ASRock Rack W790D8H-2T/X550 Installation guide

Brand: ASRock Rack

Model: W790D8H-2T/X550

Type: Installation guide

ASRock Rack W790D8H-2T/X550 is a server motherboard that supports the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors with up to 64 cores and 128 threads. It features 8 DDR5 DIMM slots, providing up to 2TB of memory capacity, and supports PCIe Gen5 x16 expansion slots for high-performance storage and networking devices. The motherboard also includes an integrated IPMI 2.0 remote management controller for easy system monitoring and control.

Guide to SATA Hard Disks

Installation and RAID Conguration

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

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

2. GuidetoRAIDCongurations ...........................................3

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

 2.2 RAIDCongurationPrecautions ..............................6

 2.3 InstallingWindows®OSWithRAIDFunctions .........7

 2.4 ConguringaRAIDarrayUsingIntelRAIDBIOS ....8

1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation

1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation

IntelchipsetsupportsSerialATA(SATA)harddiskswithRAID

functions,includingRAID0,RAID1,RAID5,RAID10andIntel

RapidStorage.PleasereadtheRAIDcongurations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.Thissectionwill

guideyouhowtocreateRAIDonSATAports.

2. GuidetoRAIDCongurations

2.1 Introduction of RAID

ThismotherboardadoptsIntelsouthbridgechipsetthatinte-

gratesRAIDcontrollersupportingRAID0/RAID1/IntelRapid

Storage/RAID10/RAID5functionwithfourindependentSe-

rialATA(SATA)channels.Thissectionwillintroducethebasic

knowledgeofRAID,andtheguidetocongureRAID0/RAID

1/IntelRapid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

Intel Rapid Storage

TheIntelRapidStoragetechnologysupportedallowsyouto

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

diskdrives.TheIntelRapidStoragetechnologycreatestwo

partitionsoneachharddiskdrivetocreateavirtualRAID0

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congurationwithRAID1segments

whosesegmentsareRAID1arrays.Thisconguration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congurationcansustainmultiplesimul-

taneous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con-

gurationincludebetterHDDperformance,faulttolerance,and

higherstoragecapacity.TheRAID5congurationisbestsui-

ted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 Congurations 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capa-

city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RAID1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rst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 Installing Windows® OS With RAID Functions

IfyouwanttoinstallWindows®OSonyourSATAHDDswith

RAIDfunctions,pleasefollowtheproceduresbelow.

STEP 1: Set up UEFI.

A.EnterUEFISETUPUTILITYAdvancedscreen

StorageConguration.

 B.Set“SATAModeSelection”to[RAID].

STEP 2: Set RAID conguration.

Pleaserefertop.8-11ofthisdocumentforinstructionsonhow

tosetRAIDconguration.

STEP 3: Install Windows® OS on your system.

2.4 Configuring a RAID array Using 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.

 IntheCreateVolume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RAID0(Stripe),RAID1(Mirror),RAID

5orRAID10foryourRAIDlevel.Press<Enter>,andthenyou

can select Strip Size.

If you selected RAID 0 (Stripe), use the up or down 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>.

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

promptsaconrmationmessageasbelow.

 Press<Y>tocompletethesetupofRAID.

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

theRAIDthatyousetup.

 PleasenotethatyouareonlyallowedtocreateoneRAID

partitionatatimeunderBIOS RAID environment. Ifyouwant

to create an extra RAID partition, please use the RAID utility

underWindowsenvironmenttocongureRAIDfunctionsafter

youinstallOS.

 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.

ASRock Rack W790D8H-2T/X550 Installation guide