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Toot

Written by Walker on 2025-01-31 at 13:34

Hey Linux users. I have an eSATA external drive enclsoure that I want to use as a RAID, accessable from both Linux and WIndows.

I have set up the software RAID1 using mdadm and its all good in Linux. But I am not able to mount it in Windows (dual boot system). Windows drive manager is able to see the drives, but not the RAID.

From serach it appears this is not possible. Is there one quick trick to get access the RAID from windows.

[#]linux #windows #raid #mdadm #homelab #storage

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Descendants

Written by dwf on 2025-01-31 at 14:22

@Walker Launch a Linux VM guest from Windows, mount RAID inside VM, share back to host over SMB/NFS?

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Written by Walker on 2025-01-31 at 14:24

@dwf thanks, that is a good idea. I was hoping for a native Windows solution, not requiring a VM.

Maybe mount through WSL? I will give that a try next.

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Written by dwf on 2025-01-31 at 14:51

@Walker I haven't used Windows since WSL became a thing so I have no idea, but a quick search suggests it should indeed be possible. Good luck!

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Written by ᒍᗪᙎ 🇨🇦 on 2025-01-31 at 14:24

@Walker I’m not sure how this is a Linux question, but generally you need drivers with Windows 🤷. Or you could try to share it from the Linux box as a smb share, or whatever Windows supports these days.

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Written by Walker on 2025-01-31 at 14:26

@jdw The system is dual boot, I was hoping to access the RAID from when I am in the Windows partition. I tried WinMD but have no been able to get it to work in Windows11.

https://github.com/maharmstone/winmd

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Written by ᒍᗪᙎ 🇨🇦 on 2025-01-31 at 16:40

@Walker Ah, so smb won’t work as the Linux “box” isn’t running. Still doesn’t feel like a Linux question. Sorry I can’t help.

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Written by Walker on 2025-01-31 at 16:44

@jdw no worries, lots of good ideas here. I just need to figure out how I want to use this system, or scrap it.

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Written by Jesse Harris on 2025-01-31 at 14:41

@Walker You won't like it, but hardware RAID is probably the best solution here, along with a filesystem that's recognized in both like exFAT or NTFS. You're probably best off building a NAS, even if that's as simple as attaching your enclosure to a RPi and sharing it over NFS and/or SMB.

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Written by Walker on 2025-01-31 at 14:51

@elforesto I agree on the hardware RAID. I was hoping to get some life out of this old hardware enclosure with my current setup.

The RPi is an interesting idea, though it will probably not get the same throughput as a direct connect drive. But that may be the best solution.

I think i have an extra one lying around.

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Written by Jesse Harris on 2025-01-31 at 15:20

@Walker You'd cap out around 112MB/s assuming it's a recent RPi that can actually do full gigabit. You can juice a little more with a 2.5GbE or 5GbE USB NIC, but the USB speeds on RPi are disappointing and usually cap out around 300-350MB/s real-world.

You can also grab a cheap old desktop and make it your NAS. Fewer performance constraints and way more hardware flexibility. By then, though, you might as well ditch the enclosure.

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