Nvidia ForceWare Software User's Manual
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Nvidia ForceWare Software User's Manual

Nvidia ForceWare Software User's Manual

Mediashield
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ForceWare Software
MediaShield User's
Guide
Version 4.0
NVIDIA Corporation
March 24, 2006

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  • Page 1 ForceWare Software MediaShield User’s Guide Version 4.0 NVIDIA Corporation March 24, 2006...
  • Page 2 SuperStability, T-BUFFER, The Way It's Meant to be Played Logo, TwinBank, TwinView and the Video & Nth Superscript Design Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS ........
  • Page 4 Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 ....... 150...

  • Page 5: About Nvidia® Mediashield

    BOUT EDIA HIELD NVIDIA brings Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology—which is used by the world’s leading businesses—to the common PC desktop. This technology uses multiple drives to either increase total disk space or to offer data protection. RAID techniques were first published in 1988 by a multivendor consortium—the RAID Advisory Board.

  • Page 6: System Requirements

    • NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 Professonal IO-4 • NVIDIA nForce4 Professonal Pro • NVIDIA nForce4 Professonal Pro SLI •...

  • Page 7: Operating System Support

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ Operating System Support NVIDIA MediaShield supports the following operating systems: ® • Windows XP Home Edition • Windows XP Professional Edition • Windows 2000 Professional • Windows Server 2003 NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 8: Raid Arrays

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID Arrays This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that MediaShield supports: • RAID 0 RAID 0 defines a disk striping scheme that improves the disk read and write times for many applications. •...

  • Page 9: Raid 0

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 0 How RAID 0 Works In a RAID 0 array, the controller ʺstripesʺ data across multiple drives in the RAID subsystem. RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads and writes across multiple drives in parallel.

  • Page 10: Raid 1

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 1 How RAID 1 Works In a RAID 1 array, every read and write is carried out in parallel across two disk drives. The mirrored—or backup—copy of the data can reside on the same disk or on a second redundant drive in the array.

  • Page 11: Raid 0+1

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 0+1 How RAID 0+1 Works RAID 0 drives can be mirrored using RAID 1 techniques, resulting in a RAID 0+1 solution for improved performance plus resiliency. RAID 0+1 Array Diagram Figure 1.3 The controller combines the performance of data striping (RAID 0) and the fault tolerance of disk mirroring (RAID 1).

  • Page 12: Raid 5

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 5 How RAID 5 Works RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives. It writes data and parity blocks across all the drives in the array. Fault tolerance is maintained by ensuring that the parity information for any given block of data is placed on a different drive from those used to store the data itself.

  • Page 13: Jbod

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ JBOD How JBOD Works JBOD stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks”. Each drive is accessed as if it were on a standard SCSI host bus adapter. This is useful when a single drive configuration is needed, but it offers no speed improvement or fault tolerance.

  • Page 14: Summary Of Raid Configurations

    A Free Disk or Dedicated Disk can be automatically used in case one drive of a fault- tolerant array fails. NVIDIA MediaShield defines a fault-tolerant array as either RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5. A free disk can be used by any available fault-tolerant array, while a dedicated disk can be used only by the array to which it is assigned.

  • Page 15: Features And Benefits Summary

    HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ having to go through multiple steps. The migrating feature gives the user an upgradeable option to manage storage easily. • Hot Plug Array A nice flexibility feature is the ability to move MediaShield RAID arrays from one nForce system to another.
  • Page 16 HAPTER About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.0...

  • Page 17: Setting Up Your Raid Configuration

    “Creating RAID Arrays” on page 43 for instructions on how to create a RAID array for your unused SATA storage devices. • See “Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility” on page 33 for details on configuring non-bootable RAID from Windows. Setting Up the BIOS 1 Start your computer, then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup.
  • Page 18 HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility window appears. Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Load Fail-Safe Defaults Standard CMOS Features Advanced BIOS Features Load Optimized Defaults Advanced Chipset Features Set Supervisor Password Integrated Peripherals Set User Password Save &...
  • Page 19 SATA disks. If there is a disk connected to ʺSATA 3 Primary” or “SATA 3 Secondaryʺ, it can not be used for RAID. 5 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit. The PC reboots. NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 20: Installing The Nvidia Mediashield Software Under Windows

    Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software 1 Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page. nForce Driver Installation Window Figure 2.4 2 Select the modules that you want to install.

