Oculus installer, dynamic partitions still an issue?

[conceit]

I would like to extend my Win-10 system with another SSD and using dynamic partitions to make my SSDs one logical drive. From my own experience I know that the Oculus installer checked for dynamic partitions and denied installation two years ago (with various obscure error messages from insufficient disk space to server connection problems). I think they wanted to deploy an odd DRM system by rejecting suspicious disk drives (removable media or dynamically partitioned, maybe they confused that).

Is this still an issue, or did they fix that?

 

[cmdrrdmc]

Oof, but if one drive dies, you lose all your data, right? Why not just keep the new SSD as a dedicated game drive? Not sure if you're aware, but you can have multiple game install locations for Oculus.

 

[conceit]

It's all about the dedicated game drive. My important data is on a file server (raid plus backup). But I now have 4 drives (2 ssd, 2 very old magnetic) for games and work copies of software and video projects. There are some high volume titles like X-Plane with a lot of sceneries and add-ons. I want to replace the mechanical drives before they start failing and extend my storage capacity without having to manage my steam/oculus/uplay/etc libraries over multiple drive letters. But the crappy Oculus installer might be in the way.

 

[A D]

Oof, but if one drive dies, you lose all your data, right? Why not just keep the new SSD as a dedicated game drive? Not sure if you're aware, but you can have multiple game install locations for Oculus.

This.

I have two SSD's. One for the OS and one for games. For Oculus games just need to specify the default location (which can be another drive) in the settings.

 

[conceit]

This.

I have two SSD's. One for the OS and one for games. For Oculus games just need to specify the default location (which can be another drive) in the settings.

But this was not the question.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

RAID 0 ?
Would have all the vulnerability and no backup features
But should be low level enough to not trigger such an issue.

 

[conceit]

RAID 0 ?
Would have all the vulnerability and no backup features
But should be low level enough to not trigger such an issue.

That's the point: Windows Software RAID requires dynamic partitions as far as I know (is there another variant?) and the Oculus installer explicitly checked for this and denied work. I had to re-install my whole system to get Oculus working (honestly, I did not do that but rewrote my partition table by hand and re-installed the EFI partition, but that was also quite a hassle and it leaves no good taste, anyway).

Hardware raid-0 would be an option, but my MB does not support it natively afaik (but will check again), and taking another 50 bucks just for the comfort of a single drive letter for my data partitions... maybe, I will think about it. Thanks for inducing the idea, anyways.

I asked for one specific reason: If I was certain Oculus Installer does not check anymore, I'd take the time and re-install my system on software RAID partitions and re-download games etc. But, it's annoying to invest those hours of work just to find out that Oculus DRM still is fr...g out about dynamic partitions.

On the other side, I still can install the drive as my next drive "I:". This many small SSDs already make library management a monthly task when I install new games or start a new video project. In my opinion, a supposed hardware fail all 3-5 years (requiring re-installation of my game library) is less of a pain. It's a matter of taste and possible options.

Now there's some context.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Yeah I was definitely thinking hardware RAID.

As far as I know most ATX mobo's past decade has had a RAID controller on the board itself, I'm seeing them on even <$100 micro-ATX boards as well.

I would be very surprised if it doesn't support a basic RAID option, 0-1-10.

I don't know how oculus looks at this so can't actually answer the question, might be an idea to fire off a support question or ask on an Oculus oriented sub-reddit.

 

[cmdrrdmc]

Yeah I was definitely thinking hardware RAID.

As far as I know most ATX mobo's past decade has had a RAID controller on the board itself, I'm seeing them on even <$100 micro-ATX boards as well.

I would be very surprised if it doesn't support a basic RAID option, 0-1-10.

I don't know how oculus looks at this so can't actually answer the question, might be an idea to fire off a support question or ask on an Oculus oriented sub-reddit.

I recently did some research on RAID arrays, and found that most mobo RAID is not really hardware RAID, but something often called "fake RAID". From Wiki:

Software-implemented RAID is not always compatible with the system's boot process, and it is generally impractical for desktop versions of Windows. However, hardware RAID controllers are expensive and proprietary. To fill this gap, inexpensive "RAID controllers" were introduced that do not contain a dedicated RAID controller chip, but simply a standard drive controller chip with proprietary firmware and drivers. During early bootup, the RAID is implemented by the firmware and, once the operating system has been more completely loaded, the drivers take over control.

In the end, most places recommended to use a software RAID tool in your OS rather than the mobo's fake RAID controller. Apparently "fake RAID" has more downsides.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

Yeah but as has been mentioned by Op.
Those would likely trigger the issue he is trying to circumvent. Although this should be something Oculus should fix, not us.
Personally I have avoided buying games in the Oculus library since I simply always had a feeling I wasn't staying on the platform for too long.

And with the speed on SSD's RAID 0 in a workstation or especially a gaming rig isn't all that important.

 

[conceit]

Personally I have avoided buying games in the Oculus library since I simply always had a feeling I wasn't staying on the platform for too long.

So true, I also try to avoid titles in the oculus store. Otherwise, your VR hardware becomes a dongle for your games, and changing the vr system means rebuying your game library. I rather use steam.

Anyways, you have to install the Oculus software. No steam game will recognize an Oculus Rift without their software running in background (you can deactivate the Oculus system service to test that). So you need their installer.

I decided to cease raid setups. I will go the route with another drive letter and more library paths. I'm simply too lazy to re-install over and over again until I have satisfied the demands of this piece of [the censored n-word for friends of Adolf] software.

 

[curious fish]

I would like to extend my Win-10 system with another SSD and using dynamic partitions to make my SSDs one logical drive. From my own experience I know that the Oculus installer checked for dynamic partitions and denied installation two years ago (with various obscure error messages from insufficient disk space to server connection problems). I think they wanted to deploy an odd DRM system by rejecting suspicious disk drives (removable media or dynamically partitioned, maybe they confused that).

Is this still an issue, or did they fix that?

They didn't fix it. Many of us complained years ago and they continue to ignore us as usual.

The thing is limitation only applies to initial installation wizard. Been running Rift for years on dynamic disks without problems. Software and updates run just fine post installation so long as initial installer is run before disks are converted and you never have to run installer from scratch again for some reason in the future.