Promise Technology SX4300, SX8300

Chapter 7: Support

I already have an array on an older FastTrak controller. Can I move that

array to my new FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 controller?

Yes. All FastTrak controllers read the arrays the same way and can be

moved from one controller to another.

Can I take a drive used in a FastTrak SX Series logical drive and access it

directly with a different controller, such as the one integrated on the

motherboard?

Yes, but only under certain configurations. First, the other controller must

address the drives as LBA, not CHS.

Second, only the following configurations allow the drive(s) to be accessed

individually on another controller:

• Single-drive RAID 0 (stripe)

• One drive from a RAID 1 (mirror) logical drive

•JBOD

Other array configurations will not work for this purpose.

If I have a problem with one of the drives on the FastTrak SX Series, how

can I low-level format it to correct the problem?

Do NOT do this! Low-level formatting hard disk drives is not only

unnecessary but it generally does not correct problems commonly

experienced during use.

Errors such as bad sectors or ECC/CRC failure are best remedied by

completely replacing the drive. For this reason, do NOT low-level format the

drives attached to the FastTrak Controller.

Do I have to install disk management software on my logical drive in order

to access the full storage capacity of drives?

No! Disk management software will only complicate things. The log ic al d riv e

should be fully addressable by your OS as it is. Remember that some

operating systems have varying limits on the sizes of partitions and logical

drives that can be defined. Consult your OS documentation about

partitioning larger drives. Also see “Ranges of Disk Array Expansion” on

page46.

What system BIOS setup settings do I use for the drives on the FastTrak SX

Series controller?

A BIOS setting is required only if you want to boot your system from the

logical drive on the FastTrak controller. After your logical drive is created,

partitioned and formatted, make the change in your BIOS boot order setting.