Dynamic volume, RAID 0, Reinstalling Windows

[slippy]

I have a couple 80 gig drives lying around and I was thinking about using windows dynamic volumes to stripe them. My question is, what happens if I want to format and reinstall windows? Is the stripe set, including all the data, dead? Is there a way to recreate the stripe set in the newly installed copy of windows with the data intact?

 

[defakto]

I believe you can import the striped data into a fresh install, but i know you won't be able to install onto a striped set through software raid.

 

[DougLite]

Correct. Windows will not allow the OS to be installed on a dynamic set that spans multiple disks. You may only install Windows on a simple or mirrored volume. Spanned, Striped, and RAID-5 volumes are out of the question.

You, may however, create a <10GB boot simple volume, then use the remaining free space and another drive to create a striped volume.

When installing using the setup CD, do NOT delete or create partitions on dynamic disks! You may format, but creating/deleting a partition will overwrite the dynamic database with a convnetional MBR, FUBAR'ing any multi disk volumes of which that disk is a member. If you have no idea what I just said, then look in Ice Czar's sticky "Answers" thread to learn more about dynamic disks before undertaking such a project.

 

[slippy]

Is there any special way to import the striped dynamic volume into a new install or is this information saved in the boot sector and autodetected by windows?

 

[defakto]

there's an option to do it under disk management.