Rosewill RAID5 SATA II - 3GBPS HOST ADAPTER RC211 User manual

Raid5 SATA II - 3Gbps Host Adapter
RC211
User Manual

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Installation InstructionRC211
This Manual for many Models of SATA2 RAID5 PCI Express host cards which use Silicon Image
SATA II- 3Gbps SiI3132 chipset.
Important Message for User:
1. Before controller card installation, we recommend the users to study this manual and the PDF
file of SATARaid5 Manual at enclosed CD folder\SATA PCIe_Raid5_2Port\SiI3132\Windows\
Gui ( or\Raid5 SATA2_4Port\SiI3124\ Windows\Gui ) first. This Raid manual has more
information on Raid architecture, Raid features, Raid installation, Raid setting and
Management software for Raid5 GUI (Graphical User Interface).
2. Windows Device Manager can NOT recognize the hard drives that without correct RAID
setting before.
3. The working data on your existing HDD may NOT work when you migrate it to RAID Host
Card.
4. After driver installation, if you like, you can install SATARaid5 GUI for Raid management.
Before SATARaid5 GUI installation, you must remove all the existing SATARaid GUI (or Java
SATARaid GUI) to ensure your new SATARaid5 GUI can work properly.
i.e. : (\Start\Control Panel\Add or Remove Programs\Select all SATARaid \Remove)
5. Raid sets can be created and managed by either the BIOS utility setting or the SATARAID5
GUI setting under Windows.
6. For RAID creating, BIOS utility allow the random creating but GUI just supports the building
by sequential SATA Port1, Port2, Port3 ……..
7. If you use the used HDD to Raid5 card, you must perform the "Delete Raid Set" on BIOS
setting, since your used HDD has some system data and Raid5 card may confuse on that and
no recognition.
8. RAID5 setting may cost hours for component ready and function available, please be patient
for that. Especially if Raid5 setting by BIOS, please Click “Task Manager” to make sure Raid
setting is completed. It shall be “Green” color on the selected components.
9. The “Rebuilding” function on Raid 1 or Raid 10 may spend long hours for component ready
and function available, please be patient for that.
10. Raid 0 and Raid1 need at least 2 drives, and Raid10 4 drives and Raid5 3 drives at least. If 1
drive only, make sure to have “Concatenate” or “Contiguous” setting.

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1. Introduction
This Low Profile PCI-Express Host Adapter is a controller board to support Low profile PCI and
regular size PCI both in one card. The card can upgrade your desktop computer to have 2 ports
Serial ATA II transfer rate of 3 Gb/s (300 MB/s).
The board can be used to upgrade your desktop computer to have 2Ports Serial ATA Channels
and support RAID 5, RAID 0+1, RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD features. It accepts host commands
through the PCI Express bus, processes them and transfers data between the host and Serial ATA
devices. The board should be connected to SATA target device and will take the data, serialize it
and output it for transmission over the SATA interface. The board can control four independent
Serial ATA channels. Each channel has its own Serial ATA bus and will support one Serial ATA
device.
The board supports Serial ATA Generation 1 & Generation 2 transfer rate of 1.5 Gbps / 3Gbps. It
comes completely with drivers for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003.
RAID, Redundant Array of Independent Disks, greatly enhances two main areas of data storage:
performance and data integrity. By using RAID 0, also known as Striping, performance of
sustained data transfer rates is greatly enhanced by simultaneously writing data to 2, 3 or 4
drives. The second benefit of RAID is data redundancy. RAID 1, Mirroring, writes identical data
on two drives or sets of drives, thus protecting the data from a disk failure. If, for any reason, one
drive were to fail, your data is secure and available from the mirrored second drive.
1.1. Features
1. External SATA II (eSATA) Connector.
2. 48 bits LBA can Break Capacity-Limit to Support HDD larger than 137GB.
3. Supports 1-lane 2.5Gbps PCI Express.
4. Hot-plug capability.
5. Supports SATA II transfer rate of 3.0Gbps.
6. Fully compliant with Serial ATA 1.0 specifications.
7. Supports two independent Serial ATA channels.
8. Independent Link, Transport, and data FIFO.
9. Independent command fetch, scatter/gather, and command execution.
10. Supports Legacy Command Queuing (LCQ).
11. Supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ).
12. Supports Non-zero offsets NCQ.
13. Supports Out of order data delivery NCQ.

