Hi,

I have 2 disks in my server running windows server 2003 , setup for disk mirroring (RAID1) which was setup before i started here. I have this feeling that the raid array has been setup through some third party software that was supplied with the IDE raid controller as both disks read and write simultaneously but I cannot find where the raid has been setup, I have looked in windows disk management and in the raid controller bios but could not find anything. I can see that there is some software that is alerting me that one of the disk is faulty but when i try to open it it will not open, and i think the raid array may have been setup through this third party software that i do not have access to. I have 2 questions:

1. What would be the consequence of me creating a disk mirror through the array controller bios (hardware array) if there is already a software array setup?

2. If there is a raid1 array setup (disk mirroring) - and i break the raid array, do both disks become unusable?

If the Windows Disk Management snapin shows the disks as basic disks, the mirror is not through the OS.

If it is not mirrored through Windows then it is mirrored via the IDE interface bios or a snapin created by the IDE interface manufacturer. All the raid adapters I have used allow you to break the mirror without harm.

If you already have a mirror, do not create one through the Windows Disk Management snapin or the IDE interface bios. Find out how the mirror was created before you move ahead. Backup before making any moves.