RAID-5, partitioning ?

On a W2K Srv with a software RAID 5 setup, can you create additional partitions within the RAID volume? Thanks in Advance, Joe.

 

Yes.

In case you didn't know you have to press F6 after the CD boot to load the RAID drivers so Windows can se the RAID array.

 

You cannot extend a software RAID set. In order expand you would want to use a volume set, or switch to a hardware RAID setup with that functionality

 

Sorry I missed the Software part. DOH!

 

Thanks guys !
JoeHobart, not sure if I'm misunderstanding your reply or if you misunderstood my question. I am not trying to "extend" the RAID volume, I am curious if the RAID can be divided/parititioned say into 2 parts (such as E:\ and F:\ ) and if possible can it be done after creating the RAID volume, or while you are creating it?
It may be the way I'm understanding the RAID 5 volume, I'm thinking of it as a "disk" (HDD that can be partitioned, etc) set, where maybe it's more like a "partition" (once created, can't be divided) ?
Thanks for your help, Joe.

 

Ahh. i see what you mean..

The answer is Sort of. The software raid set mounts as a drive letter, not as unallocated space. If you had 3 drives, and wanted two drive letters, you would make two software raid volumes, each half the size of the drives.

 

Thanks that clears it up perfectly, even answered another question that was roaming around in my head Appreciate the help, Joe.

 

I'm not a fan of software RAID. In my experience the performance is poor and you end up with a system that is more likely to fail than stand-alone disks. If you want better performance or reliability I'd strongly recommend hardware RAID.

However, the array of disks should appear as a single disk to the system* and as such it should have the same flexibility in adding partitions as you would have with a single disk. Drive letters are assigned to the partitions and not the drives!

*If the Windows RAID system works the same way as a hardware RAID.