Gigabyte nForce series, nVIDIA nForce4-4X, nVIDIA nForce3 250/Ultra, nVIDIA nForce2 MCP RAID Configuration
Table of Contents
Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s) (Controller: nVIDIA nForce4-4X; nVIDIA nForce3 250/Ultra; nVIDIA
nForce2 MCP RAID) ..................................................................................................................... 2
(1) Installing SATA hard drive(s) in your computer .......................................................................... 2
(2) Configuring SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS Setup .................................... 3
(3) Configuring RAID set in RAID BIOS ............................................................................................. 5
(4) Making a SATA controller driver disk .......................................................................................... 8
(5) Installing SATA controller driver during OS installation ............................................................ 10
(6) Configuring a bootable RAID array with Microsoft Windows 2000 ........................................ 13
SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series) - 2 -
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Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s) (Controller: nVIDIA nForce4-4X;
nVIDIA nForce3 250/Ultra; nVIDIA nForce2 MCP RAID)
"*" Skip this step if you do not want to create RAID array on the SATA controller.
To configure SATA hard drive(s), follow the steps below:
(1) Install SATA hard drive(s) in your system.
(2) Configure SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS Setup.
(3)* Configure RAID set in RAID BIOS.
(4) Make a floppy disk containing the SATA controller driver.
(5) Install the SATA controller driver during OS installation.
Before you begin
Please prepare:
(a) Two SATA hard drives (to ensure optimal performance, it is recommended that you use two hard
drives with identical model and capacity). If you do not want to create RAID with the SATA
controller, you may prepare only one hard drive.
(b) An empty formatted floppy disk.
(c) Windows XP/2000 setup disk.
(d) Driver CD for your motherboard.
(1) Installing SATA hard drive(s) in your computer
Attach one end of the SATA signal cable to the rear of the SATA hard drive and the other end to available
SATA port(s) on the motherboard. (If there are more than one SATA controller on your motherboard, you
may check the name of the SATA connector to identify the SATA controller for the connector. For example,
SATA0_SB/SATA_SB is controlled by the SATA controller on South-Bridge.) Then connect the power
connector from your power supply to the hard drive.
SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series)- 3 -
(2) Configuring SATA controller mode and boot sequence i n BIOS Setup
You have t o make sure w hether the SATA controller is configured correctly in syst em BIOS Set up and
set BIOS boot sequence f or the SATA hard driv e(s).
Step 1:
Turn on your computer and press Del to enter BIOS Setup during POST (Power-On Self Test). If you want
to creat e RAID, select I DE Fun ction Setup under the Integrated Perip herals m enu and t hen press
ENTER (Figure 1). Change the SAT A Primary Master RAID and SA TA Secondary Master RA ID items
to Enabled (Disabled by default ) (Figure 2). Skip this step and leav e the two items to Disabled by default
if you do not want to c reate RAID .
Figure 1 (This BIOS setup s creen is capt ured f rom GA-K8N SNXP-939, BIOS ver. : D24)
CMOS Setup Utility-Co pyright (C) 1984-2004 Award Software
Integrated Peripherals
IDE Function Setup [Press En ter]
On-Chip Primary PCI IDE [Enabled]
On-Chip Seco ndary PCI IDE [Enabled]
USB Host Controller [V1.1+V2.0]
USB Keyboard Support [Disabled]
USB Mouse Support [Disabled]
Serial-ATA 2(In tern al PHY) [Enabled]
AC97 Audio [Auto]
On-Chip LAN(nVIDIA) [Auto]
Onboard Serial ATA [En abled]
Serial ATA Function [R AID]
Onboard 1394 [Enabled]
Onboard LAN Contro l [Enabled]
Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]
Onboard Serial Port 1 [3F8/IRQ4]
Onboard Serial Port 2 [2F8/IRQ3]
Onboard Parallel Port [378/IRQ7]
Parallel Port Mo de [SPP]
x ECP Mode Use DMA 3
higf: Move Enter: Select +/-/PU/PD: Value F10: Save ESC: Exit F1: General Help
F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults
Item Help
Menu Level}
Figure 2
CMOS Setup Utility-Co pyright (C) 1984-2004 Award Software
IDE Function Setup
IDE RAID [Enabled]
IDE Channel 0 Master RAID [Disabled]
IDE Channel 0 Slave RAID [Disabled]
IDE Channel 1 Master RAID [Disabled]
IDE Channel 1 Slave RAID [Disabled]
SATA Primary Master RAID [Enabled]
SATA Secn dry Master R AID [Enabled]
higf: Move Enter: Select +/-/PU/PD: Value F10: Save ESC: Exit F1: General Help
F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults
Item Help
Menu Level}
The BIOS Setup menus des cribed in this sec tion may not s how the ex ac t settings for y our
motherboard. The actual BI OS Setup menu options you will see shall depend on the motherboard
you hav e and the BIOS version.
