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A690GM2MA A690VM2MA
SATA RAID User Guide
Edition
V1.0
Trademarks
All brand or product names mentioned are trademarks or registered trade-
marks of their respective holders.
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Contents
Using Serial ATA RAID............................................................................................1
1. Introduction...........................................................................................................1
2.Installing SATA Hard Disks............................................................................... 3
3.BIOS Configration................................................................................................3
4.RAID BIOS Setup................................................................................................4
5.Install operating system with RAID Mode.........................................................7
6.How to create RAID driver floopy disk.............................................................9
7.Initializing and Using the Disk Array.....................................................................10
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Using Serial ATA RAID
This motherboard adopts AMD SB600 southbridge chipset that supports
Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk.For optimal performance,please install identical
drives of the same model and capacity when creating a RAID set.
1.Introduction
RAID Basics
RAID(Redundant Array of indenpendent Disks)is a method of combining
two hard disk drives into one logical unit .The advantage of an Array is to
provide better performance or data fault tolerance. Fault tolerance is
achieved through data redundant opration, where if one drives fails, a
mirrored copy of the data can be found on the other drive. This can prevent
data loss if the operating system fails or hangs.The individual disk drives
in an array are called members.The configuration information of eath
member is recorded in the reserved sector that identifies the drive as a
member.All disk members in a formed disk array are recognized as a
singal phsical drive to the oprating system.
Hard disk drives can be combined together through a few different
methods. The different methods are reffered to as different RAID levels.
Different RAID levels represent different performance levels,security
levels and implementation costs.The RAID levels which the AMD SB600
SATA RAID Host Controller supports are RAID 0,1,0+1 and JBOD.
RAID 0 (Striping)
RAID 0 reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between
multipledrives. If any disk member fails, it affects the entire array. The disk
array data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times the
capacity of the smallest member. The striping block size can be set from
4KB 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 of
data 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 to
redundancy, 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 mirrored
array.Due to the fault tolerance,if any RAID1 drive fails ,data access will not
be 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 provides
optimal 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 drives
used are having different capacities.Spanning stores data onto a drive until it
is full, then proceeds to store files onto the next drive in the array. When any
disk member fails, the failure affects the entire array. JBOD is not really a
RAID 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% data
redundancy
Requires two
drives for the storage
space of one drive
2
Yes
4+
Yes
multiple No
Optimized for both
100%data redundancy
and performance.
Allows spare disks.
ombines and uses
the capacity of odd
size drives.
Requires two drives
for the storage space
of one drive -the same
as RAID level 1
Decreases perfor-
mance because of the
difficulty in using drives
concurrently or to
optimize 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 Disks
Different RAID mode needs different number of the SATA hard disks.You need
two SATA hard disks to support RAID 0 and RAID1. And RAID 0+1 needs four
SATA 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 Configration
Enter BIOS Setup program
1.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 Setup
After rebooting your PC,wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to
press <Cntrl- F> to enter FastBuild (tm) utility .The RAID prompt appears as
part 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 LD
Before 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 see
the Delete LD Menu .
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Note:
This operation will delete all the data from hard disk, so please take
care.
B.Define LD
The AMD SB600 supports RAID 0,RAID 1,RAID 0+1 and JBOD. Select “2” to
enter 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 it
or press”N” to cancel.
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To Create RAID 0+1
Press 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 need
set 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 JBOD
Press the [Space] key to select the JBOD model in [Define LD Menu]. Then
press the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID JBOd,you need set
at least one drive to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” will
show 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 Assignments
In the main menu of FastBuild (tm) utility press 1. You will enter the “View
Drives Assignments”.This page is used to tell you the basic information of
the drives assignments.
To Create RAID 0
Press the [Space] key to select the RAID 0 model in [Define LD Menu]. Then
press the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID 0,you need set at
least one drive to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” will
show the number of the drivers which have been set to RAID 0.
To Create RAID1
Press the [Space] key to select the RAID1 model in [Define LD Menu]. Then
press the [ ] key to set the assignments. To create RAID 1,you need set at
least two drives to “Y” in the [Drives Assignments].Then the “Total Drv” will
show the number of the drivers which have been set to RAID 1.
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5. Creating a RAID Driver Floppy Disk
A 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. You
can make a floppy disk with the RAID driver by yourself. There are two ways to
create the RAID driver floppy.
On this motherboard
a.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 Assignments
In 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 Mode
a.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-screen
instructions 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” —> “Control
Panel” then open the “Administrative Tools” folder and double click on “Computer
Management”.
The actual disks listed will depend on your system, and the unallocated partition is
the total combined storage of two hard disks. You must format the unallocated disk
space in order to use it.
3. Format the unallocated disk space. Right click “Unallocated space”, select “New
Partition…” and follow the wizard. After the drive has been formatted, it is ready for
use.
2. Follow screen instructions to install. While finished, the “Computer Manage-
ment” window appears.
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