Appendix D: Adaptec HostRAID Setup Guidelines
D-1
Appendix D
Adaptec HostRAID Setup Guidelines
After all the hardware has been installed, you must fi rst confi gure the Adaptec Embedded
Serial ATA RAID before you install the Windows operating system. The necessary
drivers are all included on the Supermicro bootable CDs that came packaged with your
motherboard. Note: The following section provides information on the Adaptec SAT A
RAID Driver based on the Intel Enterprise South Bridge 2 (ESB2) Controller.
D-1 Introduction to the Adaptec Embedded Serial ATA RAID
Controller Driver
Serial ATA (SATA)
Serial ATA(SATA) is a physical storage interface. It uses a single cable with a
minimum of four wires to create a point-to-point connection between devices. It
is a serial link which supports SATA Transfer rates up to 3.0 Gbps. Because the
serial cables used in SATA are thinner than the traditional cables used in Paral-
lel ATA(PATA), SATA systems have better airfl ow and can be installed in smaller
chassis than Parallel ATA. In addition, the cables used in PATA can only extend
to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one meter. Overall, Serial
ATA provides better functionality than Parallel ATA.
Introduction to the Intel ESB2 I/O Controller Hub
Located in the South Bridge of the Intel 5000P (Blackford) Chipset, the ESB2 I/O
Controller Hub provides the I/O subsystem with access to the rest of the system.
It supports 1-channel Ultra ATA/100 Bus Master IDE controller (PATA) and one
Adaptec's Serial ATA (SATA) Host Controller, which support up to six Serial ATA
drives, up to two RAID volumes and up to four drives in RAID Confi gurations. (See
the table below for details.)