1. FAT 16 Specs(Configuration, Connectivity, Performance, Security, Recovery)
2. FAT 32 Specs (Configuration, Connectivity, Performance, Security, Recovery)
3. NTFS Specs (Configuration, Connectivity, Performance, Security, Recovery)
4. Fault Tolerance Specs (Configuration, Connectivity, Performance, Security, Recovery)
READ ME: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article ID: Q162846 Preparing to Create or Modify a Fault Tolerant Set
5. Disk Administrator - Creating Volume Sets, Stripe Sets, and Disk Mirror / Duplex (Configuration)
6. Disk Administrator - Recovering From a Mirror / Duplex Failure (Recovery)
7. Disk Administrator - Recovering From a Stripe Set w Parity Failure (Recovery)
8. Windows NT Boot(able) Disk (Recovery and Configuration)
9. Emergency Repair Disk, DISKSAVE, FDISK (Recovery and Configuration)
10. Break Glass in Case of an Emergency! (Recovery and Configuration)
11. Interdependencies

FAT16 - Optimizing Disk Space (bigger the partition = bigger cluster size = more wasted disk space)

(V)FAT Support:

• Maximum Volume size = 2GB (4GB)
• Maximum File Size = 2GB (4GB)
• Max. Files in the Root = 512
• Max. Files in non-root = no limit
• File level security = NO
• LFN support = Yes
• Self repair = NO
• Transaction Log capabilities = NO
• File Level Compression = NO
• File Level Security = NO
• Dual File Fork Support (Macintosh) = NO
• POSIX support = NO

When to use FAT:

• For partitions of 500 MB or smaller (performance degrades as the size increases).
• FAT partitions are required for Windows NT to dual boot with other operating systems
• Installing NT on RISC computer ; system partition must be partitioned with FAT at least 2MB in size. At least one FAT partition is required to install and operate Windows NT on RISC-based systems.
• Largely heterogeneous networks: variety of versions for DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows NT, many flavors of Unix, and Macintosh are available. Numerous other, more exotic operating systems also support FAT file structures. For this reason, Microsoft recommends using FAT-formatted volumes with Windows NT Workstation (or Server) whenever many different types of clients must exchange data through a single file system.

Converting FAT to NTFS and FAT32

• CONVERT.EXE can be used to convert FAT to NTFS -- NOT NTFS to FAT
• "convert drive: /fs:ntfs /v"
• The "/v" means "verbose mode." If anyone knows what 'verbose mode' is, email me with the answer and I'll send you a cookie :-)
• Windows 98 comes with a FAT to FAT32 conversion utility. Windows 95 OSR2 gives you an option when entering into FDISK from the DOS prompt.

FAT32 - Optimizing Disk Space (bigger the partition = bigger cluster size = more wasted disk space)

FAT32 Support (Windows 95 OSR2 ; Windows 98 only OSs that support directly):

• Maximum Volume size = 2 TB
• Maximum File Size = 16EB theoretical ; 4GB-64GB actual
• Max. Files in the Root = No limit
• Max. Files in non-root = No limit
• File level security = No
• LFN support = Yes
• Self repair = Partial (boot records capture some file system data and mirroring capabilities)
• Transaction Log capabilities = No
• File Level Compression = No
• File Level Security = No
• Dual File Fork Support (Macintosh) = No
• POSIX support = No
• Windows 95 OSR2 FAQ

NTFS - File System (bigger the partition = bigger cluster size = more wasted disk space)

NTFS support:

• Maximum Volume size = 16EB ;
• Maximum File Size = 16EB theoretical ; 4GB-64GB actual
• Max. Files in the Root = No limit
• Max. Files in non-root = No limit
• File level security = Yes
• LFN support = Yes
• Self repair = Yes
• Transaction Log capabilities = Yes
• File Level Compression = Yes
• File Level Security = Yes
• Dual File Fork Support (Macintosh) = Yes
• POSIX support = Yes

When to use NTFS:

• Partitions of 400 MB or larger
• NT is only OS in use
• Using Services for MAC for file sharing
• File level security is required
• Permissions must be preserved while migrating directories and files from NetWare server
• File compression required
• Local security required

