Promise Technology TRAK100TM User Manual



User Manual

Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”), 2000. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise.

Trademarks

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Important data protection information

You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral. Promise is not responsible for any loss of data resulting from the use, disuse or misuse of this or any other Promise product.

Notice

Although Promise has attempted to ensure the accuracy of the content of this manual, it is possible that this document may contain technical inaccuracies, typographical, or other errors. Promise Technology, Inc. assumes no liability for any error in this publication, and for damages, whether direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or otherwise, that may result from such error, including, but not limited to loss of data or profits.

Promise provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The published information in the manual is subject to change without notice. Promise reserves the right to make changes in the product design, layout, and driver revisions without notification to its users.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................1

WHAT IS THE FAST TRAK100 RAID CARD?..........................................................1

KEYS FEATURES AND BENEFITS.........................................................................3

GETTING STARTED.......................................................................................6

UNPACKING YOUR FAST TRAK100......................................................................6

INSTALLING THE CARD.....................................................................................7

INSTALLING THE HARD DRIVES...........................................................................8

CHECKING CMOS SETTINGS........................................................................... 10

CREATING YOUR DISK ARRAY ......................................................................... 11

USING FASTBUILD™ CON FIGURATION UTILITY...........................................17

VIEWING FASTTRAK100 BIOS SCREEN.............................................................17

NAVIGATING THE FAST BUILD™ SETUP MENU....................................................... 18

CREATING ARRAYS AUTOMATICALLY................................................................ 19

VIEWING D RIVE ASSIGNMENTS .........................................................................21

MANUALLY CREATING AN ARRAY ....................................................................22

DELETING AN ARRAY.....................................................................................28

REBUILDING A MIRRORED ARRAY.....................................................................30

VIEWING C ONTROLLER SETTINGS......................................................................32

INSTALLING DRIVERS................................................................................. 34

WINDOWS 2000 ........................................................................................... 34

MICROSOFT MILLENNIUM ................................................................................. 36

WINDOWS 95/98.......................................................................................... 38

DOS/WIN DOWS 3.1X....................................................................................41

WINDOWS NT4 ............................................................................................42

USING THE FASTCHECK™ MONITORING UTILITY......................................... 44

INSTALLING FAST CHECK ................................................................................ 44

RUNNING FASTC HECK ....................................................................................45

CLOSING FASTC HECK ....................................................................................45

USING FAST CHECK ARRAY WINDOW ................................................................ 46

SYNCHRONIZING AN ARRAY............................................................................50

REBUILDING AN ARRAY.................................................................................. 52

USING CONTROLLER WINDOW ......................................................................... 55

USING OPTIONS WINDOW ............................................................................... 58

UNDERSTANDING DISK A RRAY CONCEPTS ................................................65

ABOUT FAST TRAK100 DISK ARRAY ADAPTER....................................................65

ABOUT ADAPTER BIOS.................................................................................. 65

FAST BUILD™ AUTO MENU SETUP .....................................................................65

RESERVED SECTOR....................................................................................... 65

FastTrak100 User Manual

DISK ARRAY TERMS ......................................................................................66

ABOUT RAID LEVELS....................................................................................67

TROUBLESHOOTING & TIPS....................................................................... 71

MOTHERBOARD ISSUES.................................................................................. 71

SYSTEM CMOS ISSUES................................................................................. 72

DRIVE -RELATED ERRORS ...............................................................................72

OPERATING SYSTEM-R ELATED ERRORS.............................................................76

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ..............................................................81

PRE -INSTALLATION....................................................................................... 81

DRIVE ISSUES ..............................................................................................83

INSTALLATION ISSUES....................................................................................84

POST -INSTALLATION .....................................................................................85

Contacting Promise Support ........................................................... APPENDIX A

Limited Warranty........................................................................... APPENDIX B

Returning Product For Repair.......................................................... APPENDIX C

FastTrak100 User Manual

Introduction

Thank you for your recent purchase.The PC which you are using either already contains a Promise Technology FastTrak100 RAID card installed by a third -party or you have acquired a FastTrak100 retail box for your existing PC and will be installing the card yourself.

