2. ASRock Rack
  3. E3C246D2I

ASRock Rack E3C246D2I Installation guide

  • Hello, I'm your chat assistant. I've reviewed the user manual for SATA hard disks, covering installation and RAID configuration. This manual explains RAID levels like RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10, plus Intel Rapid Storage. I'm ready to answer your questions about installing SATA hard disks or setting up RAID arrays.
  • What RAID levels are supported?
    What is Intel Rapid Storage?
    Is data backup needed before creating RAID?
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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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