RAID-1 on 1 partition only

Question

My XPS 410, Core 2 Duo E6600, came with one 250 GB WD hard disk. I just added a 300 GB Seagate. I want to have a single 10 GB data partition mirrored between these two drives, but otherwise, I want to be free to create multiple other partitions on each of the two drives that are not RAIDed at all. Essentially, I want:

Disk 0: 3 Primary partitions of 20 GB each for loading various OSes. 1 Extended partition with 2 logical
partitions. One of these logical partitions, 10 GB, will contain user data. This is the one
I want to mirror.

Disk 1: 1 extended partition with 3 logical partitions. One of these logical partitions, 10 GB, will be
a mirror of the other 10 GB on Disk 0.

Can this be done? Or must the RAID (A) be whole disk only or (B) preclude using the remainder of either drive for non-RAID operation?

Thank you.

Uncle Ripper · Answer

Just my opionion and I'm no expert but everything I've read indicates you can set up the first drive anyway you want  then the second drive mirrors it.  Of course for what you want to do you'll more than likely have to start from scratch, ie. reformat first drive , set partitions and set up raid 1 for 2nd drive to mirror.

BGood2 · Answer

Thanks for posting. I actually only want to mirror a single partition from the first disk to the second disk. I also want to have additional, non-mirrored partitions on both disks.

ejn63 · Answer

RAID 1 is all or nothing. To do what you want, you'll need a third drive.

tphillips63 · Answer

You might be able to do this with dynamic disks (convert your drives) but I know you cannot do the boot partition and I can't remember if it is the entire boot disk exempt too.
This would be XP software raid and you need xp pro.

Storage, Drives & Media

RAID-1 on 1 partition only

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