ASROCK Z77 Extreme11 User manual

1
RAID Conguration Guide
1. Introduction of RAID ..........................................................2
2. RAIDConguration ...........................................................4
 2.1 Installtheharddiskdrives........................................5
 2.2 SetupUEFI..............................................................5
 2.3 CongureIntelRAIDBIOS.......................................6
3. InstallingWindows®onaHDDunder2TBinRAID
 mode  ..................................................................10
4. InstallingWindows®onaHDDlargerthan2TBin
 RAIDmode ..................................................................12

2
1. Introduction of RAID
Thismotherboardadoptsa chipsetthatsupportsRAID.
Theterm“RAID”standsfor“RedundantArrayofInde-
pendentDisks”,whichisamethodof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.Thefol-
lowingarecommonexamplesofRAID.Pleasereferto
theusermanualforthetypesofRAIDyourmotherboard
supports,andnoticethatotherrequirementssuchasa
RAIDsupportingdiskdriveandoperatingsystemare
alsocrucialforcreatingaRAIDvolume.
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andit
hasnofaulttolerance.
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.

3
RAID 10
RAID10isastripedcongurationwithRAID1seg-
ments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simultaneous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perfor-
mance,faulttolerance,andhigherstoragecapacity.
TheRAID5congurationisbestsuited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.

4
2. RAIDConguration
RAID Conguration 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exi-
sting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diffe-
rent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be-
foreyousetupyournewRAIDarray.
4. Pleasebackupyourdatarstbeforeyoucre-Pleasebackupyourdatarstbeforeyoucre-
ate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.

5
2.1 Install the hard disk drives
Connecttwoormorenewharddiskdrivesofthesame
modelandcapacitytoyoursystem.
 BeforecreatingaRAIDarray,pleasechecktheusermanualfor
informationof:
 1.WhatlevelsofRAIDdoesyourmotherboardsupport
 2.WhichSATAportssupportRAID
 3.Otherrelatedrequirements
2.2 Set up UEFI
EnterUEFISETUPUTILITYAdvancedscreen
 StorageConguration.Set“SATAModeSelection”to
[RAID].

6
2.3 Congure Intel RAID BIOS
Rebootyourcomputer.Press<Ctrl+I>toentertheRAID
BIOSwhenyouseetheRAIDsoftwarestatusscreen.
 SelecttheoptionCreate RAID Volumeandpress
<Enter>.
 IntheCreateVolumeMenu,pleaseinsertaunique
nameforyourRAIDvolume.

7
 SelectyourdesiredRAIDLevel.
 IfyouselectedRAID0(Stripe),youarerequired
toselectthestripesizeforyourRAID0array.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

8
 Aftersettingstripsize,setthediskCapacity.
 Press <Enter> and then Press <Y> to continue when
theutilitypromptsaconrmationmessage.
 Aftertheconfiguration,youwillseethedetailed
informationabouttheRAIDarraythatyousetup.

9
 PleasenotethatyouareonlyallowedtocreateoneRAID
partitionatatimeunderBIOSRAID.Ifyouwanttocreate
an extraRAIDpartition,pleaseusetheRAIDutilityunder
WindowstocongureRAIDafteryouinstallthe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.

10
3. Installing Windows® on a HDD under 2TB in
RAID mode
 After the UEFI andRAIDBIOSsetup you may start
installingWindows® 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-
bit OSasusual.