How do I do a fresh install of XP Pro on a striped array? Do I prep the hard drives first on another machine using Disk Management, or will the Windows setup program let me use dynamic disks from the outset? Or will setup let me convert basic disks to dynamic and then use them? Windows Help says that the OS can be installed on a striped or spanned array using Windows' own dynamic disk system, but it doesn't really tell you how to do it!

Hmm, I hope someone has info on this, because I would love to know as well. I don't see how it's possible, because that would be a software raid, setup by the OS itself, before the OS is installed and functional. I was thinking about installing on one disk, setting up the software raid on two other disks, then re-installing on the software raid if it was recognized by the OS. Then I said F%@K it because I have a slow ass machine anyway, and my processor would be the bottleneck if I had a faster disk I/O. I think RedHat does something like a software raid as well, so maybe it is possible.

It's a tricky one for sure. I have searched for the answer for a long time before posting here. I am going to try a few things tomorrow, and I will post my results here so check back in 24 hours and hopefully we will both have an answer!

try this http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309044

So far as I know installation of the OS on a striped array requires a RAID controller card either in a PCI slot or on the MOBO. I have three such sytems set up this way for maximum speed. If you have the hardware, you will also need a RAID driver, generally on a floppy, which you will need at an appropriate time during the WinXP setup which windows will ask for. My suggestion of what you want to do based on what you said above is to install by booting from the XP CD and create two partitions on your basic disk. Install WinXP on one which becomes your primary partition and contains the MBR etc. You can make the extended partition a logical drive with its own assigned drive letter. You can do this via disk management under computer management or by accessing this from a command prompt by entering diskmgmt.msc. Now let's say you have one or more extended partitions or have added a new drive. You can right click on your new volume and convert it to a dynamic disk. If you have created a 20GB drive D on a dynamic disk for storing your data files and you add a new 60GB physical drive to your systme, you can extend that existing 20GB volume using all or part of the new disk, creating a 80GB drive D, without requiring you to back up or restore data or change drive letter. This is your spanned volume. You could have also made this a striped volume in which data is stored in equal sized 64 KB strips across multiple dynamic volumes on separte physical drives. Once you have created dynamic disks, right click(from the disk management window)dynamic disk and then choose New volume. In the new volume wizard click next to the welcome screen and select the volume type you wish, simple, spanned, or striped. I suggest you consult written literature since this is really an abbreviated summary due to space and time constraints. Good luck.

Yes, my cat could create a stripped volumn for me, that's no problem. Is there new functionallity in XP, to create the stripped volumn during setup, before installing the OS? I know that RedHat can do it, can XP as well?

Already answered in the first sentence of response four.