Acard AEC-6885 User manual

PCI-to-IDE ATA-133 RAID
Controller AEC-6885
User’s Manual
Version:1.0
Copyright © 2002 ACARD Technology Corp.
Release: December 2002

Copyright and Trademarks
The information of the product in this manual is subject to change without prior
notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the vendor, who as-
sumes no liability or responsibility for any errors that may appear in this manual.
ACARD and SCSIDE are the trademarks of ACARD Technology Corp. Microsoft
and the Windows Logo are the registered trademarks, and Windows is the trade-
mark of Microsoft Corporation. All brands and trademarks are the properties of their
respective owners.
This manual contains materials protected under International Copyright Laws. All
rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written per-
mission of the manufacturer and the author. All inquires should be addressed to
ACARD Technology Corp.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................5
1.1 Overview ................................................................ 5
1.2 Features ................................................................. 5
1.3 Specifications........................................................ 5
1.4 Package.................................................................. 6
Chapter 2 Hardware Installation........................7
2.1 Quick Installation .................................................. 7
2.2 The Board Layout.................................................. 7
2.3 Connection of Cable and Power Cord ................ 8
2.4 Compatibility ......................................................... 9
Chapter 3 BIOS Setup ......................................10
3.1 Description of Functions.....................................11
3.1.1 Set RAID Modes............................................................. 11
3.1.2 Build Mirror Disk ........................................................... 12
3.1.3 Quick Erase Disk ........................................................... 12
3.1.4 RAID Mode Help ............................................................ 12
3.1.5 Card Information ........................................................... 12
3.1.6 Set Boot Disk ................................................................. 12
3.2 Setting of RAID Mode ......................................... 12
3.2.1 Stripe Mode.................................................................... 13
3.2.2 Mirror Mode.................................................................... 14
3.2.3 Stripe + Mirror Mode ..................................................... 15
3.2.4 JBOD Mode .................................................................... 15
Chapter 4 System & Driver Installation ..........16
4.1 In Win 2000/XP..................................................... 16
4.1.1 Install the Driver ............................................................ 16
4.1.2 Boot from AEC-6885 ..................................................... 21
4.2 In Win NT.............................................................. 21
4.2.1 Install the Driver ............................................................ 21
4.2.2 Boot from AEC-6885 ..................................................... 22

4.3 In Win 9X/ME........................................................ 22
4.3.1 Install the Driver ............................................................ 22
4.3.2 Boot from AEC-6885 ..................................................... 22
4.4 In Linux ................................................................ 22
Chapter 5 The AEC-6885 Utility.......................24
5.1 Install the Utility .................................................. 24
5.2 Operate the Utility ............................................... 24
5.2.1 File .................................................................................. 25
5.2.2 Action ............................................................................. 25
5.2.3 Option ............................................................................. 25
5.2.4 About .............................................................................. 25
5.2.5 System Info .................................................................... 26
5.2.6 Event Log ....................................................................... 26
5.2.7 Array Management ........................................................ 26
Chapter 6 Troubleshooting..............................27
Appendix A About RAID...................................28
A-1 RAID 0 (Striping) ................................................ 28
A-2 RAID 1 (Mirroring) .............................................. 29
A-3 RAID 0+1 (Striping/Mirroring) ........................... 29
A-4 JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) .......................... 30
Appendix B Make An Installation Disk ...........31
Appendix C ASPITool32 Manager ...................34

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Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
ACARD AEC-6885 is a PCI 64-bit, 4-channel, high-performance PCI PnP ATA 133
RAID card. It supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD as well as Hot Swap, and is fit for
servers and high-class workstations.
1.2 Features
nA standalone PCI-to-IDE controller
nData transfer rate up to 533/266MB/s
nSupports up to 8 IDE hard drives
nSupports Hot Swap (with an optional mobile rack)
nHardware RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD
1.3 Specifications
nPower requirement --- Voltage: 3.3V +/–2%
5V +/–2%
Current: 0.5A Max.
nEnvironment --- Operating temperature: 0oC to 70oC
Storage temperature: –20oC to 85oC
nHumidity --- 15% to 90%
nDimensions --- Width: 17.46cm
Height: 8.26cm
nConnectors --- Four 40-pin IDE internal connectors
NOTICE: When applying Hot Swap, you can only connect a hard drive to
each channel, and set as the same mode (Master). Please refer to 3.2.

