GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3, GA-P55A-UD3P, GA-P55A-UD4P, GA-P55A-UD6, GA-P55A-UD7 Owner's Manual

eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)

With GIGABYTE eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)(Note 1), users can quickly configure a RAIDready system for RAID 0 when a new SATA drive is added. For a RAID 0 array that already exists, users also can use X.H.D to easily add a hard drive into the array to expand its capacity. All with a simple click of a button, X.H.D helps to enhance your hard drive

read/write performance without the need for complex and time-consuming configurations. The following procedure details the steps to set up a RAID-ready system and configure it for RAID 0.

A. Setting Up a RAID-Ready System

Step 1: Configure the system BIOS

Enter the system BIOS Setup program, set eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D) under the Integrated Peripherals menu to Enabled to enable RAID for the Intel SATAcontrollers.

Step 2: Install the RAID driver and operating system

The X.H.D utility supports Windows 7/Vista/XP. Before installing the operating system, you have to load the SATA controller driver first. Without the driver, the hard drive may not be recognized during the Windows setup process. (For more details, refer to Chapter 5, "Installing the SATARAID/AHCI Driver and Operating System." )

Step 3: Install the motherboard drivers and the X.H.D utiltiy

After installing the operating system, insert the motherboard driver disk. You can click the Xpress Install All button to automatically install all motherboard drivers, including the X.H.D utility. Or you can go to theApplication Software screen to individually install the X.H.D utility later.

B. Using GIGABYTE eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)

Instructions:(Note 2)

Before launching X.H.D, make sure the newly added harddrive has equal or greater capacity than the RAID-ready system drive. (To add a new hard drive into a RAID 0 array that's been created earlier, make sure the new drive is greater than or equal to the biggest drive in the array. )

1.To automatically set up a RAID 0 array:

Click Auto to automatically and quickly set up a RAID 0 array.

2.To manually set up a RAID array: (Note 3):

Click Manual to access the Intel Matrix Storage Console, with which you can build a RAID 0, RAID 1, or other supported RAID array depending on your needs and hardware components.

3.	Exits the X.H.D utility:

Click Cancel to exit the X.H.D utility.

(Note 1) The X.H.D utility only supports the SATAcontrollers integrated in the Intel Chipset.

(Note 2) It is recommended that before you run the X.H.D utility, back up all of your data to avoid risk of hardware damage or lost of data.

(Note 3) If you manually build a non-RAID 0 array, you'll not be able to automatically set up a RAID 0 array later using the Auto function.