|
Will external raid work with Windows XP Home?
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
2. October 2009 @ 09:43 |
Link to this message
|
Hi guys. Need some help as this is all Greek to me. Here's my situation.
I'm currently running Windows XP Home. I want to add storage so I can stream media to my Popcorn Hour. So I've purchased a Sans Digital 5 bay external enclosure and 3 - 1tb Samsung drives.
5 bay - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111057
Sam drives - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
To the 3 - 1tb drives I've added a 1tb Seagate drive that I was using in my pc for media storage.
So, so far I've installed all 4 drives in to the enclosure and I've ran the SATARaid5 software which was included with the enclosure to create a raid 5.
Now, the problem I'm having is that I can't get Windows to detect it so I can format it.
This is what I see when I go in to "My Computer --> Manage".
With Norton Partition Magic 8, it will show up as Disc 2, but if I try to do anything with it I always end up with an error.
Again, I'm running Win XP Home, sp3. Any help would be really appreciated.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
2. October 2009 @ 11:42 |
Link to this message
|
|
Do you have the correct driver installed for the RAID array? I'm guessing you do since it shows up in device manager without any errors, but the most common problem of not seeing anything attached to an external controller in Windows is not having the right driver.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
2. October 2009 @ 15:22 |
Link to this message
|
As far as the installation instructions went, I believe I do have the right drivers. Just to be safe, I went, deleated them, and reinstalled, paying close attention to the guide.
I ran in to a problem like this awhile back, sort of. It wasn't raid related, but when I installed a 1tb drive in my pc, just to use for media storage, Windows XP Home wouldn't detect it either. I had to use Partition Magic 8 to format it. Then Win XP detected it.
I figured that may be my problem this time around, but like I said in my op, PM 8 keeps spitting out the same error. And Google gives me no good info on the error.
I have no problem spending extra cash for XP Pro, if that would solve the problem, but I'd like to exhaust all other options first.
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
2. October 2009 @ 16:03 |
Link to this message
|
|
Well, normal drives won't show up in my computer or the TOP of disk management until they're formatted, regardless.
|
Member
|
4. October 2009 @ 01:32 |
Link to this message
|
You can use the XP Pro install CD to just partition and format disk drives--you don't have to install any software. I don't know if you can do the same thing with the XP Home install package.
I found an article on the net earlier this week on just how to do that, but naturally I can't find it now. Basically it involved taking the install process far enough for it to find your disks and give you the chance to partition/format them before installing the OS. Then you just cancel the install before actually installing anything.
You'll naturally need an appropriate RAID F6 disk. I'm just wondering if the basic XP install package might have better luck partitioning/formatting your disks than the higher-level programs do. Just an idea....
Dick
|
Member
|
4. October 2009 @ 01:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
4. October 2009 @ 07:04 |
Link to this message
|
Yeah you can partition drives when you install windows, which is why you load the RAID drivers right from the off. However, if the RAID array isn't storing the OS, there's not a great deal of point doing this, as the software in the OS itself is much more comprehensive.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
4. October 2009 @ 12:14 |
Link to this message
|
sammorris & k7, thanks for the input.
I had also thought of that. I booted my XP Home cd with the hope that I could atleast partition the space, but the raid didn't even show. I did figure that it may be a driver issue, but before I went any further I wanted to research it a little more.
I went throught the Sans Digital forums looking for related problems, and came across this:
Quote:
TR5M-B RAID5 Questions 2 Weeks, 3 Days ago
I have recently purchased the TR5M-B (firmware on the SiI3132 is 7507 dated 10/30/2007) unit and have three (3) Seagate 1.5TB 7200 SATA drives installed in a RAID5 configuration. I had some questions.
1. Under Windows XP Professional (SP3) it took roughly 48 hours to build a 3TB (2.6T RAID5 configuration with these three drives. Is this normal? Is there a way to speed it up?
2. After completion of building the array, Windows XP "Disk Management" does not detect or see the device, but within "Device Manager" under "Disk drives" I see SiImage vol1 SCSI Disk Device. Is there some type of limitation that is not allowing Windows XP to see the array? Am I missing something?
3. After the computer POSTs, the SiI3132 controller card displays an option to enter the configuration (Ctrl-S or F4). When I enter the utility, the card only displays one hard drive when there is three. Why is this? Shouldn't all three be displayed? Regardless, if I boot up into Windows and use the SATARaid5 utility, it displays all three units.
4. Assuming we resolve all the existing issues, ultimately I would like to move this to my SUSE Linux Enterprise Server box and use JFS. Do you anticipate any issues doing this? Also, how can this unit be managed from within Linux? Is there an RPM or bin files available? (having problems finding them on the website)
Thanks,
Ramius
It appeared the op had, in a nutshell, the same problem. Here is the response he got.
