A. Windows 2000 introduces dynamic disks, and all members of a RAID volume set must be on a dynamic disk. To convert a disk from basic to dynamic, see 'Q. How do I convert a basic disk to dynamic?'.
To create a RAID 5 set, set perform the following steps:
- From the Start menu, select Programs, Administrative Tools, then the Computer Management Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.
- Expand the Storage branch, and select Disk Management.
- Right click an area of unallocated space, and select Create Volume from the context menu.
Click here to view image - Click Next to the Create Volume Wizard.
- Select a RAID 5 volume type, and click Next.
Click here to view image - In the left pane, select the disks you want to use (at least three in total) and click Add.
- Select the size to use from each disk. The size must be equal for each disk, so the largest space you can use is the smallest free space on any disk. After you select the size, click Next. If you select 1000MB from each disk, the total size would be only 2000MB because parity information uses a third of the space.
- Select a drive letter to use, and click Next.
- Select the file system to use and the label. You might also select whether to enable file and folder compression. Click Next.
- The program displays a summary screen. Click Finish.
Win2K shows the disk areas as RAID 5 and in a regenerating mode.
You might receive the message The operation did not complete because the partition/volume is not enabled. Please reboot the computer to enable the partition/volume from the Logical Disk Manager. Click OK to this message, but don’t reboot until the regeneration is complete and Win2K shows the volume as healthy. Otherwise, you’ll need to reformat the partition upon reboot completion.
You might still need to reformat the volume, which indicates that the program has a bug.