NTFS Notables

• Note: fdisk will not remove an NTFS logical drive in extended partition. You will have to use NT setup disks.
• NT is the only OS NT that can directly access NTFS partitions. NTFS information is read-able across the network by many operating systems (including DOS, Win-dows 3.x and 95, as well as other operating systems)
• An NTFS  partition larger than 4GB CANNOT be created during installation because of FAT limitations. "...it can be done after an installation by using Disk Administrator. If you are upgrading from NT 3.51, do this before you upgrade using Disk Administrator (remember, you can't touch the system or boot partition) ..." Sooooo, how this would work is a mystery to me. Basically, for a new install, what this means is: plug in a second hard disk (to a machine already running NT), have Disk Administrator format it, mark it as active. Power down, and take the newly formatted disk out before you reboot and put it in the PC your doing the NT installation on ... have not had try this but seems like the only logical solution. Probably want to back up original configuration (on the machine you are using to format the hard disk) before putting in second disk as Disk Administrator is stubborn about "forgetting" that a second drive was added :-)
• Long Filename Notes (95/NT considerations)
• HPFS Support Notes - (There is no more support for it)

RAID 0 -means- NOT fault tolerant. Windows NT SERVER only supports RAID 0, 1 and 5. NT Workstation natively supports RAID 0 AKA, it does not have fault tolerance -- built in anyway.
RAID Level 2 - Disk Striping with error correction code (ECC)
RAID Level 3 - Disk Striping with ECC stored as parity
RAID Level 4 - Disk Striping large blocks; parity stored on one drive

Creating a Volume Set

• Select area of free space (or select a formatted partition with a drive letter assigned to it)
• Holding down the CTRL key, select a second area of free space (can be on same physical disk)
• Partition > Create Volume Set (for a formatted partition, "Extended Volume Set")
• Select Total size of volume set
• Volume set is created and Disk Administrator automatically assigns a drive letter to it
• Commit Changes now

Extending a Volume Set when a Volume Set is already created

• Select the Volume Set
• Holding down the CTRL key, select a another area of free space (can be on same physical disk)
• Partition > Extend Volume Set
• Volume set is extended
• Commit Changes now

Creating a Stripe Set without Parity

• Select area of free space
• Holding down the CTRL key, select a second area of free space (must be on separate physical disk)
• Partition > Create Stripe Set
• Select Total size of Stripe set
• Stripe set is created and Disk Administrator automatically assigns a drive letter to it
• Commit Changes now

Creating a Disk Mirror / Duplex

• Select a formatted partition with a drive letter assigned to it.
• Holding down the CTRL key, select area of free space (must be equal to in size) (must be on separate physical disk)
• Fault Tolerance > Establish Mirror
• Mirror / Duplex is created (drive letter is formatted partition with a drive letter assigned to it)
• Commit Changes now

Creating a Stripe Set with Parity

• Calculate the size
• 1/3 of total space is used to store parity in Disk Striping with Parity (3 disks) ; 1/4 of the total space is used to store parity in Disk Striping with parity (4 disks) etc.
• Disk Striping with parity is cumulation of most available space on three or more drives. Largest space on each drive is equal to smallest space available on smallest drive.
• Select area of free space (on separate physical disk)
• Holding down the CTRL key, select a second area of free space (must be on separate physical disk)
• Holding down the CTRL key, select a third area of free space (must be on separate physical disk)
• Fault Tolerance > Create Stripe Set with Parity
• Commit Changes now

Note: It looks easy enough, but recovery in RL (real life) is a whole different story. Disaster recovery is a very, very complex undertaking and demands careful planning and testing both at the hardware and software level -- do it -- before you actually have to!

Overview

• When original member of disk mirror or duplex set fails, NT -- "automatically" -- uses the other member of the set to continue operation.
• Whenever a member of a mirror or duplex set fails, you must replace the failed member and reestablish the mirror or duplex, to continue to have data protection.
• NT Server will be unable to reboot at all if the original set member fails, because the BOOT.INI file points to that member (it’s necessary to hand-edit the ARC name in the boot file to point to the other member of the set to restart the system at all). You will have to boot with your Fault Tolerance boot disk to regain access to the system to run Disk Administrator utility to repair the set.

