Asrock P4VM900-SATA2 RAID Installation Guide

VIA RAID Installation Guide

1 VIA BIOS RAID Installation Guide …………………………………………………………………………………..….. 3

1.1 Introduction of RAID …………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 3

1.2 RAID Configuration Precautions …………………………………………………………………………...……… 3

1.3 Installing Windows 2000 / XP / Vista With RAID Functions ………………………………………………..…… 4

1.4.1 Installing Windows 2000 / XP With RAID Functions………………………………………………..…….. 4

1.4.2 Installing Windows Vista With RAID Functions………………………………………………………..…... 5

1.4 BIOS Configuration Utility ……………………………………………………………………………………..……. 6

1.4.1 Enter BIOS Configuration Utility ……………………………………………………………………..…….. 6

1.4.2 Create Disk Array ………………………………………………………………………………………..…... 6

1.4.3 Delete Disk Array …………………………………………………………………………………………..... 8

1.4.4 Select Boot Array …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8

2 VIA Windows RAID Installation Guide ………………………………………………………………………………...… 10

2.1 VIA Windows RAID Installation Guide for Windows 2000/XP Users ……………………………….………….. 10

2.1.1 Create RAID Array ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

2.1.2 Delete Disk Array ……………………………………………………………………………………………..…… 12

2.1.3 Check All Disks ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13

2.1.4 Verify Mirror Disk ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14

2.1.5 Synchronize Mirror Disk ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15

2.1.6 Disk Error Detection ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16

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2.1.7 Duplicate Critical RAID 1 Array ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16

2.1.8 Rebuild Broken RAID 1 array ……………………………………………………………………………………. 16

2.2 VIA Windows RAID Installation Guide for Windows Vista Users ……………………………………………… 19

2.2.1 Create Disk Array …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 19

2.2.2 Remove Array …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22

2.2.3 Add/Remove Spare ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22

2.2.4 Synchronize Mirror Disk …………………………………………………………………………………………. 23

2.2.5 Repair Broken Disk Array ………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

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1 VIA BIOS RAID Installation Guide

You are allowed to configure RAID functions under BIOS environment.

1.1 Introduction of RAID

VIA VT8237S south bridge chipset integrates RAID controller supporting RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD functions with two independent SATA
channels. This section will introduce the basic knowledge of RAID.

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.

JBOD (Spanning)

A spanning disk array is equal to the sum of all drives. Spanning stores data onto a drive until it is full then proceeds to store files onto the next
drive in the array. When any member disk fails, it will affect the entire array. JBOD is not really a RAID, and it does not support fault tolerance.

1. 2 RAID Configurations Precautions

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.

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1. 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.

2. Please verify the status of your hard disks before you set up your new RAID array.

1. 3 Installing Windows 2000 / XP / Vista With RAID Functions

If you want to install Windows 2000 / XP / Vista OS on your SATA / SATAII HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below procedures according
to the OS you install.

1.3.1 Installing Windows 2000 / XP With RAID Functions

If you want to install Windows 2000 / XP on your SATA / SATAII HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps.

STEP 1: Set up BIOS.
A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY→ Advanced screen→IDE 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, “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 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 the RAID installation guide in the Support CD for proper configuration. Please refer
to the document in the following path in the Support CD:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide
STEP 4: Install Windows 2000 / XP OS on your system.
After step1, 2, 3, you can start to install Windows 2000 / XP OS on your system. At the beginning of Windows setup, press F6 to install a
third-party RAID driver. When prompted, insert the SATA / SATAII driver diskette containing the VIA RAID driver. After reading the floppy disk, the
driver will be presented. Select the driver to install according to the mode you choose and the OS you install.

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1.If you install Windows 2000 / XP on IDE HDDs and want to manage (create, convert,
delete or rebuild) RAID functions on SATA / SATAII HDDs, please set the RAID
configuration by using the Windows RAID installation guide in the following path in the
Support CD:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide

2. If you want to use “VIA RAID Tool” in Windows environment, please install SATA /
SATAII drivers from the Support CD again so that “VIA RAID Tool” will be installed to
your system as well.

1.3.2 Installing Windows Vista With RAID Functions

If you want to install Windows Vista on your SATA / SATAII HDDs with RAID functions, please follow below steps.

STEP 1: Set up BIOS.
A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY→ Advanced screen→IDE 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 the RAID installation guide in the Support CD for proper configuration. Please refer
to the document in the following path in the Support CD:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide
STEP 3: Install Windows Vista OS on your system.
Insert the Windows Vista optical disk into the optical drive to boot your system, and follow the instruction to install Windows Vista OS on your
system. When you see “Where do you want to install Windows?” page, please insert the ASRock Support CD into your optical drive, and click the
“Load Driver” button on the left on the bottom to load the VIA RAID drivers. VIA RAID drivers are in the following path in our Support CD:
.. \ I386
After that, please insert Windows Vista optical disk into the optical drive again to continue the installation.

1.If you install Windows Vista on IDE HDDs and want to manage (create, convert, delete
or rebuild) RAID functions on SATA / SATAII HDDs, please set the RAID configuration
by using the Windows RAID installation guide in the following path in the Support CD:
.. \ RAID Installation Guide

2. If you want to use “VIA RAID Tool” in Windows environment, please install SATA /
SATAII drivers from the Support CD again so that “VIA RAID Tool” will be installed to
your system as well.

3. To operate SATA RAID utility under Windows Vista, please right-click “VIA V-Raid
Utility” icon on the desktop and select “Run as administrator” item to execute.

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1.4 BIOS Configuration Utility

1.4.1 Enter BIOS Configuration Utility

After the system powers on, the following information will appear on the screen. Press ‘Tab’ key to enter BIOS configuration utility.

The main interface of BIOS configuration utility is as below:

1.4.2 Create Disk Array

1. Within the main interface, use the up and down arrow key to highlight the Create Array command and press <Enter> to call out the list of
creation steps.

2. Highlight the Array Mode and press <Enter>, then a list of array modes will appear. Just highlight the target array mode that you want to
create, and press <Enter> to confirm the selection.

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3. There are two methods to create a disk array. One method is “Auto Setup”, and another is “Select Disk Drives”. Select “Auto Setup” to

allow BIOS to select the disk drives and create array automatically. Select “Select Disk Drives” to let user select the array drives
manually. When using Select Disk Drives method, the channel column will be activated. Just highlight the target drives that you want to
use and press <Enter> to select them respectively. When all drives have been selected, press <Esc> to go back to the creation steps
menu.

Create RAID 0

If RAID 0 array is selected in step 2, user can also select a block size for the array. Use the arrow key to highlight the “Block Size” and press
<Enter>. Then the list of available block size will popup. The block size can be selected from 4K to 64K Bytes.

Use the arrow key to highlight the Start Create Process and press <Enter>, then a warning message will appear. Press Y to finish the creation, o r
press N to cancel the creation. Please note that the content of the hard drive will be destroyed after array creation.

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