  • Page 21: Using Raid Arrays Under Windows

    1 Launch Computer Management by clicking Start Settings Control Panel then open the Administrative Tools folder and double click on Computer Management. 2 Click Disk Management (under the Storage section). The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizards appears. Figure 2.5 Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 22 HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Click Next. The Select Disks to Initialize window appears. Select Disks to Initialize Page Figure 2.6 The disks listed depend on how many arrays you have configured 4 Click Next. The Select Disks to Convert window appears. Select Disks to Convert Page Figure 2.7 MediaShield User’s Guide –...
  • Page 23 5 Check the disk in the list if you want to make the array a dynamic disk, then click Next. The Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard window appears. Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Page Figure 2.8 NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 24 Right click “Unallocated space”, select “New Partition…” and follow the Wizard instructions. • After the drive has been formatted, it is ready for use. See “Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility” on page 33 for instructions on how to create and configure RAID arrays.

  • Page 25: Setting Up A Bootable Raid Array

    : Select Item F10 : Save & Exit Setup Onboard IO, IRQ, DMA Assignment ... BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Screen Figure 2.10 2 Use the arrow keys to select Integrated Peripherals (see Figure 2.10), then press Enter. NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 26 HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The Integrated Peripherals screen (or a screen similar to it) appears. Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Integrated Peripherals Item Help [Press Enter] RAID Config [Enabled] OnChip IDE Channel0 [Auto] Primary Master Menu Level [Auto] Primary Slave [Auto]...
  • Page 27 Primary” or “SATA 3 Secondaryʺ, it cannot be used for RAID. 6 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit. The PC reboots. 7 Enter the RAID BIOS Setup by pressing F10 when prompted, and proceed to set up the RAID BIOS as described in the next section. NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 28: Configuring The Nvidia Raid Bios

    HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS The NVIDIA RAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID type and which hard drives you want to make part of the array. Entering the RAID BIOS Setup: 1 Wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10.
  • Page 29 Striping block size is given in kilobytes, and affects how data is arranged on the disk. It is recommended to leave this value at the default Optimal, which is 64KB, but the values can be between 4 KB and 128 KB (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 KB) NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 30 HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Assigning the Disks The disks that you enabled from the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free Disks block. These are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks. To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID array disk, Tab to the Free Disks section.
  • Page 31 The Array List screen appears, where you can review the RAID arrays that you have set up. MediaShield Utility Array List - Boot Id Status Vendor Array Model Name Healthy NVIDIA MIRROR 74.53G [Ctrl-X] Exit [ ] Select [B] Set Boot [N] New Array [ENTER] Detail Array List Window Figure 2.17 NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 32 3 Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up, then press B to specify the array as bootable. 4 Press Enter to view and verify details. The Array Detail screen appears. Array 2 : NVIDIA MIRROR 74.56G Array Detail - RAID Mode: Mirroring Striping Width : 1...

  • Page 33: Installing The Raid Drivers

    If that is not the case (or you are trying to install a new version of Windows), then you will need an NVIDIA RAID driver F6 install floppy. Check to see if one came with your system. If not, you can create one by downloading the appropriate driver package and following the steps in this section.
  • Page 34 Windows Setup—Select SCSI Adapter Figure 2.20 b Select “NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER (required)” and then press Enter. c Press S again at the Specify Devices screen, then press Enter. d Select “NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller (required)” and then press Enter.
  • Page 35 Note: Each time you add a new hard drive to a RAID array, the RAID driver will have to be installed under Windows once for that hard drive. After that, the driver will not have to be installed. NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 36 HAPTER Setting Up Your RAID Configuration MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.0...

