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Multi disk software RAID in Windows?
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Multi disk software RAID in Windows?

I see Hetzner have some E3-1275 with 4x16TB drives and wondering, is it possible to install Windows Server 2019 in such system with a soft RAID spanning all four drives?

Comments

  • Haven't tried it yet, but maybe with Storage Spaces ? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/overview

    Thanked by 1Oseri
  • AdvinAdvin Member, Patron Provider

    RAID might complicate things.

    Here is the motherboard I have in one of my SX63's:
    Manufacturer: FUJITSU
    Product Name: D3417-B1
    Version: S26361-D3417-B1

    It looks like you might be able to configure the drives in RAID via the motherboard BIOS. You could also maybe request the hardware RAID addon and configure it that way.

    Optimally you could also install Linux and then virtualize Windows.

    Thanked by 1Oseri
  • OseriOseri Member

    @jcarlo9 said:
    Haven't tried it yet, but maybe with Storage Spaces ? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/overview

    I’m understanding right the disk where Windows is installed cannot be on a storage space, so disk 0 will hold the OS and drives 1-3 can be set as a RAID storage space.

  • OseriOseri Member

    @Advin said:
    RAID might complicate things.

    Here is the motherboard I have in one of my SX63's:
    Manufacturer: FUJITSU
    Product Name: D3417-B1
    Version: S26361-D3417-B1

    It looks like you might be able to configure the drives in RAID via the motherboard BIOS. You could also maybe request the hardware RAID addon and configure it that way.

    I haven’t realized Fujitsu motherboards have integrated RAID support. If it can be enabled via LARA this could be the cleanest way to RAID the four disk as (I guess) Windows will see it as a single disk. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Optimally you could also install Linux and then virtualize Windows.

    Could be done, but one drawback in my intended usage case is the iGPU cannot be passed to the Windows VM (at least I’ve not been able in Ubuntu with KVM)

  • @Oseri said:
    Could be done, but one drawback in my intended usage case is the iGPU cannot be passed to the Windows VM (at least I’ve not been able in Ubuntu with KVM)

    It's definitely possible to do but can be a bit of a pain in the ass to get going. The Arch Wiki is, as always, super helpful.

    I'm passing through an iGPU for hardware transcoding in my Plex instance - works a treat.

  • Depending on your usecase https://www.snapraid.it might be an alternative, and might even have some advantages.

  • @Oseri said:
    I see Hetzner have some E3-1275 with 4x16TB drives and wondering, is it possible to install Windows Server 2019 in such system with a soft RAID spanning all four drives?

    How do you mean “spanning”? For JBOD to have a huge volume you can just expand into dynamic volumes on the non-system disks.

    I don't think you can convert to RAID10/5/1/0 from non-RAID in Windows as you can with other OSs, but you could create a RAID 0, 1 or 5 volume with the three non-system disks likewise just through the normal Disk Manager. This would leave you with the system drive (all of it) as a single drive.

    You might even be able to RAID partitions on all four disks by reducing the system volume down to minimal and creating volumes on all four drives of the size of the space remaining and setting them up as soft-RAID.

    UPDATE: just had a quick search out of interest, and various articles such as https://www.clouvider.com/knowledge_base/how-to-make-raid-1-on-windows-server/ suggest that you can convert an existing system to soft-RAID. Or, of course, if installing manually rather than from host provided image you could install direct to RAID (I'm assuming the Windows installer supports this, if not then install a real OS on the bare metal and run Windows in a VM as already suggested :) )

  • ClouviderClouvider Member, Patron Provider

    We have a KB on how to set it up in an NVMe environment, perhaps this will be of any use.

    https://www.clouvider.com/knowledge_base/how-to-make-raid-1-on-windows-server/

  • darkimmortaldarkimmortal Member
    edited May 2022

    Dynamic disks have been deprecated from Windows and we don't recommend using them anymore. Instead, we recommend using basic disks or using the newer Storage Spaces technology when you want to pool disks together into larger volumes.

    The Dynamic Disks feature is no longer being developed. This feature will be fully replaced by Storage Spaces in a future release.

  • @darkimmortal said:

    Dynamic disks have been deprecated from Windows and we don't recommend using them anymore. Instead, we recommend using basic disks or using the newer Storage Spaces

    Seems a bit short-sighted of MS at this point given

    You can't use a storage space to host the Windows operating system.
    -- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/deploy-standalone-storage-spaces

    though it wouldn't be the first daft decision they've ever made.

    Time will tell if it remains deprecated (and the storage spaces limitation lifted) or if it comes back from the dead like OLEDB (marked as deprecated in 2011 but still given security updates and brought back fully into mainstream in 2018).

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