Promise FastTrak TX4310 User manual

F AST T RAK
TX4310
U SER M ANUAL
Version 1.1

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
ii
Copyright
© 2007 Promise Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (Promise Technology). No part of this
manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed,
written permission of Promise Technology.
Trademarks
Promise, and the Promise logo are registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Important data protection information
You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage
peripheral. Promise Technology is not responsible for any loss of data resulting
from the use, disuse or misuse of this or any other Promise Technology product.
Notice
Although Promise Technology has attempted to ensure the accuracy of the
content of this manual, it is possible that this document may contain technical
inaccuracies, typographical, or other errors. Promise Technology assumes no
liability for any error in this publication, and for damages, whether direct, indirect,
incidental, consequential or otherwise, that may result from such error, including,
but not limited to loss of data or profits.
Promise Technology provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any kind,
either express or implied, including, but not limited to implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The published information in the manual is subject to change without notice.
Promise Technology reserves the right to make changes in the product design,
layout, and driver revisions without notification to its users.
This version of the User Manual supersedes all previous versions.
Recommendations
In the manual, the appearance of products made by other companies, including,
but not limited to software, servers and disk drives, is for the purpose of
illustration and explanation only. Promise Technology does not recommend,
endorse, prefer or support any product made by another manufacturer.

Notices
iii
Radio Frequency Interference Statement
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential
installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency
energy, and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction may
cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no
guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this
equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which
can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged
to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which
the receiver is connected.
• Consult Promise Technology, Inc. or an experienced radio/TV technician for
help.
This device complies with Part 5 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
following conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2)
this device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
Caution
Only digital device equipment CERTIFIED CLASS B should be
attached to this equipment and that must have shielded cables.

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
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v
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
FastTrak TX 4310 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
WebPAM Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Key Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Chapter 2: Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Unpack Your FastTrak Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Install the FastTrak Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Install the Disk Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Create Your Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
WebPAM Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Utility Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Java Runtime Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Install WebPAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Chapter 3: Install Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Make an Installation Floppy Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Windows Server 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
New Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Existing Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Confirm Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
New Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Existing Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Confirm Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
New Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Existing Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Confirm Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
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Chapter 4: FastBuild™ Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
FastTrak BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
View Drive Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Create a Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Delete Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Controller Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
System Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Logical Drive Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Chapter 5: WebPAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Log-in to WebPAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Regular Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Secure Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Log-out of WebPAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
User Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Add a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Event Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Delete a User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Change a User’s Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Change a User’s Email Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Change a User’s Access Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Host Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Utility Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
FastTrak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Controller Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Controller Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Controller Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Controller Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Physical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Physical Drive View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Media Patrol Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Physical Drive Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Physical Drive Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Physical Drive Media Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Physical Drive Bad Sector Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Locate a Physical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Contents
vii
Chapter 5: WebPAM, continued
Logical Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Logical Drive View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Create a Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
JBOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Delete a Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Logical Drive Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Logical Drive Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Logical Drive Migration and Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Logical Drive Rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Synchronize/Redundancy Check All Logical Drives . . . . . . . . .81
Logical Drive Synchronization/Redundancy Check . . . . . . . . .83
Logical Drive Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Logical Drive Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Logical Drive Critical / Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Enclosures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Enclosure View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Spare Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Spare Drive View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Create a Spare Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Delete a Spare Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Chapter 6: Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
About FastTrak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Adapter BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Introduction to RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
RAID 0 – Stripe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
RAID 1 – Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
RAID 5 – Block Striping with Distributed Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
RAID 10 – Mirror / Stripe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
JBOD – Single Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Choosing a RAID Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
RAID 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
JBOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
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Chapter 6: Technology, continued
Other Logical Drive Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Stripe Block Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Hot Spare Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Cache Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Logical Drive Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
RAID Level Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Chapter 7: Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Pre-Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Motherboard Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
System CMOS Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Drive Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Operating System-Related Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Installation Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Post-Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Performance Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Contact Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Limited Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Return Product For Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Appendix A: Partition and Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

1
Chapter 1: Introduction
• About This Manual, below
• Product Overview (page 2)
• WebPAM Software (page 3)
• Key Features and Benefits (page 3)
• Specifications (page 5)
Thank you for purchasing one of Promise Technology’s FastTrak TX4310 RAID
Controller card.
About This Manual
This User Manual describes how to setup, use and maintain the FastTrak
TX4310 RAID Controller card.
This manual includes a full table of contents, chapter task lists and numerous
cross-references to help you find the specific information you are looking for.
Also included are four levels of notices:
Note
A Note provides helpful information such as hints or alternative
ways of doing a task.
Important
An Important calls attention to an essential step or point required
to complete a task. Important items include things often missed.
Caution
A Caution informs you of possible equipment damage or loss of
data and how to avoid them.
Warning
A Warning notifies you of probable equipment damage or loss of
data, or the possibility of physical injury, and how to avoid them.