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14. Supports FIS-based switching with Port Multipliers.
15. Commands and Scatter/Gather Tables per Port.
16. Two Pin headers on board for LED connection.
17. Completely with drivers for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
18. Provides RAID 0 (Stripping) to greatly increase the performance of data transfer by
simultaneously writing data to 2 drives.
19. Provides RAID 1 (Mirroring) to protect the data from a disk failure by writing identical data on
2 drives.
20. RAID 0+1 (Mirrored-Stripping) combine both Striping and Mirroring technologies to provide
both the performance enhancements that come from Striping and the data availability and
integrity that comes from Mirroring.
1.2. Package Contents
1. RAID5 SATA II – 3Gbps 2Ports PCI Express Host Adapter
2. This Users Manual
3. Driver CD
2. What Is RAID
RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks
RAID technology manages multiple disk drives to enhance I/O performance and provide
redundancy in order to withstand the failure of any individual member, without loss of data.
Disk Striping (RAID 0)
Striping is a performance-oriented, non-redundant data mapping technique. While Striping
is discussed as a RAID Set type, it is actually does not provide fault tolerance. With modern
SATA bus mastering technology, multiple I/O operations can be done in parallel, enhancing
performance. Striping arrays use multiple disks to form a larger virtual disk.
Disk Mirroring (RAID 1)
Disk mirroring creates an identical twin for a selected disk by having the data simultaneously
written to two disks. This redundancy provides instantaneous protection from a single disk failure.
If a read failure occurs on one drive, the system reads the data from the other drive.
RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks
RAID technology manages multiple disk drives to enhance I/O performance and provide
redundancy in order to withstand the failure of any individual member, without loss of data.

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Mirrored-Striping (RAID 0+1 also known as RAID 10)
A Mirrored-Striping Set does just what it says, combining both Striping and Mirroring
technologies to provide both the performance enhancements that come from Striping and the
data availability and integrity that comes from Mirroring. When data is written to a Mirrored-
Striped Set, instead of creating just one virtual disk as Striping would do, a second, Mirrored
virtual disk is created as well.
Parity RAID (RAID 5)
Parity or RAID 5 adds fault tolerance to Disk Striping by including parity information with the
data. Parity RAID dedicates the equivalent of one disk for storing parity stripes. The data and
parity information is arranged on the disk array so that parity is written to different disks. There
are at least 3 members to a Parity RAID set. The following example illustrates how the parity is
rotated from disk to disk. Parity RAID uses less capacity for protection and is the preferred
method to reduce the cost per megabyte for larger installations. Mirroring requires 100% increase
in capacity to protect the data whereas the above example only requires a 50% increase. The
required capacity decreases as the number of disks in the group increases.
Just Bunch of Disks (JBOD, Contiguous)
The JBOD here (also known as Contiguous) means a logical drive that can either be an entire
disk drive or a segment of a single disk drive. For this card, JBOD function only supports one
disk. JBOD here is a Contiguous configuration option when “Create RAID Group” in SATARAID5
Manager Utility.
3. Installation Procedures
1. Power down the computer system.
2. Insert the Host card into an available bus slot.
3. Power ON.
4. Install Device Driver as section 5.
5. Remove all the existing SATARaid GUI (or Java SATARaid GUI) to ensure your new SATARaid5
GUI can work properly.
6. Install new SATARaid5 GUI.
7. Power down the computer system again.
8. Connect Hard Drives to SATA Ports.
9. Power ON.
10. If you connect the used HDDs to SATA Ports, Press CTRL+S or F4 and delete Raid setting on
every used HDD when BIOS booting.

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11. Use SATARAID5 Manager GUI for RAID configuration setting. If 1 Disk, please select
“Concatenate” or “Contiguous” setting only.
If 2 Disks, don’t select “Parity RAID” or “Mirrored Striped” setting
If 3 Disks, don’t select “Mirrored Striped” setting
12. Click “Task Manager” to make sure Raid setting is completed. It shall be “Green” color or
“Blue” color on the selected components. RAID5 setting may cost hours for component ready
and function available, please be patient for that.
13. Use Device Manager for hard disk initialization, partition and formatting.
4. BIOS Setting ( RAID Setting )
Creating and deleting RAID sets is a function found in the BIOS. During boot up, the RAID setting
message will appear and pause for a few moments to allow the user to choose what to do. This
board will act as normal NON-RAID card when BIOS not configured for RAID. Just proceed to
Software Installation section directly. If you use traditional parallel ATA HDD, make sure your hard
drives be set up as master mode before the RAID setting.
4.1. Creating Striped Sets (RAID 0)
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Select RAID 0 then press Enter.
4. Select Number of hard drive. Press Enter.
5. Select RAID size. Press Enter.
6. Press Y to save your settings.
7. Press CTRL+E and then press Y to exit the setup.
8. Continue with conventional Fdisk and Format steps as if you are installing a conventional hard
drive.
9. Your RAID configuration is complete. Please proceed to software installation section.
4.2. Creating Mirrored Sets (RAID 1)
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Select RAID 1 then press Enter.

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4. Select Auto configuration. Press Enter.
5. Press Y to save your settings.
6. Press CTRL+E and then press Y to exit the setup.
7. Continue with conventional Fdisk and Format steps as if you are installing a conventional hard
drive.
8. Your RAID configuration is complete. Please proceed to software installation section.
4.3. Creating a Mirrored-Striped Set (RAID 10)
1. As the BIOS boots, press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press F2.
3. Select RAID 10 then press Enter.
4. Select Auto config. Press Enter.
5. Press Y and then press ESC to exit the setup.
6. Continue with conventional Fdisk and Format steps as if you are installing a conventional hard
drive.
7. Your RAID configuration is complete. Please proceed to software installation section.
4.4. Creating Parity RAID (RAID 5)
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Select RAID 5 then press Enter.
4. Select Auto configuration. Press Enter.
5. Press Y to save your settings.
4.5. Creating JBOD Sets
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Select JBOD (Single) then press Enter.
4. Select JBOD Drives. Press Enter.
5. Select RAID size. Press Enter.
6. Press Y to save your settings.

