1 Hard Drive W/ 2 Partitions: Can One Partition Be Standard Although The Other Is Set Up As Raid-1?

#1 NerdyAndWhite

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Posted 26 June 2012 - 06:47 AM

Hi,

I am preparing to build a new desktop PC. Basically I want to separate my

(1) software.... to be backed up via writing image files to external media each week; Each Monday I plan to (A) restore the prior image file, (

update all software, © make desired permament tweaks to user settings, then (D) write a new image file to external media

(2) data.... to be backed up in real time via a RAID-1 setup.

Can I do that? Note that physical harddrive #1 would have a standard partition (for software) and a RAID-1 configured partition (for data). The question is, can a single hard drive have two partitions, one that is RAID-1 configured, and one that is not?

If yes, advice on how to set it up would be welcome indeed.

Thanks for the help.

PS (This PS was added after the first reply was posted.) Of course, with a Raid-1 for the 2nd partition, there will be a 2nd physical hard drive. It will just have a single partition, and the sole purpose will be as a redundant data storage, via Raid-1 configuration, for any data written to partition D as described above.

This post has been edited by NerdyAndWhite: 26 June 2012 - 07:35 AM

#2 smax013

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Posted 26 June 2012 - 07:03 AM

NerdyAndWhite, on 26 June 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

Not to my knowledge. You might be able to something along that line with software RAID, but RAID by its very definition means more than one drive. If you are talking about two drives...one with a OS/app partition and a data partition where the data partition is then in a RAID 1 array with a second drive, then that might be possible by way of software RAID...but I kind of doubt it.

Realistically, you are kind of looking at three drives...one smaller drive for your OS and applications and then two larger identical drives setup in RAID 1. This is nominally the system I have setup in my desktop (I have a couple other "boot drives" for various "flavors" of Windows). It might be possible to have two partitions on two drives that are in a RAID 1 array such that both the OS/app partition and the data partition are in the RAID 1 array, but I have never tried this or even researched it.

I will also note that RAID 1 is not really a complete backup solution. While it does protect you from A SINGLE data drive from failing, there are other ways to "hose your data". With RAID 1, any data that gets corrupted or deleted/destroyed due to any number of reasons on one of the drives will have the EXACT same thing happen on the other drive in the RAID array. Thus, even if you are using a RAID 1 array for your data, you should still be backing up that data to some other external drive periodically. Now, I will say that using only a RAID 1 array as "backup" is certainly better than what many people use for backup...i.e. nothing.

#3 NerdyAndWhite

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Posted 26 June 2012 - 07:33 AM

smax013, on 26 June 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

......RAID by its very definition means more than one drive. If you are talking about two drives...one with a OS/app partition and a data partition where the data partition is then in a RAID 1 array with a second drive, then that might be possible by way of software RAID...but I kind of doubt it.

Sorry I should have said in the original post that there will be a 2nd physical drive configured in the Raid-1 setup to receive a redundant write of data.

#4 Rommel

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Posted 26 June 2012 - 07:45 AM

NerdyAndWhite, on 26 June 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

smax013, on 26 June 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

Sorry I should have said in the original post that there will be a 2nd physical drive configured in the Raid-1 setup to receive a redundant write of data.

I have not tried what you are asking but I have setup a few times a RAID 0, loaded XP, then partitioned the drive and loaded w7.

That said, I do not see why you can not build your RAID 1, load your OS then partition the drive and use the storage part how you want.

EDIT: I am assuming you are using two identical drives to build your RAID.

This post has been edited by Rommel: 26 June 2012 - 07:52 AM

#5 smax013

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Posted 26 June 2012 - 07:52 AM

NerdyAndWhite, on 26 June 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

smax013, on 26 June 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

Sorry I should have said in the original post that there will be a 2nd physical drive configured in the Raid-1 setup to receive a redundant write of data.

As I did (eventually) say I don't believe this will work either except maybe with a software RAID solution. To my knowledge, hardware RAID 1 will only make exact duplicates of the ENTIRE hard drive not just a single partition on the drive.

If it is a hardware RAID solution, then you might be able to have two partitions on both drives that are mirrored in the RAID 1 array. I would think this would work, but I have never tried it myself.