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
2
Product Overview
The PC which you are using either already contains a FastTrak TX4310 RAID
Controller card installed by a third-party or you have acquired a FastTrak TX4310
retail product for your existing PC and plan to install the card yourself.
• For PC owners wishing to install their TX4310 RAID, go to “Chapter 2:
Installation” on page 7.
• For PCs with a FastTrak TX4310 already installed, and you are experiencing
any difficulties with the disk drives being recognized by the card, go to
“Chapter 7: Support” on page 109.
• If your operating system has crashed for some reason or you have
downloaded updated drivers from the Promise website (www.promise.com),
you may wish to reinstall software drivers for the FastTrak TX4310. See
“Chapter 3: Install Drivers” on page 23.
FastTrak TX 4310
Promise originally designed the FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card as a cost-
effective, high performance RAID controller card that adds performance and
reliability to PC desktops and servers using Serial ATA drives. FastTrak TX4310
has four independent data channels to support a maximum of four Serial ATA
drives and supports:
• Stripe (RAID 0) – Identical drives can read and write data in parallel to
increase performance.
• Mirror (RAID 1) – Mirror increases read performance through load balancing
and elevator sorting while creating a complete backup of your files.
• Stripe with Parity (RAID 5) – Combines data striping to increase performance
with parity data to provide fault tolerance.
• Mirror / Stripe (RAID 10) – Combining mirror with stripe offers both high read/
write performance and fault tolerance
A FastTrak TX4310 striped disk array can double the sustained data transfer rate
of Serial ATA drives.
FastTrak TX4310 offers fault tolerant, data redundancy for entry-level network file
servers or simply for desktop PC users wanting to continually protect valuable
data on their PC.
Should a drive that is part of a mirrored or parity disk array fail, FastTrak TX4310
uses the mirrored drive or the parity to assume all data handling. When a new
replacement drive is later installed, FastTrak TX4310 rebuilds data to the new
drive from the mirrored driveor parity to restore fault tolerance.

Chapter 1: Introduction
3
FastTrak TX4310 bootable BIOS supports individual drives larger than 137 GB.
With FAT32 and NTFS partitioning, the disk array can be addressed as one large
single volume.
WebPAM Software
The Web-based Promise Array Management (WebPAM) RAID management
software offers local management and monitoring of FastTrak disk arrays.
Browser-based GUI provides email notification of all major events/alarms,
memory cache management, logging for Windows servers, disk array
maintenance, rebuild, and access to all components in disk array (server,
controller, data channels, individual drives, and enclosure). For information on
using WebPAM, refer to “Chapter 5: WebPAM” on page 43.
Key Features and Benefits
The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new
Promise FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card.
Advanced Hardware Design
Features Benefits
Supports 66 MHz PCI bus
motherboards (automatically
backward compatible with 33
MHz PCI slots)
Allows maximum data transfers of up to 266MB
per second (133 MB/s in 33 MHz slot) over the
bus to dramatically reduce the time to save and
retrieve large files.
Supports:
data stripe (RAID 0), mirror
(RAID 1), data stripe plus
parity (RAID 5) and mirror/
stripe (RAID 10)
Provides dramatic increase in drive performance
and/or fault tolerant options. Offers performance
customization and data rebuilds from the BIOS
menu.
Serial ATA Specification II Burst data transfer rates up to 3.0 Gb/s from
Serial ATA drives to boost overall system
performance.
Independent data channels
for Serial ATA drives
Drives can multiply their data transfer
performance when striped together and each
drive uses a separate data channel.
PCI Plug-n-Play, PCI Interrupt
sharing and coexists with
motherboard IDE and SCSI
controllers
Easy to install; supports up to 4 Serial ATA
drives on the FastTrak RAID Controller card
while still supporting 4 devices on motherboard
ATA controller.
Supports multiple disk arrays TX4310 supports up to 4 disk arrays.

FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
4
Supports online disk array
expansion
Add disk drives to the disk array without
affecting data availability.
Supports online disk array
migration
Change RAID level without affecting data
availability.
Supports Hot Spare drive Uses any free disk to replace a failing disk in a
disk array automatically.
Utilizes FastBuild™ automenu
from the FastTrak onboard
BIOS
Has “Auto Setup” option for quick and easy disk
array builds
Displays status and error
checking messages during
bootup
Notifies user of possible errors and allows for
recovery of mirrored drive disk arrays directly
from FastBuild™.
Supports S.M.A.R.T.
monitoring and reporting
Polls status every 15 minutes, reports through
WebPAM.
Employs the latest Promise
PCI Serial ATA ASIC
technology
Fully supports Serial ATA specifications with 300
MB/sec timing and CRC error-checking at high
speeds.
Mirror supports automatic
background rebuilds
Fault tolerance can be restored automatically
without rebooting.
DOS based flash upgrade of
BIOS and Firmware
Verifies proper file, option to backup existing file.
Download files from Promise website
Gigabyte Rounding Allows easier interchangeability among disk
drive vendors
System reboot not required
after create, delete, migrate or
expand disk array
System boot process continues without
restarting.
Compatibility
Features Benefits
Complies with PCI v2.3 Local
Bus standard
Provides highest level of hardware compatibility.
Complies with SATA
Specification 1.0a
Provides full compatibility with first generation
Serial ATA hard drives.
Advanced Hardware Design
Features Benefits

Chapter 1: Introduction
5
Specifications
• Low-profile printed circuit board
• PCI Slot 33 MHz or 66 MHz
• Controller card dimensions (H x W): 2.25 x 4.75 inches (57 x 121 mm)
• Operating temperatures: 32°to 122°F (0°C to 50°C)
• Operating humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing
Complies with Serial ATA II:
Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0a
Specification
Provides enclosure and drive monitoring
compatibility.
Compliant with PCI Bus
Master standard. PCI Bus
Master support
Provides 32-bit I/O and, Bus Master, and Serial
ATA performance for optimal system
performance.
Tested compatibility to coexist
with motherboards that have
integrated IDE controllers
Improves system performance and minimizes
system conflicts for new and existing
installations.
Compatible with all major
SATA generation 1 and SATA
generation 2, phase 1 and
phase 2 disk drives
Promise performs verification testing with major
drive manufacturers and development partners.
Features LBA support Supports drives greater than 137 GB capacity.
Supports BIOS Boot
Specification
All disk arrays attached to the FastTrak card
appear in the BBS-compliant motherboards
BIOS boot list.
Compatible with Promise
SuperSwap enclosures
Provides enclosure management including fan,
temperature and voltages.
Compatibility
Features Benefits

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7
Chapter 2: Installation
• Unpack Your FastTrak Card (below)
• Install the FastTrak Card (page 8)
• Install the Disk Drives (page 9)
• Create Your Logical Drive (page 10))
• WebPAM Installation (page 14)
This Chapter is designed to quickly get your FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller
card up and running.
If you plan to run the WebPAM software, you must also install the driver
appropriate to your operating system. See “Chapter 3: Install Drivers” on
page 23.
Unpack Your FastTrak Card
When you receive the FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card, the package
should contain the items listed below:
• FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller Card
• Quick Start Guide
• Four 0.65m (25.6-inch) Serial ATA disk drive data cables
• Two Y power splitter cables
• CD with Drivers, Promise RAID Management (WebPAM) software and
FastTrak TX4310 User Manual
If any of the items are missing or appear to be damaged, please contact your
dealer or distributor immediately.
Warning
The electronic components on the FastTrak RAID Controller card
are sensitive to damage from Electro-Static Discharge (ESD).
Observe appropriate precautions at all times when handling the
FastTrak card or its subassemblies.
Warning
Before installing the adapter into an existing system, backup any
important or useful data. Failure to follow this accepted PC
practice could result in data loss.

