HP Compaq 515 User Manual

RAID

User Guide

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

First Edition: June 2008

Document Part Number: 483458-001

Product notice

This user guide describes features that are common to most models. Some features may not be available on your computer.

Table of contents

1 Introduction

2 RAID technology overview

RAID terminology ................................................................................................................................. 2

RAID modes supported ........................................................................................................................ 3

The advantages of RAID modes supported ......................................................................................... 5

3 Operating systems and devices supported

Operating systems supported .............................................................................................................. 6

Devices supported ................................................................................................................................ 6

4 Intel Matrix Storage Manager features

Advanced Host Controller Interface ..................................................................................................... 9

Intel Rapid Recover Technology ........................................................................................................ 10

5 RAID volume setup

Enable RAID through the system BIOS (f10) ..................................................................................... 12

Initiate RAID migration using Intel Matrix Storage Console ............................................................... 14

Using Intel Matrix Storage Console IRRT features ............................................................................ 24

6 Resetting RAID drives to non-RAID

7 Frequently asked questions

Can more than one RAID volume be installed on a computer? ......................................................... 29

Is Matrix RAID supported to allow both RAID 0 and RAID 1 on a single RAID volume? ................... 29

Can the computer be undocked if the recovery HDD is in the docking station SATA swappable

bay? .................................................................................................................................................... 29

Index ................................................................................................................................................................... 30

iii

1 Introduction

Until recently, there were limited options for most notebook PC users who wanted to protect their data from loss in the event of a hard drive failure. These options were; manually copying files to a backup drive or using cumbersome backup software. If users failed to perform one of these mundane tasks prior to a hard drive failure, they had to spend considerable time and money to recover even a portion of the data on the drive. Server and desktop computer users have long enjoyed the security and benefits of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disk’s) technology to recover data in the event of drive failure.

HP now offers a simple RAID solution for notebook computer users who need to protect data on a Serial ATA (SATA) disk drive in case of drive failure or virus attacks. HP’s RAID solution will also benefit notebook PC users who frequently work with large files and want to improve the storage performance of their computer.

NOTE: The illustrations in this guide are provided in English only.

2 RAID technology overview

This chapter defines the terms used in this guide and describes the RAID technologies supported by select HP Business Notebook PCs.

RAID terminology

Some of the terms in the following table have a broader meaning, but they are defined in relation to the RAID implementation described in this guide.

Term Definition

Fault tolerance The ability of the computer to continue to operate if one drive fails. Fault tolerance is often

used interchangeably with reliability, but the two terms are different.

HDD One physical Hard Disk Drive in the RAID array.

Option ROM A software module inside the system BIOS that provides extended support for a particular

piece of hardware. The RAID option ROM provides boot support for RAID volumes as well as a user interface for managing and configuring the systems RAID volumes.

Primary drive The main internal HDD in the notebook PC.

RAID array The physical drives that appear as one logical drive to the operating system.

RAID migration The change of data from a non-RAID to RAID configuration. “RAID level migration,” or the

change of data from one RAID level to another, is not supported.

RAID volume A fixed amount of space across a RAID array that appears as a single HDD to the operating

system.

Recovery drive The hard drive that is the designated mirror (copy of the primary) drive in a RAID 1 and

IRRT volume.

Reliability Reliability refers to the likelihood—over a period of time—that a HDD can be expected to

operate without failure, also known as mean time before failure (MTBF).

Stripe Set of data on a single hard drive in a RAID volume.

Striping Striping is the distribution of data over multiple disk drives to improve read/write

performance.

2 Chapter 2 RAID technology overview

RAID modes supported

The RAID modes supported by HP Business Notebook PCs include RAID 0, RAID 1, and Intel® Rapid Recover Technology (RAID 1 enhanced) as described below. Each RAID mode requires two SATA HDDs. This can be accomplished by inserting a second SATA hard drive into the Upgrade Bay or eSATA port (if available) of the notebook PC, or in the SATA swappable bay of the HP Advanced Docking Station (see

RAID 0

RAID 0 stripes, or distributes, data across both drives. This allows data, especially large files, to be read faster because data is read simultaneously from both drives. However, RAID 0 offers no fault tolerance; which means that the entire array fails if one drive fails.

RAID 1

RAID 1 copies, or mirrors, identical data on two HDDs. If one HDD fails, RAID 1 allows data to be recovered from the other HDD.

Intel® Rapid Recover Technology

Intel Rapid Recover Technology (IRRT) is a feature of Intel® Matrix Storage Manager software. IRRT enhances RAID 1 functionality with several features that make it easier for users to mirror data to a designated recovery drive. For example, IRRT allows users to determine how the recovery volume is updated, either continuously or on request. IRRT also enables docking and undocking of the computer if the recovery drive is in the docking station bay.

Devices supported on page 6). RAID 5 and RAID 10 are not supported.

RAID mode summary

The following table describes the function, applications, and the advantages and disadvantages of the supported RAID modes.

