Promise Technology 150TX2 user manual Mirroring RAID, Data Mirror Disk Drives

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FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual

Mirroring (RAID 1)

Writes duplicate data on to a pair of drives while reads are performed in parallel. ATA RAID 1 is fault tolerant because each drive of a mirrored pair is installed on separate IDE channels. If one of the mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure (for example, spindle failure) or does not respond, the remaining drive will continue to function. This is called Fault Tolerance. If one drive has a physical sector error, the mirrored drive will continue to function.

Data Mirror

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Disk Drives

On the next reboot, the FastBuild™ Utility will display an error in the array and recommend replacing the failed drive. Users may choose to continue using their PC, however Promise recommends replacing the failed drive as soon as possible.

Due to redundancy, the drive capacity of the array is half the total drive capacity. For example, two 100 GB drives that have a combined capacity of 200 GB would have 100 GB of usable storage. With drives of different capacities, there may be unused capacity on the larger drive.

Using a Spare Drive – Under a RAID 1 setup, an extra hot spare drive. You can attach a third drive to the FastTrak S150 TX2plus without assigning it to the array. Such a drive will be activated to replace a failed drive that is part of a mirrored array. A rebuild takes place automatically in the background to mirror the good drive data on to the spare.

At a later time, the system can be powered off and the failed drive can be physically removed and replaced. Spare drives must be the same or larger capacity than the smallest array member.

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Contents Fasttrak S150 TX2PLUS Trademarks CopyrightImportant Data Protection Information Contents Page Introduction FastTrak S150 TX2plusPromise Array Management Utility PAM Key Features and Benefits Features BenefitsCompatibility Installation Unpacking Your FastTrak CardInstalling the FastTrak Card Insert the FastTrak card into an open PCI slotInstalling the Hard Drives FastTrak S150 TX2plus card Creating Your Disk Array Creating a Performance Array Creating a Security Array with New Drives Page Creating a Security Array with an Existing Data Drive Seagate S380023AS Installation Creating a Security Array with Quick Initialization Installation Page Using FastBuild Configuration Utility Viewing FastTrak S150 TX2plus Bios ScreenNavigating the FastBuild Setup Menu Using the Main MenuOptimize Array for Creating Arrays AutomaticallyPerformance Security Security and PerformanceUsing a Hot Spare Drive Viewing Drive Assignments Creating Multiple ArraysManually Creating an Array Selecting Array Type Selecting Stripe BlockGigabyte Boundary Assigning Drives to Array Creating a Striped ArrayCreating a Mirrored Array Using New Drives Adding Fault Tolerance to an Existing Drive Drive Model Capacity MB Page How FastTrak S150 TX2plus Orders Arrays Creating a Hot Spare Drive for Mirrored ArraysHow FastTrak S150 TX2plus Saves Array Information Deleting an Array Array Stripe 160048 Rebuilding a Mirrored Array 80024 Page Installing Software Drivers Procedure NumberWindows XP Installation Existing Windows XP Installation Confirming Windows XP Driver InstallationNew Windows 2000 Installation Existing Windows 2000 Installation Confirming Windows 2000 Driver InstallationNew Windows ME Installation Existing Windows ME Installation Confirming Windows ME Driver InstallationNew Windows NT4.0 Installation Existing Windows NT4.0 Installation Removing Driver from Windows NT4.0New Windows 98 Installation Existing Windows 98 Installation Confirming Windows 98 Driver InstallationPage About FastTrak S150 TX2plus About Adapter Bios FastBuild Auto Menu Setup Reserve SectorDisk Array Description RAID Level Performance Fault Capacity No. Tolerance DrivesDisk Array Terms Disk Array MemberAbout RAID Levels Striping RAIDMirroring RAID Data Mirror Disk DrivesDisk Array Concepts Striping / Mirroring RAID 0+1 Intermittent data problems Motherboard IssuesConfiguring PCI IRQ resources Freeing additional IRQ resourcesSystem Cmos Issues Using an Onboard IDE Card with FastTrak S150 TX2plusDrive cannot be formed into an array Drive-Related ErrorsCritical Array Status Error Reported during Boot System Cmos displays C or D drive failure during StartupUnable to Partition or Format Array Cannot Rebuild Mirrored RAID 1 Array Operating System-Related Issues Promise Windows driver does not appear in Device ManagerTroubleshooting & Tips Performance Tips Optimize Array for PerformanceChange Setting of PCI Bus Utilization Page Appendix a Frequently Asked Questions Pre-InstallationRAID 1 Mirror RAID 0 StripeRAID 0+1 Stripe + Mirror Drive Issues Page Installation Issues Post-InstallationPage USA Tech Support Center Technical Support ServicesEuropean Tech Support Pacific Rim Sales Office China OfficeLimited Warranty Disclaimer of other warrantiesYour Responsibilities Returning Product for Repair