Serial ATA/IDE RAID
Appendix
73
will continue to function. This is called
Fault Tolerance
. If one drive has a
physical sector error, the mirrored drive will continue to function.
With striping, identical drives can read and write data in parallel to increase
performance. Mirroring increases read performance through load balancing and
elevator sorting while creating a complete backup of your files.
FastTrak 376 striped arrays can double the sustained data transfer rate of Serial
ATA/150 and Ultra ATA/133 drives. FastTrak 376 fully supports Serial
ATA/150 and Ultra ATA/133 specification of up to 150MB/sec per drive,
depending on individual drive specifications.
FastTrak 376 also offers fault tolerant, data redundancy for entry-level network
file servers or simply for desktop PC users wanting to continually protect
valuable data on their PC. FastTrak 376 offers RAID 1 mirroring (for two drives)
to protect data. Should a drive that is part of a mirrored array fail, FastTrak 376
uses the mirrored drive (which contains identical data) to assume all data
handling. When a new replacement drive is later installed, FastTrak 376 rebuilds
data to the new drive from the mirrored drive to restore fault tolerance.
These 3 channels (it might be channel 3, 4, 5 on MB) that PDC20376 support
only connect HDD. FastTrak 376 don’t support ATAPI device. Please move
your ATAPI device to onboard IDE channel.
Steps for Installing your Serial ATA/IDE RAID
Step 1: Unpacking Your FastTrak 376
When you receive the FastTrak 376, the package should contain the items
listed below:
FastTrak 376 Driver
If ANY of the contents are missing or appear to be damaged, please contact
your dealer or distributor immediately.
Warning:
The FastTrak 376 Controller, like other parts of your system, is subject
to damage by static electricity. Be sure that you’re properly grounded
(Promise recommends that you wear an anti-static strap or touch a grounded
object) and that you unplug your system before installing FastTrak 376.
Serial ATA/IDE RAID
74
Appendix
Step 2: Installing the Hard Drives
If you wish to include your current bootable Serial or Parallel ATA drive using
the Windows NT 4.x, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating system on your
FastTrak 376 Controller.
You MUST install the Windows NT4, 2000, or XP driver software first onto
this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller.
First configure the jumpers of the
Parallel
ATA hard drive you’re preparing to
connect to the FastTrak 376 controller using the proper Master, Slave, or
Cable-Select settings. For more information, refer to the manual that came with
your hard drive.
Second install all of the hard drives into the hard drive bays of your system,
including their power cables.
Then attach the
Parallel
ATA cable to the hard drive(s) and to the Parallel ATA
Port connector on the FastTrak 376 controller. The colored edge of the cable
indicates pin 1. The blue cable connector attaches to the FastTrak 376.
Finally attach
Serial
ATA data cable to each hard drive. Then attach the other
ends of the cables to one of the Serial ATA ports on the FastTrak 376 controller.
All of the connectors are keyed so they will only attach one way.
Note:
FastTrak 376 is a PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) device. No changes are necessary in the
Motherboard CMOS Setup for resources or drive types in most applications.
Step 3: Auto Setup FastBuild™ Configuration Utility
WARNING:
Before installing the driver into an existing system, backup any necessary data.
Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.
Creating Your Disk Array
You will now use the FastBuild™ Configuration utility to create your array
using the attached drives. There are three different scenarios in creating this
array. You can create an array for performance, you can create a Security array
using new hard drives (recommended), or you can create a Security array using
an existing hard drive and a new hard drive.
WARNING:
If creating a Security array using an existing hard drive, backup any necessary
data. Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.
1) Boot your system
If this is the first time you have booted with the FastTrak 376 and drives installed, the
Promise onboard BIOS will display the following screen.
