Foxconn VT8237R Plus User manual

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VT8237RPlus
SATARAIDUserGuide
Edition
V1.0
Trademarks
All brandorproductnames mentionedaretrademarksorregistered trade-
marks oftheirrespectiveholders.
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Using SerialATARAID........................................................................3
1.Introduction....................................................................................................3
2.Installing SATAHardDisks..........................................................................4
3.BIOSConfiguration......................................................................................5
4. Install WindowsXP/Windows2000 withRAIDmode.............................11
5.Driverand RAIDsoftwareinstallation.....................................................13
6.HowtocreateRAIDdriverfloppydisk.....................................................16
Contents
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UsingSerialATARAID
ThismotherboardadoptsVIAVT8237RPlus southbridgechipsetthatsupports
SerialATA(SATA)harddisks.You may install twoSATAharddiskson the
motherboardforstoragedevices.
Foroptimalperformance,please install identicaldrives ofthesamemodeland
capacitywhencreating aRAIDset.
1.Introduction
RAIDBasics
RAID(RedundantArrayofIndependent Disks)isamethod ofcombining two
harddisk drives intoonelogicalunit. TheadvantageofanArrayistoprovide
betterperformanceordatafaulttolerance.Fault toleranceisachievedthrough
dataredundantoperation,whereifonedrivesfails,amirroredcopyofthedata
canbefound on anotherdrive.Thiscan preventdataloss iftheoperatingsys-
temfailsorhangs. The individualdiskdrives inan arrayarecalledmembers.
Theconfigurationinformationof eachmemberisrecordedinthe reserved sector.
thatidentifiesthedriveasamember. All diskmembersinaformeddiskarray
arerecognizedas asinglephysicaldrivetotheoperating system.
Harddiskdrives canbecombinedtogetherthrough afewdifferentmethods.
The differentmethodsarereferredtoas differentRAIDlevels.DifferentRAID
levelsrepresentdifferentperformancelevels,securitylevelsand implementa-
tion costs.TheRAIDlevelswhichtheVIAVT8237RPlus SATA RAIDHostCon-
trollersupportsareRAID0,1andJBOD.
RAID0(Striping)
RAID0readsand writes sectorsofdatainterleavedbetweenmultipledrives.If
anydiskmemberfails,itaffectstheentirearray.Thediskarraydatacapacityis
equal tothenumber of drive memberstimesthe capacityofthesmallestmember.
Thestriping blocksizecanbesetfrom4KBto64KB. RAID0doesnotsupport
faulttolerance.
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RAID1(Mirroring)
RAID1writesduplicatedataontoapairof drivesandreadsbothsetsof datain
parallel.Ifoneofthemirroreddrives suffersamechanicalfailureordoes not
respond,theremaining drivewill continuetofunction.Duetoredundancy,the
drivecapacityofthe arrayisthecapacityofthesmallest drive.UnderaRAID1
setup,an extradrivecalledthe .sparedrive.canbeattached.Suchadrivewillbe
activatedtoreplace afaileddrivethat ispartof amirroredarray. Duetothefault
tolerance,ifanyRAID1 drivefails,dataaccess will notbeaffectedas long as
thereareother workingdrives inthearray.
JBOD(Spanning)
Aspanning disk arrayisequaltothe sumofthealldrives whenthedrives used
arehaving differentcapacities.Spanning stores dataontoadriveuntil itisfull,
then proceedstostorefilesontothenextdrive inthearray.Whenanydisk
memberfails,thefailureaffectstheentirearray.JBODisnotreallyaRAIDand
does notsupport faulttolerance.
2.InstallingSATAHardDisks
STEP 1:Install theSATAharddisksintothedrivebays.
STEP 2:Connect oneendofthe SATA datacabletothemotherboard sprimary
SATAconnector(SATA_1).
STEP 3:Connecttheother endoftheSATAdatacabletothemaster SATA hard
disk.
STEP4:Connectoneendofthe second SATA datacabletothemotherboard s
secondarySATA connector(SATA_2).
STEP 5:Connect theotherendofSATAdatacabletothe secondarySATA hard
disk.
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3.BIOSConfiguration
Enter BIOSSetup program
1.EntertheBIOSsetupprogrambypressing the<Del>keyduring thePOST
(Power-OnSelfTest).
2.Selectthe IntegratedPeripherals item,thenpress<Enter>.
3.Selectthe VIAOnChipIDE Device menu.
4.Switchthe SATAMode optionto[RAID].
5.Press <F10> tosavethe BIOSsetting and exit theBIOSsetup program.
Enter BIOSConfigurationUtility
Whenthesystempowerson,thefollowing information willappearon screen.
Press the<Tab>keytoenterBIOSconfiguration utility.
Press <Tab> keyintoUserWindow!
Themainmenu of BIOSconfiguration utilityisas below:
A.CreateArray
The VIAVT8237RPlussupportsRAID0,RAID1andJBODmode.Followthe
stepstocreateRAID.
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a.GuidetoConfigureRAID0
STEP1:Select the option CreateArray inthe mainmenuof BIOSconfigura-
tion utility, then press <Enter>key.