For PC owners wishing to install their Promise Technology FastTrak100, proceed to the Getting Started section (see page 6).

For PCs with a Promise Technology FastTrak100 card already installed, consult the Troubleshooting section of the manual (see page 71) if you are experiencing any difficulties with the hard drive bei ng recognized by the card. If your operating system has crashed for some reason or you have downloaded updated drivers from the Promise website (www.promise.com), you may wish to reinstall software drivers for the FastTrak100 card. Use the Installing Drivers section (see page 34).

What is the FastTrak100 RAID Card?

Promise designed its FastTrak100 card to provide a cost-effective, high performance RAID card that adds performance and/or reliability to PC desktops and/or servers using Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/33 or EIDE drives. FastTrak100 supports striping (RAID 0), mirroring (RAID 1), striping/mirroring (RAID 0+1), or spanning (JBOD) operation , respectively.

With striping, identical drives can read and write data in parallel to increase performance. Mirroring increases read performance through load balancing and elevator seek while creating a complete backup of your files. Striping with mirroring offers both high read/write performance and error tolerance. Spanning uses the full capacity of all attached drives without requiring identical drive size, but offers no other RAID functionality.

A FastTrak100 striped array can double the sustained data transfer rate of Ultra ATA/100 drives. FastTrak100 fully supports Ultra ATA/100 specification of up to 100 MB/sec per drive, depending on individual drive specifications. FastTrak100 also offers fault tolerant, data redundancy for entry-level network file servers or simply for desktop PC users wanting to continually protect valuable data on their PC. FastTrak100 offers RAID 1 mirroring (for two drives) and RAID 0+1 mirroring and striping (for four drives) to protect data. Should a drive that is part of a mirrored array fail, FastTrak100 uses the mirrored drive (which contains identical data) to assume all data handling. When a new replacement drive is later installed, FastTrak100 rebuilds data to the new drive from the mirrored drive to restore fault tolerance.

FastTrak100 User Manual

FastTrak100's bootable BIOS supports individual drives larger than 8.4GB. With FAT32 and NTFS partitioning, the array can be addressed as one large single volume.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Keys Features and Benefits

The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak100. It is divided into two areas: Advanced Hardware Design, and Compatibility.

Advanced Hardware Design

Features Benefits

Supports data striping (RAID 0), mirroring (RAID 1), and striping/mirroring combination (RAID 0+1)

Supports Ultra DMA 5/4/3/2/1/0, DMA 2/1/0

PCI Plug -n-Play, PCI Interrupt sharing and coexists with mainboard IDE controllers

Supports concurren t dual IDE controller operation

Supports IDE bus master operation

Utilizes FastBuild FastTrak100 onboard BIOS

Displays status and error checking messages during bootup

automenu from the

Employs the latest Promise PCI Ultra ATA/100 ASIC t echnology.

Mirroring supports automatic background rebuilds

Provides dramatic increase in drive performance and/or fault tolerant options. Offers performance customization and data rebuilds from the BIOS menu.

Burst data transfer rates up to 100MB/sec from Ultra ATA/100 drives to boost overall system performance. Easy to install; support four ATA drives on the FastTrak100 while still supporting 4 devices on motherboard ATA controller.

Drive workload is distributed in parallel between members of the array.

Allows multiasking during disk transfers which increase CPU efficiency. The CPU is free to process tasks during IDE data transfers through the PCI Bus to/from system memory.

Offers pre -set application specific settings which can be optimized for Desktop, Server, or A/V Editing. Has "Auto Setup" option for quick and easy array builds.

Notifies user of possible errors and allows for recovery of mirrored drive arrays directly from FastBuild

Fully supports Ultra ATA/100 specifications with 100 MB/sec timing and CRC error checking at high speeds.

