Can vista support raid 5?

I recently switched from server 2008 to vista ultimate x86 due to teh fact i want to use my dual xeon more as a workstation then a server.. but i lost my raid 5 i had setup in 2008.. tried to reactivate it and it failed and i lost all my data.. i am using a fasttrak tx4 ide raid board 4x160 sata 151 drives in raid 5... I tried to resetup the raid in vista and it only has options for raid 0,1,0+1 but i really want 5 due to the fact i am putting a lot of data on it and i dont want 0 due to the increased risk of data loss due tot eh age of these drives nad possibility of them going bad.. but i cant figure out how to setup the raid 5 or find any real answer if it is possible or not... any idea?

 

It's not as safe to do a RAID 5 rebuild via the software drivers in the OS, and as RAID is hardware based, I usually do any rebuild/changes via the RAID card/chip's BIOS. If your RAID card implements RAID 5, that's where you'll find it.

The RAID software driver that interfaces with Windows, should also be checked for updates. If you've updated Vista, recently, you should go to the Promise/FastTrak website and update the software driver.

 

And to answer your question, "Can vista support raid 5?", the answer is, Vista does not care. Vista sees the array as a single drive anyway. So as prometheos noted, you need to ensure you have the right drivers for your controller.

 

I probably need to change that then since i setup in the raid card bios that each drive is raid 1+0 on its own array then i have vista striping those arrays.. probably should set it up as a 4+0 array in the bios huh?

 

I have never seen RAID 4 - write performance is not good enough. I'd do what is necessary to support RAID5.

 

Sorry i posted that incorrect.. it wouldnt be raid 4... the bios lists it as raid 4+0 but really it is an array with 4 drives in it.. basically i set each drive as raid 1+0 as its own array, then let windows manage the raid 0 on the drives...
I need a new IDE raid card to get raid5 working and not sure it is worth the 18 bucks since the data i am putting on the raid array is not that important.. it would suck to loose it but thats the risk i am taking... If 1 of these drives goes i bet more then one will go at the same time leaving my with no difference betwen 0 and 5..

 

Part of being a system administrator is weighing the costs of the robustness levels, against the value of the data on drives. If a business, data integrity is most important. The data may be worth 1000s times more than the cost of a few drives. More speed might get you a pat on the back, lost data may get you fired. If speed is the only concern, say for a game server, then you can use a RAID built for that function.

 

I am running a basic media server for my own person use both via my internal network (pair of linksys wrt54gs flashed with ddwrt) and via orb to 2 terminals and an original xbox moded with xbmc.. the raid drives are basically holding all the TV series i have backed up.. hense not vital data.. i would like raid 5 but not sure the cost is worth it anymore..

 

For old TV shows? It does not sound like it.