching about it right now, it might be the perfect solution for me, thanks