  • Page 37: Using The Nvidia Mediashield Raid Management Utility

    H A P T E R NVIDIA M RAID SING THE EDIA HIELD ANAGEMENT TILITY About the MediaShield RAID Management Utility The MediaShield RAID software ships with an application called MediaShield. This chapter describes the MediaShield tasks in the following sections: •...

  • Page 38: Viewing Raid Array Configurations

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Viewing RAID Array Configurations To view your RAID configuration from Windows, launch the MediaShield RAID Management utility by double-clicking MediaShield. The RAID configuration information appears in the right-side pane, as shown in Figure 3.1.
  • Page 39 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Striped RAID Array Figure 3.3 shows an example of a two hard drive striped array using identical 34.48 GB SATA hard drives (WD360GB), where one drive is configured as Primary and the other drive is configured as Secondary.
  • Page 40 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Mirrored RAID Array and Striped RAID Array Figure 3.6 shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array as well as a two hard drive striped array. MediaShield Mirrored Array and Striped Array Information Figure 3.6...

  • Page 41: Setting Up A Spare Raid Disk

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array . The spare drive can take over for a failed disk. MediaShield RAID supports two types of spare drives: •...

  • Page 42: Assigning A Free Disk

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Assigning a Free Disk To mark a disk as free, or not a part of any array, do the following: 1 Enter the system BIOS setup and make sure that the drive that you want to mark as free is RAID enabled.

  • Page 43: Assigning A Dedicated Disk

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Assigning a Dedicated Disk To mark a disk as dedicated, or reserve it for use by a specific array, you must have at least one free disk and you must also have at least two RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 arrays created.
  • Page 44 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 2 Select Designate Spare from the menu to launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard. Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Figure 3.9 3 Click Next. The Free Disk Selection page appears. Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.10...
  • Page 45 This would be the disk that will be designated to the mirror array. Note: In Figure 3.10 there are two disks available. 5 Click Next. The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears. Figure 3.11 Completing Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Page 6 Click Finish. NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 46: Removing A Dedicated Disk

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility As shown in Figure 3.12, the ST380011A drive is now a dedicated free disk in the mirrored array. Designated Spare Disk Figure 3.12 If a system crash occurs that causes any of the two WD360GD drives to fail, the ST380011A hard drive will take over and be used in the newly formed mirrored array.

  • Page 47: Creating Raid Arrays

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating RAID Arrays This section covers use of the MediaShield Creation Wizard. This wizard will step through configuration of your available storage. There are three ways in which the MediaShield Create Wizard can be launched: •...

  • Page 48: Using The Mediashield Create Wizard

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Using the MediaShield Create Wizard The MediaShield Create Wizard walks you through the creation of your available storage resources. MediaShield Wizard Welcome Screen Figure 3.14 The welcome screen lists the disks that are available for configuration.
  • Page 49 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility As shown in Figure 3.15, there are three options: • Protection • Capacity • Custom Protection Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and with the criteria that if a drive fails you will not lose your data.
  • Page 50 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Capacity Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and the desire for maximum capacity. This array will NOT be fault-tolerant, so choose this option only if your data is non-critical or is being backed up.

  • Page 51: Creating A Striped Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Striped Array MediaShield can be used to create a striped array from one disk up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system. To create a two-disk Striped Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS.
  • Page 52 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select Striping, and leave the “Stripe Size” with its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.17 RAID Array Selection—Striping 5 Click Next, and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.18...
  • Page 53 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the two disks that you want to include in the stripe set. In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.19. Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks Figure 3.19...
  • Page 54 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Figure 3.21 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: Stripe RAID Array Created Figure 3.22...

  • Page 55: Creating A Mirrored Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Mirrored Array The MediaShield application can be used to create a Mirrored Array. By definition, a mirrored array consists of two drives. Data is written to both drives, and if one drive fails then data can be recovered from the other drive.
  • Page 56 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.24. Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks Figure 3.24 5 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear: Clearing System Data Figure 3.25...
  • Page 57 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Figure 3.26 7 Click Finish. Figure 3.27 Mirrored RAID Array Created A mirrored array has been created, while the other two disks are set to free disks.

