Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal User Manual
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Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal User Manual

Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal User Manual

Sata raid function (only for chipset sil3132 used) silicon image’s sataraid5
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SATA RAID Function
(Only for chipset Sil3132 used)
User's Manual
12ME-SI3132-001

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  • Page 1 SATA RAID Function (Only for chipset Sil3132 used) User’s Manual 12ME-SI3132-001...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1 WELCOME .................................4 SATARAID5 F ..........................4 EATURES 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO RAID........................5 2.1 D (RAID 0)............................5 TRIPING 2.2 D (RAID 1) ..........................5 IRRORING 2.3 CONCATENTION .............................5 3 INSTALLING DRIVERS ...........................6 4 JAVA 2 RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT INSTALLATION ................7 5 SATARAID5 GUI INSTALLATION ........................9 6 CREATING AND DELETING LEGACY RAID GROUPS WITH BIOS UTILITY.........10 RAID G...
  • Page 3 8.2.4 .............................29 ELETE PARE 8.2.5 ............................29 ELETE EMBER 8.2.6 ............................30 ELETE RPHAN 8.2.7 ............................31 EVICE UMMARY 8.2.8 RAID G ..........................32 REATE ROUP 8.2.9 RAID G ..........................34 EBUILD ROUP 8.2.10 RAID G ..........................34 ELETE ROUP 8.2.11 RAID G ...........................35 ROUP UMMARY 8.2.12 ............................37 ANAGER...

  • Page 4: Welcome

    1 Welcome Silicon Image’s SATARAID5 software provides Serial ATA RAID 0 (Striping) and RAID 1 (Mirroring) functionality to enhance the industry’s leading PCI-to-SATA host controller products. Two major challenges facing the storage industry today are keeping pace with the increasing performance demands of computer systems by improving disk I/O throughput and providing data accessibility in the face of hard disk failures while utilizing full disk capacity.

  • Page 5: An Introduction To Raid

    2 An Introduction to RAID RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID technology manages multiple disk drives to enhance I/O performance and provide redundancy in order to withstand the failure of any individual member, without the loss of data. There are many different methods of implementation for RAID, with each having advantages and disadvantages.

  • Page 6: Installing Drivers

    Note: For users without a startup disk. Use an alternative system and insert the GIGABYTE motherboard driver CD-ROM. From the CD-ROM drive (example: D:) double-click the MENU.exe file in the BootDrv folder. A command prompt window will Figure 1 open similar to that in Figure 2.

  • Page 7: Java 2 Runtime Environment Installation

    4 JAVA 2 Runtime Environment Installation The Java 2 Runtime Environment is required for the SATARAID5 GUI. The Java 2 Runtime Installer and executable package must be downloaded from the Sun Microsystems website at http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html. The computer must have an Internet connection set up before installation can proceed. Save the installer file to a known location, such as the My Documents folder.
  • Page 8 Choose the Typical setup type and click Next. When the installation completes, click Finish. Restart the computer when prompted. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 9: Sataraid5 Gui Installation

    5 SATARAID5 GUI Installation Insert the motherboard driver CD into the computer’s CD-ROM drive. When the autorun window appears, click the SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS button at the left of the window. Find the Silicon Image SATA RAID Utility and install it. Click the Next button when the Welcome window appears.

  • Page 10: Creating And Deleting Legacy Raid Groups With Bios Utility

    Creating and Deleting Legacy RAID Groups with BIOS Utility Legacy RAID sets can be created and managed by either the BIOS utility or the SATARAID5 GUI. New RAID groups must be created and managed by the SATARAID5 GUI. See section 8 SATARAID5 GUI Overview for information on configuring RAID Groups using the SATARAID5 GUI.

  • Page 11: Main Menu

    Main Menu The Main Menu in the upper left corner is used to choose the operation to be performed. The selections are: Create RAID Group Delete RAID Group Rebuild RAID 1 Set Low Level Format Logical Drive Info Create RAID Group is used to create a new legacy RAID Set or for allocating legacy spare drives. Delete RAID Group is used to delete a legacy RAID Set or to deallocate a legacy spare drive.

  • Page 12: Creating Raid Groups

    6.1 Creating RAID Groups As previously discussed, the Silicon Image SATA host adapter supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations. The selection of the RAID level to be used should be based upon factors including performance, data security, and number of drives available. It is best to carefully consider the long-term role of the system and plan the data storage strategy appropriately.

  • Page 13: Creating Spare Drive

    If manual configuration is selected, the chunk size of Striped Sets can be selected. For Mirrored Sets, the Source and Target drives can be selected. If auto configuration is selected, BIOS will select RAID member drives automatically and the chunk size of Striped Sets is set to 64KB.

  • Page 14: Deleting Raid Groups, Spare Drive, And Concatenation

    After the CONCATENATION drive(s) is set, the message “Are You Sure?” will display before completing the configuration. Answer “N” to abort the creation of the CONCATENATION, or “Y” to proceed with the CONCATENATION creation. 6.4 Deleting RAID Groups, Spare Drive, and Concatenation To remove one or more RAID sets, spare drives, and concatenations, select “Delete RAID set”...

  • Page 15: Rebuild Raid 1 Set

    6.5 Rebuild RAID 1 Set This menu selection is used to initiate the copying of data from an existing drive to a replacement drive that has been installed in a RAID 1 set after the failure of one of the members. Select “Rebuild RAID 1 set”...

  • Page 16: Low Level Formatting

    6.6 Low Level Formatting The Low Level Format menu selection allows the complete erasure of data on a hard drive. This is not an action, which typically needs to be performed as formatting the drive under Windows is usually sufficient to prepare the drive for use. 6.7 Logical Drive Information This menu item allows the display of the assignment of physical drives within a logical set (RAID set, RAID 1 spare, or unassigned).
  • Page 17 When user selects to create a RAID set or spare drive, he or she has to select size for the set or drive. BIOS will set a default size for it and user can use the ↑ and ↓ keys to change the size. If the physical drive has never been used to create a set or drive by the BIOS before, the full size of the physical drive will be set as default size.

  • Page 18: Allocating Partitions In Windows

    7 Allocating Partitions in Windows After the Raid groups have been created either using BIOS RAID utility or SATARAID5 GUI, the Raid group must have a partition defined on it, then the Raid group must be formatted in preparation for use under Windows. Windows XP, 2000, and Server 2003 use the Disk Management utility that is part of the Operating System.

  • Page 19: Creating The Partitions

    Instead of “Basic,” a disk may also report as either “Unknown” or “Dynamic.” If the disk reports as “Unknown” right-click on the disk icon and click “Write Signature.” A window will appear with the disk in question (all “Unknown” disks may appear in this window).
  • Page 20 The third window designates the partition size. Since this is a Striped RAID set utilizing 2 disk drives, the size of the partition will be approximately twice the size of the smallest single disk drive. Click Next. The fourth window designates the drive letter of the partition. Change the drive letter if desired. Click Next. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...
  • Page 21 The next window allows the volume label to be set and selection of the type of formatting to take place upon the creation of the partition. Make sure the Format this partition. . .” radio button is selected. Name the volume as desired (suggestions are generic names such as STRIPED SET or something specific to use such as FINANCIAL, CRITICAL, MISCELLANEOUS, etc.).
  • Page 22 The status of the newly created partition in the Disk Management window should change to Formatting and the percentage complete will be displayed. Depending upon the size of the partition, the format process may take several minutes. When complete, the status will change to “Healthy” and the name and drive letter will be updated. Once the disk reports Healthy, it appears in the listing in System Listing section with all of its pertinent information as well.

  • Page 23: Sataraid5 Gui Overview

    8 SATARAID5 GUI Overview The SATARAID5 GUI Installation program configures the SATARAID5 GUI to automatically start when Windows is started. If the SATARAID5 GUI does not automatically start or is closed by the user, choose the SATARAID5 program from the Start Menu to launch the GUI.

  • Page 24: Sataraid5 Menu Commands

    8.2 SATARAID5 Menu Commands The Main menu commands are shown below File Device RAID Group Window Legacy Help Support Configuration Create Spare Create RAID Task Manager Create Legacy Help Topics … Group RAID Group Exit Delete Spare Rebuild RAID Event Log Rebuild About Group...

  • Page 25: Configuration

    8.2.1 Configuration SATARAID5 configuration options include customization of the settings for Log File, Popup, and Advanced Options. This command displays a dialog box to let user set different configurations for SATARAID5 with the following three tabs: Log File Tab The log file is used to store event information received from all Silicon Image RAID drivers. The log file is a text file and can be viewed with any text viewer (such as Notepad) or with the Event Log window of SATARAID5.
  • Page 26 Popup Tab SATARAID5 can be configured to notify the user of events using messages in popup windows. Use the slider control to set the event level for popups to occur: Error Level - The following events will trigger a popup window: Errors Warning Level - The following events will trigger a popup window: Warnings...
  • Page 27 Advanced Options The Advanced Options tab is used to control advanced features of the RAID driver. By default, all these advanced options are disabled. The following features are supported: Legacy (Bootable) Support – When this feature is selected, Legacy Support menu will be available in the menu bar. The Legacy Support Menu includes a list of menu items to support RAID functions for legacy RAID groups.

  • Page 28: Exit

    For RAID 1 Group Resources Info Support – When this feature is selected, Resources menu item will be available under the Window menu. This feature is for debugging purpose only. For detailed Resources feature, refer to section 8.2.14 Resources. 8.2.2 Exit This command terminates the SATARAID5 program.

  • Page 29: Create Spare

    8.2.3 Create Spare This command displays a dialog box to let user create Spare Drive, user needs to select the following parameters: Spare Type: Global -- the spare drive is for all RAID groups in the system. Capacity: Select from a list of spare drive size, current options are from 128 MB to 100 GB and MAX. Device: Select one device segment from the available device segment list 8.2.4...

  • Page 30: Delete Orphan

    8.2.6 Delete Orphan An orphan device segment is part of a RAID group that cannot access another device segment within the same RAID group. When a member of a RAID group fails in a sever manner (such as a loss of power or a complete hard disk failure), it becomes an orphan.

  • Page 31: Device Summary

    8.2.7 Device Summary This command displays the Device Summary window to show all physical devices’ information. The Device Summary window has it’s own menu bar. All options available via the menu bar are shown below File Options Exit Sorting… Fields… Exit This command closes the Device Summary window.

  • Page 32: Create Raid Group

    Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the Device Summary window. 8.2.8 Create RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user create RAID group, user needs to specify the following parameters: RAID Group Label: Provide a name for the RAID group RAID Group:...
  • Page 33 Example 1 Example 2 In Example 1, a RAID 0 (Striped) array called Volume B – RAID Group 1 with capcity of 1GB with 64KB chunk size (stripe size) is created over hard drive 0 and 1. In Example 2, a RAID 1 (Mirrored) array called Volume B- RAID Group 2 with capcity of 2GB with rebuild priority of 10 is created over hard drive 0 and 1.

  • Page 34: Rebuild Raid Group

    8.2.9 Rebuild RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose a replacement segment to rebuild a non-fault tolerant RAID group. 8.2.10 Delete RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose RAID groups to delete. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 35: Raid Group Summary

    8.2.11 RAID Group Summary This command displays a dialog box to show all RAID groups’ group ID, configuration, and status. The RAID Group Summary window has it’s own menu bar. All options available via the menu bar are shown below File Options Exit...
  • Page 36 Sorting This command displays a dialog box to let user choose an item to sort RAID group items in the RAID Group list. Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the RAID Group Summary window. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 37: Task Manager

    8.2.12 Task Manager This command displays the Task Manager window. The Task Manager window lists all RAID and disk management tasks that have been started and/or done. This window provides user the ability to schedule any RAID and disk management operations including RAID group creation, rebuild, and test.
  • Page 38 Print This option will be available in future revisions. Exit This command closes the Task Summary window. Sorting This command displays a dialog box to let user choose an item to sort task items in the task list. Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the task list. Modify This command allows user to modify parameters of the selected task items.
  • Page 39 Suspend This command allows user to suspend the selected task items. Resume This command allows user to resume the suspended task items. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...
  • Page 40 Cancel This command allows user to cancel the selected task items. Delete This command displays a dialog box to let user delete the selected task items from the task list in Task Summary window. The following dialog box will pop up to get confirmation from the user. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 41: Event Log

    8.2.13 Event Log This command displays the Event Log window. The Event Log window displays SATA device-related events that occur while SATARAID5 is running. The Event Log window has it’s own menu bar. All options available via the menu bar are shown below File Options Exit...
  • Page 42 Fields This command displays a dialog box to let user choose which fields will be shown in the event log. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 43: Resources

    8.2.14 Resources This command displays the Resource Information window. This feature is for debugging purpose only. 8.2.15 Create Legacy RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user create legacy RAID group. This item is disabled if new RAID groups exist. User needs to select the following parameters: RAID Group: Select a group ID from the available ID list...

  • Page 44: Delete Legacy Raid Group

    8.2.17 Delete Legacy RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose legacy RAID groups to delete. This item is disabled if no legacy RAID groups exist. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

  • Page 45: Convert Legacy Raid Group

    8.2.18 Convert Legacy RAID Group This command displays a dialog box to let user choose legacy RAID groups to convert to new RAID groups of the same RAID type (configuration). This item is disabled if no legacy RAID groups exist. 8.2.19 Create Legacy Spare This command displays a dialog box to let user create legacy spare drive.

  • Page 46: Delete Legacy Spare

    8.2.20 Delete Legacy Spare This command displays a dialog box to let user delete legacy spare drive. This item is disabled if no legacy spare drive exists. 8.2.21 Convert Legacy Spare This command displays a dialog box to let user choose legacy spare drives to convert to new spare drives. This item is disabled if no legacy spare drives exist.

  • Page 47: Help Topics

    8.2.22 Help Topics This command opens an interactive help dialog using the standard Windows help interface. This option will be available in future revisions. 8.2.23 About This command displays a dialog box with more information about the SATARAID5 program, including the revision level. SATARAID5 User’s Manual...
  • Page 48 SATARAID5 User’s Manual...

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