Fault tolerance can be restored automatically without rebooting

FastTrak100 User Manual

Compatibility

Features Benefits

Complies with PCI v2.1 Local Bus standard Compliant with PCI IDE Bus Master standard. PCI IDE Bus Master support for Windows 98/95, Windows NT 3.5x, 4.0 Tested compatiblity to coexist with Mainboards that have integrated IDE controllers Compatible with Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/33, EIDE and Fast ATA-2 drives supporting multi-word DMA

Features LBA and Extended Interrupt13h drive translation in controller onboard BIOS

Provides highest level of hardware compatibility. Provides 32-bit I/O, IDE Bus Master, and Ultra ATA performance for optimal system performance. Improves system performance of new and existing installations including mainboards with Intel chipsets. Works with newest and current IDE drive specifications. Promise engineers experienced with IDE devices perform verification testing with major dri ve manufacturers and development partners.

Breaks capacity barriers for support of drives greater than 8.4GB in capacity. Offers flexible storage options for space demanding applications.

FastTrak100 User Manual

NOTES

FastTrak100 User Manual

Getting Started

This section is designed to get you started for installation of your FastTrak100.

Unpacking Your FastTrak100

When you receive the FastTrak100, the package should contain the items listed below:

• FastTrak100 Ultra ATA/100 RAID Card

• FastTrak100 User’s Manual

• Registration Card

• FastTrak100 Driver floppy diskette, utility diskette

• Two Internal 80-wire/40-pin Ultra ATA/100 hard drive cables (18” length)

If ANY of the contents are missing or appear to be damaged, please contact your dealer or distributor immediately.

WARNING: Before installing the adapter into an existing system, backup any necessary data. Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.

NOTE : FastTrak100, like every other valuable part of your system, is subject to static electricity. Be sure that you’re properly grounded (Promise recommends that you wear an anti- static strap, or touch a grounded object), and that your system is unplugge d before installing FastTrak100.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Installing The Card

Installing the FastTrak100 controller card in a system is a simple process. The card fits into any available 32-bit PCI slot on the system’s motherboard (see figure below).

1. Remove the cover of your system.

2. Remove the inside slot cover of an available 32-bit PCI slot on the motherboard.

3. Install the FastTrak100 controller card into the open slot (see Figure 1 below).

4. Attach your system case’s 2- or 4-pin LED cable to the LED connector on the FastTrak100 controller card (see figure next page). Make sure that pin 1 on the connector is aligned with pin 1 of the cable.

5. Fasten the controller card bracket to the system case (see below).

Figure 1

FastTrak100 User Manual

Installing The Hard Drives

WARNING: If you wish to include your current bootable drive using

the Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak100, do NOT connect the hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller yet. You

MUST install the Windows NT4 or 2000 driver software first (see page 34 ) to this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller. For all other Operating Systems, proceed here.

Hard drives must be Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/33, EIDE and/or Fast ATA-2 compatible to operate with the FastTrak100 RAID Adapter. For optimal performance, install all identical drives of the same model and capacity. The drives’ matched performance allows the array to function better as a single drive.

1. Promise recommends using identical drives as part of a FastTrak100 array. If

striping for performance, use up to four new drives. If mirroring for protection, you can use two new drives OR use an existing drive and a new drive (the new drive must be the same size or larger than the existing drive).

2. Configure the jumpers of the hard drive you’re preparing to connect to the

FastTrak100 using the correct “Master” or “Cable-Select” settings in the positions described in the table below.

NOTE: Sometimes the Master drive with no slave attached is called “Single.” The master slave setting differentiates two drives chained on the same connector.

Jumper Settings

# of Drives IDE Channel 1 IDE Channel 2

1 M ---- 2 M M 3 M & S M 4 M & S M & S

M = Master, S = Slave

3. Install the hard drives into the hard drive bays of your system, including the

power cables.

