How to Setup a Mirrored Array in Windows 2012

This is a software RAID Level 1 in Windows 2012, which means that two or more disks are holding the exact same data.

The hard drives are constantly kept in sync in real time, in case one of the disks fails, Mirroring is not a backup solution. In my tutorial I’m using 2 Unallocated/unformatted 50 GB hard drives. The same process applies to larger HDD’s.

1. Go to Server Manager select Tools and click on Computer Management from the drop down menu.

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2. Then select Disk Management

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3. Now notice that Disk 1 and Disk 2 are in Unallocated state.

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4. Right click on the Disk 1 or Disk 2 and select New Mirrored Volume… from the drop-down menu.

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5. On the wizard, click Next to continue

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6. Under Available: select the drive or drives you want to hold the mirrored array and click Add. Note: You can add as many drives as you want. Click Next.

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7. Once you select the disk, click add then click on Next button.

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8. Now Assign a drive letter, and then click Next.

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9. Now Select the File system: NTFS, Re-name the Volume label to your choice, then check-mark Perform quick format and then click Next.

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10. Then click Finish to start formatting and Sync the drives.

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11. A warning will pop up telling you that the drives will be converted to dynamic disks. Click Yes

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12. Once done, you can see the mirrored drives as a new Volume (E:) in the Disk management console.

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Miguel

I started this tech blog back in 2011 as a place to write down processes I took to fix my client systems and network. Now I write some tips and tricks to help others with the tech issues that one might encounter.

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