HighPoint RocketRAID 1720 - Manual (Page 7)

Introduction
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Support Windows (XP, 2000, Server 2003, Vista), Linux and FreeBSD
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RoHS Compliant
Understanding RAID Concepts and Terminology
The following concepts and terminology is commonly used when describing the
functions of the RocketRAID 1720 Host Adapter.
Disk initialization
Initializing a disk writes necessary RAID configuration information to that disk. Disks
must be initialized before configuring them into RAID arrays. The initialization
process will destroy all data on the disk.
Disk Status
New The disk contains no data and has not been initialized.
Initialized The disk has been initialized and can be used for array creation.
Configured The disk has been assigned to one or more arrays, or configured as a
spare disk.
Legacy The disk was used on other controllers before use with the
RocketRAID 1720 (see legacy disk below).
Array initialization
A redundant array (RAID1) needs to be initialized to ensure full performance and
reliability. Non-redundant arrays (RAID0, JBOD) do not need to be initialized.
When you create a redundant array using the RocketRAID 1720 controller’s BIOS
Configuration Utility, it will create the array in un-initialized state. The initialization
process can be completed after installing the driver and management software.
When creating an array using the HighPoint RAID Management Console software,
you can specify an initialization option (Skip initialization, foreground and
background).
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