E3C232D4U

ASRock Rack E3C232D4U, D1541D4U-2O8R, D1541D4U-2T8R Installation guide

  • Hello! I'm your chat assistant. I've reviewed the document, which is a user manual guiding you through the installation and RAID configuration of SATA hard disks. The document covers various RAID levels, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10, as well as the Intel Rapid Storage technology. It also contains step-by-step instructions for configuring RAID using the Intel RAID BIOS and installing Windows while using RAID functions. I am ready to answer your questions regarding any aspect of this guide.
  • What RAID levels are supported in this installation?
    What is the purpose of RAID 0?
    What is the purpose of RAID 1?
    What is Intel Rapid Storage technology?
    What minimum number of hard disks required for RAID 10?
    What kind of hard disks can be used to setup RAID array?
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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Nameitem,pleasekey-ina
uniquenamewith1-16lettersforyourRAIDvolumethenpress
<Enter>.
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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
 Afteryousetdiskblocksize,press<Enter>tosetdisk
Capacity.
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 AftersettingupCapacity,pleasepress<Enter>.
Press<Enter>undertheCreate Volumeitem.Theutility
promptsaconrmationmessageasbelow.
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 Press<Y>tocompletethesetupofRAID.
Afterthecompletion,youwillseethedetailedinformationabout
theRAIDthatyousetup.
 Pleasenotethatyouareonlyallowed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.
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