  • Page 58: Creating A Stripe Mirroring Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array MediaShield can be used to create a Stripe Mirroring array which requires at least four disks to start such an array. To create a Stripe Mirror Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS.
  • Page 59 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click on “RAID Mode:” and select “Stripe Mirroring” while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Array Selection—Stripe Mirroring Figure 3.29...
  • Page 60 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the four drives that you want to use in the Stripe Mirroring array. In this example all of the drives are selected as shown in the following screen shot: Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks Figure 3.31...
  • Page 61 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Figure 3.33 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Stripe Array Created Figure 3.34...

  • Page 62: Creating A Spanning Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Spanning Array MediaShield can be used to create a Spanning Array which requires at least one disk to start such an array. To create a Spanning Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS.
  • Page 63 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select “Spanning” while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.36 RAID Array Selection Page—Spanning...
  • Page 64 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the two drives that you want to use in the Spanned array. In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in the following screen shot: Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks Figure 3.38...
  • Page 65 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Figure 3.40 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Spanned Array Created Figure 3.41...

  • Page 66: Creating A Raid 5 Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a RAID 5 Array MediaShield can be used to create a RAID 5 array using at least 3 disks and up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system.
  • Page 67 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select RAID 5, and leave the “Stripe Size” with its default value as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Array Selection—RAID 5 Figure 3.43...
  • Page 68 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the three disks that you want to include in the RAID 5 array. In this example the upper three disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.19. Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks Figure 3.45...
  • Page 69 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click Next. Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Figure 3.47 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: RAID 5 Array Created Figure 3.48...

  • Page 70: Deleting A Raid Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Deleting a RAID Array MediaShield can be used to delete an Array. To delete an Array do the following: 1 Launch the MediaShield application and right click on the RAID array that you want to...
  • Page 71 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After the “Delete Array...” has been selected, the following screen shot appear: Delete Array Wizard—Welcome Page Figure 3.50 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Completing the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard Page Figure 3.51...
  • Page 72 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Click Finish and the array will be deleted and the following screen shot will appear showing all the free disks: Figure 3.52 RAID Array Deleted A similar process can be applied to delete any array created by MediaShield RAID.

  • Page 73: Migrating From One Raid Array To Another

    MediaShield RAID allows the end user to change the current state of the disk or array to another with a one-step process called ʺMigratingʺ. This section describes the NVIDIA Migrating process and explains how to use Migrating to convert from one RAID array type to another.
  • Page 74 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Specific Migrating Requirements The following table lists the disk requirements for a new RAID array for various migrating combinations. Table 3.1 RAID Array Disk Requirements for Migrating From New Array Disk Requirements m >...