Quote:
Re:TR5M-B RAID5 Questions 2 Weeks, 2 Days ago
Hi Ramius,
Here is the answer:
1, This is the typical performance and you can increase the priority of rebuild to 10. Unless upgrade to different controller, the performance is normal.
2, XP 32 bit limited volume to be less then 2TB. You can either:
a, Recreate the RAID volume to 2TB less. You can create up to 5 different volume to divide your total storage. Use capacity in SATARAID tools to adjust the size. OR
b, upgrade to XP 64bit or Vista (32bit or 64bit)
3, It is normal due to port multiplier. It only show up all drives after Windows is booted up.
4, As long as the kernel is up to date, you should have no issues. SATARAID tools will not work in Linux so you will need to use Linux build-in RAID tools, such as mdisk.
Thanks,
Best regards,
Stanley
So, it appears that being over the 2tb limit is my problem. I've also copied and pasted my op from here to over there, along with this related thread I found, asking if someone with more knowledge could verify my problem. http://www.sansdigital.com/community/4325.html I have received any responses yet.
Have you guys experienced any problems with XP and 2tb raid limits?
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
4. October 2009 @ 12:21 |
Link to this message
|
Ahhhh of course, I hadn't considered this. The only people I know who use RAID have either used Linux, Vista, Windows Server x64, or have had arrays 1.5TB or smaller. I've never seen an array over 2TB used on XP 32-bit, by coincidence.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
4. October 2009 @ 12:29 |
Link to this message
|
|
Yes, I'm sitting here now researching "XP raid limits" and I'm coming across 2tb limits more and more.
With my raid group already built, would I still be able to change it's volume size, or do I need to delete it and start over (33+ hours to build the first time... ouch)?
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
4. October 2009 @ 12:31 |
Link to this message
|
|
In theory I would have thought you could rebuild it to a different size, but as far as I was aware, resizing arrays took longer than building them in the first place.
|
Member
|
4. October 2009 @ 15:08 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sammorris:
However, if the RAID array isn't storing the OS, there's not a great deal of point doing this, as the software in the OS itself is much more comprehensive.
True, but you yourself said that until they were formatted, the OS would never see them and the "more comprehensive" OS routines didn't appear up to the task. I was just trying to find an alternate way to get them partitioned/formatted. Sometimes the simplest approach works when a more comprehensive approach might get in its own way.
However, the 2TB limit seems to be the ultimate "solution" to the problem and pretty much explains everything. I'm glad bhetrick found it.
Dick
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
4. October 2009 @ 15:26 |
Link to this message
|
Ah, no I didn't say that - what I meant was that they won't show up in my computer until they array is formatted and has a drive letter. Assuming the RAID drivers are installed you can format them in windows (provided the array isn't beyond the 2TB limit it seems).
|
Member
|
4. October 2009 @ 16:41 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sammorris:
Ah, no I didn't say that - what I meant was that they won't show up in my computer until they array is formatted and has a drive letter. Assuming the RAID drivers are installed you can format them in windows (provided the array isn't beyond the 2TB limit it seems).
Ahh. I stand corrected.
Dick
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
5. October 2009 @ 09:12 |
Link to this message
|
|
Just finished building both volumes (19 hours total vs. 33 hours to build just one the first time) and the 2tb limit was the problem.
Everything is working fine now.
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
5. October 2009 @ 09:15 |
Link to this message
|
|
Good to know - I've now made plans to upgrade the OS for my fileserver when I implement RAID :)
|
AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
|
6. October 2009 @ 01:16 |
Link to this message
|
|
Another big issue to add to the list of reasons to go to Windows 7.
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
6. October 2009 @ 07:49 |
Link to this message
|
|
Actually, I think I'm going to try Server 2008 R2 for my fileserver this time around.
|
AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
|
6. October 2009 @ 23:53 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by sammorris:
Actually, I think I'm going to try Server 2008 R2 for my fileserver this time around.
I thought you were a Linux guy? If there is one thing linux is good at, it is being a server. Server 2008 R2 & Win7 are the same operating system (NT6.1), just different feature sets...so it should serve you well...but probably not as well as GenToo.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
7. October 2009 @ 08:26 |
Link to this message
|
No not really, I ran Ubuntu on my server once, but really, my fileserver has to be able to do more than just that. It does on a regular basis become an HTPC and occasionally a 'compatibility' PC, and for that reason I'd like to stick with a windows platform.
|