SATA Hard Drive C onfigurations (nForce series) - 4 -
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Step 2:
Later, select Hard Disk B oot Priori ty under t he Ad vanced BIOS Featur es menu. I n the Hard D isk
Boot Priority submenu, s elect the model of the SATA hard drive onto which you int ent to install Microsoft
Windows 2000/XP (F igure 3).
Figure 3
CMOS Setup Utility-Co pyright (C) 1984-2004 Award Software
Hard Disk Boot Priority
1. CH2 M. : S_ATA1-ST3120026AS
2. CH3 M. : S_ATA2-ST3120026AS
3. Bootable Add-in Card s
hi: Move PU/PD/+/-: Change Priority F10: Save ESC: Exit
Item Help
Menu Level }}
Use <h> or <i> to
select a device, th en
press <+> to move it
up, or <-> to move it
down the list. Press
<ESC> to exit this
menu.
Step 3:
Set First B oot Device under the A dvanced B IOS F eatures m enu to CDROM t o boot from CD-ROM
drive af ter syst em rest arts (Figure 4).
CMOS Setup Utility-Co pyright (C) 1984-2004 Award Software
Advanced BIOS Featu res
} Hard Disk Bo ot Priority [Press En ter]
First Boot Device [CDROM]
Second Boot Device [Hard Disk]
Third Boot Device [CDROM]
Boot Up Floopy Seek [Disabled]
Password Check [Setup]
Flexible AGP 8X [Auto]
Init Display First [AGP]
higf: Move Enter: Select +/-/PU/PD: Value F10: Save ESC: Exit F1: General Help
F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults
Item Help
Menu Level}
Step 4:
Save and exit BIOS Setup.
Figure 4
SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series)- 5 -
(3) Configuri ng RAID set in RAID BIOS
Enter the R AID BIOS setup utility to configure a RAID array. Skip this step and proceed t o Sect ion 4 if
you do not want t o creat e RAID.
Step 1:
After the POST m emory t est begins and before the operating system boot begins , look f or a m essage
which says "Press F10 to enter RAID setup utilit y" (Figure 5). Hit the F10 key t o enter the RAID BIOS
setup utility.
Figure 5
NVIDIA RAID IDE ROM BIOS 4.22
Copyright (C) 2003 NVIDIA Co rp.
Detecting array ...
Press F10 to enter RAID set up utility ...
NVI DIA RAI D Utilit y Ma y 10 2004
- Define a Ne w A rr ay -
RA ID Mod e: M ir ro ring Str iping Bl ock: Op tim al
Fr ee Dis ks
L oc Disk Mod el N am e
1. 0. M ST 3120026A S
1. 1. M ST 3120026A S
Ar ray Di sk s
L oc Disk Mod el Nam e
[g ] Add
[f ] Del
[F6] Bac k [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [hi] Select [ENTER] Popu p
Step 2：
The Define a New Array sc reen is the first option screen when you enter the NVID IA RAID setup utility.
(Figure 6). You can press the T AB key to highlight through options. The following below is an example
of RAID 0 array creation.
Step 3:
In the RAID Mode field, use the UP or DOWN ARROW key to s elect a RAID mode. The supported RAI D
modes inc lude Mirroring (default), Striping, Stripe Mirroring, and Spanning.
Step 4:
If RAID 0 is selec ted, you can manually set the s triping bloc k siz e. In the Striping Block field, use the
UP or DOWN ARROW key to set t he Striping Block size. The KB is the standard unit of St riping Bloc k
size. We recommend y ou leav ing it to the def ault sett ing--Optimal (64K). The s ize range is from 4K to
128K.
Figure 6
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