Guest UselessUser Posted March 1, 2008 Posted March 1, 2008 Hi all, I was just wondering about software RAID, and how the server boots after a failed disk. I have read various horror stories about RAID 1 requiring a boot disk if the primary disk fails.. and that people get around that by putting an mbr on the second disk, and editing boot.ini to reference both disks... I have also heard rumours that if the primary disk fails, and the user breaks the mirror, then attempts to boot the second disk fail because it is listed in the registry as a drive letter other than C: which causes problems... Can anyone confirm/deny any of this and explain how it works?!
Guest Irresistance Posted March 1, 2008 Posted March 1, 2008 Re: Software RAID If you are talking about windows-software raid (the raid you configure in Disk Manager) you can not boot from that disk, as you first need to install the OS and such a configuration can not be created during setup, only once Windows is installed. If you mean "software" raid as in - cardless/onboard "cheap" raid, there should be no problem at all booting if one disk fails, as Windows does not actually know it is RAID, to Windows the drive appears like any other, only your Bios/el-cheapo adapter is aware that it is raid, and it will report the faulty disk to you on boot, and (status critical) and work as normal. hth "UselessUser" <UselessUser@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:C63816A1-CADA-4066-9999-1F560776D5BF@microsoft.com... > Hi all, > > I was just wondering about software RAID, and how the server boots after a > failed disk. I have read various horror stories about RAID 1 requiring a > boot > disk if the primary disk fails.. and that people get around that by > putting > an mbr on the second disk, and editing boot.ini to reference both disks... > > I have also heard rumours that if the primary disk fails, and the user > breaks the mirror, then attempts to boot the second disk fail because it > is > listed in the registry as a drive letter other than C: which causes > problems... > > Can anyone confirm/deny any of this and explain how it works?!
Guest Hank Arnold (MVP) Posted March 1, 2008 Posted March 1, 2008 Re: Software RAID UselessUser wrote: > Hi all, > > I was just wondering about software RAID, and how the server boots after a > failed disk. I have read various horror stories about RAID 1 requiring a boot > disk if the primary disk fails.. and that people get around that by putting > an mbr on the second disk, and editing boot.ini to reference both disks... > > I have also heard rumours that if the primary disk fails, and the user > breaks the mirror, then attempts to boot the second disk fail because it is > listed in the registry as a drive letter other than C: which causes > problems... > > Can anyone confirm/deny any of this and explain how it works?! You should avoid software RAID at all costs. -- Regards, Hank Arnold Microsoft MVP Windows Server - Directory Services
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