Asus SABERTOOTH X79 - Manual (Page 36)

2-18 Chapter 2: Hardware information
Chapter 2
2. Intel ® X79 Serial ATA 3Gb/s connectors (7-pin SATA3G_3–6 [black])
These connectors connect to Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard disk drives and optical disc drives
via Serial ATA 3Gb/s signal cables.
If you installed Serial ATA hard disk drives, you can create a RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10
configuration with the Intel ® Rapid Storage Technology through the onboard Intel ® X79
chipset.
• These connectors are set to [AHCI Mode] by default. If you intend to create a Serial
ATA RAID set using these connectors, set the SATA Mode item in the BIOS to [RAID
Mode]. Refer to section 3.5.3 SATA Configuration for details.
• Before creating a RAID set, refer to section 4.4 RAID configurations or the manual
bundled in the motherboard support DVD.
• When using hot-plug and NCQ, set the SATA Mode in the BIOS to [AHCI Mode].
Refer to section 3.5.3 SATA Configuration for details.
• You must install Windows ® XP Service Pack 3 or later versions before using Serial
ATA hard disk drives. The Serial ATA RAID feature is available only if you are using
Windows ® XP Service Pack 3 or later versions.
* Windows ® XP:
• 32 bit: Intel ® IRST driver for X79 platform does NOT support Windows ® XP 32 bit. Please
set to [IDE mode] for OS installation.
• 64 bit: When [SATA Mode] is set to [AHCI Mode] or [RAID Mode], it is necessary to load
IRST Driver from the driver disk during Windows XP 64 bit installtion for the system to
detect the storage devices. For details, please refer to the section “4.5 Create a RAID
driver disk”.
* Windows 7 & Vista:When [SATA Mode] is set to [RAID Mode], you must load IRST Driver
during Windows 7 or Vista installation for the system to detect the optical disk drive (ODD),
or else the ODD will not run. We strongly recommend that you copy the IRST Driver from
the support CD to the USB flash drive before OS installation.