Raid mirroring Viewing both HDD in windows explorer

calibra · 04-25-2008, 03:08 AM

Feel quite proud that I finally managed to setup a raid mirror system on my PC 2* 500 GB Sata drives.

I can view ONE 500Gb HDD in windows explorer (XP) but would like to be able to view both HDD in windows explorer. Even if it is ghosted and view only.

Is there a way of doing this or an App to enable it

Thanks

Lead3 · 04-25-2008, 01:10 PM

With a RAID 1 array , there is only one drive as far as the computer is concerned. There is no way to see each drive individually as long as the array is together, however you are seeing what is on both drives since they are mirrored. The system uses it as a single drive. Only the technical read write is differenc from a normal single drive. With the array, the system can read data from both drives individually which speeds up reads but must wite to both to keep the mirror.

skydivechicago · 06-04-2008, 08:05 PM

Your information on Raid 1 was great. It answered my question too. I have another. If the Primary disk fails, will the mirror disk just take over? What happens if either disk fails. Do I receive a message? I just got a Maxtor 1.5TB and the information that came with it doesn't really explain what to do if there is a failure. Thanks wise one!!

AceGoober · 06-04-2008, 08:19 PM

If one drive fails then you will have to break the RAID 1 and set the good drive as primary.

With the Maxtor 1.5TB it is actually two 750GB drives in RAID 0. If one fails then you will lose the data stored.

If you RAID 1 them (instead of RAID 0) then you have a very good chance of recovering the data from the good drive.

04-25-2008, 03:08 AM	#1 (permalink)
calibra Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1 OS: xp	Raid mirroring Viewing both HDD in windows explorer Feel quite proud that I finally managed to setup a raid mirror system on my PC 2* 500 GB Sata drives. I can view ONE 500Gb HDD in windows explorer (XP) but would like to be able to view both HDD in windows explorer. Even if it is ghosted and view only. Is there a way of doing this or an App to enable it Thanks

04-25-2008, 01:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
Lead3 Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 826 OS: 98SE,2000,XP SP3,VISTA SP1	Re: Raid mirroring Viewing both HDD in windows explorer With a RAID 1 array , there is only one drive as far as the computer is concerned. There is no way to see each drive individually as long as the array is together, however you are seeing what is on both drives since they are mirrored. The system uses it as a single drive. Only the technical read write is differenc from a normal single drive. With the array, the system can read data from both drives individually which speeds up reads but must wite to both to keep the mirror. __________________ Last edited by Lead3 : 04-25-2008 at 01:11 PM.

06-04-2008, 08:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
skydivechicago Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1 OS: xp	Re: Raid mirroring Viewing both HDD in windows explorer Your information on Raid 1 was great. It answered my question too. I have another. If the Primary disk fails, will the mirror disk just take over? What happens if either disk fails. Do I receive a message? I just got a Maxtor 1.5TB and the information that came with it doesn't really explain what to do if there is a failure. Thanks wise one!!

06-04-2008, 08:19 PM	#4 (permalink)
AceGoober Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Eureka, CA Posts: 39 OS: Windows XP SP2; Windows Vista 64bit SP1 My System	Re: Raid mirroring Viewing both HDD in windows explorer If one drive fails then you will have to break the RAID 1 and set the good drive as primary. With the Maxtor 1.5TB it is actually two 750GB drives in RAID 0. If one fails then you will lose the data stored. If you RAID 1 them (instead of RAID 0) then you have a very good chance of recovering the data from the good drive.