  • Page 75: Migrating Instructions

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating Instructions This sections includes specific instructions for the following RAID migrating combinations: • “Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0—Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set” on page 72 • “Migrating from RAID 0 (with One Disk) to RAID 1 (with Two Disks)” on page 77 •...
  • Page 76 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0—Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set The following example shows you how to expand a RAID 0 array with two disks to include an additional disk.
  • Page 77 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Figure 3.54 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...”...
  • Page 78 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.56 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.57 Free Disk Selection Page...
  • Page 79 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select the disk (or disks) that you want to add to the existing striped array. In this example, we are adding one disk (which is the upper disk) to the existing two- disk striped array.
  • Page 80 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk stripe array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
  • Page 81 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 (with One Disk) to RAID 1 (with Two Disks) The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0 array with one disk to a RAID 1 array (with two disks) 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 82 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen Figure 3.62 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.63 RAID Mode Selection Page...
  • Page 83 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select Mirror as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Mirroring Figure 3.64 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.65...
  • Page 84 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish. New RAID Array Figure 3.66 The Migrating Process As soon as the new two disk mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to...
  • Page 85 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a four disk RAID 0+1 array. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 86 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.68...
  • Page 87 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.70 5 Change the “New RAID Mode:” to Stripe Mirroring as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Stripe Mirroring...
  • Page 88 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.72 7 Select the two disks that you want to add to the new stripe mirror array.
  • Page 89 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 Click Finish, then click the newly created four-disk stripe mirror array and the following screen shot will appear: New RAID Array Figure 3.74 The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window...
  • Page 90 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0 array with two disks. 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 91 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.76 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen...
  • Page 92 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.78 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click on Stripe Mirroring and select Striping, then click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.79...
  • Page 93 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next, then click Finish to complete the process. • If you want to convert the existing two-disk mirrored array into a three-disk (or more) striped array, then you need to select the number of disk(s) that you want to add to the newly created striped array and click Next.
  • Page 94 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0+1 array with four disks. 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 95 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.82 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen...
  • Page 96 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.84 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Stripe Mirroring” as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Stripe Mirroring...
  • Page 97 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.86 Free Disk Selection Page 8 Select both of the disks and click Next, then click Finish. 9 Click on Strip Mirror and the following screen shot will appear: New RAID Array Figure 3.87...
  • Page 98 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
  • Page 99 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 100 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.89 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen...
  • Page 101 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.91 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Striping” as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Array Selection Page—Selecting Striping...
  • Page 102 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next, then click Finish. 8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear: New RAID Array Figure 3.93 The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk striped array has been created, a pop up window similar to...
  • Page 103 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0+1 array with six disks. Note: To migrate from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0+1 array with six disks, you must have at least six hard drives in the system.
  • Page 104 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.95 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen...
  • Page 105 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.97 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” make sure that “Stripe Mirroring” is selected, then click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.98...
  • Page 106 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select the disks that you want to migrate (in increments of two), then click Next and Finish. 8 Click on Stripe Mirroring and the following screen shot will appear: Array Migrating Started Figure 3.99...
  • Page 107 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to migrate from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a RAID 5 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 108 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu Figure 3.101...
  • Page 109 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.103 6 Click on Striping and select RAID 5 then click on Next and the following screen shot...
  • Page 110 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility In this example, we are adding one disk (which is the upper disk) to the new three disk RAID 5 array. So, select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will...
  • Page 111 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 5 array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
  • Page 112 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 5 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 113 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.109 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.110...
  • Page 114 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select RAID 5 as shown in the following screen shot: RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting RAID 5 Figure 3.111 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Free Disk Selection Page Figure 3.112...
  • Page 115 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish.. New RAID Array Figure 3.113 Note: As you can see from the above screen shot, only 2/3 of the disk space is actually used by RAID 5 since 1/3 of the disk space is used for to store parity information.
  • Page 116 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 5 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 117 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.116 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: RAID Mode Selection Page Figure 3.117 5 Make sure RAID 5 is selected.
  • Page 118 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Click Next, then Finish and the following screen shot will appear showing the four disk RAID 5 array. New RAID Array Figure 3.118 Note: As you can see from the above screen shot, only 3/4 of the disk space is actually used by RAID 5 since 1/4 of the disk space is used for to store parity information.
  • Page 119 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a RAID 0 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 120 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen Figure 3.121 4 Click Next, then select Striping and click on Next, then the following screen shot will...
  • Page 121 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next, then Finish. In this example, the WD360GD was chosen as shown in Figure 3.66. Figure 3.123 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 0 array has been created and the migrating process has begun.
  • Page 122 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a 0+1 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 123 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.126 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next, then select Stripe Mirroring and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.127...
  • Page 124 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish. New RAID Array Figure 3.128 The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 0+1 array has been created and the migrating process has begun.
  • Page 125 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a RAID 5 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
  • Page 126 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen Figure 3.131 4 Click Next, then select RAID 5 and click on Next, then the following screen shot will...
  • Page 127 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish. New RAID Array Figure 3.133 The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 5 array has been created and the migrating process has begun.

  • Page 128: Hot Plug Array

    HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Hot Plug Array NVIDIA MediaShield arrays can be moved from one NVIDIA-based system to another. There are two scenarios for doing this. • System has been properly shut down Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown.
  • Page 129 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 1 Launch MediaShield and click on “Hot Plug Array” and the following screen shot will appear: NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard—Welcome Screen Figure 3.134 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Hard Disk Insertion Screen Figure 3.135...
  • Page 130 HAPTER Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Completing the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Page Figure 3.136 5 Click Finish. MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.0...