FastTrak100 User Manual

4. Attach one Ultra ATA cable to each hard drive. Then attach one cable to each

of the IDE connectors on the FastTrak100 controller card. The colored edge of the cable(s) indicates pin 1 (see below), and the blue cable connector must be attached to the FastTrak100 or Ultra100 ATA connector.

NOTE: You must use an 80 -wire, 40-pin cable when connecting an

Ultra ATA/100 hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller card. The

FastTrak100 package contains two 80 -wire, 40-pin cables.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Checking CMOS Settings

No changes are necessary in the Mainboard CMOS Setup for resources or drive types. Since FastTrak100 is a PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) device, the Interrupt and Port address resources are automatically assigned by the Mainboard’s PCI PnP BIOS.

The FastTrak100 system resources including port address, interrupt, and BIOS address are automatically determined by the system PnP BIOS. To customize IRQ settings, enter the Mainboard BIOS’s Advanced PCI setup and follow the manufacturer’s procedures. When the system is limited by IRQ resources, the FastTrak100 card can be set for the same IRQ as other PCI cards that support PCI interrupt sharing.

For the FastTrak100 to be the bootable IDE controller, confirm in the mainboard’s Standard CMOS Setup that the drive types (for hard disk drives) are set for “Unknown Device” or “Not Installed” (see below). If there is a “Hard-Disk Drive Sequence,” place the FastTrak controller as the second choice in searching for a bootable device. No changes are needed for CD-ROM drives that are attached to the mainboard IDE controller.

Processor ID: MHz Cache:

BIOS version: xxx Server Tag: xxxxx

System Time 18:50:37 System Date Tue May 02, 2000

Diskette Drive A: 3.5 inch, 1.44 MB Diskette Drive B: Not Installed Primary Drive 0 Unknown Device Primary Drive 1 Unknown Device Secondary Drive 0 CD-ROM Reader Secondary Drive 1 Unknown Device

Hard-Disk Drive Sequence <ENTER> Boot Sequence <ENTER>

FastTrak100 User Manual

Creating Your Disk Array

You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create your array using the attached drives. There are three different scenarios in creating this array. You can create an array for performance, you can create a Security array using new hard drives (recommended), or you can create a Security array using an existing hard drive and a new hard drive.

WARNING: If creating a Security array using an existing hard drive,

backup any necessary data. Failure to follow this accepted PC

practice could result in data loss.

1. Boot your system. If this is the first time you have booted with the FastTrak100

card and drives installed, the Promise onboard BIOS will display the following screen.

No array defined . . . Press <Ctrl-F> to enter FastBuild (tm) Utility

Or press <ESC> key to continue booting the system.

2. Press <Ctrl-F> keys to display the FastBuild (tm) Utility Main Menu

3. Press “1” to display the Auto Setup Menu below. This is the fastest and

easiest method to creating your first array.

Optimize Array for: Performance Typical Application usage: A/V Editing

Mode..................................................Stripe

Drives used in Array................................2

Array Disk Capacity .........................16126

[↑] Up [↓] Down [←, →, Space] Change Option [ESC] Exit [Ctrl -Y] Save

[Auto Setup Options Menu]

[ Auto Setup Configuration ]

[ Keys Available ]

FastTrak100 User Manual

NOTE : If you wish to customize certain settings at a later time, you may do so by manually creating your array (see page 15 Using FastBuild Configuration Utility).

FastTrak100 User Manual

Creating an Array for Performance

NOTE: FastTrak100 allows users to create striped arrays with 1, 2, 3, or 4 drives. To create an array for best performance, follow these steps:

1. Using the Spacebar, choose “Performance” under the Optimize Array for

section.

2. Select how you will use your PC most under the Typical Application usage

section The choices are A/V Editing, Server, and Desktop (the default).

