Options for shared Linux & Windows RAID1?
 

I would like a single stable RAID1 mirror to access from Windows & Linux. There are 4 hard drives:
System
Mirror A
Mirror B
Backup

I want A and B to be setup as RAID1. OSes will be installed on the System drive (not RAID) and the Backup drive is not RAID either.

The BIOS RAID settings for my mobo uses "Intel Rapid Storage Technology".

When I made the BIOS change from to RAID, Win7 will no longer boot (blue screen: but this is a symptom noted on Intel's documentation says that I must re-install Windows. no biggie.)

However on Linux (Mint 12) I only see the two seperate un-formatted Hard Drives; not any RAID1 volume.

It appears there do not exist Linux drivers for this Intel RAID setup.

Previously I used Windows 7 software RAID. I did not have any problems seeing or reading the drives in Linux, but they were still seperate drives so I did not write to them and did not have any problem.

Could I juse use some Linux software RAID in conjunction with the Windows7 software RAID as long as they both maintain a RAID1 mirror I will have problems or not?

Thanks.

I believe the problem MAY be that - different OS makers do their software raid in different ways.
When I had a dual boot requirement - some time ago - I decided in the end to use a real hardware raid controller - Adaptec/DPT/Mylex etc.
Then all the "Raid stuff" was handled on the controller and my OS's were completely oblivious.
Course - you may not want the expense. But.. in terms of simplicity - that's the way I would go.

Dave

I was hoping not...a true hardware raid controller seems to be >$140

Thanks

Update:
Ok I found a post similar to my situation (though it looks like they are trying to boot from the disk): http://superuser.com/questions/34955...dows-and-linux

The firmware RAID I have is this 'Intel RST' (Rapid Storage Technology). Here is what the poster had to say about Linux:
This makes it sound like there are drivers for Linux that will recognize this Intel RST firmware...but I have no idea how to install them properly. When I go to 'Additional Drivers' in Linux Mint 12 all it shows me is my NVidia drivers.

Update 2:
After installing mdadm, no luck in detecting the RAID. After installing dmraid however, I now see the RAID1 device file in /dev/mapper and when I look at the Disk utility I can see both drives separately still, but they do say they are RAID devices now...
I'm hoping that once I re-install Windows 7 and format the mirror then they will appear as a single drive in Linux?

Seems to be working after re-installing Windows 7 and formatting on each system.

I first formatted in Windows 7 which gave me access to the drive in Linux but the Disk Utility was still showing it as an unformatted partition. I restarted into Windows and removed the volume, then went back to Linux and formatted as NTFS. When I went back to Windows the drive was there but un-formatted so I reformatted in Windows and created a text file. Back in Linux the drive and file appears normal so I think all is well :)

Hi,

I couldn't figure out how many drives you have - 4 or 6 ?
like:
1st- sys
2nd + 3rd - raid1
4th - backup

or
1st - sys
2nd + 3rd - raid 1
4th + 5th - raid 1
6th - backup

I would suggest you to buy a Real HW RAID card to utilize it properly in Linux and Windows, but ... the price ... yes, I know it's quite high,
maybe something like this seems reasonable price if you can use PCIe cards in your computer.

But if it works for you now then it's ok for me (I wouldn't use SW raid in linux and win together)

Just remember that NTFS doesn't have the same concepts/implementation of ownerships * perms that Linux does ...
You'll have to keep that in mind when using Linux programs to access it.

Sorry, I see how that was confusing: It is just 4 drives.

I see what you mean about NTFS file system...

How is Windows support for other file systems (ext4, ext3?).

If i am to change file systems now it would take a couple hours to backup and reformat- The transfer rate with this fakeRAID is not so great. About 35MB/s in Linux (dmraid, not sure if mdadm would be better...if I knew how to change to it), and about 45MB/s in Windows. (Speeds based on transferring a ~200GB directory from a 1TB 5400RPM drive to the mirror (2x 500GB 7200RPM))

Also my BIOS now hangs for 30 seconds after memory check before loading SATA devices...