a690gm2ma a690vm2ma raid en manual v1 0

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A690GM2MA A690VM2MA

SATA RAID User Guide

EditionV1.0

TrademarksAll brand or product names mentioned are trademarks or registered trade-marks of their respective holders.

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Contents

Using Serial ATA RAID............................................................................................11. Introduction...........................................................................................................12.Installing SATA Hard Disks............................................................................... 33.BIOS Configration................................................................................................34.RAID BIOS Setup................................................................................................45.Install operating system with RAID Mode.........................................................76.How to create RAID driver floopy disk.............................................................97.Initializing and Using the Disk Array.....................................................................10



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Using Serial ATA RAIDThis motherboard adopts AMD SB600 southbridge chipset that supportsSerial ATA (SATA) hard disk.For optimal performance,please install identicaldrives of the same model and capacity when creating a RAID set.

1.Introduction

RAID BasicsRAID(Redundant Array of indenpendent Disks)is a method of combiningtwo hard disk drives into one logical unit .The advantage of an Array is toprovide better performance or data fault tolerance. Fault tolerance isachieved through data redundant opration, where if one drives fails, amirrored copy of the data can be found on the other drive. This can preventdata loss if the operating system fails or hangs.The individual disk drivesin an array are called members.The configuration information of eathmember is recorded in the reserved sector that identifies the drive as amember.All disk members in a formed disk array are recognized as asingal phsical drive to the oprating system.

Hard disk drives can be combined together through a few differentmethods. The different methods are reffered to as different RAID levels.Different RAID levels represent different performance levels,securitylevels and implementation costs.The RAID levels which the AMD SB600SATA RAID Host Controller supports are RAID 0,1,0+1 and JBOD.

RAID 0 (Striping)RAID 0 reads and writes sectors of data interleaved betweenmultipledrives. If any disk member fails, it affects the entire array. The diskarray data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times thecapacity of the smallest member. The striping block size can be set from4KB to 64 KB . RAID 0 does not support fault tolerance.

RAID 1(Mirroring)RAID 1 writes duplicate data onto a pair of drives and reads both sets ofdata in parallel. If one of the mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure



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or does not respond ,the remaining drive will continue to function. Due toredundancy, the drive capacity of the array is the capacity of the smallest drive.Under a RAID 1 setup, an extra drive called the spare drive can be attached .Such a drive will be activated to replace a failed drive that is part of a mirroredarray.Due to the fault tolerance,if any RAID1 drive fails ,data access will notbe affected as long as there are other working drivings in the array.

RAID 10 (0+1)RAID 10 is a combination of striping and mirroring. This configuration providesoptimal speed and reliability, but you need four SATA hard disks.

JBOD(Spanniing)A spanning disk array is equal to the sum of the all drives when the drivesused are having different capacities.Spanning stores data onto a drive until itis full, then proceeds to store files onto the next drive in the array. When anydisk member fails, the failure affects the entire array. JBOD is not really aRAID and does not support fault tolerance.

Summary of Raid Configrations

Array Advantages Drawbacks #Hard Disks Fault Tolerance

RAID0

RAID1

RAID0+1

JBOD

High data throughput No fault tolerance multiple No

100% dataredundancy

Requires twodrives for the storagespace of one drive

2 Yes

4+ Yes

multiple No

Optimized for both100%data redundancy

and performance.Allows spare disks.ombines and uses the capacity of odd

size drives.

Requires two drivesfor the storage spaceof one drive -the same

as RAID level 1Decreases perfor-

mance because of thedifficulty in using drives

concurrently or tooptimize drives for

different uses.

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4.Press <F10>to save the BIOS setting and exit the BIOS setup program.

2.Installing SATA Hard DisksDifferent RAID mode needs different number of the SATA hard disks.You needtwo SATA hard disks to support RAID 0 and RAID1. And RAID 0+1 needs fourSATA hard disks. For JBOD, two, three or four SATA hard disks are all right .

STEP1: Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays.STEP2: Connect one end of the SATA data cable or the 90 to the

motherboard’s primary SATA connector.STEP3: Connect the other end of the SATA data cable to the master SATA hard

disk. Please connect the other SATA hard disks as STEP2 and STEP3.

3.BIOS ConfigrationEnter BIOS Setup program1.Start up the computer,then enter the BIOS setup program by pressing the<Del>key during the POST(Power-On Self-Test).2.Select the Integrated Peripherals item,then press<Enter>.

3.Switch the Onchip SATA Type option to [RAID].



