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Windows 7 and RAID 1

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twisted politiks   11-13-2009 at 10:01:07 PM

i have an asus m2a7-am motherboard. i setup the raid 1 in the onboard driver by pressing ctrl+y during post. i created a raid 1 array with my two 1tb drives. installed windows 7 x64 on a separate 80gb drive. i didnt install raid drivers, as i have read they are already in windows 7, and the raid 1 drive already showed up, but i didnt format it. i ended up formatting it in computer management after installation of the OS finished. it is now viewable and i can store data on it. i am still not 100% sure if it is setup in a raid 1 or if its just using 1 drive. is there any way to make sure that i am using the full raid 1 setup?

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das_stig   11-13-2009 at 11:23:31 PM

If the total capacity of the raid array is approx. 1TB, then its in raid-1, anything else it cocked up.

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Silver Win 7 badge The_Prophecy   11-14-2009 at 08:38:18 AM

das_stig wrote :

If the total capacity of the raid array is approx. 1TB, then its in raid-1, anything else it cocked up.



+1. Volume size is always the easiest way to tell if the RAID array creation worked or not.

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twisted politiks   11-14-2009 at 11:59:26 AM

k, but what im worried about is if its showing the 1TB because it only see's one drive? or am i just being paranoid. its for my work, and its the first "server" ive set up, dont want to f things up. :\

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inquisitor03   11-14-2009 at 12:21:02 PM

Easiest way to tell is to go into Computer Management, then, Disk Management. From there you'll see all the drives installed on your system. To the left of the partition you will see Disk 0, Disk 1, Disk 2, etc. Right click on the box that you think is your RAID 1 and then click properties.

 

Under device type it will either say Disk Drives (If a single Hard Disk) Or it will give you the name of the Asus Raid controller or Raid Array name or Raid Type that it is setup as.

 

It is impossible to tell just by looking at the drive size in a RAID 1 configuration as the RAID and a single drive (Non Raid) will show as the same size!


Message edited by inquisitor03 on 11-14-2009 at 12:23:40 PM
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Silver Win 7 badge The_Prophecy   11-14-2009 at 08:38:45 PM

twisted politiks wrote :

k, but what im worried about is if its showing the 1TB because it only see's one drive? or am i just being paranoid. its for my work, and its the first "server" ive set up, dont want to f things up. :\



That's exactly how it's supposed to look.

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inquisitor03   11-14-2009 at 10:19:00 PM

Your not understanding the problem the op is having. He's worried how to tell if the RAID is active or not.

As he is doing RAID 1 the size of a single hard disk will be 1TB. The size of the RAID1 will be 1TB!!!!

Yes 1TB should be the total size of the RAID1 but he needs to know how to tell if it's the 1TB created from the Array or just a single drive

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Silver Win 7 badge The_Prophecy   11-15-2009 at 12:13:09 AM

I understand the problem perfectly. The first indication within Windows of the raid array being inactive would be 2 hard drives appearing in the Computer window, provided both are formatted. As you said, the disk management console can be used to verify the raid's status. The raid controller status screen just after POST can also be used.

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4745454b   11-15-2009 at 08:44:55 AM

Actually seeing as windows is on an 80GB, the first indication within windows would be seeing 3 harddrives. I also suggest checking within disk management to double check if your worried. Also, seeing as this is a server please remember that RAID1 is NOT a backup solution. It protects against the loss of a drive, nothing more.

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Silver Win 7 badge The_Prophecy   11-15-2009 at 09:46:04 AM

4745454b wrote :

Actually seeing as windows is on an 80GB, the first indication within windows would be seeing 3 harddrives. I also suggest checking within disk management to double check if your worried. Also, seeing as this is a server please remember that RAID1 is NOT a backup solution. It protects against the loss of a drive, nothing more.



Oops, you're right. 3 drives it is.

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twisted politiks   11-22-2009 at 10:58:39 AM

4745454b wrote :

Actually seeing as windows is on an 80GB, the first indication within windows would be seeing 3 harddrives. I also suggest checking within disk management to double check if your worried. Also, seeing as this is a server please remember that RAID1 is NOT a backup solution. It protects against the loss of a drive, nothing more.



ive read that and decided to go another way. i have each hard drive as an individual drive, and i'm backing up the 1st 1TB hdd to the 2nd 1TB hdd nightly. i am only using windows 7's built in backup software, is this reliable. if not, does anybody have any good suggestions for a better program?

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4745454b   11-22-2009 at 12:04:59 PM

Should be ok for backup. You can spend money on programs that will back up as files change, but they get expensive. Daily backups work for most people.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
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Always a DEMON!
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