Disk Mirroring: Booting from a Shadow Mirror Drive. When deciding to create a mirror of the Operating System partition, make sure you meet the following requirements if you plan to boot from the shadow mirror drive. Failing to meet ANY of the below requirements may prevent booting into Windows NT from the shadow drive:

• You must (make) have a Windows NT Fault tolerant boot disk. NT mirrors partitions and information contained in the Bios parameter block in the master boot sector of the partition on the primary drive may not be valid for the partition you are mirroring to on the shadow drive. The bios parameter block contains vital information required for booting and is partition specific.
• Primary drive and shadow drive MUST be identical in make, model, and in many cases firmware revision. This is to ensure that the drive geometry is identical and is being translated identically.
• Primary and shadow drive must be attached to identical controllers with the same BIOS and Firmware revisions. Both controllers must have translation options set identically - either both enabled or both disabled.
• Primary and shadow drive must be identically partitioned for the location of the operating system partition and partitions before the operating system partition must also be identical. If an EISA partition exists on the primary drive, an identical partition must exist on the shadow drive.
• Shadow drive must contain a primary partition that is marked active and contains a valid Boot.ini file along with NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM.
• Primary drive must be inaccessible or disconnected while booting back into Windows NT using the shadow drive or a STOP 0x1E will occur.
• Shadow drive must contain valid boot code in the master boot record (MBR)
• One final note: and this ain't in the books: When you mirror the system and boot partition, an interesting thing happens. You have 2 disks that are marked as "active" and have primary partitions. What do you think happens on the first reboot? You got it -- the two disks go head to head and you can't boot. The disks just keep spinning their ... uh .. wheels :-). The little kludge you may have to perform is to pull the IDE cable from the mirrored disk for a second and then plug it back in. Like I said, it ain't in the books :-)

Fixing Broken Mirrors And Duplexes

• Assuming you are able to boot into NT, Break the mirror. ... Disk Administrator >  Select drive that was part of the mirror > Fault Tolerance >Break Mirror
• Reassign the drive letter to the remaining member of the (now broken) mirror/duplex set. For example, if Drives 0 and 1 are mirrored and assigned drive letter C, and Drive 0 fails, you must break the mirrored set, and then assign drive letter C to Drive 1.
• Replace the failed drive and create a partition on the new drive equal in size to the drive to be mirrored.
• 
  Recreate the mirror by using the Establish Mirror option from the Fault Tolerance drop-down menu. (Note: This effectively switches the roles of the previous original and mirrored drives. Once NT reboots, the mirror set will be rebuilt using the new member, but the original drive now will be Drive 1 -- based on this example.

Overview

• Once the device fails, the system is able to rebuild data on the fly from parity information stored on the still operational devices. Because regeneration is CPU-intensive, performance slows dramatically. However, the system continues to operate, even with a failed set member.

Fixing Failed Members of a Stripe Set

• Fix the hardware by replacing or repairing the failed drive.
• Disk Administrator > create a new partition equal in size to the one that failed (if the original disk is brought back online without losing its partition structure, skip this step).
• Select the stripe set and the partition that replaces the failed member (which could be the original partition if it wasn’t destroyed), then select the Regenerate command from the Fault Tolerance drop-down menu. Once NT reboots, the stripe set will be rebuilt by copying parity information to recreate the new member.

Windows NT Boot Disk Fixes - NT boot disk can access a drive that has NTFS or FAT file system installed. Boot disk useful for:

• Corrupted boot sector.
• Corrupted master boot record (MBR).
• Virus infections.
• Missing or corrupt NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM.
• Incorrect NTBOOTDD.SYS driver.
• boot from the shadow of a broken mirror, although you may need to change the BOOT.INI to do that.

Note

• Boot files reside on the System Partition. (System partition is c:\ for DOS). NT system partition must be a primary partition.
• System files reside on the Boot Partition. (Boot partition is where your OS is located). Can be primary partition or logical drive.

Creating a Boot Disk If You Do Not Have Access to a Computer Running Windows NT

• Create a copy of the first Windows NT Setup disk using the DISKCOPY command, and then delete all files on the new disk.
• Copy the NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR files to the new disk.
• Copy BOOTSECT.DOS to the new disk. — only if you need to boot into MS-DOS or another operating system present on your system
• Rename the NTLDR file to SETUPLDR.BIN.
• Create a BOOT.INI file ; working example for single partition IDE drive with Windows NT installed under \WINNT, however, exact value in the [operating systems] section depends on configuration of the Windows NT System you want to boot:
• Start your computer using the floppy disk, and then log on to Windows NT.

