Nvidia ST380023AS User Manual

Release Note

This document has been modified from the original Nvidia Media Shield User’s Guide.
Some of the Nvidia screen captures may be different than your system.

Please Note: In order to access the RAID utility, press F10 repeatedly once the boot
screen appears.

Press Ctrl-X to exit the RAID utility, it will automatically save any changes.
There is not an option to exit without saving changes.

Windows Vista sees the RAID as a single logical drive, but it does not “color code” it as
a RAID storage solution in Administrative Tools. The RAID logical drive is color coded
the same as a single physical drive.

The RAID utility does not auto-rebuild a defective or replacement RAID HDD. The
rebuild process must be initiated in the RAID utility. The rebuild process may take
several hours depending on the size of the drives.

Here are some additional RAID definitions that may prove useful when configuring the
RAID array.

Striping = RAID 0
Mirroring = RAID 1
Stripe Mirroring = RAID 0+1
RAID 5 = RAID 5
Spanning = JBOD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.About NVIDIA RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

RAID Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

RAID 0+1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

JBOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

2.Setting Up Your RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Setting Up the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

3.Rebuilding Your Mirrored RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Note pages 9,10, and 14 were removed from this document.

NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide Version 3.1

Published by
NVIDIA Corporation
2701 San Tomas Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95050

Notice

ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS, REFERENCE BOARDS, FILES, DRAWINGS, DIAGNOSTICS,
LISTS, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS (TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY, “MATERIALS”) ARE BEING
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OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIALS, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.

Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA Corporation assumes no
responsibility for the consequences of use of such information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of
third parties that may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent
rights of NVIDIA Corporation. Specifications mentioned in this publication are subject to change without notice.
This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied. NVIDIA Corporation products are not
authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without express written approval of
NVIDIA Corporation.

Trademarks

NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, MediaShield, 3DFX, 3DFX INTERACTIVE, the 3dfx Logo, STB, STB Systems and
Design, the STB Logo, the StarBox Logo, NVIDIA nForce, GeForce, NVIDIA Quadro, NVDVD, NVIDIA Personal
Cinema, NVIDIA Soundstorm, Vanta, TNT2, TNT, RIVA, RIVA TNT, VOODOO, VOODOO GRAPHICS,
WAVEBAY, Accuview Antialiasing, the Audio & Nth Superscript Design Logo, CineFX, the Communications & Nth
Superscript Design Logo, Detonator, Digital Vibrance Control, DualNet, FlowFX, ForceWare, GIGADUDE, Glide,
GOFORCE, the Graphics & Nth Superscript Design Logo, Intellisample, M-BUFFER, nfiniteFX, NV, NVChess,
nView, NVKeystone, NVOptimizer, NVPinball, NVRotate, NVSensor, NVSync, the Platform & Nth Superscript
Design Logo, PowerMizer, Quincunx Antialiasing, Sceneshare, See What You've Been Missing, StreamThru,
SuperStability, T-BUFFER, The Way It's Meant to be Played Logo, TwinBank, TwinView and the Video & Nth
Superscript Design Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective
owners with which they are associated.

Intel, Indeo, and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT,
Direct3D, DirectDraw, and DirectX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. OpenGL is a
registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.

Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which
they are associated.

Copyright

© 2004–2005 by NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

C HAPTER

A

BOUT

NVIDIA brings Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology—which is
used by the world’s leading businesses—to the common PC desktop. This technology
uses multiple drives to either increase total disk space or to offer data protection.

RAID techniques were first published in 1988 by a multivendor consortium—the RAID
Advisory Board. RAID techniques were divided into different categories or levels.
Originally, RAID levels focused on improving resiliency or data availability. As
additional RAID levels were defined, one was introduced for improving performance. For
all levels, RAID techniques optimize storage solutions by using multiple disks grouped
together and treating them as a single storage resource.

This chapter describes NVIDIA RAID in the following sections:

NVIDIA RAID

• “System Requirements” on page 2.

• “RAID Arrays” on page 3 describes the RAID levels supported by NVIDIA RAID.

• “NVIDIA RAID Features” on page 9 describes additional features offered by NVIDIA
RAID.

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RAID Arrays

This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that MediaShield supports:

• RAID 0

• RAID 1

• RAID 0+1

C

About NVIDIA RAID

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RAID 0 defines a disk striping scheme that improves the disk read and write times for
many applications.

RAID 1 defines techniques for mirroring data.

RAID 0+1 combines the techniques used in RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays.

• RAID 5

1

RAID 5 provides fault tolerance and better utilization of disk capacity.

• JBOD

JBOD provides a method for combining drives of different sizes into one large disk.

Note: Not all nForce platforms provide support for all the RAID levels listed.

1. RAID 5 is supported on select boards only. Please check with your motherboard manufacturer to deter­mine whether RAID 5 is supported for the type and model of your motherboard.

NVIDIA Corporation 3

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C
About NVIDIA RAID

RAID 0

How RAID 0 Works

In a RAID 0 array, the controller ʺstripesʺ data across multiple drives in the RAID
subsystem. RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads
and writes across multiple drives in parallel. The size of each block is determined by the
stripe size parameter, which you set during the creation of the RAID 0 set. Performance of
applications running with a RAID 0 can vary greatly depending on the stripe size
configured when creating the array. The default stripe size is 64K, but 32K or 16K may be
more efficient if the application issues many smaller I/O operations. Some amount of trial
and error may be appropriate to find the optimum stripe size.

Figure 1.1

RAID 0 is ideal for applications that require high bandwidth but do not require fault
tolerance. RAID 0 has the best performance and capacity of any RAID level, but the lowest
availability (no fault tolerance). If one drive fails, the entire array fails because part of the
data is missing with no way to recover it other than restoring from a backup.

RAID 0 Array Diagram

Summary of Features and Benefits

• Benefits: Provides increased data throughput, especially for large files.

• Drawbacks: No fault tolerance—all data is lost if any drive in the array fails.

• Uses: Intended for non-critical data requiring high data throughput, or any
environment that does not require fault tolerance.

• Drives: Minimum: 1. Maximum: Up to 8, depending on the platform.

• Fault Tolerance: No.

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RAID 1

How RAID 1 Works

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About NVIDIA RAID

In a RAID 1 array, every read and write is carried out in parallel across two disk drives.
The mirrored—or backup—copy of the data can reside on the same disk or on a second
redundant drive in the array. RAID 1 provides a hot-standby copy of data if the active
volume or drive is corrupted or becomes unavailable due to a hardware failure. RAID 1
techniques can be applied for high-availability solutions, or as a form of automatic backup
that eliminates tedious manual backups to more expensive and less reliable media.

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Figure 1.2

RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy, but at the cost of doubling the required data
storage capacity, resulting in 50% capacity utilization. Performance is roughly the same as
for a single drive, although in some instances the dual write may be somewhat slower.

RAID 1 Array Diagram

Summary of Features and Benefits

• Benefits: Provides 100% data redundancy. Should one drive fail, the controller
switches to the other drive.

• Drawbacks: Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive. Performance is
impaired during drive rebuilds.

• Uses: RAID 1 is ideal for small databases or any other application that requires fault
tolerance and minimal capacity.

• Drives: Minimum, 2. Maximum, 2.

• Fault Tolerance: Yes

NVIDIA Corporation 5