Asus P8Z77-I DELUXE/WD - Manual (Page 158)

4-52 Chapter 4: Software support
Chapter 4
4.5 RAID configurations
The motherboard supports the following SATA RAID solutions:
•
Intel ® Rapid Storage Technology with RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and RAID 5 support.
• 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 SP3 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 4.6 Creating a RAID driver disk for details.
4.5.1 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 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.
RAID 10 is data striping and data mirroring combined without parity (redundancy data) having to be
calculated and written. With the RAID 10 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.