ASROCK 775XFire-VSTA Quick guide

Guide to SATA Hard Disks

Installation and RAID Configuration

1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation ............................ 2

1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation............... 2

2. Guide to RAID Configurations ......................................... 3

2.1 Introduction of RAID ............................................... 3

2.2 RAID Configuration Precautions ............................ 5

2.3 Setting the BIOS RAID Items .................................. 6

2.4 Configuring the Intel RAID BIOS............................. 6

2.5 Deleting RAID Volume.......................................... 10

1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation

1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation

Intel ICH6R southbridge chipset supports Serial ATA (SATA) hard

disks with RAID functions, including RAID 0, RAID 1, and Intel

Matrix Storage. Intel ICH7R southbridge chipset supports Serial

ATA (SATA) hard disks with RAID functions, including RAID0,

RAID1, RAID 10, RAID 5, and Intel Matrix Storage. Please read the

RAID configurations in this guide carefully according to the Intel

southbridge chipset that your motherboard adopts. You may

install SATA hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage

devices. For SATA installation guide, please refer to Serial ATA

(SATA) Hard Disks Installation of “User Manual” in the support CD.

This section will guide you how to create RAID on SATA ports.

2. Guide to RAID Configurations

2.1 Introduction of RAID

This motherboard adopts Intel southbridge chipset that integrates

RAID controller supporting RAID 0 / RAID 1/ Intel Matrix Storage /

RAID 10 / RAID 5 function with four independent Serial ATA

(SATA) channels. This section will introduce the basic knowledge

of RAID, and the guide to configure RAID 0 / RAID 1/ Intel Matrix

Storage / RAID 10 / RAID 5 settings.

RAID

The term “RAID” stands for “Redundant Array of Independent

Disks”, which is a method combining two or more hard disk drives

into one logical unit. For optimal performance, please install

identical drives of the same model and capacity when creating a

RAID set.

RAID 0 (Data Striping)

RAID 0 is called data striping that optimizes two identical hard disk

drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved stacks. It will

improve data access and storage since it will double the data

transfer rate of a single disk alone while the two hard disks

perform the same work as a single drive but at a sustained data

transfer rate.

WARNING!!

Although RAID 0 function can improve the access performance, it

does not provide any fault tolerance. Hot-Plug any HDDs of the

RAID 0 Disk will cause data damage or data loss.

RAID 1 (Data Mirroring)

RAID 1 is called data mirroring that copies and maintains an

identical image of data from one drive to a second drive. It

provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the

entire system since the disk array management software will

direct all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a

complete copy of the data in the other drive if one drive fails.

Intel Matrix Storage

The Intel Matrix Storage technology supported allows you to

create a RAID 0 and RAID 1 set using only two identical hard disk

drives. The Intel Matrix Storage technology creates two partitions

on each hard disk drive to create a virtual RAID0 and RAID 1 sets.

This technology also allows you to change the hard disk drive

partition size without losing any data.

RAID 10

RAID 10 is a striped configuration with RAID 1 segments whose

segments are RAID 1 arrays. This configuration has the same

fault tolerance as RAID 1, and has the same overhead for fault-

tolerance as mirroring alone. RAID 10 achieves high input / output

rates by striping RAID 1 segments. In some instances, a RAID 10

configuration can sustain multiple simultaneous drive failure. A

minimum of four hard disk drives is required for this setup.

RAID 5

RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or

more hard disk drives. Among the advantages of RAID 5

configuration include better HDD performance, fault tolerance,

and higher storage capacity. The RAID 5 configuration is best

suited for transaction processing, relational database applications,

enterprise resource planning, and other business systems. Use a

minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.

2.2 RAID Configurations Precautions

1. Please use two new drives if you are creating a RAID 0

(striping) array for performance. It is recommended to

use two SATA drives of the same size. If you use two

drives of different sizes, the smaller capacity hard disk

will be the base storage size for each drive. For

example, if one hard disk has an 80GB storage capacity

and the other hard disk has 60GB, the maximum storage

capacity for the 80GB-drive becomes 60GB, and the

total storage capacity for this RAID 0 set is 120GB.

2. You may use two new drives, or use an existing drive

and a new drive to create a RAID 1 (mirroring) array for

data protection (the new drive must be of the same size

or larger than the existing drive). If you use two drives

of different sizes, the smaller capacity hard disk will be

the base storage size. For example, if one hard disk has

an 80GB storage capacity and the other hard disk has

60GB, the maximum storage capacity for the RAID1 set

is 60GB.

3. Please verify the status of your hard disks before you

set up your new RAID array.

WARNING!!

Please backup your data first before you create RAID functions.

In the process you create RAID, the system will ask if you want to “Clear

Disk Data” or not. It is recommended to select “Yes”, and then your future

data building will operate under a clean environment.

2.3 Setting the BIOS RAID Items

After installing the hard disk drives, please set the necessary RAID

items in the BIOS before setting your RAID configuration. Boot your

system, and press <F2> key to enter BIOS setup utility. Highlight

Advanced and press <Enter>, then the main interface of BIOS

setup utility will appear. Please set the option Configure SATA as

to [RAID]. Save your change before you exit BIOS setup.

2.4 Configuring the Intel RAID BIOS

Reboot your computer. Wait until you see the RAID software

prompting you to press <Ctrl+I>.

Press <Ctrl+I>. Then, the Intel RAID Utility - Create RAID Volume

window appears.

Select the option Create RAID Volume and press <Enter>.

Vo l u m e 0

In the CreateVolume Menu, under Name item, please key-in a unique

name with 1-16 letters for your RAID volume then press <Enter>.

Use the up or down arrow keys to select your desired RAID Level.

You may select RAID0 (Stripe), RAID1 (Mirror), RAID5, RAID 10, or

Matrix Storage for your RAID level. Press <Enter>, and then you can

select Strip Size.

Vo l u m e 0

If you selected RAID 0 (Stripe), use the up or down arrow keys to

select the stripe size for your RAID 0 array then press <Enter>.The

available values range from 8 KB to 128 KB. The default selection is

128 KB. The strip value should be chosen based on the planned

drive usage.

• 8 /16 KB - low disk usage

• 64 KB - typical disk usage

• 128 KB - performance disk usage

After you set disk block size, press <Enter> to set disk Capacity.

After setting up Capacity, please press <enter>.

Vo l u m e 0

Press <Enter> under the Create Volume item. The utility prompts a

confirmation message as below.

Vo l u m e 0

Press <Y> to complete the setup of RAID.

After the completion, you will see the detailed information about the

RAID that you set up.

2.5 Deleting RAID Volume

If you want to delete a RAID volume, please select the

option Delete RAID Volume, press <Enter>, and then

follow the instructions on the screen.

Please note that you are only allowed to create one RAID partition at a

time under BIOS RAID environment. If you want to create extra RAID

partition, please use the RAID utility under Windows environment to

configure RAID functions after you install OS.

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