Will a Mirror Raid work under DOS?

[Alan Wood]

I have a computer running a database program in DOS after the computer starts up in Win98.
For reliability I would like to put two drives in a mirrored RAID array so that if one drive fails the data remains intact I know that this will work under Windows but will it work in DOS?

Two other points. The motherboard can accept both ATA and SATA drives. The motherboard is about 3 years old so it was probably designed for SATA1 drives. Will SATA2 drives still work although with the original SATA1 data transfer rate? Also if I transfer the image from the ATA drive to the new mirrored SATA array and then remove the ATA drive should the computer start up as normal or do I have to make any changes in the BIOS?

Thanks

Alan Wood

[psychy]

I have no idea buddy but me thinks this is the wrong section to post it into anyway.

[Stoo]

Moved

[Vimeous]

I have a computer running a database program in DOS after the computer starts up in Win98.
For reliability I would like to put two drives in a mirrored RAID array so that if one drive fails the data remains intact I know that this will work under Windows but will it work in DOS?

Two other points. The motherboard can accept both ATA and SATA drives. The motherboard is about 3 years old so it was probably designed for SATA1 drives. Will SATA2 drives still work although with the original SATA1 data transfer rate? Also if I transfer the image from the ATA drive to the new mirrored SATA array and then remove the ATA drive should the computer start up as normal or do I have to make any changes in the BIOS?

Thanks

Alan Wood

In your configuration I assume you will need hardware RAID where the RAID controller sets and configures the RAID array. This should present a single volume to your chosen OS.
However always check the minimum spec of any card you're looking at to confirm is compatibility with your chosen config.
Win98 is a very old OS now so I'm not certain how it will react to RAID arrays. However Win2k and XP both require you to provide the RAID controller drivers on disk during the OS install. I'm uncertain if this is an option under Win98 or if the card you choose will supprt the OS either.

With regard to SATA and PATA drives.
SATA2 is backwardly compatible with SATA1 abd will run at the lower transfer rate.
If you clone/ghost your PATA drive onto the new volume the it can be made bootable. Make sure that when you do the transfer you set the partition you want to boot to as active and plug it into the first of your SATA ports.

Potential software you can use for cloning your drive will include Ghost, Partition Magic or Acronis Trueimage.

I suspect I've missed something here ..... anyone?

[Jay]

Get the correct card and it will work the problem you will run into is cost and FAT32

[aidanjt]

Only a fully hardware RAID card has a chance of working if Win9x/DOS drivers are available. A better idea might be to run a WinNT series OS and VMware running Win98 on top of whatever redundency system you want that way.

[peterb]

Qualified yes. Using a deduicated hardware card so the raid array is transparent to the operating system will work. Basically the array appears as a hard drive - the composition and control of that array is done by the controller.

If the mobo controller supports RAID - then probably - again the bios/cpu/drive controller chip define the array and it should be possible to run native DOS on it. I say should because much depends on how the RAID is implemented on the mobo and whether the operating system installer will recognise the raid without its own drivers.

If you were loading native DOS (6.22) from floppy disks, I would expect it to work as that will go through the bios routines - however, until you try it...

SATA 2 is backward compatable, but some (all?) drives have a jumper to limit the transfer rate to SATA 1 speeds anyway, just in case there are problems. TBH there are other limiting factors that will prevent you from getting those speeds - certainly art a sustained rate - anyway.

[Alan Wood]

Thanks for the replies. The raid controller is built into the motherboard. I have to use Win98 as I have to drop into DOS to run the excellent database program. Any further suggestions?

Alan

[Alan Wood]

I forgot to mention that the motherboard is an ASRock K7VT4A Pro

[FifthFreedom]

Sounds like time to update your methods to me.

Sooner or later the "If it aint broke, don't fix it" attitude will hold you back.

I would just go buy Miscrosoft Access and Windows XP and then you should have no problems.

[streetster]

is it not much easier to download DOSBox and run the software in an emulated dos environment within windows (98/2k/xp/vista)?

[aidanjt]

is it not much easier to download DOSBox and run the software in an emulated dos environment within windows (98/2k/xp/vista)?

That'll do it too.

[aidanjt]

Thanks for the replies. The raid controller is built into the motherboard. I have to use Win98 as I have to drop into DOS to run the excellent database program. Any further suggestions?

Alan

Out of curiosity, what does this database program do that others don't?.. This software is undoubtibly very limited in its capibilities and ability to fully utilise modern hardware either way.

[directhex]

No. Sorry, but without a proper, HARDWARE card, this is all pie-in-the-sky. That means absolutely not using your onboard RAID. Even using SATA is pretty unlikely. You *MIGHT* be able to boot to the version of DOS included with Windows, but not any standalone version.

Your VIA VT8237/6421/6410 controller has *NO* MS-DOS support. I don't blame them. Standalone MS-DOS was last released in June 1994 - and last released as a core component of Windows in September 2000.

[directhex]

Hang on a second... "I have a computer running a database program in DOS after the computer starts up in Win98." - are you booting this machine into DOS at all? Is your DOS app simply running in a window in Windows?

[Alan Wood]

Thanks for all your replies. The database program is Open Access (not Access) written by SPI of San Diego (now bust) The beauty of the program is the way in which I can get it to run through a list of items in a database, and depending on comparisons, write out a new dataset. The last time that I looked at Windows programs they could not do that. I wrote one particular program for a boarding kennels and it was for reliability when I might be away that I was looking for a mirror raid. The program by the way does not need any special hardware but the real problem which could well arise in the future is that lack of new printer drivers. The program requires a printer with PCL support. Few people have knowledge of Open Access so there could be difficulties when I have shuffled off this mortal coil! Perhaps I should look again at Windows programs. It will be a major job rewriting it. If there are any software people out there with knowledge of database programs perhaps they could comment. In the meantime perhaps it would be a sensible precaution to fit a new reliable PATA drive as a singe drive. A friend has suggested a Seagate Raptor drive which are built to a high spec.