  • Page 131: Initializing, Rebuilding, And Synchronizing Raid Arrays

    Only applies to RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and RAID 5 arrays • Synchronizing a RAID Array • Rebuild the redundancy in RAID 1 or RAID 0+1 arrays (copy the data to the redundant disk—the same operation as rebuilding) • Rebuild the parity in RAID 5 arrays NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 132: Initializing A Raid Array

    HAPTER Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Initializing a RAID Array Initializing a RAID array erases all the data that is stored on that array, and writes all zeros to the disks. Initialization of newly configured RAID arrays is recommended to ensure consistency and reliable performance on any supported fault tolerant array such as RAID 5, RAID 0, and RAID 0+1.
  • Page 133 7 Check “Intialize Array” and then click Next. The Initialization Warning dialog appears. Initialization Warning Figure 4.3 8 Click OK. The Clearing System Data screen appears again with the Initialize Array check box checked as shown in Figure 4.4. NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 134 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Figure 4.4 Clearing System Data and Initialize Array 9 Click Next, then click Finish at the Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard screen. The MediaShield window shows the created RAID array as shown in Figure 4.5.
  • Page 135 As you can see from the screen shot above, the initialization process has started and it will be completed in a short period of time. As soon as the Initialization process starts, a pop- up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop-up window: NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 136: Rebuilding A Raid Array

    Rebuilding Instructions After creating a mirrored array, you can rebuild the array using the following steps: 1 Go to Windows and run the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management utility. Figure 4.6 shows an example of a system with one mirrored array and two free disks.
  • Page 137 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays 2 Right-click on Mirroring. The popup menu appears. Array Pop-up Menu Figure 4.7 3 From the popup menu, click Rebuild Array. The NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard appears. NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Figure 4.8 NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 138 Figure 4.9 Disk Selection Page 5 Select the drive that you want to rebuild by clicking it from the list, then click Next. The Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array page appears. Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Page Figure 4.10...
  • Page 139 When the rebuilding process is finished you will see the pop up box shown inFigure 4.12. Rebuild Finished Bubble Message Figure 4.12 During the rebuilding process, the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management utility screen shows the status under the System Tasks and Details sections. Array Rebuilding Status Detail Figure 4.13 NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 140: More About Rebuilding Arrays

    HAPTER Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays More About Rebuilding Arrays • Rebuilding Occurs in the Background The rebuilding process takes some time to complete, and occurs in the background so as not to affect the performance of the system. •...

  • Page 141: Synchronizing A Raid Array

    To sync an array, do the following (This example assumes you have already created a fault tolerant array such as RAID 1): 1 Right click on “Mirroring” and select Synchronize Array as shown in Figure 4.15. Array Pop-up Menu Figure 4.15 The Synchronize Array Wizard Welcome screen appears. NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 142 HAPTER Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Synchronize Array Wizard—Welcome Screen Figure 4.16 2 Click on Next and then click Finish at the Wizard Completion screen. The MediaShield window indicates that the array is synchronizing, as shown in Figure 4.17. Mirrored Array Synchronizing Figure 4.17 As you can see from the screen shot above, the synchronization process has started and...

  • Page 143: Using Disk Alert

    • Yellow rectangle: Ports that have a drive attached, are members of a failed RAID array, but are not the cause of the failure have a yellow rectangle around the port connector. Unconnected ports have no visual indication. NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 144: Disk Alert Examples

    Figure 5.1 through Figure 5.3 illustrate how the Disk Alert feature is implemented on an NVIDIA reference board. The actual picture in your system will depend on the motherboard. Example of All Good Drives Figure 5.1 shows four green connections indicating four active SATA ports—all SATA ports are OK.

