Is it safe to create a disk array in Computer Management?

J

Jacez44

Limp Gawd
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May 9, 2007
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My motherboard doesn't support JBOD. I can make one in Computer Management, supposedly using software RAID, but is it safe?
If I were to buy a new computer, could I just transfer the JBOD, or is it going to be lost forever on this computer.. at even worse - this copy of the OS?!
 
Yes it's safe to setup software RAID, disk management is where it's commonly done. Spanning in this case.

To purchase a new computer, you'll initially run into the whole issue of transferring a Windows install from one motherboard to another..which will add pages to this thread and that's an entirely different topic (and in this forum personality...ensuing debate).

With software RAID 1, you can "break the mirror"...effectively turning off the RAID and now you have 2x identicle drives as far as data goes. I haven't done JBOD ...I want to say I don't think it can be broken.
 
No, I don't mean to transfer the Windows installation. Although, I could add some valuable input as I have transferred the same SSD with a Windows 7 installation on it through 7 computers, and they all worked stable. Maybe it's the drive.

Basically, when Windows dies, and I don't have another equally sized drive to transfer the individual files to, everything gets destroyed? Or can it be rebuilt somehow? Just to once again set all the drives as part of the spanned module.. considering they are all dynamic now.

I wish I could read up more on it. My issue seems too complex..
 
Creating a software array is just about the worst idea you can even have.

DO NOT DO THIS. If Windows fails, your entire array is wiped out.

Do yourself a favor and just buy this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132013

You should have your OS on a single drive and if its an SSD, use Acronis to create a backup, and do that weekly or monthly and store that to your RAID.

Your RAID should be on a HARDWARE controller, the disks/volumes should/work be in dynamic mode.
 
Wodz said:
Creating a software array is just about the worst idea you can even have.

DO NOT DO THIS. If Windows fails, your entire array is wiped out.
Click to expand...
Huh? As long as, in failing, it doesn't corrupt the filesystem, you can easily transfer the array to a different machine. It's certainly not the 'worst idea you can even have'. Hardware 'RAID' offers zero advantage in a concatenation use case.

Do yourself a favor and just buy this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132013
Click to expand...
... but with this controller card, which is not a hardware controller, if it fails you will need to find one with a chipset that can still parse the array properly, and drivers for the OS you want to use. Possibly difficult in 5 years.

Your RAID should be on a HARDWARE controller, the disks/volumes should/work be in dynamic mode.
Click to expand...

The controller you've linked to is not a HARDWARE controller, it's a fakeraid with drivers that are probably a lot more likely to corrupt your data than a simple JBOD in Windows. *Real* hardware RAID is of arguable value in a parity RAID application; in this situation suggesting it's the only option is laughable - and fakeraid as you've suggested is useless for just about everything.

If I were to buy a new computer, could I just transfer the JBOD, or is it going to be lost forever on this computer.. at even worse - this copy of the OS?!
Click to expand...
Works fine, as long as you're using the same OS or a newer one. The only issue you're likely to run into is NTFS permissions, but that is a problem with moving any disk around between installs.
 
Do a hardware Array, it would be a mess if your OS crashes and the RAID goes with it, recovery will be "fun" to say the least.
 
You guys are killing me.

My motherboard doesn't support JBOD - only RAID 0,5 and 10.

I definitely don't want to place 4 drives in RAID 0, since these are important files, and I don't have the luxury of using RAID 5, because I desperately need the space.

Why is it that software RAID doesn't work? I'll be installing the same exact OS onto the new computer when I buy it..
 
You are missing everyone's point, invest $40 in a RAID card and you will be happy trust me.

A couple of things of note:

Software Array in Windows is not bad, just not smart. What happens if your OS fails?
They use more CPU time since this is done at the software/driver level.
They are slower than hardware RAID.

To answer you question, yes, you can do it, but it is stupid.
 
A $40 RAID card is not a RAID card. It's a SATA controller with some goofy drivers that perform the RAID. They tend to be pretty poorly implemented, just go read about all the problems people have with Intel Matrix RAID on the forums here - and that's Intel, this isn't.

Software Array in Windows is not bad, just not smart. What happens if your OS fails?
Click to expand...
If your OS fails, your array is fine, just reinstall. If your cheap 'hardware' RAID or its drivers fail, or are buggy, you're hooped. If it happens 5 years down the road and you need to hunt down a matching card to replace the dead one and hope you get your data back, you're even more hooped. Or maybe you want to upgrade to the latest OS and there are no drivers, so you have to migrate several TB of data from one disk controller to another.

They use more CPU time since this is done at the software/driver level.
Click to expand...
Negligible at best for JBOD/RAID0/1 which OP will be using. And your $40 'hardware' RAID does all its processing in the driver anyway, so it uses CPU time as well.

They are slower than hardware RAID.
Click to expand...
On the high-end with a proper software RAID, this is very arguable. I have seen 800-900MB/s out of Linux software RAID, and few hardware controllers can compete, certainly not a $40 one.

What advanatages do you think you get out of a $40 fakeraid controller? Certainly not performance, stability or cost.

Your advice is bad. Windows software RAID or JBOD is the better option unless you need RAID5/6 in which case you buy a proper hardware RAID ($500+) or switch to proper software RAID on BSD/Linux. There is no use for these cheap RAID cards unless you want to lose your data.
 
Wow, Keenan, you're like my guardian angel.

And you do raise an interesting option. I happen to have 7 PC's, with about 30-40 SATA's on them combined, Can I install Linux on them and use them as a proprietary NAS? I mean, technically this can be done, but wouldn't I be seeing transfer speeds of up to 5MB/s through a standard LAN cable (considering I create some sort of network.. a field I would love to gain more experience in)?
 
The easiest route to that would be something like FreeNAS. It'll make the computer useless for anything else, but it's easy to install and set up, you don't really need to know anything about FreeBSD that it's based on.

If you have a gigabit network with decent gear and set up RAID5 you should expect 80-90MB/s.
 
keenan is 100% correct. Hardware RAID cards have actual processors on board used to compute and control parity among other things. A $40 fakeRAID card will not have this.

I've not used the Windows software RAID, so I can't comment on it. However, I've deployed Linux Software RAID many times, and I can tell you that it is reliable and provides good performance.

In reference to your networked storage question-as mentioned FreeNAS or Openfiler would work nicely.

Here is a list of RAID cards (Adaptec only) for some examples:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000410%204018&Description=Adaptec&name=$200%20-%20$300&ActiveSearchResult=True

Feel free to PM if you have questions. I work with RAID every day.
 
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