Asus RS161-E4/PA2 - Manual (Page 108)

6-2 Chapter 6: RAID configuration
6.1 Setting up RAID
The motherboard comes with the following RAID solutions:
• The NVIDIA
® nForce Professional 2200 chipset comes with a built-in SATA
RAID controller that allows you to configure RAID 0 and RAID 1 with SATA
hard disk drives.
6.1.1 RAID definitions
RAID 0 (Data striping) optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and
write data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same
work as a single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of
a single disk alone, thus improving data access and storage. Use of two new
identical hard disk drives is required for this setup.
RAID 1
(Data mirroring) copies and maintains an identical image of data from
one drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management
software directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete
copy of the data in the other drive. This RAID configuration provides data
protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new
drives or use an existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive
must be of the same size or larger than the existing drive.
If you want to boot the system from a hard disk drive included in a created
RAID set, copy first the RAID driver from the support CD to a floppy disk
before you install an operating system to the selected hard disk drive.
Refer to Chapter 7 for details.
6.1.2 Installing hard disk drives
The motherboard supports Serial ATA (both models) for RAID set configuration.
For optimal performance, install identical drives of the same model and capacity
when creating a disk array.
To install the SATA hard disks for RAID configuration:
1. Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays following the instructions
in the system user guide.
2. Connect a SATA signal cable to the signal connector at the back of each
drive and to the SATA connector on the motherboard.
3. Connect a SATA power cable to the power connector on each drive.
6.1.3 RAID configuration utility
You can create a RAID set using the utility embedded in each RAID controller.
For example, you can use the NVIDIA ® RAID Utility if you installed SATA
hard disk drives to the SATA connectors supported by the NVIDIA ® nForce
Professional 2200 chip. Refer to the succeeding sections for details on how
to enter the RAID configuration utility.