User manual
BIOS CONFIGURATION
87
Main Menu
Quick Volume/Raid Setup
Raid Set Function
Volume Set Function
Physical Drives
Raid System Function
Hdd Power Management
Ethernet Conguration
View System Events
Clear Event Buffer
Hardware Monitor
System information
Hdd Power Management
I/O Port Addr : 28000000h, F2(Tab): Select Controller, F10: Reboot System
ArrowKey Or AZ:Move Cursor, Enter: Select, ESC: Escape, L:Line Draw, X: Redraw
Areca Technology Corporation RAID Controller
3.7.6 HDD Power Management
Areca has automated the ability to manage HDD power based
on usage patterns. The “HDD Power Management” allows you to
choose a “Stagger Power On Control”, “Low Power Idle”, “Low
RPM” and completely “Spins Down Idle HDD”. It is designed to
reduce power consumption and heat generation on idle drives.
3.7.6.1 Stagger Power On
In a PC system with only one or two drives, the power can sup-
ply enough power to spin up both drives simultaneously. But in
systems with more than two drives, the startup current from
spinning up the drives all at once can overload the power supply,
causing damage to the power supply, disk drives and other sys-
tem components. This damage can be avoided by allowing the
host to stagger the spin-up of the drives. The SAS/SATA drives
have support stagger spin-up capabilities to boost reliability.
Stagger spin-up is a very useful feature for managing multiple
disk drives in a storage subsystem. It gives the host the abil-
ity to spin up the disk drives sequentially or in groups, allowing
the drives to come ready at the optimum time without straining
the system power supply. Staggering drive spin-up in a multiple
drive environment also avoids the extra cost of a power supply
designed to meet short-term startup power demand as well as
steady state conditions.