  • Page 145: Example Of A Degraded Array

    SATA port indicating that there is no longer a SATA hard drive connected to that port. SATA drive connected to this port is part of a degraded array. No SATA drive connected to this port. Disk Alert Example—Degraded and Missing SATA Connection Figure 5.2 NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 146: Example Of A Failed Drive

    HAPTER Using Disk Alert Example of a Failed Drive Figure 5.3 shows a red SATA port indicating that a drive failure (or a RAID error) has occured. Failed SATA drive connected to this port. Disk Alert Example—Failed SATA Drive Figure 5.3 MediaShield User’s Guide –...

  • Page 147: Mediashield Raid Frequently Asked Questions

    “Basic RAID Questions” on page 144 • “RAID ROM Setup Questions” on page 145 • “Rebuilding Arrays Questions” on page 145 • “Dedicated Disk Questions” on page 146 • “Array Migrating Questions” on page 146 • “Windows RAID Application” on page 146 NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 148: Basic Raid Questions

    Different groupings have difference advantages that include better performance and data fault tolerance. “About NVIDIA® MediaShield™” on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays.

  • Page 149: Raid Rom Setup Questions

    • What is the Optimal Striping Block Size in the RAID ROM Setup? The default optimal striping block size is 64KB. NVIDIA recommends using the optimal block size. • What does BBS stand for in the RAID ROM [F10] setup? BBS stands for BIOS Boot Specification.

  • Page 150: Dedicated Disk Questions

    HAPTER MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Dedicated Disk Questions • Can I assign a dedicated disk to a striped array/JBOD or use a free disk with striped array/JBOD? No, free disks and dedicated disks can be only used with a mirrored array or a striped- mirrored array.
  • Page 151 Rebuild a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array • View the status of the rebuilding process • Create a RAID Array • Delete a RAID Array • Migrate a RAID Array • Hot Plug Array • Initialize Array • Synchronize Array NVIDIA Corporation...
  • Page 152 HAPTER MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.0...

  • Page 153: Mediashield Application Notes

    RAID array. • “How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD” on page 152 describes how to use NVIDIA storage drivers to build an XP-SP2 slipstream that can be installed onto an NVIDIA SATA RAID controller. NVIDIA Corporation...

  • Page 154: Windows 2000 Limitation With Bootable Raid

    2 Download and install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 from the Microsoft website. 3 Reboot the system. 4 When in Windows 2000, install the NVIDIA nForce Driver Package The user will have an option to install the NVIDIA IDE driver during the installation process. 5 Reboot the system.

  • Page 155: Using Ghost With Nvidia Raid

    HAPTER MediaShield Application Notes Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID Problem GHOST can interface with hard disk controllers by accessing the appropriate memory and hardware locations directly. However, in doing so, this can bypass the RAID enhancements that are provided by the system BIOS. The system BIOS understands the underlying disk and RAID array structures and formats.

  • Page 156: How To Build A Slipstream Xp-Sp2 Cd

    HAPTER MediaShield Application Notes How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD Problem Create a CD that will install XP-SP2 onto a bootable RAID array. Solution Create a slipstream CD that includes MediaShield RAID drivers using the following steps Initial Setup There are a number of options on how to setup the directory structures.
  • Page 157 HAPTER MediaShield Application Notes Add NVIDIA Drivers 1 Extract the NVIDIA driver files from the nForce package using ‘-x’ option. 2 Copy all *.sys, *.dll, *.inf and *.cat files from “…\IDE\WinXP\sataraid” to “c:\ slipstream\XP\i386”. 3 Edit “c:\slipstream\XP\i386\txtsetup.sif” and add the following...
  • Page 158 *NVRAIDBUS = "nvraid" Note: Your platform will likely have different device IDs, so you should modify your entries accordingly. d Add NVIDIA storage drivers to the SCSI preload section. [SCSI.Load] nvatabus = NvAtaBus.sys,4 nvraid = nvraid.sys,4 e Add the message that will get displayed during text setup driver load.
  • Page 159 HAPTER MediaShield Application Notes • XP Professional OEM enter WXPOEM_EN • XP Home OEM enter WXHOEM_EN • Select everything from c:\slipstreap\XP for burning onto CD NVIDIA Corporation...

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