Creating a Boot Disk If You Do Have Access to a Computer Running Windows NT

• Format a floppy disk using the Windows NT format utility. You can format it through "My Computer" or by choosing Start > Run > format a:
• ("format a: copies the Windows NT Partition Boot Sector which is required to load the NT boot loader)
• Copy NTLDR from the Windows NT Setup CD-ROM, Windows NT Setup floppy disk, or from a computer running the same version of Windows NT as the computer you want to access with the boot floppy. You may need to expand this file from NTLDR._ to NTLDR by using the following command line: EXPAND NTLDR._ NTLDR
• Copy BOOTSECT.DOS to the new disk. — only if you need to boot into MS-DOS or another operating system present on your system
• Copy the NTDETECT.COM file to the disk.
• Create a BOOT.INI file or copy one from a running Windows NT computer and modify it to match the computer you are trying to access. Note: If you are using scsi(x) in the Boot.ini, copy the correct device driver for the SCSI controller in use on the computer, and then rename it to NTBOOTDD.SYS. If you are using multi(x) in the Boot.ini, you do not need to do this.
• Start your computer using the floppy disk, and then log on to Windows NT.

After you create mirror sets, stripe sets with parity, stripe sets without parity or volume sets, always save the disk configuration information to the Windows NT Emergency Repair Disk. Start > Run > "rdisk /s" If you run the Emergency Repair Disk without updated disk configuration information, it will likely make some partitions inaccessible or make it impossible to start Windows NT.

Emergency Repair Disk includes the System Registry hive. Disk subkey includes:

• # of partitions on each disk
• signature number of the disk
• information on each partition in the disk:
• type of fault tolerant volume the partition is a member of
• current fault tolerant state
• relationship of the partition in the fault tolerant volume
• which fault tolerant set the partition is a member of.

After you create mirror sets, stripe sets with parity, stripe sets without parity or volume sets, always save the disk configuration information save the configuration in Disk Administrator. Partition > Configuration > Save!

Using the Emergency Repair Disk (not bootable)

DISKSAVE.EXE (NT Resource Kit CD)(Works in DOS 5 and later - exactly where you'll need to use it :-)

• Restoring the Master Boot Record
• DISKSAVE:  is what you use to restore the MBR. Operation is straightforward. Save file as "*.dsk"
• Replacing the Master Boot Record
• FDISK: "fdisk /mbr" replaces the master boot record with a new one -- do not do this -- if you have volume sets, stripe sets, etc. As long as there are none, FDISK /MBR is safe and Disk Administrator will just re-sign the disk.
• Last Train Out of Town: DSKPROBE.EXE is another mentioned NT RK utility for this low level crud. A little too low level for my cup of tea but just figured I let you know it's out there.

If  disk configuration is saved in Disk Administrator, it is available to you if you later have to restore it or to be used with the Emergency Repair Disk when repairing a damaged Windows NT system. If disk configuration information has not been saved to the Emergency Repair Disk, and you run the Disk and restore the default system hive, Windows NT will not recognize volumes such as stripe sets, volume sets, and mirror sets of partitions other than the boot or system partition. Disk Administrator will show them as being "single" primary or extended partitions with an unknown file system type. Although the partitions are intact, Windows NT cannot identify their volume or partition type. In this event you can use FTEDIT.EXE (NT Resource Kit CD) to recover Fault Tolerant Disk Configuration. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article ID: Q131658 ; Use Ftedit.exe to Recover Fault Tolerant Disk Configuration

Last Train Out of Town: usually only the NT installation that created a volume set, stripe set, or mirror set recognizes and is able to use that set; however, another installation of Windows NT may be enabled to recognize and use the set if you used  Disk Administrator to save the disk configuration information in the Windows NT installation that created the volume. You can try restoring the information under the new Windows NT installation.

Interdependencies

• Permissions (NTFS)
• Understanding ARC Pathnames Notes
• Common Booting Errors Notes
• NT Backup
• How can I tell which partition failed? Use Event Viewer to look at the system log to determine which partition failed.