ASROCK Fatal1ty Z77 Professional Operator's manual

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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 ..............................5
 2.3 InstallingWindows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM /
VistaTM64-bitWithRAIDFunctions..........................6
 2.4 InstallingWindows®XP/XP64-bit
  WithRAIDFunctions................................................6
 2.5 SettingtheBIOSRAIDItems ...................................9
 2.6 ConguringtheIntelRAIDBIOS..............................9
 2.7 DeletingRAIDVolumes..........................................13

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1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation
1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation
IntelZ77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.ForSATA
installationguide,pleaserefertoSerialATA(SATA)HardDisks
Installationof“UserManual”inthesupportCD.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pro-
vides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.

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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.
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®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OSonyourSATA/SATA2/SATA3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]forSATA2_2to
 SATA2_5andSATA3_0andSATA3_1ports.
STEP 2: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID
conguration.
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
Conguration”, 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.
2.4 Installing Windows® XP / XP 64-bit With RAID
Functions
 IfyouwanttoinstallWindows®XP/XP64-bitonyourSATA/
SATA2 / SATA3 HDDs with RAID functions, please follow the
stepsbelow.
STEP 1: Set up UEFI.
A.EnterUEFISETUPUTILITYAdvancedscreen
 StorageConguration.
 B.Settheoption“SATAModeSelection”to[RAID]forSATA2_2
 toSATA2_5andSATA3_0andSATA3_1ports.

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STEP 2: Make a SATA / SATA2 / SATA3 Driver Diskette.
A.InserttheSupportCDintoyouropticaldrivetobootyour
 system.
 B.DuringPOSTatthebeginningofsystemboot-up,press
 <F11>key,andthenawindowforbootdevicesselection
 appears.PleaseselectCD-ROMasthebootdevice.
 C.Whenyouseethemessageonthescreen,“Doyouwantto
 generateSerialATAdriverdiskette[YN]?”,press<Y>.
 D.Thenyouwillseethesemessages,
Please insert a diskette into the oppy drive.
WARNING! Formatting the oppy diskette will
lose ALL data in it!
Start to format and copy les [YN]?
 Pleaseinsertaoppydisketteintotheoppydrive,and
 press<Y>.
 E.Thesystemwillstarttoformattheoppydisketteandcopy
 SATA/SATA2/SATA3driversintotheoppydiskette.
STEP 3: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID
conguration.
 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
Conguration”, which is located in the folder at the following
path:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide
STEP 4: Install Windows® XP / XP 64-bit OS on your
system.
AftermakingaSATA/SATA2/SATA3driverdisketteandusing
“RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID conguration, you can
starttoinstallWindows®XP/XP64-bitonyoursystem.Atthe
beginning of Windows setup, press F6 to install a third-party
RAIDdriver.Whenprompted,inserttheSATA/SATA2/SATA3
driver diskette containing the Intel® RAID driver.After reading
the oppy disk, the driver will be presented. Select the driver
to install according to the mode you choose and the OS you
install.

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AftertheinstallationofWindows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM64-bit/XP/XP-64bit
OS,ifyouwanttomanageRAIDfunctions,youareallowedtouseboth“RAIDInstal-
lation Guide” and “Intel Rapid Storage Information” for RAID conguration. Please
refertothedocumentintheSupportCD,“GuidetoSATAHardDisksInstallationand
RAIDConguration”,whichislocatedinthefolderatthefollowingpath:.. \ RAID In-
stallation 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 Informa-
tion
  Ifyouwanttouse“IntelRapidStorage”inWindows®environment,
 install“SATA2driver”fromtheSupportCDagainsothat“IntelRapid
  Storage”willbeinstalledtoyoursystemaswell.

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2.5 Setting the BIOS RAID Items
After installing the hard disk drives, please set the necessary
RAIDitemsintheBIOSbeforesettingyourRAIDconguration.
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
Congure SATA as to [RAID]. Save your change before you
exitBIOSsetup.
2.6 Conguring 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>.

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IntheCreateVolume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RAID0(Stripe),RAID1(Mirror),RAID
5orRAID10foryourRAIDlevel.Press<Enter>,andthenyou
can select Strip Size.

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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
 Afteryousetdiskblocksize,press<Enter>tosetdisk
Capacity.
 AftersettingupCapacity,pleasepress<Enter>.

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 Press<Enter>undertheCreate Volumeitem.Theutility
promptsaconrmationmessageasbelow.
 Press<Y>tocompletethesetupofRAID.
 Afterthecompletion,youwillseethedetailedinformationabout
theRAIDthatyousetup.

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 Please notethatyouare onlyallowed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.
2.7 Deleting RAID Volumes
 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.