ASROCK H77 Pro4-M 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 SettingtheBIOSRAIDItems ...................................7
 2.5 ConguringtheIntelRAIDBIOS..............................7
 2.6 DeletingRAIDVolumes..........................................11

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1. Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation
1.1 Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Disks Installation
IntelH77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 BIOS.
  A.EnterBIOSSETUPUTILITYAdvancedscreen
  StorageConguration.
  B.Set“SATAModeSelection”to[RAID].
STEP 2: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID
conguration.
BeforeyoustarttoconguretheRAIDfunction,you
 needtochecktheinstallationguideintheSupport
  CDforproper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 Installation Guide
STEP 3: Install Windows®7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM
64-bit OS on your system.
RAIDmodeisnotsupportedunderWindows®XP/XP64-bit.
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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 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,
 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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2.4 Setting the BIOS RAID Items
After installing the hard disk drives, please set the necessary
RAIDitemsintheBIOSbeforesettingyourRAID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.
2.5 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.
2.6 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.