ASRock Rack E3C256D4U-2L2T/BCM Installation guide

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 E3C256D4U-2L2T/BCM Installation guide

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