Microsoft® Windows Server 2003: Administrator’s Companion

Overview of Disk Management

Hard disk storage has been the usual long-term storage method for modern computers, from the mainframe to the desktop, and that’s not likely to change, even considering the richer storage options that have been added to Windows Server 2003. This section looks at each of the new facilities.

RAID RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is a term used to describe a technique that has gone from an esoteric high-end solution to a normal assumption on most servers. Seven or eight years ago, RAID was mostly unheard of, although the original paper-defining RAID was written in 1988. Until recently, most server systems relied on expensive, higher-quality hard disks—backed up frequently. Backups are still crucial, but now ...