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→Mirroring Boot and System Volumes on an MBR Disk from the Command Prompt
== Mirroring Boot and System Volumes on an MBR Disk from the Command Prompt ==
The system and boot volumes on an MBR disk may also be mirrored from the command prompt using the '''diskpart''' tool. Begin by listing the disks attached to the system using the diskpart ''list disk'' command:
<pre>
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 30 GB 15 GB *
* Disk 1 Online 17 GB 17 GB *
</pre>
In the above output disk 0 is the current system disk and disk 1 is the disk to used as the shadow system disk. If the disks are not yet dynamic they need to be converted before the remainder of the mirroring set up and can be completed:
<pre>
DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> convert dynamic
DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to dynamic format.
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> convert dynamic
DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to dynamic format.
</pre>
Next, we need to select the system volume on disk 0. To obtain a list of volumes, select the disk and use the ''list volume'' command:
<pre>
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Simple 15 GB Healthy System
Volume 1 D DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
</pre>
In the above example the system volume is listed as ''Volume 0''. To mirror this volume, select the volume and then add disk as a mirror using the ''add disk='' command:
<pre>
DISKPART> select volume 0
Volume 0 is the selected volume.
DISKPART> add disk=1
DiskPart succeeded in adding a mirror to the volume.
</pre>
This will initiate the resynching process which may take some time depending on the size of the system volume. When a ''list volume'' command is run the volume will be listed as ''Rebuild'' until the resynching is complete:
<pre>
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Mirror 15 GB Rebuild System
Volume 1 D DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
</pre>
When the ''Status'' changes to ''Healthy'' the mirroring is complete. Next time the system is rebooted the mirror will be listed in the boot menu as ''Microsoft Windows Server 2008 - secondary plex''.
== Mirroring Boot and System Volumes on a GPT Disk ==