3. Press <Ctrl-Y> keys to Save and create the array.

4. Reboot your system.

5. Once the array has been created, you will need to FDISK and format the array

as if it were a new single hard drive.

6. Proceed to Installing Drivers section of the manual (see page 34 ).

Creating a Security Array With New Drives

NOTE: FastTrak100 permits only two drives to be used for a single Mi rrored array in Auto Setup. If more drives are physically attached to the card, the Mirroring option will not be available at all in Auto Setup.

To create an array for data protection using new hard drives, follow these steps:

1. Using the Spacebar, choose “Security” under the Optimize Array for section.

2. Press <Ctrl-Y> keys to Save your selection.

3. The window below will appear.

Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another? (Yes/No) Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only

4. Press “N” for the Creat e Only option.

5. A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array

has been created. Press any key to reboot the system

Array has been created.

6. Proceed with normal FDISK and format procedures as if you had just installed

a new hard drive.

7. Once the arrayed drives have been formatted, proceed to the Installing Driver

chapter on page 34 to install your operating system and/or FastTrak100 driver.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Creating a Security Array With An Existing Data Drive

NOTE: FastTrak100 permits only two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array in Auto Setup. If more drives are physically attached to the card, the Mirroring option will not be available.

You would use this method if you wish to use a drive that already contains data and/or is the bootable system drive in your system. You will need another drive of identical or larger storage capacity.

WARNING: Backup any necessary data before proceeding. Failure

to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.

WARNING: If you wish to include your current bootable drive using

the Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating system as part of

a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak100, do NOT

connect the hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller yet. You

MUST install the Windows NT4.0 or 2000 driver software first (see page 34 ) to this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller. For all other Operating Systems, proceed here.

Follow these steps:

1. Using the Spacebar, choose “Security” under the Optimize Array for section.

2. Press <Ctrl-Y> keys to Save your selection. The window below will appear.

Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another? (Yes/No) Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only

3. Press “Y” for the Create and Duplicate option. The window below will appear

asking you to select the Source drive to use. FastBuild will copy all data from the Source drive to the Target drive.

Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity (MB)

[Please Select A Source Disk] Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity (MB) 1 :Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 2 :Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063

[↑] Up [↓] [ESC] Exit [Ctrl-Y] Save

Source Disk

Target Disk

FastTrak100 User Manual

4. Use the arrow keys to choose which drive contains the existing data to be copied.

5. Press [Ctrl-Y] keys to Save selection and start duplication. The following progress screen will appear.

Start to duplicate the image . . . Do you want to continue? (Yes/No) Y – Continue N - Abort

6. Select “Y” to continue. If you choose “N” , you will be returned to step 1.

7. Once complete, the following screen will appear confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system

Array has been created.

8. Proceed to the Installing Driver chapter on page 34 to install the FastTrak100 driver and/or operating system.

FastTrak100 User Manual

NOTES

FastTrak100 User Manual

Using FastBuild™ Configuration Utility

The FastBuildTM Configuration Utility offers several menu choices to create and manage the drive array on the Promise FastTrak100 adapter. For purposes of this manual, it is assumed you have already created an array in the previous chapter and now wish to make a change to the array or view other options.

Viewing FastTrak100 BIOS Screen

When you boot your system with the FastTrak100 card and drives installed, the Promise onboard BIOS will detect the drives attached and show the following screen.

Scanning IDE drives . . . . .

If an array exists already, the BIOS will display the following screen showing the card’s BIOS version and status of the array.

FastTrak100 (tm) BIOS Version 1.xx (Build xxxx)

Press <Ctrl-F> to enter FastBuild (tm) Utility....

The array status consists of three possible conditions: Functional, Critical, Offline.

Functional - The array is operational. Critical - A mirrored array contains a drive that has failed or disconnected. The

remaining drive member in the array is functional. However, the array has temporarily lost its ability to provide fault tolerance. The user should identify the failed drive through the FastBuild Setup utility, and then replace the problem drive.

