Is there any way to set up a mirrored or hard disk in Windows XP Pro? 
Microsoft web site says you can do any fault-tolerant disk setups with
XP Pro. All the menu choices are still in Disk Administrator, but you
can't actually select them. Is there any way around this without
buying additional hardware/software?

Hi bigjosh,

I have some bad news for you. According to Microsoft's Knowledge Base
article, "HOW TO: Create a Mirrored Volume in Windows XP" located at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307880

"You cannot create mirrored volumes on computers that are running
Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional or Windows XP 64-Bit
Edition. However, you can use a computer that is running Windows XP
Professional to create mirrored volumes on remote computers that are
running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows
2000 Datacenter Server. You must have administrative privileges on the
remote computer to do this."

Mirrors and striped volumes are reserved for Microsoft's Server
products. If you require this functionality, you may wish to consider
purchasing Windows 2000 Server. More information on this product can
be found at the "Windows 2000 Home" here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/default.asp

The choices in Disk Administrator are there to allow for the remote
creation of fault-tolerant devices on Windows 2000 server
machines--and for the simple reason that Disk Administrator is not
re-engineered for each OS that it is included in. That is, your copy
of Disk Administrator is the same as what would be in the .NET
server--however, a registry key disables the functionality. There is
no way to change the key.

Thanks for your question!

Legolas-ga

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Clarification of Answer by legolas-ga on 02 Dec 2002 11:41 PST

Sorry, I forgot to mention where I searched:

support.microsoft.com search:

mirror xp
http://search.support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?Catalog=LCID%3D1033%26CDID%3DEN-US-KB%26PRODLISTSRC%3DON&Product=&KeywordType=ALL&Titles=false&numDays=&maxResults=25&withinResults=&Queryl=mirror+xp&Query=mirror+xp&QuerySource=gsfxSearch_Query

google search:

create mirror xp
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=create+mirror+xp

Thanks again!

Legolas-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by bigjosh-ga on 02 Dec 2002 12:13 PST

Oh jeeze, I meant to type "Microsoft web site says you can't do any
fault-tolerant". I was hoping for some sort of workaround to this
restriction. Ideas?

thanks,
josh

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Clarification of Answer by legolas-ga on 02 Dec 2002 12:22 PST

It's really a case of "Microsoft doesn't want you to do this" more so
than a "How do I use a workaround". There is no legal way, short of
buying other hardware/software to do a mirror on XP.

Here's the behind-the-scenes reason for it: Microsoft wants you to buy
a much pricier product to do the RAID's. That's it! The software and
the kernel CAN do it, it just WON'T do it!

Mirrors give dubious fault tolerance anyways: the only benefit would
be if one of the two drives were to die (from a physical failure).
Backups are still the best defence against system failure.

One thing you MAY want to consider doing is creating a 'backup image'
of your harddrive once all your software, etc. is installed. That way
you can easily revert to a 'known good system' whenever you need by
simply swapping out the drive. However, again that's not a true mirror
as it isn't updated with each bit written.

Sorry.. It's either 3rd party hardware or software for you--both of
which you said you didn't want.

Legolas-ga

p.s. There really isn't any way to alter the registry to enable the
functionality in Disk Administrator without breaking the law and a
complete format/reinstall of the OS (and, it probably wouldn't work
anyways).

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Request for Answer Clarification by bigjosh-ga on 02 Dec 2002 12:41 PST

As I feared. I've actually had *two* physical hard drive failures in
the past month and I figured with the price (and I guess coresponding
quality) of hard drives these days, mirroring was cheap insurance.
Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by legolas-ga on 02 Dec 2002 12:45 PST

Thanks! - and, thanks for the 5-stars!

There is another way - hardware mirroring using special ATA
controllers. Please check out the following URL:

http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?productId=11&familyId=3

Incidentally, there are a number of other solutions available
including software only solutions.

Search Word: Disk Mirroring Controllers Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and
XP Pro

Hope this helps...

Zeelog

Sorry, the URL you provided does not do RAID in any capacity. It is
only a UDMA-100 ATA controller. And, while probably a very nice add on
for high-performance computers, would do nothing to help in the mirror
department.

While you are right, there are hardware and software ways to achieve a
mirror in Windows XP Pro, bigjosh-ga specifically said he did not want
to spend money on hardware or software solutions.

Also, hardware and software RAID solutions (3rd party) tend to be
fairly pricey too.