Asus RS161-E5/PA2 - Manual (Page 100)

Chapter 6: RAID Configuration 6-2
6.1 Setting up RAID
The system 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.