Offline - A mirrored array has 2 drives that have failed/disconnected or a striped array has 1 drive that has failed or been disconnected. When the array condition is “offline,” the user must replace the failed drive(s), then restore data from a backup source.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Navigating the Fast Build™ Setup Menu

When using the menus, these are some of the basic navigation tips: Arrow keys highlights through choices; [Space] bar key allows to cycle through options; [Enter] key selects an option; [ESC] key is used to abort or exit the current menu.

Using the Main Menu

This is the first option screen when entering the FastBuildTM Setup.

Auto Setup.......................................................[ 1 ]

View Drive Assignments .................................[ 2 ]

Define Array.....................................................[ 3 ]

Delete Array.....................................................[ 4 ]

Rebuild Array ...................................................[ 5 ]

Controller Configuration ....................................[ 6 ]

Press 1...6 to Select Option [ESC] Exit

To create a new array automatically, follow the steps under “Creating Arrays Automatically” on page 17. Promise recommends this option for most users.

[ Main Menu ]

[ Keys Available ]

To manually create an array or define an array as bootable, follow the steps under “Manually Creating Arrays” on page 22 . You will need to manually create an array if you wish to modify block size.

To view drives assigned to arrays, see “Viewing Drive Assignments” on page 21. To delete an array (but not delete the data contained on the array), select “Deleting

An Array” on page 28. To rebuild a mirrored array, see “Rebuilding an Array” on page 30. To view controller settings, see “Viewing Controller Configuration” on page 32.

NOTE : After installing the FastTrak100 card and configuring an array using FastBuild, you should FDISK and format the arrayed drive(s) if you are using new, blank drives.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Creating Arrays Automatically The Auto Setup <1> selection from the Main Menu can intuitively help create your disk array. It will assign all available drives appropriate for the disk array you are creating. After making all selections, use Ctrl-Y to Save selections. FastBuild will automatically build the array.

[Auto Setup Options Menu]

Optimize Array for: Performance Typical Application usage: A/V Editing

[ Auto Setup Configuration ]

Mode..................................................Stripe

Spare Drive Count....................................1

Drives used in Array................................2

Array Disk Capacity .........................16126

[ Keys Available ]

[↑] Up [↓] Down [←, →, Space] Change Option [ESC] Exit [Ctrl -Y] Save

Optimize Array For

Select whether you want Performance (RAID 0), Security (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1), or Capacity (Spanning) under the “Optimize Array for” setting.

Performance (RAID 0 Striping)

Supports the maximum performance. The storage capacity equals the number of drives times the capacity of the smallest drive in the disk array.

NOTE: FastTrak100 permits striped arrays using 1, 2, 3, or 4 drives attached in Auto Setup mode.

Security (RAID 1 Mirroring, or RAID 0+1 Striping/Mirroring)

Creates a mirrored (or fault tolerant) array for data security.

NOTE: Under the Security setting, FastTrak100 permits two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array or four drives to be used for a Mirrored/Striped array in Auto Setup.

Capacity (Spanning)

Achieves the maximum amount of capacity by adding the sum of all attached drives. The Stripe Block option does not apply.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Defining Typical Application Usage

Allows the user to choose the type of PC usage that will be performed in order to optimize how FastTrak100 handles data blocks to enhance performance. Your choice will determine the block size used. You may choose from: A/V Editing (for audio/video applications, or any similar application that requires large file transfers), Server (for numerous small file transfers), or Desktop (a combination of large and small file sizes).

Using a “Hot” Spare Drive

If a third drive is attached as a “Slave” and is not assigned to a mirrored two-drive disk array (one optimized for “Security”), it will be recognized as a Spare Drive. Such a drive is immediately used as a “standby” replacement. It is automatically added to an arr ay once a disk member of the array has been detected as “failed.” To restore fault tolerance as quickly as possible, FastTrak100 begins to perform an automatic data rebuild on the “spare” drive in the background without the need to restart the system. At a later time, the failed drive can be physically removed from the FastTrak100 card and an extra drive added in its place to function as the “spare” drive.

