New to GPT, need some advice

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DamTheMan

[H]ard|Gawd
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So I recently picked up 7x 1tb seagate drives to create an array for storing media. I got a perc 5i raid card with bbu attached to the cards and setup my raid 5.

Here was the first problem:

Under windows xp I couldn't get past 2tb barrier with my raided drives. I read up a bit and apparently I need xp pro 64 bit so I can use guid partition tables.

So I'm currently using windows 64bit, but as a htpc/media server i'm finding xp pro 64bit to be annoying since most programs I used with xp no longer work for 64bit.

Basically here's what I want to know:

How will my raid 5 with GPT react to a different installation of say WHS? Will the raid keep in tact during a transition?

Also, Will windows xp really not support GPT. I never actually tried myself using DISKPART. But I'd really like to use xp/media center over 64 bit or WHS.

Thanks!
 
Only way to get more than 2TB out of Windows XP 32bit is to increase block size to 4k from 512b. Your RAID card might not support this however. If you already have an array that uses GPT, then you have to recreate it.
 
I already created the array and moved the data onto the newly created GPT. I'm using a 74gb raptor as my os drive in ahci mode on my motherboard, and after reading up on what you verified I was worried if my os drive dies i'll lose my raid as well?

Can I make an image of my os installation using acronis software in case of failure? Will this recognize the GTP assuming I haven't made any raid changes?

Or would I simply be better off creating a raid1 for my operating system on the onboard ich9r controller?

What would be the best operating system for media and mass storage alike? I tried WHS a bit but I was having driver issues as well as software.

I still have all my data backed up onto a lot of smaller drives at the moment so I'm just trying to figure out the best solution for 6tb worth of data, which will serve as a HTPC as well.

I appreciate the input!
 
Your data doesn't depend on the OS. I've moved my RAID array to different computers.
 
Yeah, i've worked with raids a lot and they move easily as long as you keep the same controller, drives and whatnot. But my concern is I've never worked with raid over 2tb with a non-server based os, and being new to GPT I really want to make sure that will transfer over if I need it to. Or if I can create an image of the OS for restore purposes that will still identify my GPT.

Also, is a GPT stored in the OS or is it actually stored on the raid card?
 
DamTheMan said:
Yeah, i've worked with raids a lot and they move easily as long as you keep the same controller, drives and whatnot. But my concern is I've never worked with raid over 2tb with a non-server based os, and being new to GPT I really want to make sure that will transfer over if I need it to. Or if I can create an image of the OS for restore purposes that will still identify my GPT.
Click to expand...

Worst case is that you install an OS and it can't see your entire array. You won't lose any data. Hardware RAID card arrays are quite portable.

Also, is a GPT stored in the OS or is it actually stored on the raid card?
Click to expand...

On the logical drive (the array in this case) that it pertains to.
 
Your data will be fine as long as you use an opterating system which supports GPT. This means pretty much any 64-bit microsoft OS or even linux. All my data is on a linux file-system so to access it I have to actually have use virtualbox which has physical access to my linux volume and share it over samba. I figured I could use this method to access my GPT data from windows XP-32 however 32-bit XP aparrantly does not even support block devices over 2 TB (lba64) let alone GPT. I technically didn't need GPT support because the linux kernel I was using on virtualbox supports it.
 
Wow, XP 64bit? Ouch... nothing works game/program-wise in XP 64bit. Go to Vista 64bit if you want to actually run games and us GPT (Not that I'm suggesting you won't lose a bit of performance if you do without adding memory though).
 
actually XP-64 ran some games that did not run correctly on vista which is why I ran XP64. Windows 7 does a better job though which is why I run that now (for the few times out of the year I feel like running windows).
 
Wow, must be some old games, I have yet to encounter an issue with anything published in the last 5 years or so. That and I remember finding drivers for XP64 was a nightmare last I tried it. Windows 7 is just Vista with tightened code so logic would follow that Vista would run the same software (and for that matter be more compatible just due to virtue of longer testing on it). I'm waiting for W7 to go gold before I go through the pain of a wipe/reload esp to avoid having to do it once for the beta and once for gold. Good reviews so far though..
 
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