RAID LEVELS Function/Applications Advantages/Disadvantages

RAID 0 Function:

RAID 1 Function:

Data is distributed across both disk drives.

Applications:

Image editing

●

Video production

●

Pre-press applications

●

Advantages:

Read performance is higher than that of a non-RAID HDD.

Total storage capacity is doubled.

Disadvantages:

The entire array fails if one drive fails; data cannot be recovered.

Storage space may be wasted if the capacities of the primary and recovery HDDs are different (see

option kits on page 6).

Advantages:

HP SATA drive

Identical (mirrored) data is stored on two drives.

Provides high fault tolerance.

RAID modes supported 3

RAID LEVELS Function/Applications Advantages/Disadvantages

Applications:

Accounting

●

Payroll

●

Financial

●

RAID IRRT Function:

Identical (mirrored) data is stored on two drives.

Boosts the functionality of RAID 1 with valuable features.

Applications:

Any application that requires a simple data protection method.

Disadvantages:

Only half of the total drive capacity can be used for storage.

Storage space may be wasted if the capacities of the primary and recovery HDDs are different (see

option kits on page 6).

Advantages:

Provides high fault tolerance.

Users can choose to mirror data continuously or on request.

Data recovery is quick and easy.

Allows hot-plugging of mirrored drive (with eSATA or docking station HDD).

Enables easy migration to non-RAID.

HP SATA drive

Disadvantages:

Only half of the total drive capacity can be used for storage.

Storage space may be wasted if the capacities of the primary and recovery HDDs are different.

4 Chapter 2 RAID technology overview

The advantages of RAID modes supported

Fault tolerance and performance are important terms to understand when choosing a RAID mode.

Fault tolerance

Fault tolerance is the ability of a RAID array to withstand and recover from a drive failure. Fault tolerance is provided by redundancy. Therefore, RAID 0 has no fault tolerance because it does not copy data to another HDD. With RAID 1 and IRRT, one drive can fail without causing the array to fail. With IRRT, however, recovery of a single file or an entire HDD is much simpler than using RAID 1 alone.

Performance

Performance is easy to understand, but it is difficult to measure because it involves several factors, some of which are beyond the scope of this document. Overall storage performance is determined by write performance and read performance, both of which vary based on the RAID technology selected.

RAID 0 (striping) improves overall storage performance because data can be written and read

●

simultaneously across two HDDs.

IRRT and RAID 1 (mirroring) writes the same data to both HDDs; therefore, write performance may

●

be slower. However, data can be read from both HDDs, so the read performance can be higher than that of a single non-RAID HDD.

The advantages of RAID modes supported 5

3 Operating systems and devices

supported

Operating systems supported

HP RAID supports 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP1, SP2, and SP3) and Windows Vista® SP1 operating systems.

Devices supported

This section describes the devices supported for RAID migration, including the SATA drives, computers, and docking station. Device support is summarized in the following table and then explained in more detail below the table. External USB 2.0 SATA drives connected to the computer or docking station cannot be used for migrating to RAID.

Primary and Upgrade Bay SATA HDDs

RAID 0 Yes No

RAID 1 Yes No

IRRT Yes Yes

HP SATA drive option kits

HP offers SATA drive option kits for the notebook PC Upgrade Bay and the docking station SATA swappable bay to support RAID migration. For optimal RAID performance, it is recommended that both drives have the same speed. However, supported HP Business Notebook PCs allow drives with different speeds to be used in a RAID volume.

Drives of different capacities are also supported for RAID migration, as long as the capacity of the secondary (recovery) drive is equal to or greater than that of the primary drive. For example, if the primary drive is 200 GB, then at least a 200-GB drive is required in the Upgrade Bay to create a RAID volume. If the capacity of the secondary drive is larger than that of the primary drive, the excess capacity of the secondary drive will not be accessible. If, for example, the primary drive is 160 GB and the secondary drive is 250 GB, only 160 GB of the secondary drive will be usable in a RAID configuration. Therefore, for optimal use, it is recommended that both drives have the same capacity.

in the computer

Docking station HDD or eSATA HDD attached to computer

6 Chapter 3 Operating systems and devices supported

eSATA HDDs (select models only)

External SATA, or eSATA, is an external interface that allows a SATA drive to achieve data transfer speeds up to 6 times that of a SATA drive using a standard USB 2.0 interface. The following illustration shows a supported notebook PC with a primary HDD (1) and an eSATA drive (2) connected to the eSATA port (select models only) to allow RAID IRRT. Regarding the capacity of the eSATA drive, the same recommendations apply as stated for secondary drives in the notebook PC Upgrade Bay.

HP Business Notebook PCs

Select HP Business Notebook PCs support RAID using Intel® Matrix Storage Manager software (v8.0.2 and higher) and a secondary SATA drive in the Upgrade Bay.

The following illustration shows a supported notebook PC with the primary HDD (1) and a secondary SATA drive in the Upgrade Bay (2) that allow RAID 0, RAID 1, and IRRT.

Devices supported 7

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