Dynamic Volume Types and Features
Simple volume
- A simple volume consists of disk space from a single dynamic disk.
- Extend a simple volume to another disk and it becomes a spanned volume.
- Add a mirror to a simple volume and it becomes a mirrored volume.
- Simple volumes are not fault-tolerant.
- Simple volumes do not provide improved disk I/O performance.
Spanned volume
- A spanned volume consists of disk space from two or more dynamic disks and all volume slices do not need to be equally-sized.
- A spanned volume can be extended as long as unallocated space exists in dynamic disks.
- A spanned volume cannot be mirrored.
- Spanned volumes are not fault-tolerant.
- Spanned volumes do not provide improved disk I/O performance.
Striped volume (RAID0)
- A striped volume resides on two or more dynamic disks and its data is evenly distributed across equally-sized of disk space on each disk.
- Striped volumes usually provide the ability to access data faster than other types of dynamic volumes.
- Striped volumes cannot be mirrored or extended and are not fault-tolerant.
- A striped volume is also known as a RAID 0 volume.
Mirrored volume (RAID1)
- A mirrored volume is a fault-tolerant volume whose data is duplicated on two dynamic disks.
- Mirrored volumes provide data redundancy. When one of the disks fails, the data can still be accessed from the remaining disk.
- Mirrored volumes cannot be extended and do not provide improved disk I/O performance.
- A mirrored volume is also known as RAID 1 volume.
Raid-5 Volume
- A RAID-5 volume is a fault-tolerant volume. Its data and parity are striped across an array of three or more dynamic disks.
- Parity is a calculated value that can be used to reconstruct data after a failure.
- When a dynamic disk fails, the portion of the RAID-5 volume that was on that failed disk can be re-created from the remaining data and the parity.
- RAID-5 volumes cannot be mirrored or extended but provide improved disk I/O performance and enhanced data reliability.
- A RAID-5 volume only exists on computers running Windows Server Operating Systems.
Compare with Three Different Software Raid Array
Volume Name | Striped Volume | Mirrored Volume | RAID-5 Volume |
Tech Name | RAID0 | RAID1 | RAID5 |
Fault Tolerance | Not support | Support | Support |
Improving I/O Performance | Not support | Not support | Support |
Disk Requirement | At least two disks | Only two disks | At least three disks |
Active Volume | The whole disk volume | 50% of whole disk volume | (disk number-1) * a single disk volume |
Volume Name | Striped Volume | Mirrored Volume | RAID-5 Volume |
Dynamic Volume Types Support
Note: The table below lists the operating systems that support certain dynamic volume types.
Simple Volume | Spanned Volume | Striped Volume | Mirrored Volume | RAID5 Volume | |
Dos and Windows 9X | ![]() |
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Windows 2000 Professional | ![]() |
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Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server/Datacenter Server | ![]() |
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Windows XP Home | ![]() |
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Windows XP Professional | ![]() |
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Windows 2003 Small Business Server/Web/Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter Edition | ![]() |
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Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium | ![]() |
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Windows Vista Business/Ultimate/Enterprise | ![]() |
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Windows Server 2008 R2/Datacenter/Enterprise/Standard | ![]() |
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Windows 7 Home Premium/Home Basic/Starter |
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Windows 7 Professional/Unlimited/ Enterprise | ![]() |
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