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1.4 Package
When you open the package, please examine the following items.
nAEC-6885 × 1
nInternal ATA 133 Cable ×4
nY-Splitter Power Cord ×2
nUser’s Manual
nACARD Support CD × 1

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Chapter 2 Hardware Installation
2.1 Quick Installation
(1). Be sure that the system power has been off.
(2). Open the housing of PC.
(3). Insert AEC-6885 into an available PCI slot firmly.
(4). Screw AEC-6885 onto the housing.
(5). Connect AEC-6885 to the hard drives with an ATA 133 cable.
(6). Connect a 4-pin power cord to the hard drives.
(7). Screw the housing and power on the system.
2.2 The Board Layout
The layout of AEC-6885 board is shown as follows.
IDE 3 IDE 1
IDE 4 IDE 2
Please follow the 7 steps to install AEC-6885 at once.
LED

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2.3 Connection of Cable and Power Cord
Basically speaking, it is easy for any user to connect the ATA 133 cable and the 4-
pin power cord, because they are foolproof. The methods are given below.
(1). Find out a color line of the ATA 133 cable indicating pin 1 of the connector.
(2). Find out pin 1 of the IDE connector on the IDE hard drive. (see HDD’s manual)
(3). Connect the ATA 133 cable to the IDE hard drive by pin 1 to pin 1.
(4). Connect the 4-pin power cord to the IDE hard drive.
NOTICE: The ATA 133 cable has three connectors. The blue connector
is connected to AEC-6885, the middle one to HDD set as Slave and the
remaining one to HDD set as Master.
Master
Master
Slave
Slave
Power Cable
IDE hard drive

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2.4 Compatibility
AEC-6885 is particularly designed for DMA hard drive, and has been fully tested
with the hard drives available in laboratory. AEC-6885 supports various ATA 66/
100/133 hard drives as listed below.
CQuantum
CSeagate
CIBM
CMaxtor
CFujitsu
CWestern Digital
For the newest compatibility, please visit http://www.acard.com

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Chapter 3 BIOS Setup
After installing AEC-6885 and booting the system, you will see the following figure
appear immediately behind the figure of motherboard. The figure indicates your
BIOS version, hard drive information, RAID status, etc.
Figure 3-1
Please press Ctrl + <F1> or <F10> simultaneously to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
Figure 3-2
NOTICE: If a hard drive has been set as boot disk, there will be a *
appearing before its model number.

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3.1 Description of Functions
On BIOS screen use <á>,<â> to change items, press <Enter> to select and con-
firm, and press <Esc> to cancel or exit (return to previous screen). Meanwhile at the
bottom of the screen, you can see the model numbers of hard drives connected to
the channels, the capacity, the RAID status and class. For example, U5 represents
an Ultra 5 ATA100 hard drive.
3.1.1 Set RAID Modes
There are 8 arrays built in AEC-6885. You can build or change your RAID mode on
any array. Move cursor to “Set RAID Modes”, then press <Enter>, and Array 0 to
Array 7 will appear. There are four RAID and one normal (none RAID) modes for
selection once you press <Enter>. Set according to the prompt window. Please
refer to 3.2 for the explanation of each RAID mode. Yet, you are suggested to use
the Windows-based RAID Utility designed for AEC-6885. Its GUI is easy for opera-
tion. Please refer to Chapter 5.
Figure 3-3
NOTICE: You can set a new array from Array 0 to 7. The number is simply
for the system identification. After rebooting, the system will assign the
newly set array a smaller number. It begins with Array 0.

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3.1.2 Build Mirror Disk
When changing a mirrored hard drive, you can rebuild the hard drive’s data by
“Build Mirror Disk” according to the prompt upon booting. Please see 3.2.2.
3.1.3 Quick Erase Disk
This function allows you to quickly erase the data on a selected hard drive. Beware
that the data and the partitions will be completely erased.
3.1.4 RAID Mode Help
This function chiefly tells you that RAID 0+1 must be composed of 4 Master or 4
Slave hard drives. In other words, the hard drives must be set alike.
3.1.5 Card Information
This function indicates the I/O address, ROM address and IRQ number currently
used by AEC-6885.
3.1.6 Set Boot Disk
This function lets you select a hard drive or a pair of hard drives containing OS to
boot. But you need to enter BIOS of the motherboard, then boot “Other Boot De-
vice”. If a hard drive has been set as boot disk, there will be a * appearing before its
model number as Figure 3-1 shows.
3.2 Setting of RAID Mode
NOTICE: The rebuilding time depends on the size of RAID. You can press
Ctrl + S to stop rebuilding.
AEC-6885 supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD modes. The hardware setting re-
lated to each RAID mode is briefly described below. Yet, you are suggested to use
the AEC-6885 RAID Utility to set RAID. Please refer to Chapter 5 and Appendix A.