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Install the FastTrak Card
The FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card fits into any available PCI slot on
your PC's motherboard (below):
• 32-bit PCI slot (must be PCI 2.2 or 2.3 compliant)
• The 32-bit portion of a 64-bit PCI or PCI-X slot.
1. Remove the cover of your system.
Note
The FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card is a PCI Plug-n-Play
(PnP) device. No changes are necessary in the motherboard
CMOS/BIOS Setup for resources or drive types in most
applications.
Bracket
Attaching screw
FastTrak TX4310
PCI slots
Motherboard
System frame

Chapter 2: Installation
9
2. Remove the inside slot cover of an available 32-bit PCI slot on the
motherboard.Install the FastTrak Serial ATA RAID card into the open PCI
slot. Secure the bracket to the system's frame.
3. Attach your system case's 2- or 4-pin LED cable to the LED connector on the
FastTrak card (see Install the Disk Drives, below).
4. Fasten the controller card bracket to the system case.
Install the Disk Drives
The FastTrak TX4310 RAID Controller card supports only Serial ATA disk drives.
For optimal performance, install disk drives of the same model and capacity. The
drives’ matched performance allows the logical drive to function better as a single
drive.
The table above shows the number of drives required for each RAID level. If you
plan to create a mirror (RAID 1) for protection, you can use two new drives OR
use an existing drive and a new drive. The new drive must be the same size or
larger than the existing drive.
1. Install the disk drives into the disk drive bays of your system.
Important
If you wish to include your current bootable Serial ATA drive using
the Windows operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored
(RAID 1) logical drive on your FastTrak card, do NOT connect the
disk drive to the FastTrak yet. You MUST install the Windows
driver software first onto this drive while it is still attached to your
existing disk drive controller.
Level Number of Drives
RAID 0 any number
RAID 1 2 only
RAID 5 3 or 4
RAID 10 4 only
JBOD any number

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2. Attach one Serial ATA data cable to each disk drive. Then attach the other
ends of the cables to the connectors on the FastTrak card (above).
3. Attach the Y-cable power splitters to each of the disk drives.
Create Your Logical Drive
You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create a logical drive with
the attached drives.
For an explanation of the logical drive concepts, see Chapter 5
Caution
Use of removable disk drive enclosures other than Promise
Technology’s SuperSwap is not supported and may result in
performance loss or other undesired results.
Note
You can omit this step and create your logical drive using the
WebPAM software.
Port 1 /
Channel 1
Port 2 /
Channel 2
Port 3 /
Channel 3
Port 4 /
Channel 4
Management
Connector
Individual LED
Connectors Aggregate LED Connectors

Chapter 2: Installation
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1. Boot your system. If this is the first time you have booted with the FastTrak
card and drives installed, the Promise onboard BIOS will display the
following screen (below).
2. Press the Ctrl-F keys to display the FastBuild Utility Main Menu (below).
3. Press 2 on the Main Menu screen to display the Define LD Menu (below).
4. Press the arrow keys to highlight an logical drive number you want to define
and press Enter to select it.

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The Define LD Menu for the logical drive number you selected will next
appear (below).
5. Choose the RAID Level you want. In the Define LD Menu section, press the
Spacebar to cycle through logical drive types:
•RAID0(Stripe)
• RAID 1 (Mirror)
• RAID 5 (Block Striping with Distributed Parity)
• RAID 10 (Stripe / Mirror)
• JBOD (Single Drive)
6. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on
the RAID Level you selected.
• Fast Init erases the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the disk drives when
this feature is set to ON. It applies to RAID 0, 1, 5 or 10.
• Stripe Block Size, the default 16KB is the only setting.
7. Press the arrow keys to move to Disk Assignments. Press the spacebar to
toggle between N and Y for each available drive. Y means this disk drive will
be assigned to the logical drive.
Assign the appropriate number of disk drives to your logical drive. Refer to
the table under “Install the Disk Drives” on page 9.
A disk drive that is not assigned to a logical drive will automatically function
as a Hot Spare Drive.
8. Press Ctrl-Y to save your logical drive configuration.
You have the option allocating a portion to a second logical drive. This option
is discussed under “Create a Logical Drive” on page 34.
9. Press any key (except for Ctrl-Y) to use the full portion of the logical drive for
one logical drive.