Asus K8V - Manual (Page 83)

ASUS K8V motherboard 3-13
3.5 Promise ® RAID configurations
The motherboard includes the Promise ® PDC20376 controller chipset to support
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) configurations. Using two Serial
ATA hard disks on the PRI_SATA / SEC_SATA interfaces, and two ATA133 hard
disks on the PRI_RAID interface, you may set up RAID0, RAID1, RAID0+1, and
Multi-RAID configurations. Use the MBFastTrak376™ BIOS and the FastBuild™
utility to configure a disk array.
RAID 0 (called 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.
RAID 1 (called 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.
• If you use either Windows ® XP/2000 operating system (OS), copy first the
Promise FastTrak 376 Driver from the support CD to a floppy disk before
creating RAID configurations.
• The chipset supports RAID 0 (striping) or RAID 1 (mirroring) for master
drives only.
• The Promise PDC20376 chipset only supports one Master HDD on the
Primary RAID connector. HDDs set to Slave mode and ATAPI devices such
as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, etc. are not supported.
• Refer to the FastTrak 376 Quick Start Guide and SATA Quick Start
Guide in the support CD for detailed information on RAID configurations
under different operating systems.
3.5.1 Install the hard disks
The PDC20376 chipset supports Ultra ATA/133/100/66 hard disk drives. For
optimal performance, install identical drives of the same model and capacity when
creating a disk array.
• If you are creating a RAID 0 (striping) array for perfomance, use two new
drives.
• If you are creating a RAID 1 (mirroring) array for protection, you can use two
new drives or use an existing drive and a new drive (the new drive must be of
the same size or larger than the existing drive).
Follow these steps to install the hard disks for RAID configuration.
1. Set the jumpers of each hard disk as Master/Slave.
2. Install the hard disks into the drive bays.
3. Connect the HDD cables. These connection options are available for creating a
RAID 0 or RAID 1 array: