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Appendix C: Software Installation
Appendix C
Software Installation
After all the hardware has been installed, you must first configure
the
Adaptec Embedded Serial ATA RAID Driver before you install the Windows
operating system. The necessary drivers are all included on the Supermicro
bootable CDs that came packaged with your motherboard.
C-1 Introduction to the Adaptec Embedded SATA RAID
Controller Driver
Serial ATA (SATA)
Serial ATA(SATA) is a physical storage interface. It uses a single cable with a
minimum of four wires to create a point-to-point connection between devices.
It is a serial link which supports SATA Transfer rates from 150MBps. Because
the serial cables used in SATA are thinner than the traditional cables used in
Parallel ATA(PATA), SATA systems have better airflow and can be installed in
smaller chassis than Parallel ATA. In addition, the cables used in PATA can
only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one meter.
Overall, Serial ATA provides better functionality than Parallel ATA.
Introduction to the Intel 6300ESB (Hance Rapids) I/O Con-
troller Hub
Located in the South Bridge of the Intel E7525 Tumwater Chipset, the 6300ESB
(Hance Rapids) I/O Controller Hub provides the I/O subsystem with access to
the rest of the system. It supports 2-channel Ultra ATA/100 Bus Master IDE
controller (PATA) and two Serial ATA (SATA) Host Controllers, which support
up to two Serial ATA ports and up to two RAID drives. The
6300ESB (Hance
Rapids) I/O Controller Hub supports the following Parallel ATA (PATA) and
Serial (SATA) device configurations:
ATA Operate Mode
You can select from the following two modes: Combined Mode and En-
hanced Mode.
Combined Mode:
In this mode, system BIOS assigns the traditional IRQ 14 and IRQ 15 for the
use of HDD. Up to 4 ATA devices are supported by this mode.
Within the Combined Mode, the following three modes are supported:
*Non-Combined Mode: Parallel ATA only:with the maximum of 4 devices
supported;
*Non-Combined Mode: Serial ATA only:with the maximum of 2 devices
supported;
C-1
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