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4.RAID BIOS SetupAfter rebooting your PC,wait until you see the RAID software prompting you topress <Cntrl- F> to enter FastBuild (tm) utility .The RAID prompt appears aspart of the system POST and boot process prior to loading OS.

Press<Cntrl - F> key to enter User Window!

The main menu of FastBuild (tm) utility is as below.

A.Delete LDBefore creating the new RAID mode ,Please delete the old RAID mode at first.You can use the following steps.

STEP1: In the mian menu of FastBuild (tm) utility press 3 ,then you will seethe Delete LD Menu .



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Note:This operation will delete all the data from hard disk, so please takecare.

B.Define LDThe AMD SB600 supports RAID 0,RAID 1,RAID 0+1 and JBOD. Select “2” toenter Define LD Menu and select the LD number

Press “Enter” to create RAID.

STEP2: In the Delete LD Menu, select a member of an array and press<Del>. Then a warning message will show up and press “Y”to delete itor press”N” to cancel.



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To Create RAID 0+1Press the [Space] key to select the RAID 0+1 model in [Define LD Menu].Then press the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID 0+1,you needset at least four drives to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv”will show the number of the drivers which have been set to RAID 0+1.

To Create JBODPress the [Space] key to select the JBOD model in [Define LD Menu]. Thenpress the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID JBOd,you need setat least one drive to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” willshow the number of the drivers which have been set to JBOD.

After your setting ,Please Press<Cntl +Y> to save the RAID model.

C.View Drives AssignmentsIn the main menu of FastBuild (tm) utility press 1. You will enter the “ViewDrives Assignments”.This page is used to tell you the basic information ofthe drives assignments.

To Create RAID 0Press the [Space] key to select the RAID 0 model in [Define LD Menu]. Thenpress the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID 0,you need set atleast one drive to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” willshow the number of the drivers which have been set to RAID 0.

To Create RAID1Press the [Space] key to select the RAID1 model in [Define LD Menu]. Thenpress the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID 1,you need set atleast two drives to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” willshow the number of the drivers which have been set to RAID 1.



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5. Creating a RAID Driver Floppy DiskA floppy disk with the RAID driver is required when installing Windows 2000/XP/2003 Operating System on a hard disk driver that is included in a RAID set. Youcan make a floppy disk with the RAID driver by yourself. There are two ways tocreate the RAID driver floppy.

On this motherboarda. Insert the driver CD into CD-ROM drive under Windows Operation System.b. The driver CD will automatically display main menu screen.c. Click “Utility” button.d. Click “Create RAID Driver Floppy” button,then you will see the RAID Flpy.txt .e. Read the ATI section of the RAID Flpy. txt, and find the path of Raid Tool. exe .f. Insert one floppy into your 3.5-inch standard model FDD.g. Double click the Raid Tool. exe, then you will see the following picture.Click

“Go” to start.

D.View Drives AssignmentsIn the main menu of FastBuild (t m) utility press 4. You will enter the “Control-ler Configuration”.This page is used to tell you the system resouce information.



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Note:

Please make sure 3.5-inch standard model FDD is used.

i. Select floopy drive from the list, then click “OK”.

i. RAID floppy tool will format your floppy.

j.Then start to create RAID driver. After finished, “RAID floppy creation complete.” message will be displayed.Click “OK” to finish the steps.



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6. Install Operating System with RAID Modea. Set RAID mode in FastBuild (t m) utility,exit the utility, then reboot the

computer.b. Insert the OS installation CD into the CD-ROM.c. Press the <F6> when the following pictures appear:

d. Press <S> key to specify additional equipment when below picture appears.

e. Insert the RAID installation disk into floppy disk drive following the on-screeninstructions and press <Enter> to select “ATI AHCI Compatible RAID Controller- X86 platform”.

f. Follow screen instructions to install the RAID drivers.



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7.Initializing and Using the Disk Array

The RAID array is now ready to be initialized under Windows.1. Launch Computer Management by clicking “Start” —> “Settings” —> “ControlPanel” then open the “Administrative Tools” folder and double click on “ComputerManagement”.

The actual disks listed will depend on your system, and the unallocated partition isthe total combined storage of two hard disks. You must format the unallocated diskspace in order to use it.3. Format the unallocated disk space. Right click “Unallocated space”, select “NewPartition…” and follow the wizard. After the drive has been formatted, it is ready foruse.

2. Follow screen instructions to install. While finished, the “Computer Manage-ment” window appears.



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