Foxconn A690GM2MA User manual

Brand: Foxconn

Model: A690GM2MA

Category: RAID controllers

Type: User manual

This manual is also suitable for

A690VM2MA

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

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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Foxconn A690GM2MA User manual

Brand: Foxconn

Model: A690GM2MA

Category: RAID controllers

Type: User manual

This manual is also suitable for

A690VM2MA

Download PDF

report

Foxconn A690GM2MA User manual

This manual is also suitable for

Foxconn A690GM2MA User manual

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