Not a Linux question, hence Non-*NIX general.

I have a RAID 1 array (hardware RAID, I believe) which contains a single NTFS partition. I plan on triple booting this machine, so would like to create a total of three partitions within the RAID 1 array. I booted the gparted liveCD, to see what it would make of the drives, and it saw both drives as sda and sdb (they're SATA II drives), each with a single NTFS partition on it.

Can I safely resize the NTFS partition on each disk to the same size, and create two new partitions in the freed space? Or will the RAID 1 baulk at the changes when I try and boot back into Windows XP, for example?

Secondly, is it wise/OK to have multiple partitions on a single RAID array? I have another disk in the machine which stores all of my data (this is my work machine), so the RAID array really doesn't get used much. I didn't build/choose the components, which is why I have a RAID in the first place; given the choice, I'd rather have not had it!

Thoughts welcome.

Thoughts:

Makes me wonder if it's really hardware raid, as opposed to firmware. The question of course is: what's the SATA controller?

That would probably be a really bad idea. I would break the mirror under Windows, resize the partitions using Windows and rebuild the mirror, make new partitions (actually "volumes") with Windows, and then use them with Linux.

Shouldn't be a problem for one OS and multiple partitions, especially for RAID 1, but different OS's using the different partitions, that I would recommend against. While Linux can certainly read and write to Windows RAID, I'd give it it's own partition and let it do it's own RAID and vice versa. Safer that way. Keep Windows out of your Linux filesystem as much as possible.

Thanks for replying! I was going to bump this today Using the Intel Matrix Storage Console (which sees the individual drives and their RAID setup, as well as giving me the option of changing the RAID type etc.), it says the controller is: Intel(R) 631xESB/632xESB SATA RAID Controller.Is the Windows Disk Management tool capable of resizing? I thought it could only create and destroy, not resize partitions (or volumes)?I would "like" to try and use Vista 64bit (work software demands Windows, and 32bit is starting to show its age, for me at least), so how would dual booting XP and Vista on the same RAID 1 array go? I've fired up the Vista installer to see what it makes of the RAID, and it sees a single NTFS partition, which it doesn't give the option to resize. Thus my original question of resizing the NTFS and creating a second NTFS partition, into which I'd install Vista.

There is an alternative which I could explore for the Linux install: I have another disk in my machine which currently has 3 partitions on it, two of which are being used, one not. I think Windows dislikes being installed on anything other than the first partition of the master disk, but I'm pretty certain Linux has no qualms about it. Is that correct?

The Intel Storage Matrix is a fake RAID/firmware device; you'll need to use dmraid under Linux. There's a few threads about dmraid and Slackware here at LQ.

The Windows Disk Management can resize volumes (or at least extend them) under some circumstances but not others. From what I understand, it depends on whether the RAID was a "basic" disk converted to "dynamic" or created "dynamic". Dynamic disks under XP are a different structure than under Vista. Vista uses a GPT label. But you're probably right: you'll probably have to destroy and rebuild - gives you an opportunity to test your bare metal recovery tools! The nice thing about doing that on 1/2 the broken mirror is that if it doesn't work, you still have the functional system to boot off the other 1/2.

I don't know much about Vista, let alone Vista 64 bit, so can't help you much. I suspect that if it sees one NTFS partition, it sees the RAID 1 properly but won't resize it because it isn't a native Vista dynamic disk. I would therefore redo all the volumes/partitions under XP, if you go that route. There's an excellent chance of losing everything during the process, so make sure you have your bare metal recovery ready.

It would be saner and easier to use a separate disk for Linux if you have one, especially if it is set up as a "basic" disk with normal partitions. You're right, Linux has no qualms about being anywhere.

Disregard the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs; I was a little distracted by the cat throwing up and my mom calling me and buying a kegerator...multitasking feh!

Vista and XP install a driver for the ISM, so they see it as one drive just like hardware RAID.