STEP2:Select the option ArrayMode, thenpress <Enter>keytodisplay the
pop-up menu ofRAIDsystemsetting.
STEP3: Select RAID0forperformance fromthe menuandpress<Enter>.
Fromthispoint, you maychoose toauto-configurethe RAIDarray by
selecting AutoSetupforPerformance ormanuallyconfiguretheRAID
arrayforstripedsets.Please continuewiththenextstep if you wantto
manuallyconfigurethe RAIDarray. Otherwise,proceedtostep3-4.
3-1.
Selecttheoption Select DiskDrives, thenpress<Enter>. Usearrow
keystoselectdiskdrive(s), then press <Enter>tomarkselecteddrive.
Anasteriskisplacedbeforetheselected drive.
3-2.
Select theoption BlockSize, thenpress<Enter>tosetarrayblock
size.Alistofvalidarrayblock sizes aredisplayed on apop-upmenu.
Use arrowkeystomoveselection baron itemsand press <Enter>to
select.
3-3.
Select theoption Start CreateProcess andpress<Enter>tosetup
harddisksforRAIDsystem.
3-4.
Thenthe confirmationmessageappears:
The dataonthe selected disks will be destroyed. Continue? (Y/N)
Press <Y>toconfirmor <N>toreturntothe configurationoptions.
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b.Guide toConfigureRAID1
STEP1:Select the option CreateArray inthe mainmenuof BIOSconfigura-
tion utility, then press <Enter>key.
STEP2:Select the option ArrayMode, thenpress <Enter>keytodisplay the
pop-up menu ofRAIDsystemsetting.
STEP3:Select RAID1fordataprotection fromthemenuandpress<Enter>.
Fromthispoint, you maychoose toauto-configurethe RAIDarray by
selecting AutoSetupforDataSecurity ormanuallyconfiguretheRAID
array. Pleasecontinuewiththenext stepifyouwanttomanuallycon-
figuretheRAIDarray. Otherwise,proceedtostep3-3.
3-1.
Selecttheoption Select DiskDrives, thenpress<Enter>. Usearrow
keystoselectdiskdrive(s), then press <Enter>tomarkselecteddrive.
Anasteriskisplacedbeforetheselected drive.
3-2.
Select theoption Start CreateProcess andpress<Enter>tosetup
harddiskforRAIDsystem.
3-3.
Thenthe confirmationmessageappears:
Save the dataonsourcedisktomirroraftercreation?(Y/N)
Press <Y>toconfirmor <N>toreturntothe configurationoptions.
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c.Guide toConfigureJBOD
STEP1:Select the option CreateArray inthe mainmenuof BIOSconfigura-
tion utility, then press <Enter>key.
STEP2:Select the option ArrayMode, thenpress <Enter>keytodisplay the
pop-up menu ofRAIDsystemsetting.
STEP 3:Select RAIDSPANforcapacity fromthemenuandpress<Enter>.
Fromthispoint, you maychoose toauto-configurethe RAIDarray by
selecting AutoSetupforCapacity ormanuallyconfiguretheRAID
arrayforstripedsets.Please continuewiththenextstep if you wantto
manuallyconfigurethe RAIDarray. Otherwise,proceedtostep3-3.
3-1.
Selecttheoption Select DiskDrives, thenpress<Enter>. Usearrow
keystoselectdiskdrive(s), then press <Enter>tomarkselecteddrive.
Anasteriskisplacedbeforetheselected drive.
3-2.
Select theoption Start CreateProcess andpress<Enter>tosetup
harddiskforRAIDsystem.
3-3.
Thenthe confirmationmessageappears:
The dataonthe selected disks will be destroyed. Continue? (Y/N)
Press <Y>toconfirmor <N>toreturntothe configurationoptions.
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B.DeleteArray
ARAIDcan bedeletedafterit has been created.TodeleteaRAID,usethe
followingsteps:
STEP1:Select the option DeleteArray inthe mainmenuof BIOSconfiguration
utility,thenpress<Enter>key.
STEP 2:Selectthememberofanarraythat istobedeletedandpress<Enter>.
Awarning messagewill showup,press Ytodeleteorpress Nto
cancel.
Deletingadiskarraywill destroyall thedataonthediskarray except
RAID1arrays.
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C.SelectBootArray
Usercanselectadiskarray as bootdeviceif userwantstobootoperating
systemfromanarray. Bootdisk arraycannot beselected iftheoperatingsystem
doesnotbootfromthediskarray.Highlightthe SelectBootArray item;press
<Enter>andthe channelcolumnwillbe activated.Thenhighlightthetargetdisk
arrayand press <Enter>.Ifuserselectsadiskarraythat has abootmarkand
press <Enter>,itsbootsetting will becanceled.
D.SerialNumberView
Highlight SerialNumberView andpress <Enter>.Use arrowkeytoselecta
drive,theselecteddrives serialnumbercanbeviewedinthelastcolumn.The
serialnumberisassignedbythediskdrivemanufacturer.
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