RAID-0 partitioning

Question

I may have sent this incorrectly the first time. I haven't gotten any replys yet ---So, I will try again. Here goes:

As shipped from DELL, my XPS with the RAID-0 (2 western dig. 250GB) has 3 partitions: a 100MB FAT32 with Dell Utilities (?) on it; a 4GB Ghost(?) FAT32 partition with a quick sys recovery cache on it; and a 462GB NTFS partition, which has the opsys (XP-Pro), other applications, and about 452GB of unused space.

I would like to partition the RAID-0 so I have the opsys and other applications (PhotoShopCS) in one partition (25GB), and the remaining partition for use as my scratch disk. (I do not care about saving the Ghost partition that is used for quick system recovery, I have all the disks anyway)

Disk Manager (XP-Pro) does not allow me to partition the RAID; all space is allocated as sent from the factory. And, Partition Magic 8.0 says I may render the RAID unbootable if I re-size it -- something about a 1024 block boundary............

Is there a version of Partition Magic or other software that will allow me to re-allocate/re-partition/or split this RAID-0, and not cause problems with the opsys? Do I have to start all over, and wipe the RAID drives clean? If so, is there any procedural stuff written out there that I may follow?

HELP!

oxothuk · Answer

I just went through some of the same issues with my new 8400 - main difference is that I only have one 250GB SATA drive and no RAID.   I used Partition Magic 8.0 to blow away the recovery image partition, shrink the NTFS partition, and create an extended partition with multiple logical drives.  I left the diagnostics partition as it was.  The warning about the 1024 cylinder boundary only applied to older BIOS/OS combinations and can be safely ignored for new systems like yours.

nealman54 · Answer

Thank you for replying. Do you think there will be any significant difference between what you did on your 8400 with a single SATA drive, and what I am trying to do on my XPS with the striped RAID?

The 1024 cylinder block warning does not apply to my machine? Because of the newer BIOS? And, is the Diagnostics partition labeled 'Dell Utilities' on your drive as shipped from DELL?

Thanks, again.

oxothuk · Answer

Google for '8GB limit' and you should find lots of articles about the 1024 cylinder boot limit.  But yes, this is a non-issue for running XP on any 21st century BIOS.   Yes, the Dell Utility partition is what I was referring to as Diagnostics.  On my disk, it was physically located at the very beginning.  The recovery image partition (which I have since deleted) was located at the very end of the disk.   The only real difference between what I did and what you want to do is that you have RAID and I don't.  But from your description it seems like the RAID is transpartent to Partition Magic, making it look like you have one big 500 GB disk.

nealman54 · Answer

Thanks for you input.  I believe you are correct about how Partition Magic 'looks' at the RAID. I will try it out; and let you know the results.

Storage, Drives & Media

RAID-0 partitioning

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