[fossie1973]

Does anyone know of a third party software raid solution which will work on Windows 7?

I have been using the software RAID 5 setup of Server 2003, and I am now making the switch to Windows 7. Unfortunately RAID 5 is not supported by Win 7, so I am looking for a third party solution.

I hope you can help and give me some pointers on where to look.

Cheers

[HachavBanav]

fossie1973, on Nov 16 2009, 01:58 PM, said:

software RAID 5

RAID 5 suffers a terrible write penalty.
Minimizing this problem requires a write back cache backed by a battery, how do you do that in software raid ? Logging would require a specific local raid 1/10 storage ? Non logging means the software raid 5 is not reliable.

What about staying in RAID 1/10 instead of trying to loose time and money on a raid 5/6 architecture ?

[HMTK]

Get a cheap controller card that supports RAID 5 if performance isn't all that important. Get an expensive card with cache is performance is important. And some sort of battery - on the controller or a complete UPS - if you value the integrity of your data when power goes out.

[fossie1973]

I'm mostly using the raid for storage only, so I'm not too concerned with write penalties or the risk of integrity loss when writing during a powerloss. Also, the last time I experienced a powerloss was in 1996, so I can live with that risk.

Unfortunately, I cannot add a raid card as I have no free expansion slots. So for me, a software solution is probably the way to go. I'm having a hard time digging up a decent alternative, though.

[HachavBanav]

fossie1973, on Nov 18 2009, 11:19 AM, said:

Unfortunately, I cannot add a raid card as I have no free expansion slots. So for me, a software solution is probably the way to go.

May be you can adapt the below example (I did not try it) adding Microsoft RAID-5 server feature to XP instead of looking for a 3rd party software raid solution
http://www.windowsre...for-windows-xp/

[qasdfdsaq]

Can't do it on Vista, can't do it on Windows 7. Not as far as I know anyway.

There are very few third-party LDMs (logical disk managers/software RAID platforms) out there for Windows, and all that I know of are expensive.

Your solutions are really:
1) Free up some expansion slots
2) Use RAID-1
3) Use onboard RAID if any
4) Use an external NAS box or a second PC with RAID-5
5) Switch to *nix (Linux, Solaris, BSD, all free, all have RAID-5 ability)
6) Run *nix in a virtual machine

I actually took option 6 for a few months before switching to 4. There simply isn't a lot you can do (for free) under native Windows.

[slaver]

If you are willing to break away from RAID 5, then maybe you could use an "overlay" application that will generate parity.

DisParity - http://www.vilett.com/disParity/
FlexRaid - http://www.openegg.org/FlexRAID.curi

Good luck

[HMTK]

HachavBanav, on Nov 18 2009, 11:17 AM, said:

fossie1973, on Nov 18 2009, 11:19 AM, said:

Unfortunately, I cannot add a raid card as I have no free expansion slots. So for me, a software solution is probably the way to go.

May be you can adapt the below example (I did not try it) adding Microsoft RAID-5 server feature to XP instead of looking for a 3rd party software raid solution
http://www.windowsre...for-windows-xp/

I tried it just to see if it works. It's fine for losing data and little else.


fossie, can't you get rid of one of your add-in cards? A RAID 5 controller really is your best option. I wouldn't even try Windows Server RAID 5 TBH.

[270673]

The RAIDCore software stack was available as a 3rd party software RAID solution for Windows, and got a glowing review on Tom's Hardware once. I don't know if that product still exists, the RAIDcore ownership has been sold and resold many times.