Chapter 5 Appendix; Configuring Sata Hard Drive(S); Configuring Sata Controllers - Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H User Manual

Chapter 5 Appendix
5-1

Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s)

RAID Levels
RAID 0
Minimum
Number of Hard ≥2
Drives
Array Capacity Number of hard
drives * Size of the
smallest drive
Fault Tolerance No
To configure SATA hard drive(s), follow the steps below:
A. Install SATA hard drive(s) in your computer.
B. Configure SATA controller mode in BIOS Setup.
C. Configure a RAID array in RAID BIOS.
D. Install the SATA RAID/AHCI driver and operating system.
Before you begin
Please prepare:
At least two SATA hard drives (to ensure optimal performance, it is recommended that you use two hard
•
drives with identical model and capacity). If you do not want to create RAID, you may prepare only one
hard drive.
Windows 7/XP setup disk.
•
Motherboard driver disk.
•
A USB floppy disk drive (needed during Windows XP installation)
•
An empty formatted floppy disk (needed during Windows XP installation)
•

5-1-1 Configuring SATA Controllers

A. Installing SATA hard drive(s) in your computer
Attach one end of the SATA signal cable to the rear of the SATA hard drive and the other end to available SATA
port on the motherboard. Then connect the power connector from your power supply to the hard drive.
(Note 3)
(Note 1) Skip this step if you do not want to create RAID array on the SATA controller.
(Note 2) Required when the SATA controller is set to AHCI or RAID mode.
(Note 3) When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance
of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.
RAID 1
2
Size of the smallest (Number of hard
drive drives -1) * Size of
the smallest drive
Yes
(Note 1)
(Note 2)
- 77 -
RAID 5 RAID 10
≥3 ≥4
(Number of hard
drives/2) * Size of the
smallest drive
Yes Yes
Appendix