New Win 7 install with existing merged HDDs

[joenaz2003]

Hey all,

I currently have (2) 3TB HDDs merged using windows disk manager into a 6GB dynamic disk. They are for data storage. I just bought a new MOBO, CPU, RAM & Video Card. I'm going to do a clean install of Win 7 on my existing SSD. What is going to happen to my merged drives? Will they still be merged or will I have to back them up (which is going to suck), re-merge and put all the files back on it?

Any help would be much appreciated

JoeNaz

 

[TanyaC]

I went through a similar scenario when I reinstalled Win 2008 R2 on my server. I had two 2TB drives merged as a dynamic disk, and it was 80% full, so I was worried about losing the content.

There was no need to worry. Didn't have to do anything. The install picked them up and asked me to initialise the dynamic disk (NOT format), and all was well.

Win 2008 R2 and Windows 7 are based on the same kernel.

But - one should ALWAYS back up the contents before anyway.

 

[joenaz2003]

Thank you for the reply. Thats what I was hoping to hear. I was also hoping to avoid picking up another 6TB of hard drives but I bit the bullet and went out last night and got them anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.

Once my parts come today and I do the build i will post a definite on whether it stayed intact or not.

Thank you again

 

[DeaconFrost]

All of this would be avoided if you didn't use them as a merged drive. I know many people, myself included, wouldn't dare use dynamic disks. I avoid them like the plague. If you needed the drives to be seen as one for a specific purpose, you could always use a library to "join" them.

 

[joenaz2003]

All of this would be avoided if you didn't use them as a merged drive. I know many people, myself included, wouldn't dare use dynamic disks. I avoid them like the plague. If you needed the drives to be seen as one for a specific purpose, you could always use a library to "join" them.

I wouldn't mind other options. Especially since its full and I'm looking to add another 3TB into my mix. That was the easiest way I found to do it, not really being familiar with raid or joining libraries and what not. Ill search around and look into it. Thanks

 

[joenaz2003]

On a side note. The disturbed picture you have as your icon is my wall paper. One of my two favorite bands. Saw them live with korn last winter or the winter before.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Saw them live three times now, and they always put on a great show. I'm not liking Device that much, though. Maybe in time. You might want to look into some drive pool software, if you plan on adding more drives.

 

[joenaz2003]

Yea I'm going to have to do something. The drive I'm adding is number 10 and that maxes me out until I get a 4 or 6 port card. I'm going to be using the 2 merged drives and one of the new 3tbs together so I will check out the joining in the library. Hopefully it will do what I want.

 

[joenaz2003]

So to my surprise. I changed my MOBO, CPU, Ram and video card and my original windows install just booted right up. I'm guessing it didn't give me an issue since I replaced an AMD CPU with AMD and an Asus MOBO with Asus.

Now I'm working on the merged drive issues. If you have a link or website I can check out the joining disks in the library it would be cool. I cant really find anything other than RAID

 

[TanyaC]

Now I'm working on the merged drive issues. If you have a link or website I can check out the joining disks in the library it would be cool. I cant really find anything other than RAID

This might help..

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/583-new-library-create.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/585-library-include-folder.html

 

[TanyaC]

All of this would be avoided if you didn't use them as a merged drive. I know many people, myself included, wouldn't dare use dynamic disks. I avoid them like the plague. If you needed the drives to be seen as one for a specific purpose, you could always use a library to "join" them.

I wouldn't mind other options. Especially since its full and I'm looking to add another 3TB into my mix. That was the easiest way I found to do it, not really being familiar with raid or joining libraries and what not. Ill search around and look into it. Thanks

There is nothing particularly more risky with merged / dynamic disks than any other format. I have been using them for many, many years in the office and at home. Never had a problem.

There are however, limitations with Libraries. Many applications still wont work with them. Some actively complain if you attempt to access something from a library, some are just plain dumb and crash. Movielabel is one that comes to mind.

 

[joenaz2003]

Now I'm working on the merged drive issues. If you have a link or website I can check out the joining disks in the library it would be cool. I cant really find anything other than RAID

This might help..

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/583-new-library-create.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/585-library-include-folder.html

Thanks again. That's not what I thought it was so its not going to help my situation. In the mean time I'm going back to a spanned volume and I'm going to invest in yet another 3tb drive and go with a raid 10 setup. That will give me 9TB of drive and a redundancy for 1 drive fail.