HOW TO: Use Windows XP to Create a RAID-5 Volume on a Remote Windows 2000 Computer

This article describes how to create a RAID-5 volume on a remote Windows 2000 Server-based computer by using the Disk Management snap-in in Microsoft Windows XP.

A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume in which data and parity is striped across three or more physical disks. If part of one physical disk fails, you can recover the data on the failed disk by using the data and parity information on the functioning disks.

RAID-5 volumes are not available on computers running Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional. However, you can use a computer running Windows XP Professional to create RAID-5 volumes on remote computers that are running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. You must have administrative privileges on the remote computer in order to do this.

Create a RAID-5 Volume

To create a RAID-5 volume on a remote Windows 2000 Server-based computer from a Windows XP Professional-based computer, follow these steps.

Connect to the Remote Computer

1. Log on to the local Windows XP computer with an account that is listed in the administrators group on the remote computer. This could be a domain or local user account.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
3. Right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Connect to another computer.
4. Click Another Computer, and then type the name of the computer that you want to manage remotely, or click Browse to locate the computer, and then click OK twice to return to the Disk Management window. The Computer Management window of the remote computer is displayed. Expand Storage (if it is not already expanded), and then click Disk Management.

Create a RAID-5 Volume on the Remote Computer

1. In the Disk Management window, right-click unallocated space on one of the dynamic disks in which you want to create the RAID-5 volume, and then click New Volume.
2. In the New Volume Wizard, click Next.
3. Click RAID-5 volume, and then click Next.
4. Under All available dynamic disks, click the disks in which you want to create the volume, and then click Add.
5. Verify that the disks in which you want to create a RAID-5 volume are listed in the Selected dynamic disks box. There must be at least three disks in this list.
6. In the Size box, specify the amount of unallocated disk space to use for the volume, and then Next.
7. Assign a drive letter or path, and then click Next.
8. Specify the formatting options that you want, and then click Next.
9. Confirm that the options that you selected are correct, and then click Finish.
   
   The RAID-5 volume is created, and it appears in the appropriate dynamic disks in the Disk Management window.
10. Quit Disk Management on the remote computer.

Troubleshooting

Disk Management displays status descriptions in graphical view and under the Status column of list view in the Disk Management window to inform you of the current status of the disk or volume. Use these status descriptions to help you detect and troubleshoot disk and volume failures. The following is a partial list of disk and volume status descriptions:

• Online
  This is the normal disk status when the disk is accessible and functioning correctly.
• Healthy
  This is the normal volume status when the volume is accessible and functioning correctly.
• Healthy (At Risk)
  The volume is accessible; however, underlying I/O errors are detected on the disk. The disk status may be displayed as Online (Errors).
  To resolve this issue, right-click the disk, and then click Reactivate Disk to return the disk to Online status. This action should also return the volume to Healthy status.
• Failed Redundancy
  One or more members of the RAID-5 volume has failed. The volume is no longer fault-tolerant. The disk status may be displayed as Offline, Missing, or Online (Errors).
  To resolve this issue, repair any disk, controller, or connection problems and verify that the physical disk is turned on and correctly attached to the computer. Right-click the failed disk, and then click Reactivate Disk to return the disk to Online status. This should also return the volume to Healthy status.

For a complete list of disk and volume status descriptions and troubleshooting procedures, see Disk Management Help. (In the Disk Management snap-in or Computer Management window, click Help) on the Action menu.

For additional information about working with dynamic disks, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk and how to convert a dynamic disk back to a basic disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to configure dynamic disks, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to create a mirrored volume, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information how to use the Diskpart command-line utility to manage your disks, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: