Problems with making 2x3TB RAID0

Paluch · 18 Mar 2015

Hello,

I hope it's good forum for my problem. I've just bought two new 3TB HDDs. Now I have 2x1,5 in RAID0, so I tried to make another RAID0 array with 2x3TB (to copy my data and sell old drives). Unfortunately, my motherboard Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 (rev. 1401) doesn't support such big drives - in BIOS each drive is recognized as 801GB. I suppose that without hardware update I can only make software array. I tried to make it by diskpart, but I got an error: Selected disk is not dynamic disk. Set disk as dynamic and try again. So I tried convert it to dynamic but i got another error: Dynamic disks are not supported by this operating system or server configuration. Dynamic disks are not supported on clusters.

I can't find any solution in Google. Can you help me with this issue? I want to make stripped array and have one 6TB partition to keep my data.

My new drives are WD Green WD30EZRX and the System is Windows 7 Ultimate SP1.

Regards,
Paluch

whs · 18 Mar 2015

The disks are probably in MBR. Set then to GPT and try again. MBR support only a max of 2.2GB.

AddRAM · 18 Mar 2015

Are they just storage drives ?

Why are you using them in raid ? "I want to make stripped array and have one 6TB partition to keep my data."

Why, what`s the point ?

DO NOT change them to Dynamic, do not try.

Paluch · 18 Mar 2015

I forgot to add that I set it to GPT.

Yes, they are just storage drives. I use them to keep my movies, installed games, music etc. I am using them in raid because I don't like to have more than one partition for my stuff - and because raid increases speed of transfer (important when you unpack big files). Why I shouldn't change my new drives to dynamic? Without it i can't make array (and I can't it make in BIOS also)...

AddRAM · 18 Mar 2015

OK then proceed with caution, pay attention to any pop ups about changing the disks to Dynamic, but you should be fine.

I just don`t see the point vs the risk.

RAID 0 (also known as a stripe set or striped volume) splits data evenly across two or more disks (striped), without parity information and with speed as the intended goal. RAID 0 was not one of the original RAID levels and provides no data redundancy. RAID 0 is normally used to increase performance, although it can also be used as a way to create a large logical disk out of two or more physical ones.

A RAID 0 setup can be created with disks of differing sizes, but the storage space added to the array by each disk is limited to the size of the smallest disk. For example, if a 120 GB disk is striped together with a 320 GB disk, the size of the array will be 240 GB (120 GB × 2).

The diagram shows how the data is distributed into Ax stripes to the disks. Accessing the stripes in the order A1, A2, A3, ... provides the illusion of a larger and faster drive. Once the stripe size is defined on creation it needs to be maintained at all times.

Performance[edit]
RAID 0 is also used in areas where performance is desired and data integrity is not very important, for example in some computer gaming systems. Although some real-world tests with computer games showed a minimal performance gain when using RAID 0, albeit with some desktop applications benefiting,[2][3] another article examined these claims and concluded: "Striping does not always increase performance (in certain situations it will actually be slower than a non-RAID setup), but in most situations it will yield a significant improvement in performance."[4]

Paluch · 19 Mar 2015

Ok, You suggested me to not make Stripped Volume because with Spanned Partition I will get the same performance with lower risk?

EDIT: But anyway please tell me what can I do with an error: Dynamic disks are not supported by this operating system or server configuration. Dynamic disks are not supported on clusters (I can't convert disk to dynamic one because of this error).

Paluch · 19 Mar 2015

Ok, let me write another post. I spent last few hours trying solve my problem.

1. I run repair/setup wizard from my bootable USB with Windows 7. I opened command line and then converted my disks to dynamic, I made stripped volume, assigned letter to this volume and formated it (quick). Everything went fine. I even copied one file to it.
2. After reboot I wanted to find my volume in Disk managament but I couldn't because my virtual disk service couldn't start. I fixed it by removing any actions when mistakes occur in services.msc. It worked, I was able to see my disks, but it was labeled as invalid disk. I could set is as basic disk, but couldn't set it back as dynamic ("Dynamic disks are not supported by this operating system or server configuration. Dynamic disks are not supported on clusters")
3. I made point 1 again and after reboot I used my bootable USB again, started command line, but volume wasn't working. In diskpart I saw my disks status as foreign (I hope I translated it correctly).

Maybe with these informations it is easer to make some pointers. Have you got any ideas? :)

Paluch · 20 Mar 2015

I removed my Windows 7 and installed Windows 8 Pro and used Windows Storage Spaces. I don't think that it was a solution but I couldn't find better way in Google. And I couldn't find it by myself. Anyway I spent many hours on it and this was any solution I could get. So I mark this topic as solved - but in fact it is not