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4.6. Creating Spare Drive
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Create RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Select Spare Drive then press Enter.
4. Select Spare Drives. Press Enter.
5. Select RAID size. Press Enter.
6. Press Y to save your settings.
4.7. Deleting RAID Sets
1. As the BIOS boots, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid bios utility.
2. Select Delete RAID set. Press Enter.
3. Answer Y to remove the RAID set. If the RAID set being deleted is a Striped set, then all of the
data will be lost. If the set being deleted is a Mirrored set, then the data will remain intact and
accessible on both drives.
4.8. Rebuilding Mirrored Sets (RAID 1)
1. After replacing the failed hard drives boot the BIOS, Press CTRL+S or F4 to enter the raid
bios utility.
2. Select Rebuild RAID 1 set. Press Enter.
3. Select Rebuild Hard Drive. Press Enter.
4. Answer Y to rebuild the Mirrored set of hard drive.
4.9. Resolving Conflict
When a RAID set is created, the metadata written to the disk includes drive connection
information (Primary and Secondary). If, after a disk failure, the replacement disk was previously
part of a RAID set (or used in another system), it may have conflicting metadata, specifically in
reference to the drive connection information. If so, this will prohibit the RAID set from being
either created or rebuilt, In order for the RAID set to function properly, this old metadata must be
first overwritten with the new metadata. To resolve this, select Resolve Conflicts, and the correct
metadata, including the correct drive connection information, will be written to the replacement
disk.

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5. Software Installation
5.1. Windows 2000/XP/2003 Fresh Installation
1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the controller card and insert the controller
card into a PCI Express slot. Power up the system.
2. Put your Windows 2000/XP CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, or the 2000/XP boot diskette #1
in the floppy drive if your system cannot boot from the CD.
3. Press F6 for third party SCSI or driver installation at the beginning of text mode installation.
Press 's' when setup asks if you want to specify an additional device and insert the Driver CD.
Press 'Enter' and select 'E:\ SATA PCIe_Raid5_2Port \SiI3132\Windows\Driver'.
4. Press 'Enter' to continue on with text mode setup.
5. Follow the setup instructions to select your choice for partition and file system.
6. After setup examines your disks, it will copy files to Windows 2000 installation folders and
restart the system. The setup program will continue and finish the installation after restart.
7. Waiting until Windows finishes installing devices, regional settings, networking settings,
components, and final set of tasks, reboot the system if it is required.
8. See instructions in section 5.3 to verify controller was installed correctly.
5.2. Adding the controller card to an existing Windows 2000/
XP/2003 Installation
1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the controller card and insert the controller
card into a PCI Express slot. Power up the system.
2. During OS boot up, Windows will display the 'Found New Hardware Wizard'. Click 'Next'.
3. Select 'Search for a suitable driver for my device (Recommended)' and Click 'Next'.
4. Insert the Driver CD in your CD-ROM/DVD drive, check Specify a location, uncheck the other
boxes, click Next, type in E:\ (If your CD-ROM/DVD is E:\). Click Browse.
5. Points specify a location, example E:\ SATA PCIe_Raid5_2Port \ SiI3132 \ Windows \ Driver,
click Open then OK.
6. When the wizard indicates that it found a driver for the device click 'Next'.
7. If the 'Digital Signature Not Found' dialog appears, click 'Yes' to continue installing the driver.
8. The wizard will now copy the required files to the system and start the driver. After starting the
driver the wizard will display a completion dialog, click 'Finish' to exit the wizard.
9. See instructions in section 5.3 to verify controller was installed correctly.

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5.3. Verifying controller installation under Windows 2000/
XP/2003
1. Right click on 'My Computer' icon, select 'Properties', left click on 'Hardware' tab and then on
'Device Manager' button.
2. Double click on 'SCSI and RAID Controllers', If there is no yellow '!' or '?' in front of 'Silicon
Image SiI 3132 SoftRaid5 Controller', the driver is started correctly.
3. To view information about the devices attached to the controller, use the SiICfg Utility and
click on the device from the list.
5.4. Update new driver on Windows 2000/XP/2003 with
existing driver
1. Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'. Under the 'System Properties' section,
click on 'Hardware' tab and then on 'Device Manager' click 'SCSI and RAID Controller' and
right click 'Silicon Image SiI 3132 SoftRaid5 Controller'.
2. Click 'Driver', 'Update Driver' and select 'Search for a suitable driver for my device
[Recommended]'. Insert the Driver CD. Press 'Enter' and select 'E:\ SATA PCIe_Raid5_2Port
\SiI3132\Windows \Driver'. Click 'Next' and complete the driver installation.
3. System will go through the enumeration process and install the driver. At the end of the
process, click 'Yes' to reboot your system when necessary.
4. See instructions in section 5.3 to verify controller was installed correctly.
Thank you for purchasing a quality Rosewill Product.
Please register your product at : www.rosewill.com/ for complete warranty information and future
support for your product.