Hi, One of the servers in my company is being moved to a
different department to operate as a file and print
server. I want to configure the storage.

I have already found out that I will have to configure the
disks through the Disk Management tool.

1. The Windows 2000 machine has a disk configuration
as follows:

C: partition fills one of the 2Gb disks, but there are two
additional 2Gb disks and one 1Gb disk available.

I would like to create a striped volume with these
available disks, but am not sure what is the largest
striped volume I could get using these 3 disks? It would
also be useful to know the reasoning behind this
calculation.

2. How would I (step-by-step, please)create a striped
volume in the Disk Management tool?

3. If I were to decide to create a spanned volume using
these disks instead, how large could it be?

4. What advantage does a striped volume have over a
spanned volume? and why is this?

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Tom

You could create two striped volumes on the 2+2+1GB disk combination. One
that uses 1GB from each disk (3GB), and one that uses 1GB from two of the
disks (2GB). A striped volume must use the same amount of space from each
disk.

A spanned volume could be 5GB.

A striped volume is faster than a spanned volume, as it accesses the disks
simultaneously, while a spanned volume will - more or less - use a single
disk until it is full, and then continue with next.

This MS Knowledge Base article, detailing the steps needed to create a
striped volume is written for Win2003, but the steps are the same with
Win2000:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323433

Best regards

Bjorn
--
Bjorn Landemoo - (E-Mail Removed) - http://landemoo.com/
Microsoft MVP (Windows Server - File System)

"Tom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi, One of the servers in my company is being moved to a
>different department to operate as a file and print
>server. I want to configure the storage.
>
>I have already found out that I will have to configure the
>disks through the Disk Management tool.
>
>1. The Windows 2000 machine has a disk configuration
>as follows:
>
>C: partition fills one of the 2Gb disks, but there are two
>additional 2Gb disks and one 1Gb disk available.
>
>I would like to create a striped volume with these
>available disks, but am not sure what is the largest
>striped volume I could get using these 3 disks? It would
>also be useful to know the reasoning behind this
>calculation.
>
>2. How would I (step-by-step, please)create a striped
>volume in the Disk Management tool?
>
>3. If I were to decide to create a spanned volume using
>these disks instead, how large could it be?
>
>4. What advantage does a striped volume have over a
>spanned volume? and why is this?
>
>Many thanks in advance for your help!

Bjorn,

Many thanks for your extremely helpful answer.

Kind regards,

Tom
>-----Original Message-----
>Tom
>
>You could create two striped volumes on the 2+2+1GB disk
combination. One
>that uses 1GB from each disk (3GB), and one that uses 1GB
from two of the
>disks (2GB). A striped volume must use the same amount of
space from each
>disk.
>
>A spanned volume could be 5GB.
>
>A striped volume is faster than a spanned volume, as it
accesses the disks
>simultaneously, while a spanned volume will - more or
less - use a single
>disk until it is full, and then continue with next.
>
>This MS Knowledge Base article, detailing the steps
needed to create a
>striped volume is written for Win2003, but the steps are
the same with
>Win2000:
>
>http://support.microsoft.com/?id=323433
>
>Best regards
>
>Bjorn
>--
>Bjorn Landemoo - (E-Mail Removed) - http://landemoo.com/
>Microsoft MVP (Windows Server - File System)
>
>"Tom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Hi, One of the servers in my company is being moved to a
>>different department to operate as a file and print
>>server. I want to configure the storage.
>>
>>I have already found out that I will have to configure
the
>>disks through the Disk Management tool.
>>
>>1. The Windows 2000 machine has a disk configuration
>>as follows:
>>
>>C: partition fills one of the 2Gb disks, but there are
two
>>additional 2Gb disks and one 1Gb disk available.
>>
>>I would like to create a striped volume with these
>>available disks, but am not sure what is the largest
>>striped volume I could get using these 3 disks? It would
>>also be useful to know the reasoning behind this
>>calculation.
>>
>>2. How would I (step-by-step, please)create a striped
>>volume in the Disk Management tool?
>>
>>3. If I were to decide to create a spanned volume using
>>these disks instead, how large could it be?
>>
>>4. What advantage does a striped volume have over a
>>spanned volume? and why is this?
>>
>>Many thanks in advance for your help!
>
>.
>

In addition to the other reply, I strongly recommend hardware RAID (SCSI)
over software RAID for a server if you can swing it. Far more robust - and
the OS never has to know anything about it.

Tom wrote:
> Hi, One of the servers in my company is being moved to a
> different department to operate as a file and print
> server. I want to configure the storage.
>
> I have already found out that I will have to configure the
> disks through the Disk Management tool.
>
> 1. The Windows 2000 machine has a disk configuration
> as follows:
>
> C: partition fills one of the 2Gb disks, but there are two
> additional 2Gb disks and one 1Gb disk available.
>
> I would like to create a striped volume with these
> available disks, but am not sure what is the largest
> striped volume I could get using these 3 disks? It would
> also be useful to know the reasoning behind this
> calculation.
>
> 2. How would I (step-by-step, please)create a striped
> volume in the Disk Management tool?
>
> 3. If I were to decide to create a spanned volume using
> these disks instead, how large could it be?
>
> 4. What advantage does a striped volume have over a
> spanned volume? and why is this?
>
> Many thanks in advance for your help!