ASROCK Vision HT series Operator's manual

1
Guide to SATA Hard Disks
Installation and RAID Configuration
1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation ............................ 2
1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation............... 2
2. Guide to RAID Configurations ......................................... 3
2.1 Introduction of RAID ............................................... 3
2.2 RAID Configuration Precautions ............................ 5
2.3 Installing Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM
64-bit With RAID Functions .................................... 6
2.4 Setting the BIOS RAID Items .................................. 7
2.5 Configuring the Intel RAID BIOS............................. 7
2.6 Deleting RAID Volume.......................................... 11

2
1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation
1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation
Intel HM77 chipset supports Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks with RAID
functions, including RAID0, RAID 1 and Intel Rapid Storage. Please
read the RAID configurations in this guide carefully. You may
install SATA hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage
devices. For SATA installation guide, please refer to SerialATA
(SATA) Hard Disks Installation of “User Manual” in the support CD.
This section will guide you how to create RAID on SATA ports.

3
2. Guide to RAID Configurations
2.1 Introduction of RAID
This motherboard adopts Intel HM77 chipset that integrates RAID
controller supporting RAID 0 / RAID 1/ Intel Rapid Storage function
with four independent Serial ATA (SATA) channels. This section
will introduce the basic knowledge of RAID, and the guide to
configure RAID 0 / RAID 1/ Intel Rapid Storage 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 contains a
complete copy of the data in the other drive if one drive fails.

4
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 RAID0 and RAID 1 sets.
This technology also allows you to change the hard disk drive
partition size without losing any data.

5
2.2 RAID Configurations 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 capacity
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 RAID1 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 first 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.

6
2.3 Installing Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM /
VistaTM 64-bit With RAID Functions
If you want to install Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit
on your SATA HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps.
STEP 1: Set up UEFI.
A.EnterUEFISETUPUTILITY Advanced screen SATA
Configuration.
B. Set the option “SATA Mode” to [RAID].
STEP 2: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID
configuration.
Before you start to configure the RAID function, you need to
check the installation guide in the Support CD for proper
configuration. Please refer to the document in the Support CD,
“Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation and RAID Configuration”,
which is located in the folder at the following path:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide
STEP 3: Install Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit
OS on your system.
After the installation of Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit OS, if you want to
manage RAID functions, you are allowed to use both “RAID Installation Guide” and “Intel
Rapid Storage Information” for RAID configuration. Please refer to the document in the
Support CD, “Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation and RAID Configuration”, which is
located in the folder at the following path: .. \ RAID Installation Guide and the document
in the support CD, “Guide to Intel Rapid Storage”, which is located in the folder at the
following path: .. \ Intel Rapid Storage Information
If you want to use “Intel Rapid Storage” in Windows®environment, please
install “SATAII driver” from the Support CD again so that “Intel Rapid
Storage” will be installed to your system as well.

7
2.4 Setting the BIOS RAID Items
After installing the hard disk drives, please set the necessary RAID
items in the BIOS before setting your RAID configuration. Boot your
system, and press <F2> key to enter BIOS setup utility. Highlight
Advanced and press <Enter>, then the main interface of BIOS
setup utility will appear. Please set the option Configure SATA as
to [RAID]. Save your change before you exit BIOS setup.
2.5 Configuring the 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.
Select the option Create RAID Volume and press <Enter>.

8
Vo l u m e 0
In the CreateVolume Menu, under Name item, please key-in a unique
name with 1-16 letters for your RAID volume then press <Enter>.
Use the up or down arrow keys to select your desired RAID Level.
You may select RAID0 (Stripe), RAID1 (Mirror), or Rapid Storage for
your RAID level. Press <Enter>, and then you can select Strip Size.
Vo l u m e 0

9
Vo l u m e 0
If you selected RAID 0 (Stripe), use the up or down arrow 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
After you set disk block size, press <Enter> to set disk Capacity.
After setting up Capacity, please press <enter>.
Vo l u m e 0

10
Vo l u m e 0
Press <Enter> under the Create Volume item. The utility prompts a
confirmation message as below.
Vo l u m e 0
Press <Y> to complete the setup of RAID.
After the completion, you will see the detailed information about the
RAID that you set up.