Change existing win 7 to RAID

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fode

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Oct 27, 2012
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10,510
Hi, I am a novice in setting up RAID and I have read quite a few RAID articles in this forum but still not clear to achieve what I want :

Current situation
- I have a 2TB HD with Win 7 Ultimate installed
- I have another 2TB HD as backup using Win 7 backup utilities

What I want :
- setup RAID 5 with 4x2TB HD : The existing 2x2TB HDs, and 2 new 2TB HDs
- setup VMWare workstation
- As far as I understand, RAID 5 is the most efficient and effective setup for redundant / disaster resilient. However, from some articles in this forum, I read "failure of MOBO RAID controller, then need to find similar RAID controller", "Still need backup", "slow performance", "RAID not working", etc negative comments, I am not sure RAID 5 is still the way to go. My intention is simple, since the system is suppose to run 24x7, and I want to avoid the frequent manual backup.

My MOBO GA-Z77X-D3H.

With the current situation, I do not know how to proceed to setup RAID 5 (if that is the correct way to go). Do I need to reinstall windows ? how can I sync the new 2 HDs with the current win 7 HD, then add the backup HD into the array after RAID 5 is running OK ?

 
Solution
RealBeast
I have no issue with using RAID 5 for data storage (as long as the data is backed up because RAID is not a replacement for backup), but you will have too many issues having your OS on the same partition -- any OS problem could take down the array.

If I were building this machine, I would run the OS off a small (500GB or 1TB) HDD or an SSD and then use a 4 disk RAID 5 data storage array using an Adaptec 6405 controller, which is far more reliable and replaceable than a motherboard controller. A motherboard bios update can break a motherboard controller built array quite easily.
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RealBeast

RealBeast

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Sep 13, 2010
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I would not recommend putting your OS on a raid partition, and I never rely on motherboard raid controllers for data of any consequence.

If you do go forward with this, yes you will need to first create the RAID array and then install Windows onto it. Creating the array will delete all data on drives used.

What is your real goal in doing this?
 
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F

fode

Honorable
Oct 27, 2012
16
0
10,510
Hi RealBeast, My real goals are : 1. to avoid frequent manual backup, as I'll use the system for trading analysis so there will be a lot of tick data and this will use up quite a bit of space. My current practise is 1-to-1 backup. 2. to prevent accidental HD failure and prolong down time

If there is other cost effective way to achieve this, I would be happy to listen.
 
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RealBeast

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Sep 13, 2010
17,109
474
104,790
I have no issue with using RAID 5 for data storage (as long as the data is backed up because RAID is not a replacement for backup), but you will have too many issues having your OS on the same partition -- any OS problem could take down the array.

If I were building this machine, I would run the OS off a small (500GB or 1TB) HDD or an SSD and then use a 4 disk RAID 5 data storage array using an Adaptec 6405 controller, which is far more reliable and replaceable than a motherboard controller. A motherboard bios update can break a motherboard controller built array quite easily.
 
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