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Configuring RAID 5 Using Windows Server 2008 Disk Management
== Configuring RAID 5 Using Windows Server 2008 Disk Management ==
A Windows Server 2008 RAID 5 configuration may be set up using the Disk Management snap-in. This is accessed either from the Server Manager or Computer Management tools. To launch the Server Manager, open the Start menu and click on the Server Manager option, or click on the Server Manager icon in the task bar. Alternatively launch Computer Management from Start -> All Programs -> Administration Tools -> Computer Management or run '''compmgmt.csc''' at the command prompt or in a Run dialog. In all cases the Disk Management tool canbe found under the ''Storage'' category.
As previously noted, RAID 5 implementation requires a minimum of 3 disk drives. For the purposes of this tutorial a system containing four disk drives is assumed. In this scenario, disk 0 is the system disk and disks 1 though 3 are available for use in the RAID 5 configuration. Before proceeding the disks will need to be initialized using either the MBR or GPT partition style. Assuming these prerequisites are met the first step is to right click on one of the 3 disks in the Disk Management graphical view. In the resulting popup menu select the ''New RAID-5 Volume...'' option to invoke the ''New RAID-5 Volume'' wizard. On the wizard's welcome page click on the ''Next'' button to proceed to the ''Disk Selection'' screen. This screen contains a list of disk drives available for inclusion in the disk array together with a list of selected disks. Currently only the current disk is included in the ''Selected'' list. Two more disks must be added to the selected disks before the RAID 5 array can be built. Select disks from the ''Available'' list and click on the ''Add>'' button to add the disk to the selected list. Once sufficient disks (in this case disks 1, 2 and 3) are selected the ''Next'' button will activate to allow the remainder of the configuration to be completed. Note that disk 0 (the system disk) is not included in the RAID 5 array:

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