Windows Software RAID: 0, 1, and 5
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Windows Server supports software RAID-0, RAID-1, and RAID-5 through Disk Management. RAID-0 needs at least two disks and gives no redundancy, RAID-1 needs at least two disks and mirrors data, RAID-5 needs at least three disks and adds fault tolerance with parity. Open Disk Management with diskmgmt.msc to set any of them up. All three erase the disks you use, and all three rely on dynamic disks, which are legacy: Storage Spaces is Microsoft's current recommendation for a new build.
Comparing RAID 0, 1, and 5
| RAID 0 | RAID 1 | RAID 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum disks | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Redundancy | None, one failed disk means total data loss | Full mirror, survives one disk failure | Parity-based, survives one disk failure |
| Usable capacity | Sum of all disks | Capacity of one disk | Capacity of all disks minus one |
| Performance | Highest, no redundancy overhead | Good read performance, write matches a single disk | Good, but degrades notably during a rebuild |
| Typical use case | Non-critical workloads where speed and capacity matter more than safety | Workloads where fault tolerance matters more than capacity or speed | Workloads where capacity and cost matter more than raw performance |
Read this before you start: Every procedure on this page destroys data. The disks you add to a striped, mirrored or RAID-5 volume must hold nothing you still need, because creating the volume erases them. Converting a disk to dynamic is also not cleanly reversible: to go back to a basic disk you have to delete every volume on it first. Back up anything you care about before you begin.
Open Disk Management
Launch Disk Management
Press Windows key + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter. All three RAID levels below are configured from this same tool.
RAID 0: striping, no redundancy
RAID-0 combines two or more drives to increase performance and capacity, but provides no fault tolerance: a single drive failure means the loss of all data on the array. It suits non-critical systems where price-to-performance matters more than resilience. The disks you select must hold nothing you still need, because creating the striped volume erases them.
Convert the disks to dynamic
Right-click each disk you want to use and select Convert to Dynamic Disk. Select the disks (for example Disk 1 and Disk 2) and confirm.
Start the New Striped Volume wizard
Right-click one of the converted disks and select New Striped Volume, then click Next.
Select the disks
Add the second disk so both are selected for the striped volume.
Assign a drive letter
Choose file system and volume name
Optionally enable quick format, then finish the wizard.
RAID 1: mirroring, single-disk fault tolerance
RAID-1 is most often implemented with two drives. Data on the drives is mirrored, so the array survives a single drive failure without data loss. It suits scenarios where reliability matters more than storage capacity or speed. The disks you select must hold nothing you still need, because creating the mirrored volume erases them. The wizard also converts them to dynamic disks, which you can't undo without deleting every volume on them.
Start the New Mirrored Volume wizard
Right-click one of the disks and select New Mirrored Volume.
Select both disks
Choose the two disks you want to mirror.
Assign a drive letter
Name the volume and finish
Optionally enable quick format, then finish the wizard.
RAID 5: striping with parity
RAID-5 provides fault tolerance and increased read performance. At least three drives are required. The array can tolerate a single drive failure, reconstructing the missing data from parity, though performance drops noticeably while it does. It suits scenarios where capacity and cost matter more than raw speed. The disks you select must hold nothing you still need, because creating the RAID-5 volume erases them.
Convert the disks to dynamic
Right-click each disk and select Convert to Dynamic Disk. Select all the disks you'll use (for example Disks 1, 2, and 3) and confirm.
Start the New RAID-5 Volume wizard
Right-click one of the converted disks and select New RAID-5 Volume, then click Next.
Select the disks
Add the remaining disks (Disks 1, 2, and 3 in this example) so all three are selected.
Assign a drive letter
Choose file system and volume name
Optionally enable quick format, then finish the wizard. The system then initialises the array, formats the volume, and resyncs data across the disks.
Quick format vs. full format
Quick format deletes files from the partition and rebuilds the file system, but doesn't fully erase existing data. Full format erases all data, rebuilds the file system, and scans the partition for bad sectors, which takes considerably longer.