Francisco H Tapia
my.lists at verizon.net
Wed Jun 2 16:21:46 CDT 2004
Raid is an awesome way to keep a hotbackup. although I still firmly believe in data backups.. but not as a straight backup but as a Ghosted image. Ghost is an awesome tool and you can backup directly to CD or DVD nowadays. As for partitioning a drive, it makes good sense to partition a drive because you can limit the amount of fragmentation to the a partion. thus the OS partition would be fast to defrag whereas your data partition would take more time. But for ghosting purposes you'd want to ghost / image out the ENTIRE HDD or at least both partitions at the same time (one backup session). On my system I have a highpoint controller IIRC, I'm not currently using it for it's raid capacities but does allow for either extending capacity (a gigantic drive) or a mirrored drive, iirc, you should still be able to partition this out via windows down to individual partitions. If you own partition magic, then you maybe able to do this w/o having to re-install everything... Jim Lawrence (AccessD) wrote On 6/1/2004 9:41 PM: >Hi John: > >It is not that I do not believe in partitions it is I have not seen or >witnessed any advantage to breaking up a drive. With indexing on, the file >access is just as fast, if a drive crashes all partitions are lost, anyway >and if data or program files out grow their petitioned area, it's out with >the 'Partition magic'. Then there is also the very real possibility of >corrupting a partition. > >IMHO, you might as well have been just using directories. Use the old DOS >substitute command or just map a directory tree to another local drive >letter. > >My two cents worth >Jim > >-----Original Message----- >From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com >[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of jwcolby >Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 5:33 PM >To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' >Subject: RE: [AccessD] Going to Raid - Win2K > > >Just an update, I ordered 2 80g hard drives to set up raid on my server >system disk. That system has a raid controller on the motherboard. It >was relatively painless, taking a mere 6-8 hours to figure out and >implement. > >The Highpoint Rocketraid on the other hand... I almost RMAd, and >probably should have done so. Following their instructions I managed to >get the system in a state where it was an array but couldn't write the >mirror, the software wouldn't allow any choice but "write the mirror" or >continue booting. I couldn't undo and start over. I had an existing >120g hard drive with all my software installed, broken into partitions. >I commonly create a system partition of 30-40g and then one or more >partitions for my work stuff, and I wanted to just mirror that drive. > >NEVER DID. I have to guess it was the partitions but since the software >had NO help files, no error codes, nothing on the web for help, no user >groups, etc... In the end I just formatted and started over, where I >managed to set up the mirror as I was doing the install, but I ended up >with a single large partition, which I hate. > >Would I buy the controller again, or recommend it? Nope. It is >functioning, but not on my terms. > >John W. Colby >www.ColbyConsulting.com > >-----Original Message----- >From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com >[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John W. Colby >Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2004 12:44 AM >To: Tech - Database Advisors Inc.; AccessD >Subject: [AccessD] Going to Raid - Win2K > > >Folks, > >About 6 months ago my less than one year old Maxtor 120g hard drive bit >the dust. I replaced it with an old 40g drive I had laying around and a >160g drive. I had intended to just replace it with a 160g but quickly >discovered that Win2K doesn't natively support large hard disks until >you get SP3 or better installed and manually edit the registry. Thus >the old 40g to get >Windows up, then the 160g set up. That 40g drive failed this week. In >both cases my C: drive (partition) was lost. Backups simply aren't the >end all and be all in a case like this because of all the programs and >individualized settings for each program - the registry etc. > >What I have learned from this is that the lost productivity was roughly >2-3 days per incident, waaaay more than the delta cost of Raid 1. I >have decided not to go through that again. I am now researching a Raid >1 solution (simple mirror) using a pair of Maxtor 120g drives. This >gives me 40g for the system partition (drive c:) and 80g for my dev >stuff, web dev etc. > >My current choice for controller (I do have $ limits to face) is a >Highpoint RocketRaid 133. In order to get back up before the weekend I >went down to Staples and plunked down the $ for a Maxtor 6y120P0 120g >8mb buffer hard disk. My intention at this point is to order a matching >drive and the raid controller from www.Egghead.com and when I get it, >set up the mirror. I have a couple of questions though for anyone who >may have experience in this. > >1) I have already partitioned the new drive and installed Win2K Pro, >Office and other programs. Once I get the controller, can I just unplug >this disk from my motherboard, plug it in to the raid controller, plug >the matching drive in, and tell something to "set up the mirror"? I.e. >the new drive gets the exact same partitions (there are three of them) >created, files written, and I'm up and running mirrored? > >2) If not am I facing a reinstall of everything again? > >3) Is there anything I need to know? I just want it to work - I am not >a >(trained) system admin, I am a developer working in a SOHO. > >The idea is to get my dev system set up so that all of my installed >software and development stuff never again die because a disk dies. I >have found and read a bunch of articles on raid in general but can't >find any detailed information on the PROCESS of setting the thing up, >and specifically with this controller. I assume the documentation with >the controller will tell me most of what I need to know, but of >course.... what can go wrong will. > >Any comments or suggestions appreciated. > >John W. Colby > > -- -Francisco