Setup RAID 1 on Server
We have purchased a new dell Power Edge R210 server for file storage and application which will also be used remotely, as i know our server came with a RAID controller card installed, and as i think it comes preconfigured to RAID 1, becuase if not then when building the array in the boot mode when hitting Ctlr+R it will format the disk, so if im running already windows Server it must be on the controller card its already configured to RAID 1. My question though is, when i look in by computer i see 3 drives one C: drive that holds a copy of the OS, and two other drives E: Drive called DataPart1 and D: drive Called DataPart2, so here is what i don’t understand why is there 2 extra drives it should have been only one extra drive the RAID drive, meaning both HD combined in one for the RAID 1, or maybe do i still need to configure something on the OS part? what else i don’t understand is that the two extra drives are different in size, when we purchased our Server we ordered it with two 300GB drives, so if its configured to raid so from both drives i should see only like 25GB for the OS and the rest one drive for the raid? why do i see one drive like D: DataPart1 with the capacity of 279GB and the other drive the E: DataPart 2 with the capacity of 239GB, i get the feeling that its not configured to RAID and one drive is partitioned in two one for the OS and the drive letter is C: and the rest is E: so it means that the other drive is not used at all and it has all the free space available? Please help me thanks in advance
August 26th, 2011 2:07pm

I'd get in touch with Dell tech support on these questions. You can boot into controller bios to see the current configuration. If Windows Device Manager shows two 300 gB disk drives then there probably is no hardware raid configured. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]
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August 26th, 2011 10:04pm

Hello, I would go into the RAID BIOS like Dave mentioned and look at the config. In Windows Disk manager, you are looking at the logical disk volumes configured by the raid but if you want to know if those volumes are RAID 0,1,5 or not at all, you need to access the RAID BIOS. There you can see the physical disks and how they are configured. p.s. here's a link to Dell Forusm for support: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/default.aspx Miguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site
August 27th, 2011 12:49am

My answer may not be relevant to your question but this is what i faced while installing dell raid a while back. did you dell come with a preconfigured os ? If you press ctrl+ R this gives you the option to go and look into the raid settings. Try to boot with the dell 210 cd and there you will have the option to configure what settings u need to make to make it a raid 1. this is a good link that helped me out http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/07/step-by-step-guide-to-configure-hardware-raid-on-dell-servers-with-screenshots/ Also dell by default has an inbuilt drive which contain diagnostic tools and drivers in the hard drive. this is not visible during normal operation of the server. But while configuring your os, it will mention you not to delete the drive as you configure you hdd to format before u install ur os. always in dell install the dell cd , i guess its version 6.5 these days and configure raid through it. The downside of this is the screen resolution is a bit low and you have to carefully select the options for raid and what os you are going to configure.good luck and let us know if you managed to sort out the issue.
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August 27th, 2011 5:24am

to end this and to get the final answer here is what went on. usually dell configures there server to raid 1 if you build it that way when purchasing, but in my case they didnt do it. i had to backup first all the data that was already on the drives and then boot into the raid card (which in my case its a dell perc s300 its a software on the motherboard) configure it to raid 1 and the reinstall the OS.
August 30th, 2011 11:47pm

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