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Chapter 9 RAID
Chapter 9
Chapter 9 - RAID
The system board allows RAID configuration with levels of RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5. Note that
SKUs with the Intel
®
H110 chipset do not support RAID.
RAID Levels
RAID 0 (Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance)
RAID 0 uses two new identical hard disk drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved
stacks. Data is divided into stripes and each stripe is written alternately between two disk drives.
This improves the I/O performance of the drives at different channel; however it is not fault toler-
ant. A failed disk will result in data loss in the disk array.
RAID 1 (Mirrored Disk Array with Fault Tolerance)
RAID 1 copies and maintains an identical image of the data from one drive to the other drive. If
a drive fails to function, the disk array management software directs all applications to the other
drive since it contains a complete copy of the drive’s data. This enhances data protection and
increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or an existing drive and a new
drive but the size of the new drive must be the same or larger than the existing drive.
RAID 5 (Striped Disk Array with Distributed Parity)
RAID 5 stripes data and parity information across hard drives. It is fault tolerant and provides
better hard drive performance and higher disk utilization than RAID 1.
RAID Level
Min� Drives
Protection
Description
RAID 0
2
None
Data striping without redundancy
RAID 1
2
Single Drive Failure
Disk mirroring
RAID 5
3
Single Drive Failure
Block-level data striping with
distributed parity
Settings
To enable the RAID function, the following settings are required.
1. Connect the Serial ATA drives.
2. Enable RAID in the BIOS.
3. Create a RAID volume.
4. Install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Utility.
Step 1: Connect the Serial ATA Drives
Refer to Chapter 3 for details on connecting the Serial ATA drives.
Important:
1. Make sure you have installed the Serial ATA drives and connected the data cables
otherwise you won’t be able to enter the RAID BIOS utility.
2. Treat the cables with extreme caution especially while creating RAID. A damaged
cable will ruin the entire installation process and operating system. The system will
not boot and you will lost all data in the hard drives. Please give special attention
to this warning because there is no way of recovering back the data.
Step 2: Enable RAID in the BIOS
1. Power on the system then press <Del> to enter the main menu of the BIOS.
2. Go to “Advanced” menu, and select the “SATA Configuration” menu.
3. Change the “SATA Mode Selection” to “RAID” mode.
4. Save the changes in the “Exit” menu.
5. Reboot the system.