Creating Multiple Disk Arrays

1. If you plan to create multiple arrays, attach only the drives necessary to create the first disk array and complete the <1> Auto Setup.

2. Install the additional drives needed for the second array and again use the <1> Auto Setup.

NOTE : If you wish to customize the settings of individual disk arrays (such as block size), you must manually create disk arrays with the Define Array <3> option from the Main Menu.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Viewing Drive Assignments

The View Drive Assignments <2> option in the Main Menu displays whether drives are assigned to a disk arrays or are unassigned.

Under the “Assignment” column, drives are labeled with their assigned disk array or shown as “Free” if unassigned. Such “Free” drives can be used for a future array or used as a spare drive when a drive fails in a mirrored array. Unassigned drives are not accessible by the OS. The menu also displays the data transfer mode that relates to speed used by each drive (U5 refers to 100MB/sec transfers, U4 refers to 100MB/sec transfers, etc...)

[ View Drive Assignments ]

Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity(MB) Assignment Mode 1 : Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 Array 1 U 5 1 : Slave QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 Free U5 2 : Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 Array 1 U5

[ Keys Available ]

[↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit Mode (U=UDMA, P=PIO, D=DMA)

FastTrak100 User Manual

Manually Creating an Array

The Define Array <3> option from the Main Menu allows users to begin the process of manually defining the drive elements and RAID levels for one or multiple disk arrays attached to FastTrak100. Users will commonly create one or two drive arrays with FastTrak100, though the card will support a maximum of four arrays1.

NOTE: For most installations, Promise recommends the <1> Auto Setup for easy disk array creation.

[Define Array Menu]

Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity(MB) Status * Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional Array 2 —— —— —— —— Array 3 —— —— —— —— Array 4 —— —— —— ——

[ Keys Available ]

Note: * — Bootable Array

[↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Enter] Select [Space] Change Boot Drive

1. To manually create an array from the Define Array Menu, use the arrow keys to highlight the array number you wish to define, and press [Enter] to select.

2. The Define Array Definition Menu will next appear that allows drive assignments to the disk array (see next page).

A user may use a single drive in either striping or spanning mode with FastTrak100. In this rare

scenario, the card will create an individual array ID but will offer conventional controller performance, depending on the drive type. At a later time, a second drive can be added to the array and the array re -created to support RAID 1 mirroring.

FastTrak100 User Manual

Selecting Array Type

1. Under the Definition section of this menu, highlight the Array # for which you want to assign a RAID level.

2. Use the [Space] key to cycle through three array types: Performance (RAID 0 Striping), Security (RAID 1 Mirroring, RAID 0+1 Striping/Mirroring (for 4 drives ), or Capacity (Spanning). See page 65 about RAID levels.

[ Define Array Definition Menu ]

Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity(MB) Status Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional

Stripe Block: 64 KB [ Drive Assignments ]

Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity (MB) Assignment 1 : Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 Y 1 : Slave QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 N 2 : Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 Y

[ Keys Available ]

[↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Space] Select [Ctrl -Y] Save

Selecting Stripe Block

For RAID 0 Striped arrays only, you may manually select the “stripe block size.” Use the Spacebar to scroll through choices progressing as follows (1, 2, 4, 8 , 16 . . . 1024).

The size selected affects how FastTrak100 sends and retrieves data blocks from the drives. You will need to perform your own testing to determine how the data block size is affecting your particular use of the array. In general, a larger block size is better when handling large data transfers (such as in A/V editing or graphics) while a smaller block size is better when handling e-mail and other common server data. The default is 64K.

