Asrock 880G EXTREME3, AMD RAID, 890GX EXTREME3, 890GX EXTREME4, 890GM PRO3 INSTALLATION GUIDE
AMD RAID Installation Guide
1. AMD BIOS RAID Installation Guide …………………………………………………………………….. 2
1.1 Introduction to RAID ……………………………………………………………………………….. 2
1.2 RAID Configurations Precautions ………………………………………………………………… 3
1.3 Installing Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit With RAID Funtions …. 3
1.3.1 Installing Windows XP / XP 64-bit With RAID Funtions …………………………………. 3
1.3.2 Installing Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit With RAID Funtions ……….…….. 4
1.4 Create Disk Array ………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
2. AMD Windows RAID Installation Guide ……………………………………………………………… 10
2.1 Components of RAIDXpert Installation Software ……………………………………………. 10
2.2 Browser Support ………………………………………………………………………………… 10
2.3 Installing RAIDXpert ……………………………………………………………………………. 10
2.4 Logging into RAIDXpert ………………………………………………………………………… 13
2.5 Regular Connection……………………………………………………………………………... 13
2.6 Secure Connection………………………………………………………………………………. 13
2.7 Creating a New Logical Drive ………………………………………………………………….. 14
2.8 Connecting to RAIDXpert from the Internet ………………………………………………….. 17
2.9 Running RAIDXpert without Network Connection …………………………………………… 17
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1. AMD BIOS RAID Installation Guide
AMD BIOS RAID Installation Guide is an instruction for you to configure RAID functions by using the onboard
FastBuild BIOS utility under BIOS environment. After you make a SATA / SATAII / SATA3 driver diskette, press <F2>
or <Del> to enter BIOS setup to set the option to RAID mode by following the detailed instruction of the “User Manual”
in our support CD or “Quick Installation Guide”, then you can start to use the onboard RAID Option ROM Utility to
configure RAID.
1.1 Introduction to RAID
The term “RAID” stands for “Redundant Array of Independent Disks”, which is a method combining two or more hard
disk drives into one logical unit. For optimal performance, please install identical drives of the same model and
capacity when creating a RAID set.
RAID 0 (Data Striping)
RAID 0 is called data striping that optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved
stacks. It will improve data access and storage since it will double the data transfer rate of a single disk alone while the
two hard disks perform the same work as a single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate.
WARNING!!
Although RAID 0 function can improve the access performance, it does not provide any fault tolerance. Hot-Plug any HDDs of the
RAID 0 Disk will cause data damage or data loss.
RAID 1 (Data Mirroring)
RAID 1 is called data mirroring that copies and maintains an identical image of data from one drive to a second
drive. It provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system since the disk array
management software will direct all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of the data in
the other drive if one drive fails.
RAID 10 (Stripe Mirroring)
RAID 0 drives can be mirrored using RAID 1 techniques, resulting in a RAID 10 solution for improved performance
plus resiliency. The controller combines the performance of data striping (RAID 0) and the fault tolerance of disk
mirroring (RAID 1). Data is striped across multiple drives and duplicated on another set of drives.
RAID 5 (Block Striping with Distributed Parity)
RAID 5 stripes data and distributes parity information across the physical drives along with the data blocks. This
organization increases performance by accessing multiple physical drives simultaneously for each operation, as well
as fault tolerance by providing parity data. In the event of a physical drive failure, data can be re-calculated by the
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RAID system based on the remaining data and the parity information. RAID 5 makes efficient use of hard drives and is
the most versatile RAID Level. It works well for file, database, application and web servers.
JBOD
JBOD stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks” and normally refers to one or more physical drives working independently.
The AMD SB850 controller offers the added feature of concatenation, where the capacity of multiple drives is
added together. When one drive is full, the data is saved to the next drive automatically. As independent physical
drives, JBOD does not offer the performance or security advantages of RAID logical drives. However, in RAIDXpert,
you create, manage, and delete a JBOD the same as a logical drive. You can designate from two to four physical
drives with online capacity expansion. If you attach a single physical drive that was previously partitioned, RAIDXpert
will recognize it as a JBOD. However, RAIDXpert does not allow you to create a single-drive JBOD.
RAID Ready
RAID Ready arranges individual physical drives the same as if they were attached to the PC’s motherboard controller.
The advantage is that the AMD SB850 Controller can accommodate up to four physical drives, more than most PC
motherboards. As a single physical drive, RAID Ready does not offer the performance or security advantages of other
RAID logical drives. However, you can create a backup drive by: Inserting an unformatted physical drive or
designating an installed physical drive. In RAIDXpert, you create, manage, and delete a RAID Ready the same as a
logical drive. A RAID Ready logical drive has only one physical drive. You can designate from one to four of your
physical drives as RAID Ready.
