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Setting up RAID (Windows)

This topic explains how to set up RAID arrays on Windows Server 2022, using RAID 5 as an example.

Background information

For an introduction to RAID, including its levels, advantages, disadvantages, and the minimum number of required volumes, see Setting up RAID (Linux).

Notes

Before you begin, back up your data. Creating a RAID array may initialize your volumes, which could result in data loss.

A system volume stores the operating system and critical system files, which are essential for startup and operation of the system. Therefore, it is not recommended to set up RAID with system volumes.

To ensure optimal performance and compatibility, we recommend using data volumes of the same capacity and specifications to create a RAID array.

Prerequisites

You have an ECS instance with the following basic settings.

Image: Windows Server 2022.

Storage: Three 20-GiB ESSD data volumes attached to the instance.

Network: An Elastic IP Address (EIP) associated with the instance.

Steps

Select "Start > Windows Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management".

If the disks have not been initialized yet, click "OK" to initialize them.

Right-click an unallocated region on any disk and select "New RAID-5 Volume".

tip

The volume options in Disk Management are described as follows:Simple Volume: A simple volume is an area on a basic disk. It can only use the space of one disk, offering no fault tolerance or performance improvement. This volume type is mainly used to divide disk space into logical units for formatting the file system and storing data.

Spanned Volume: This type of volume combines the unallocated space of multiple disks into one logical volume, thereby extending storage capacity. This makes it easier for users to manage and use the space uniformly.

Striped Volume: A striped (RAID 0) volume offers no data redundancy or fault tolerance, but significantly improves I/O performance.

Mirrored Volume: A mirrored (RAID 1) volume requires at least two disks: one stores data, and the other acts as a mirror (50% utilization). If one disk fails, the other continues to operate normally. However, there is no significant improvement in I/O performance.

RAID-5 Volume: A RAID 5 volume requires at least three disks. It essentially combines the advantages of RAID 1 and RAID 0. Its usable capacity is (single disk capacity) × (n-1), where n is the number of disks.

The new volume wizard opens. Click "Next".

Add all the free space that you want to include in the RAID-5 volume to the "Selected" area on the right. Note that at least three disks are required for RAID 5. Then, click "Next".

Assign a drive letter to the new volume and click "Next".

Set the volume label (e.g., "RAID 5") and file system parameters. Then, click "Next".

Review the settings and click "Finish". In the confirmation dialog that appears, click "Yes".

Open "This PC". If you see a drive labeled "RAID 5 (D:)", then the disks have been successfully initialized and the task is complete.

Last updated: 2026.06.11 16:26:02