Assigning Drive(s) to Array

1. Under the [ Drive Assignments ] section, highlight a drive using the [↑] Up [↓] keys.

2. With the [Space] bar key, change the Assignable option to “Y” to add the drive to the disk array.

3. Press <Ctrl-Y> to save the disk array information. Depending on the array type selected, the following scenarios will take place:

FastTrak100 User Manual

a) If choosing a Striping, Spanning, or Mirroring/Striping array, the initial

Define Array Menu screen will appear with the arrays defined. From there you may ESC to exit and return to the Main Menu of FastBuild.

b) If you selected a Mirroring array for two drives, there is an additional

window that appears as described in order to create the array. To do this you will use either two brand new drives, or one drive that contains existing data that you wish to mirror.

Creating A Mirrored Array Using New Drives

As described in the Drive Assignments Option section above, if you selected a mirroring array and wish to use two new assigned drives, follow the directions here.

1. After assigning new drives to a Mirroring array and saving the information with <Ctrl-Y>, the window below will appear.

Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another? (Yes/No) Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only

2. Press “N” for the Create Only option.

3. A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system

Array has been created.

Adding Fault Tolerance to an Existing Drive

FastTrak100 will create a mirrored array using an existing system drive with data. You must assign the existing drive and another drive of same or larger capacity to the Mirroring array. The BIOS will send the existing data to the new blank drive.

WARNING: Backup any necessary data before proceeding. Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.

WARNING: If you wish to include your current bootable drive using the Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak100, do NOT connect the hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller yet. You

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1. After assigning the drives to a Mirroring array, press <Ctrl-Y> keys to Save

your selection. The window below will appear.

Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another? (Yes/No) Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only

2. Press “Y” for the Create and Duplicate option. The window below will appear

asking you to select the Source drive to use. FastBuild will copy all data from the Source drive to the Target drive.

Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity (MB)

[Please Select A Source Disk] Channel:ID Drive Model Capacity (MB) 1 :Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 2 :Master QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063

[↑] Up [↓] [ESC] Exit [Ctrl-Y] Save

Source Disk

Target Disk

3. Use the arrow keys to choose which drive contains the existing data to be copied.

WARNING: All target drive data will be erased. Make sure you choose the correct drive.

4. Press [Ctrl-Y] keys to Save selection and start duplication. The following confirmation screen will appear.

Start to duplicate the image . . . Do you want to continue? (Yes/No) Y – Continue N - Abort

5. Select “Y” to continue. If you choose “N” , you will be returned to step 1.

6. Once “Y” is selected, the following progress screen will appear. The process will take a few minutes.

Please Wait While Duplicating The Image

10%

Complete

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7. Once mirroring is complete, the following screen will appear confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system

Array has been created.

Making a FastTrak100 Disk Array Bootable

WARNING: In order for you to boot from an array on the FastTrak100, your PC or server must be configured in the CMOS Setup to use the FastTrak100 as a bootable device (versus the onboard controller or another add-in card). This option is not available if the FastTrak100 is

being used as a secondary controller.

1. Once you have returned to the Define Array Menu window (below), you will see the array(s) you have created. You now may use the menu to select which previously-defined array will be used as the bootable array.

[ Define Array Menu ]

Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity(MB) Status * Array 1 Stripe 2 13044 Functional

Note: * — Bootable Array

[↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Enter] Select [Space] Change Boot Drive

2. Highlight the array which you want to boot from using the [↑] Up [↓] Down keys.

3. Press the [Space] bar key.

4. An * asterisk will appear nex t to the array number indicating it as bootable. The system will now recognize this array as the first array seen

5. The system will then use this bootable array as the (fixed) boot C: drive.

NOTE : The bootable array must contain your configured operating system.

Creating a “Hot” Spare Drive for Mirrored Arrays

For automatic rebuilds of a mirrored array, attach an extra “spare” drive to the FastTrak100. Drives that are not assigned to an array and are the same size or larger than the original will be used for the automatic rebuild. This is performed in the background under all supported operating systems, except DOS. At a later time, the system can be turned off and the failed drive can be physically removed.

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