Windows XP and RAID5 drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
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Mike

I have been in the process of configuring a Compaq server,
running WinXP Pro, with RAID5 drive formatting. According
to both Microsoft AND Compaq this is not possible. I
submit for everyone's benefit this article:

http://www.techzonez.com/comments.php?id=2020&catid=1

This article has screenshots of the New Drive wizard
giving several RAID related options.

I have edited the listed files, but I still get nothing.
In fact, 50% of the times I tired the files were back to
their original state on reboot.

I believe this IS possible. If anyone has accomplished
this, or can see something here from a hex editing
perspective that I missed, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Mike
 
Mike said:
I have been in the process of configuring a Compaq server,
running WinXP Pro, with RAID5 drive formatting. According
to both Microsoft AND Compaq this is not possible. I
submit for everyone's benefit this article:

http://www.techzonez.com/comments.php?id=2020&catid=1
Click to expand...

RAID 5 is not natively supported on Windows XP.
Making binary edits to system files will lead to a totally unsupported
system that you should not use in a production environment. It may also not
survive hotfixes or services packs and you risk loss of your data.
If you require significant levels of disk/data availability solutions then
you should purchase a Server class opertaing system such as Windows Server
2003.


--
Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups
 
If RAID 5 is not natively supported, then please explain
why, when hex editing, it lists the different drive
layouts as "simple, span, mirror, stripe, RAID-5"? And
why, when looking at the screenshots, do menu items appear
on the new drive setup screen? I'm perfectly happy with
the explanation that it's not possible, but if that's the
case why is the option in the source?

Thanks for the prompt reply Mike.
 
Hi,

Why not try a hrdware based RAID5 solution.
Purchase a RAID card and configure RAID level in the card
setup (after BIOS post).

Your O/S will be unaware that the volume it sees is
actually a RAID5 volume.

Regards,

Tim
 
Mike said:
If RAID 5 is not natively supported, then please explain
why, when hex editing, it lists the different drive
layouts as "simple, span, mirror, stripe, RAID-5"? And
why, when looking at the screenshots, do menu items appear
on the new drive setup screen? I'm perfectly happy with
the explanation that it's not possible, but if that's the
case why is the option in the source?

Thanks for the prompt reply Mike.
Click to expand...

Because the underlying source code for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is
very similar in places.
And is in some parts even "shared".
So that a change in just a few internal entries will potentially trigger
different behaviour due to the common code base.(however it may not be fully
function due to missing code or DLLs between the different versions etc.)
Another example is that the use of the encrypting file system is not
available on Windows XP Home Edition but is on Professional. The code base
is so close the option even appears in the Home Edition User Interface but
it is greyed.
The dialogs are quite often common code and again a simply internal variable
may trigger additional items to be displayed as options or make them
available (invisible or just grey)

--
Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups
 
What we are attempting to do is connect two Compaq 4100
Fibre Channel Arrays to a server. I have these two arrays
configured hardware wise as RAID5. The numbers storage
wise that XP is showing me seem to confirm this.

When creating a new volume, you get three options for disk
layout (Simple, Spanned, and Striped). I believe that
Striped is a RAID3 configuration. Does this seem right to
anyone else?

Thanks for the reply Tim. Usually the best answer is the
one right in front of your face I guess.
 
I believe it would be "Simple".
Like the other posting:
"Your O/S will be unaware that the volume it sees is
actually a RAID5 volume."
So the RAID is all hardware. You shouldn't have to tell
the OS anything about RAID. The OS doesn't know or care.
If you could force software RAID over hardware RAID, seems
you'd trash everything or at least create serious
performance issues.
 
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