RAID 1 Mirroring with Windows 7 Buildegg Articles. Hate the idea of possibly loosing all of your files if and when you hard drive dies Considering implementing a mirrored array RAID Level 1 for your important data. Most PC users today have two immediate options for building a mirrored array of hard disks their motherboards chipset and within Windows. This article focusing on setting up and managing a mirrored array by using Windows 7. What is RAID 1 What is a mirror RAID Level 1 can also be referred to as a mirrored array of hard drives. Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' title='Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' />Mirroring is implemented when fault tolerance is desired. Fault tolerance is the ability of the data contained in the array to remain intact if one of the drives fails. In a mirrored array, all of the data is duplicated across 2 or more hard drives. The general idea All of ones important data would be stored on a mirrored array, and if one of the hard drives dies which should be assumed, they die often, the data is still accessible  usable from the other drive. During a state of failed redundancy, the volume is now only one hard disk, and it would be smart to replace the failed disk promptly to rebuild the array. Common categories you may want to store on a redundant same thing as fault tolerant array years of pictures, videos, documents, music, and hard to replace software install packages. Layouts and Themes. To save and load a whole Rainmeter theme, head to your Layouts tab. To save your layout, name your current setups layout and click Save. Sky-Dynamic-Theme-Featuring-Skies.jpg' alt='Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' title='Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' />Why use Windows instead of the Chipset Any decent motherboard today will have a chipset whose hard drive controller will offer various levels of RAID. Using the chipset for RAID arrays is necessary if you intend to install the operating system on the array, like if you want a striped array RAID 0 for performance, however a mirrored array can be implemented using the chipset or dynamically through Windows other OSs do it too. Im just focusing on Windows. For the purposes of having a mirrored array, I strongly suggest building it through Windows instead of the chipset for the following reasons Portability A Windows array will survive if you have to replace upgrade your motherboard a chipset array will most likely not survive a mobo upgrade because the mobo will probably be using a different hardware controller. Manageability  Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions is the Windows 7s GUI for managing your hard drives and volumes. It is much better than trying to use a seemingly out dated text utility from the motherboards chipset. No Performance Hit A true RAID controller a separate expansion card normally expensive will offer superior performance for any RAID array, but considering the options available to you now, both the mobos chipset and Windows offload the array functions to the CPU, and any speed difference is negligible. Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' title='Theme Windows 7 And 8 Differences' />Love the speed and security of Windows 8, but miss the transparent look of Windows 7 Or maybe the blues and greens of Windows XP 5 Reasons Why You Love Windows XP. See this video comparing a striped array setup through various ways. How to set up a Mirrored Array in Windows 7. Doraemon Monopoly English Version Download. The environment for this quick tutorial is as such the operating system, Windows 7 RC, is installed on a hard drive that will, of course, not be involved in the RAID 1 array. Also note, Windows will refer to disks as either basic or dynamic, and to their partitions as volumes. A WD 3. 20 GB RE2 Hard Drive. Install two hard drives. For my tests, I installed two WD 3. GB RE2 drives. Visit Buildeggs Component section to see the best hard drives to buy. Boot up Windows, hit the start button, and in the search box type either Create and or Disk man, and click Create and Formant Hard Disk Partitions. This program is also accessible through Control Panal System and Security Administrative Tools Create and Formant Hard Disk Partitions. If these drives have never been used, it may ask you to initialize them, in which case youll most likely be using MBR. If the new disks do not say Unallocated in them, then delete their volumes by right clicking on each disks volume and going to Delete Volume. Now lets create the RAID right click on one of the disk doesnt matter which, and go to New Mirror Volume. Creating a New Mirrored Volume. A series of prompts will ask you about some details of your new mirrored volume array, like which disks are to be included, size of the volume, drive letter assignment, and volume name. In my example, I chose Disk 1 and Disk 2 Disk 0 being my original disk with the OS on it, the full size available its default, drive letter M, quick format, and Win. Mirror as the volume name. A Mirrored Volume has been created in Windows 7. Thats it Transfer all of your important files to your new drive and have a little peace of mind. Heres an idea. map all of your Windows libraries those default ones, Documents, Pictures, etc to your mirrored array, and you can upgrade hardware format and reinstall windows all day long and not have to worry about your data. What happens when a hard drive fails How do you recover The whole point for setting up a mirrored array is anticipating the time when one of the hard drives fail and die. There are two points in time where failure might happen while the computer is on and youre using it, or somewhere between the computer being shut off and turned back on. I simulated a drive failure while using the mirrored volume and I was able to continue working on files accessing them and saving them. What is interesting is that Windows will not inform you that the array in an unhealthy state at least, it never told me. Windows is restarted. When you boot your system back up after one of the drives have failed, you will notice your mirrored volume missing when you go to access something from it. Fear not, your data is still there, just open Create and Format Disk Partitions and manage the situation. Inside Windows disk manager youll find the still functioning disk, and it will be flagged with Failed Redundancy, of course meaning that the mirrored volume is no longer redundant because the other drive failed. In the most common situation I can imagine for most of us, you will need access to your files, and it may be a few days or weeks before you can replace the failed hard drive. First lets gain access to our files. Right click on the dynamic disk that is still functioning and go to Remove Mirror. Remove Mirror from Failed Redundancy Volume. Select and remove the missing failed disk. In my example, Disk 1 was the disk that failed, so Im keeping Disk 2 and removing Disk 1 which is labeled just as Missing. Select and Remove the Missing Disk. Now youre left with a Healthy simple volume from which you can continue to use all of your data. Get a replacement hard drive so you can rebuild the mirror. NOTE Most hard drives now have 3 5 year warranties, and all you have to do is go to the manufacturers website, fill out the RMA, and send in the defective drive. Fast forward to the time that you install a replacement hard drive this may be an hour later, or weeks later. Open the Windows disk manager Create and Format Disk Partitions and make sure that the new drive is initialized and is unallocated. Right click on the disk that survived the one from the original mirror, and go to Add Mirror. Follow the prompts and add the new drive. Now you have a new RAID 1, Mirrored Volume. Youll notice that both drives in the array say Resynching, which is pretty much the one drive being copied to the other. This process may take the better part of a day if you have large drives, but thats okay because its being done in the background you dont have to worry about it.