4 replies to this topic

[MarkJohnson]

My server was getting extremely slow from test so many different software package that it had become unusable for streaming my 1080p videos(over 100 process running in task manager). I decided to reinstall WHS2011 instead of trying to track down the problem.

My issue is I had setup a software raid1 insead of going hardware raid1. I select to undo the software raid1 and have now reinstalled whs2011 and when I plug in my wd 2tb black drive it doesn't show up? I bring up disk management and it says it's a dynamic disk1 with a yellow tringle and says foreign underneath(i guess thats a fs type?). The summary of drives says it's a NTFS drive still.

When I right click the drive I have 2 options.

Import Foreign Disks
Convert to basic disks

I'm afraid to try either one and possible lose all my data.

Are these even the options I need to restore the disk back to recover my data?

Google hasn't been kind, all I seem to get is hardware RAID1 issues. Software RAID1 doesn't seem very popular.

Thanks
-=Mark=-

[jazzerjay]

Software RAID for me was troubling years ago when set up incorrectly. We lost a physical drive that had multiple logical volumes created in what could have been someone's attempt at redundancy. Unfortunately it was simply a bad day. Anyway I found this article on technet, it's old but should shine some light on your Import Foreign Disks options. I can tell you from experience, converting to basic disk will destroy your data with this option. You have backups, right? I would consider doing a bit more research and weigh your options before moving forward with either decision because this is just my advice as I don't have a detailed setup picture of your environment. Nor am I the one sitting in front of your server. Good luck and keep us posted. I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions.

Import
http://technet.micro...y/cc771775.aspx

Convert to basic
http://technet.micro...y/cc776315.aspx

• The disk must not have any volumes nor contain any data before you can change it back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, back it up or move it to another volume before you convert the disk to a basic disk.
• Once you change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk, you can create only partitions and logical drives on that disk.

Edited by jazzerjay, 02 July 2012 - 07:28 AM.

[MarkJohnson]

Forgot to update post.

Since I had two drives mirrored I went ahead and did the foreign option on one of them and it went fine. I said it made a simple volume and restored everything fine. The disk is in dynamic mode still.

Is dynamic mode going to affect anything? My drives are in AHCI mode if that matters.

I have both disks restored and can change to basic mode and copy everything back over.

Thanks
-=Mark=-

[jazzerjay]

You should be fine. I don't believe you'll be able to use basic disks and software raid them based on several articles i read today.

http://www.partition...amic-disks.html

http://www.techrepub...c-disks/5797060

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa363785(v=vs.85).aspx

But I haven't had time to test basic vs dynamic. Drive performance on a single disk between basic and dynamic is irrelevant from what I can find. (Unless of course you're in a RAID config - like has been discussed.)

[ikon]

To use MS software RAID (i.e. RAID set up through Disk Manager) the drives have to be Dynamic.

Importing a Foreign Disk does not destroy data. It really just changes the drive's unique signature (SID) so the disk now 'belongs' to the system it's currently installed in.