SIIG 04-0418A User Manual

eSATA II ExpressCard RAID
Quick Installation Guide

Introducing the eSATA ExpressCard RAID

The eSATA II Express Card RAID is an ultra high-speed
two channel Serial ATA Generation II RAID controller for
use in ExpressCard enabled systems.

Features and Benefits

• Adds two eSATA (external Serial ATA) ports

• Supports RAID 0 (stripe) and RAID 1 (mirror)

• Supports data transfer speeds up to 3.0Gbps
(300MBps)

• Compliant with ExpressCard standards

• Compliant with Serial ATA 2.5 specification with
support for a complement of SATA II optional
features

• Supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ), Non­zero offsets NCQ, and Out-of-order data delivery
NCQ

• Independent command fetch, scatter/gather, and
command execution

• Supports hard disk hot-plugging

System Requirements

• ExpressCard-enabled system with an available
ExpressCard slot

• Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003

04-0418A

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Package Contents

• eSATA II ExpressCard RAID

• Driver CD

• This quick installation guide

Layout

Activity LED

SATA II Connectors

Figure 1. eSATA II ExpressCard RAID

Hardware Installation

ExpressCard Connector

General instructions for installing the card are provided
below. Since the design of systems may vary, refer to
your system’s reference manual for further information,
if needed.

Insert the Card into the ExpressCard slot of your system.
Make sure it is inserted all the way in for a solid connection.

External Device Connection

External Serial ATA hard disk drives should come with
their own accessories. In most cases, you just need to
power up the external device and connect them to the
external ports.

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Software Installation

This section provides information on how to install the
eSATA II ExpressCard RAID drivers.

Windows 2000

1. Install the ExpressCard then boot up Windows.

2. At Found New Hardware Wizard, click Next.

3. Select Search for a suitable driver for my device
(recommended), then click Next.

4. Insert the driver CD, check CD-ROM drives, uncheck
the other boxes, click Next, then click Next again.

5. Click Finish.

6. Repeat steps 2-5.

7. Restart Windows to complete the installation.

When Windows resumes, go to SATARaid5 GUI on
page 4 and install the RAID utility.

Windows XP/Server 2003

1. Install the ExpressCard then boot up Windows.

2. At the Found New Hardware Wizard:

XP (w/SP1 or earlier)/Server 2003: continue to step 2.

XP (w/SP2 or later)/Server 2003 (w/ SP1 or later): select

No, not at this time, then click Next.

3. Insert the driver CD, select Install the software
automatically (Recommended), and click Next.

4. Accept the default entry, then click Next.

5. Click Finish.

6. Repeat steps 2-5.

7. Restart Windows to complete the installation.

When Windows resumes, go to SATARaid5 GUI on
page 4 and install the RAID utility.

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To Verify Windows 2000/XP/2003 Installation

1. Right click My Computer and click Manage.

2. Select Device Manager.

3. Double click SCSI and RAID controllers, then
double click Silicon Image Sil 3132 SoftRaid 5
Controller to display driver properties. A message
This device is working properly is displayed in the
dialog box, the driver has been correctly installed.

SATARaid5 GUI

The SATARaid5 GUI provides the user an easy way to
configure and monitor your RAID set.

Installing SATARaid5 GUI

1. Place the driver CD into the CD-ROM drive.

2. At the Windows desktop click Start, then Run.

3. Type D:\Setup.exe, then click OK. (Change D: to
match your CD-ROM drive letter)

4. Click Next, then click Next again.

5. At the Select Components box, uncheck RAID5
Driver, then click Next.

6. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the
installation.

SATARaid5 GUI Overview

The installation program configures the SATARaid5 GUI
to automatically start when Windows is started. If the
GUI does not automatically start or is closed by the user,
choose the SATARaid5 program from the start menu to
launch the program. Upon launching the GUI, the main
window should appear similar to the following.

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RAID Groups
window

Device Configuration
window

RAID Groups window

This window identifies SATA host adapters and
configured RAID groups. Selecting each RAID group in
the RAID Groups window, members consisting of the
RAID group will be highlighted in the Device
Configuration window.

Right clicking on each node in the RAID Groups window,
a popup menu will be displayed to let the user select an
action to be performed for the selected controller or RAID
group.

Device Configuration window

This window identifies all physical drives and their
partitions. A physical drive can be partitioned into
several portions and each portion can be a RAID group
member.

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Creating RAID Array

The SATA II ExpressCard RAID is a two channel Serial
ATA controller that supports two Serial ATA hard disk
drives. It is recommended to use identical hard drives for
all RAID configurations, however, it's possible to combine
hard drives of different sizes and makes. This section
will guide you in setting up a RAID Array.

RAID 0 (Striping)

Striping will erase any existing data on the hard drive.
Make sure you back up your data before striping.

1. Double click the the SATARAID5 icon on the
desktop to display the SATARAID5 Array
Manager. Before proceeding confirm that both
hard drives display as Available.

2. In the menu bar click RAID Group, click Create
RAID Group then click Yes.

3. In Configuration box, select Striped.

4. In Capacity box, select the desired stripe size. Select
MAX for the maximum capacity.

5. Select Chunk size as determined by your
application. The default of 8 is used in most cases.

6. In Path ID, select both hard disk drives, then click
Create.

7. Click Close, then restart Windows.

When Windows resumes, go to Disk Management on
page 8 to format the RAID Array.

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