joining 2 hard drives with spanned volume

[Bucky]

I read that you can use Windows XP Pro to join 2 hard drives together
as one logical drive. I have two 15 GB hard drives that I would like to
combine in a 30 GB. I am planning on doing a new installation, and I
would appreciate any advice for the correct procedure.

Ideally, I would like just one logical drive, but from what I've read,
it seems that the system volume cannot be part of spanned volume. So
I'll need to partition Drive 1, and span the second partition of Drive
1 with Drive 2. Is this correct?

Here is what I am about to do, please make any corrections:

1. Partition Drive 1 into 1GB/14GB. Partition Drive 2 as one partition.
This gives me a total of 3 partitions.

2. Install Windows XP onto Drive 1 Partition 1. This is the system
volume.

3. Convert the other two partitions into dynamic disks.

4. Span the other two partitions.

5. Now I should have a C: drive, which is a 1GB drive with system
volume. D: drive should be 29GB.

 

[Len Mattix]

What in the world leads you to believe XP can be installed on a 1GB
drive/partition? Yikes!

 

[Kerry Brown]

I read that you can use Windows XP Pro to join 2 hard drives together
as one logical drive. I have two 15 GB hard drives that I would like to
combine in a 30 GB. I am planning on doing a new installation, and I
would appreciate any advice for the correct procedure.

Ideally, I would like just one logical drive, but from what I've read,
it seems that the system volume cannot be part of spanned volume. So
I'll need to partition Drive 1, and span the second partition of Drive
1 with Drive 2. Is this correct?

Here is what I am about to do, please make any corrections:

1. Partition Drive 1 into 1GB/14GB. Partition Drive 2 as one partition.
This gives me a total of 3 partitions.

2. Install Windows XP onto Drive 1 Partition 1. This is the system
volume.

3. Convert the other two partitions into dynamic disks.

4. Span the other two partitions.

5. Now I should have a C: drive, which is a 1GB drive with system
volume. D: drive should be 29GB.

During the install make one partition for the system, 1 GB is too small. The
absolute minimum is 1.5 GB
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314865 I would
allocate 10 GB, 5 GB minimum. Remember this volume can't be extended easily.
A lot of programs insist on installing files in the Windows folder and at
least some files in C:\Program Files. You will also need room for future
updates and service pack installs. Leave all the other drive space as
unallocated at this point. If there are any other partitions on either drive
delete them during the install. After Windows is installed use the disk
management console to create a dynamic volume on the rest of the unallocated
space on disk 0. You can then right click that volume and extend it onto the
unallocated space on disk 1. The key point is you can only extend a dynamic
volume onto unallocated space. If you create the partitions beforehand you
can't join them later.

Kerry

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Please read the following:

Benchmarking on Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/benchmark.mspx

NTFS Preinstallation and Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/winpreinst/ntfs-preinstall.mspx

<snip>

Microsoft implemented certain disk-layout optimizations in Windows XP.
To perform this optimization, during idle time Windows XP moves pages
used for booting the system and launching frequently used applications to
ensure these files are laid out contiguously on the hard disk. The contiguous
disk layout of these pages results in reduced disk seeks and improved disk I/O,
contributing to improved boot time and application launch time.

Windows XP does not perform these optimizations across volumes. Therefore,
for this optimization to be available to users, the hard disk must be partitioned
as a single volume.

<end of snip>

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I read that you can use Windows XP Pro to join 2 hard drives together
| as one logical drive. I have two 15 GB hard drives that I would like to
| combine in a 30 GB. I am planning on doing a new installation, and I
| would appreciate any advice for the correct procedure.
|
| Ideally, I would like just one logical drive, but from what I've read,
| it seems that the system volume cannot be part of spanned volume. So
| I'll need to partition Drive 1, and span the second partition of Drive
| 1 with Drive 2. Is this correct?
|
| Here is what I am about to do, please make any corrections:
|
| 1. Partition Drive 1 into 1GB/14GB. Partition Drive 2 as one partition.
| This gives me a total of 3 partitions.
|
| 2. Install Windows XP onto Drive 1 Partition 1. This is the system
| volume.
|
| 3. Convert the other two partitions into dynamic disks.
|
| 4. Span the other two partitions.
|
| 5. Now I should have a C: drive, which is a 1GB drive with system
| volume. D: drive should be 29GB.

 

[Bucky]

During the install make one partition for the system, 1 GB is too small. The
absolute minimum is 1.5 GB
Leave all the other drive space as
unallocated at this point. The key point is you can only extend a dynamic
volume onto unallocated space. If you create the partitions beforehand you
can't join them later.

Thanks for the help, everyone. This was an especially important point
that I did not realize.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks for the help, everyone. This was an especially important point
that I did not realize.

You do realise that by spanning drives you are doubling your chances of
loosing data? If one of the drives fails you will loose all the data on the
spanned volume. It is a band-aid solution usually used on servers as a
temporary fix until a new bigger drive can be installed. Make sure you have
a good backup system.

Kerry

 

[Walter Clayton]

You really do *not* want to get into dynamic volumes and disks.

For well under $100US (like around $50) you can pick up a 100G drive and
simply swap.

 

[Guest]

Hi there,
I need to know how do to that. I want to purchase a faster hard disk and
transfer my existing partition onto it. What should I do? Can this be done
without 3rd party utilities?

Clovis

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Most new drives comes the software to transfe existing the data from old
drive to new one. If not with the disk, it is available at the mfg's
website.,...


--
Tumppi
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Hi there,
I need to know how do to that. I want to purchase a faster hard disk and
transfer my existing partition onto it. What should I do? Can this be done
without 3rd party utilities?

Clovis