3.3VIA RAID configurations
The motherboard includes a high performance IDE RAID controller integrated in the VIA VT8237R southbridge chipset. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD with two independent Serial ATA channels.
RAID 0 (called Data striping) optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same work as a single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of a single disk alone, thus improving data access and storage. Use of two new identical hard disk drives is required for this setup.
RAID 1 (called Data mirroring) copies and maintains an identical image of data from one drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management software directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of the data in the other drive. This RAID configuration provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or use an existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive must be of the same size or larger than the existing drive.
JBOD (Spanning) stands for Just a Bunch of Disks and refers to hard disk drives that are not yet configured as a RAID set. This configuration stores the same data redundantly on multiple disks that appear as a single disk on the operating system. Spanning does not deliver any advantage over using separate disks independently and does not provide fault tolerance or other RAID performance benefits.
If you use either Windows® XP or Windows® 2000 operating system (OS), copy first the RAID driver from the support CD to a floppy disk before creating RAID configurations. Refer to section “5.5 Creating a RAID driver disk” for details.
3.3.1Installing hard disks
The motherboard supports Ultra DMA 133/100/66/33 and Serial ATA hard disk drives. For optimal performance, install identical drives of the same model and capacity when creating a disk array.
Installing Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks
To install the SATA hard disks for a RAID configuration:
1.Install the SATA hard disks into the drive bays.
2.Connect the SATA signal cables.
3.Connect a SATA power cable to the power connector on each drive.
Chapter 3: Software Support |