Asus M4N98TD EVO - Manual (Page 102)

4-12 Chapter 4: Software support
Chapter 4
4.4 RAID configurations
The motherboard comes with the NVIDIA nForce ® 980a SLI ® chipset that allows you to
configure Serial ATA hard disk drives as RAID sets. The motherboard supports the following
RAID configurations: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, and JBOD.
• You must install Windows ® XP Service Pack 2 or later versions before using Serial
ATA hard disk drives. The Serial ATA RAID feature is available only if you are using
Windows ® XP SP2 or later versions.
• Due to Windows ® XP / Vista limitation, a RAID array with the total capacity over 2TB
cannot be set as a boot disk. A RAID array over 2TB can only be set as a data disk only.
• If you want to install a Windows ® operating system to a hard disk drive included in a
RAID set, you have to create a RAID driver disk and load the RAID driver during OS
installation. Refer to section 4.5 Creating a RAID driver disk for details.
4.4.1 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.
RAID 0+1 is data striping and data mirroring combined without parity (redundancy data)
having to be calculated and written. With the RAID 0+1 configuration you get all the benefits
of both RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations. Use four new hard disk drives or use an existing
drive and three new drives for this setup.
RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more hard disk drives. Among
the advantages of RAID 5 configuration include better HDD performance, fault tolerance, and
higher storage capacity. The RAID 5 configuration is best suited for transaction processing,
relational database applications, enterprise resource planning, and other business systems.
Use a minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.
JBOD
(Spanning) stands for Just a Bunch of Disks and refers to hard disk drives that are
not yet configured as a RAID set. This configuration stores the same data redundantly on
multiple disks that appear as a single disk on the operating system. Spanning does not
deliver any advantage over using separate disks independently and does not provide fault
tolerance or other RAID performance benefits.
4.4.2 Installing Serial ATA hard disks
The motherboard supports Serial ATA hard disk drives. For optimal performance, install
identical drives of the same model and capacity when creating a disk array.
To install the SATA hard disks for a RAID configuration:
1.
Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays.
2. Connect the SATA signal cables.
3. Connect a SATA power cable to the power connector on each drive.