Dell XPS 600 owner manual Configuring Your Hard Drives for RAID

If a drive failure occurs, subsequent read and write operations are directed to the surviving drive. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the surviving drive. Also, because data is duplicated on both drives, a RAID level 1 configuration using two 120-GB hard drives collectively has a maximum of 120 GB on which to store data.

Configuring Your Hard Drives for RAID

NOTICE: If you might ever decide to migrate to a RAID array, before loading the operating system onto a hard drive, set up that drive as a single drive RAID 0 array. See "Creating an Array using the Nvidia MediaShield ROM Utility" on page 23 for instructions.

At some point you may want to configure your computer for RAID if you did not select a RAID configuration when you purchased your computer. You must have at least two hard drives installed in your computer to set up a RAID configuration. For instructions on how to install a hard drive, see "Installing a Hard Drive" on page 98.

You can use one of two methods to configure RAID hard drive volumes. One method uses the Nvidia MediaShield ROM utility and is performed before you install the operating system onto the hard drive. The second method uses Nvidia MediaShield, and this method is performed after you have installed the operating system with the Nvidia RAID drivers.

Both methods require that you set your computer to RAID-enabled mode before starting any of the RAID configuration procedures in this document.

Setting Your Hard Drives to RAID-Enabled Mode

1Enter system setup (see "Entering System Setup" on page 131).

2Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Drives, and press <Enter>.

3Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight the applicable SATA drive, and press <Enter>.

4Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight RAID On, press <Enter>, and then press <Esc>.

NOTE: For more information about RAID options, see "System Setup Options" on page 132.

5Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight Save/Exit, and press <Enter> to exit system setup and resume the boot process. Repeat the process as necessary for each SATA hard drive.

Creating an Array using the Nvidia MediaShield ROM Utility

NOTICE: You will lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID configuration using the following procedure. Back up data you want to keep before continuing.

NOTICE: If you might ever decide to migrate to a RAID array, before loading the operating system onto a hard drive, set up that drive as a single drive RAID 0 array. See "Creating an Array using the Nvidia MediaShield ROM Utility" on page 23 for instructions.

NOTE: Use the following procedure only if you are reinstalling your operating system. Do not use the following procedure to migrate an existing storage configuration to a RAID configuration.

Setting Up and Using Your Computer

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