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Figure 3-4
Select any array in “Set RAID Modes”, then press <Enter> to select a RAID mode.
After selection, the screen will prompt “Please select disks to create array”, and the
cursor will move to the display area of hard drive at the bottom of the screen. Use
<á>,<â> to select hard drives. Green highlighted items can be selected but purple
ones cannot. After selecting the hard drive, press <Esc> to return to the dialog box
of “Set RAID Modes” and continue.
NOTICE: AEC-6885 supports Hot Swap. In Mirroring (RAID 1 and 0+1),
when one of the hard drives is damaged, you can directly replace it with
a new one without powering off. The data of another hard drive in the
array will be completely copied into the new one. When applying Hot
Swap (together with ACARD’s HDD cabinet), you can only connect a
hard drive to each channel, and set as the same mode (Master).
3.2.1 Stripe Mode
This mode needs a pair of hard drives at least. After selection, you have to to deter-
mine the hard drives’ stripe block size. That depends on the size of files the array
intends to access in order to use the hard drives fully. For example, you can select
a larger stripe size for the array of random access, and a smaller one for that of
sequential access. If there isn’t any special use, you are suggested to set as 64K.

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Figure 3-5
3.2.2 Mirror Mode
This mode needs a pair of hard drives for each array. If the two hard drives you have
chosen contain the same data, or different data that you don’t want to keep, you can
select “Create Only”. But if not, please choose one of them as the source hard drive
(label is disk0 or disk1), and copy the data from the source one to another.
Figure 3-6
When one of the hard drives in mirror array is damaged, if you don’t have an HDD
cabinet for Hot Swap, you have to power off, then change the hard drive. Upon
booting anew, the screen will prompt you to use “Build Mirror Disk” in BIOS to re-
build. Please notice that if you connect the newly removed hard drive back to AEC-
6885, in the channel display area at the bottom of BIOS screen, the hard drive will
be added to a new array (its number is different from the original mirror array). After
choosing “Build Mirror Disk”, you will find the prompt: problem mirror array as shown
below. If you want to update the hard drive’s contents in the array, click 1 to change
to Non RAID, then combine it with another correct hard drive to Mirror Array accord-
ing to the instructions on the screen. If you want to reserve the hard drive’s con-
tents, click 2 to cancel the RAID setting so as to add the array you want to reserve.

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3.2.3 Stripe + Mirror Mode
This mode needs four hard drives. You can connect four hard drives to four chan-
nels that are all set as Master or Slave. Besides, you have to select stripe block
size, too.
3.2.4 JBOD Mode
This mode means to add all selected hard drives and make them become a big one.
Figure 3-7

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Chapter 4 System & Driver Installation
Driver installation varies somewhat in different operating systems. You can install
the driver of AEC-6885 in an existing OS, or install a new OS to the hard drives
connected to AEC-6885. The second method can be said to boot from AEC-6885.
4.1 In Win 2000/XP
Please follow the steps given below to install the driver of AEC-6885.
(1). After installing AEC-6885, boot the computer and enter Windows XP.
(2). The system will detect a new device and require a directory to access. Select
“Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)”. Then click “Next”.
Here we only take Windows XP as an example to explain.
4.1.1 Install the Driver
Figure 4-1

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(3). Follow the wizard. Windows XP will require the driver’s location. Select
“Include this location in the search”.
(4). Select “Browse” to find the driver’s directory of AEC6885.inf such as A:\WinXP.
Figure 4-2
(5). After the wizard finds the driver, click “Next” to install it.
Figure 4-3

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(6). Click “Continue Anyway” to continue the installation.
Figure 4-4
(7). Follow the directions. The system will complete the setup automatically.
Figure 4-5

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(8). After setup, please boot the system again, and click “My Computer”.
Figure 4-6
(9). Find “View system information”, and double click it.
Figure 4-7

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(10). In “System Properties” click “Hardware” and then “Device Manager”.
(11). Under “SCSI and RAID Controllers” double click “ACARD AEC-6885 PCI Ultra
ATA 133 RAID Controller” to see if the card has been installed successfully.
Figure 4-8
Figure 4-9