mirroring windows 2000 server

#1 arielneill

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Posted 31 August 2004 - 06:30 PM

#2 kasandoro

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Posted 31 August 2004 - 09:33 PM

I would tell you to use the built-in mirror RAID function, but you can't use RAID on the system volume. You might try adding a third drive and use it for the system volume, then set the other two up in a RAID configuration. Keep in mind that this operation will delete the contents of both drives, iirc. Alec, where are you?

#3 adamvjackson

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Posted 31 August 2004 - 09:34 PM

There's support for software RAID mirroring in Windows 2000/2003 Server, under Disk Management snap-in for MMC.

If you have 60GB of Autocad documents, that's a serious investment (of both time and money) and I would recommend that you implement a tape backup (off-sight nightly, if possible) and a *hardware* RAID card.

Software RAID *can* break, if Windows becomes corrupted enough, but hardware RAID is less likely to fail.

Good luck, and think of it like this, no matter what the cost for backup hardware/media, it *will* be less than the cost of lost work and time!

#4 zen69x

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Posted 01 September 2004 - 12:58 AM

Since you're using server, you can do this in software. You will need to convert both disks to dynamic first then you can click on your current OS partition and choose mirror.

What kasandoro says is for the most part true in that you can't use your system volume in most RAID applications. However you can indeed use it in a RAID 1 implementation.

RAID 1 isn't especially resource intensive so you should be fine going the software route for this. However if you do want to go the hardware route, I would recommend picking up something a bit more robust than something along the lines of a lower end Promise type adapter.

There are plenty of ways to go about this, in the end it will come down to what you are willing to compromise and how much $$ you are willing to spend.

#5 QuackerJack

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Posted 16 September 2004 - 04:04 AM

If I currently have a remote server (no RAID controllers) that I just had a 2nd identical drive put into, can I safely convert both drives to dynamic and mirror them via software RAID? If I convert the first (boot) drive to dynamic, will I lose everything on it?

#6 DS3Circuit

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Posted 21 September 2004 - 08:34 AM

I think these links should help ya:

Upgrading the System or Boot Drive to Dynamic (Rooting)

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=222188

How to create a mirrored volume on a remote Windows 2000-based computer in Windows XP-based computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=307880

Best Practices for Using Dynamic Disks on Windows 2000-Based Computers

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329707