1.2 RAID Configurations Precautions
1. Please use two new drives if you are creating a RAID 0 (striping) array for performance. It is recommended
to use two SATA drives of the same size. If you use two drives of different sizes, the smaller capacity hard
disk will be the base storage size for each drive. For example, if one hard disk has an 80GB storage
capacity and the other hard disk has 60GB, the maximum storage capacity for the 80GB-drive becomes
60GB, and the total storage capacity for this RAID 0 set is 120GB.
2. You may use two new drives, or use an existing drive and a new drive to create a RAID 1 (mirroring) array
for data protection (the new drive must be of the same size or larger than the existing drive). If you use two
drives of different sizes, the smaller capacity hard disk will be the base storage size. For example, if one
hard disk has an 80GB storage capacity and the other hard disk has 60GB, the maximum storage capacity
for the RAID 1 set is 60GB.
3. Please verify the status of your hard disks before you set up your new RAID array.
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WARNING!!
Please backup your data first before you create RAID functions. In the process you create RAID, the system will ask if you
want to “Clear Disk Data” or not. It is recommended to select “Yes”, and then your future data building will operate under a
clean environment.
1.3 Installing Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit With RAID
Functions
If you want to install Windows7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit on a RAID disk composed of 2 or more
SATA / SATAII / SATA3 HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below procedures according to the OS you install.
1.3.1 Installing Windows XP / XP 64-bit With RAID Functions
If you want to install Windows XP or Windows XP 64-bit on a RAID disk composed of 2 or more SATA / SATAII /
SATA3 HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps.
STEP 1: Set up BIOS.
A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY → Advanced screen →Storage Configuration.
B. Set the “SATA Operation Mode” option to [RAID].
STEP 2: Make a SATA / SATAII driver diskette.
A. Insert the ASRock Support CD into your optical drive to boot your system.
B. During POST at the beginning of system boot-up, press <F11> key, and then a window for boot devices
selection appears. Please select CD-ROM as the boot device.
C. When you see the message on the screen, “Do you want to generate Serial ATA driver diskette [YN]?”, press
<Y>.
D. Then you will see these messages,
Please insert a blank formatted diskette into floppy drive A: press any key to start
Please insert a floppy diskette into the floppy drive, and press any key.
E. The system will start to format the floppy diskette and copy SATA / SATAII / SATA3 drivers into the floppy
diskette.
STEP 3: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID configuration.
Before you start to configure RAID function, you need to check this RAID installation guide for proper configuration.
Please refer to the BIOS RAID installation guide part in this document for details.
STEP 4: Install Windows XP / XP 64-bit OS on your system.
After making a SATA / SATAII / SATA3 driver diskette and set RAID configuration, you can start to install Windows XP
/ XP 64-bit on your system. At the beginning of Windows setup, press F6 to install a third-party RAID driver. When
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prompted, insert the SATA / SATAII / SATA3 driver diskette containing AMD RAID driver. After reading the floppy disk,
the driver will be presented. Select your required driver to install according to the OS you install.
1.3.2 Installing Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit With RAID Functions
If you want to install Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit on a RAID disk composed of 2 or more SATA / SATAII /
SATA3 HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps.
STEP 1: Set up BIOS.
A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY → Advanced screen →Storage Configuration.
B. Set the “SATA Operation Mode” option to [RAID].
STEP 2: Use “RAID Installation Guide” to set RAID configuration.
Before you start to configure RAID function, you need to check this RAID installation guide for proper configuration.
Please refer to the BIOS RAID installation guide part in this document for details.
STEP 3: Install Windows 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit OS on your system.
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1.4 Create Disk Array
Power on your system. If this is the first time you have booted with the disk drives installed, the AMD onboard RAID
Option ROM Utility will display the following screen.
The RAID Option ROM includes a Utility with tools to set up your physical drives as RAID logical drives. The RAID
Option ROM Utility can perform these functions:
- Monitoring RAID and JBOD status
- Viewing physical drive assignments
- Secure erasing of all data on physical drives
- Creating RAID logical drives
- Creating multiple logical drives using the same physical drives
- Deleting RAID logical drives
- Diagnosing critical and offline RAID logical drives
- Displaying the IRQ and base address (for system diagnosis)
Press <Ctrl+F> keys, then the RAID Option ROM Utility Main Menu appears.
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