Re: Dynamic to basic disk?
- From: "Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 21:34:34 -0600
DWalker wrote:
... Postscript: The MS KB article that is referenced in the link
that you sent says:
"This process works only if you have not used any one of the new
features of dynamic disks. These features include extending a
partition or using software redundant array of independent disks
(RAID)."
But I have used software RAID, so that option might be out. Even
if I break the mirrors, it's not clear if the process will work.
(The wording says it won't work if you HAVE USED (past tense) the
new features of dynamic disks. So from the plain language, it
won't work.)
Software RAID) is a horrible performance idea and I wouldn't trust my data
with one either. I equate it with the driver overlay applications - if
something goes wrong - it will go horribly wrong.
Hardware RAIDs are worth their weight in the small extra cost they will
cause initially. It's a lot easier to recover and better over all.
Not to mention that the only time a MIRROR RAID does anygood is during a
hardware failure - and to be honest - that does not happen as often as a
software (human even) error - which would, in a mirror RAID - just replicate
to the other drive instantly - causing the problem to erase in both
situations.
The "testdisk" method first says to copy all of the files to a
separate partition. Is this just for backup? At the end, it says
"This is where you can make the dynamic to basic drive conversion
happen." Just writing the "new" partition information to the disk
makes it into a basic disk? It's not entirely clear. Why would I
write a "new" partition structure to disk? I want the existing
partition structure that's reflected in the dynamic disk database,
written to the old-style partition table. Maybe that's what
"testdisk" does. It's third-party, unsupported software, so it's a
little scary.
It is just for backup - a little scary to me would be using any software
RAID. I would never recommend a software RAID unless there was just no
alternative (and as there is - inexpensive hardware RAID...)
This is all purely side-bar stuff, but...
What is it you are hoping to do with a software-based mirror RAID?
If it is data protection from yourself/the more-likely software issues
(virus, trojans, worms, malware, slip of the human fingers, etc) --> unless
you have a time delay on the mirroring, that's going to fail miserably. If
it is from hardware failure - it may very well have you going in short
order - but in my experience, if it is software based, it's almost as long
as it would have been if you had instead fllowed good backup rituals and
restored from those. *grin* Hardware based mirroring - you'll be back up
pretty quickly - but I still recommend a good backup scheme as opposed to
the mirroring. Software RAID of ANY kind just does not compare with
hardware RAID in performance, ease of use or reliability.
I realize it may seem like a bad investment - but a simple RAID card will do
things for you well worth the money. Also, backups are better protection
against the most common failures than a MIRROR RAID will be. The only
situation that MIRROR RAIDs win is a hardware failure on the first disk(s) -
then you can bring up the other set relatively painlessly. In my
experience - during that time, something software-wise will be lost in the
meantime. Those MTBFs are just huge with hard disk drives. ;-)
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
.
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