The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
- Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
SUMMARY
Volume sets more effectively use memory under Windows NT or Windows NT
Advanced Server by combining free disk space on from one to 32 disks
into a single volume with a single drive letter.
MORE INFORMATION
Here are the important facts about volume sets in Windows NT and Windows
NT Advanced Server:
Characteristics
- Both Windows NT Advanced Server and Windows NT can create and use
volume sets.
- Volume sets provide no fault tolerance; if even one area of disk
space in the set is lost, all the data is lost.
- Volume sets are transparent to the user. When a volume set is created
all areas of free space are assigned the same drive letter.
- Volume sets are the only Windows NT disk partition management option
that allows more than one area of disk space in the set to reside on
the same physical hard disk.
- Volume sets are the only Windows NT disk partition management option
that allows the individual areas of disk space making up the volume
to be of different sizes.
Creating Volume Sets
- Volume sets must be created from free disk space--they cannot be used
with existing partitions.
- To create a volume set, first select free space on 1 to 32 disks, then
select Create Volume Set from the Partition menu in Disk Administrator.
- Shut down and restart the computer. When Windows NT restarts, the volume
set will be created and you can format it for a file system.
- Volume sets are file system independent and can be formatted with any
hard disk file system installed with Windows NT.
- Volume sets can be created on 1 disk or as many as 32.
Configuration Characteristics
- Normally, only the Windows NT installation that created the volume
set will recognize it--other operating systems will not. MS-DOS will
identify the different areas of disk space in the volume set as "Non-
DOS." From within other Windows NT installations, Disk Administrator
will identify the areas of disk space in the volume set as having an
"Unknown" file system.
- Other installations of Windows NT on the same computer can recognize
a volume set created by a different installation of Windows NT by
restoring disk configuration information. See page 529 of the "Windows
NT Advanced Server System Guide" for more information.
- You cannot install Windows NT on an existing volume set. Setup describes
volume set partitions as "Windows NT Fault Tolerance." If you attempt
to select one of these partitions for installation, a message states
that Windows NT does not recognize this partition, and you must delete
it before Setup can use it.
- Volume sets may offer somewhat better performance than input and output
from a single partition, but their main advantage is that they allow
the most efficient use of hard disk space.
REFERENCES
Windows NT Advanced Server System Guide, page 529.
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