SATA RAID Function (Only For Chipset Sil 3112 /Sil 3512 Used) USER’S MANUAL 12M E-SI3112-003
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. OVERVIEW Product Overview RAID Explained 1 1 1 2. INSTALLING DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE Windows XP/2000 Operating System Windows NT Operating System Windows 98/Me Operating System 3 3 3 4 3. CREATING/DELETING RAID SETS Creating RAID Sets Deleting RAID Sets 5 5 6 4. CREATING/NAMING PARTITIONS Windows XP/2000 Operating System Windows NT Operating System Windows 98/Me Operating System 7 8 11 15 5.
1. OVERVIEW Product Overview Silicon Image’s SATARaidTM provides Serial ATA Software RAID including Striping and Mirroring to enhance the industry’s first proven PCI-to-SATA host controller product. Two major challenges facing the storage industry today are keeping pace with the increasing performance demands of computer systems by improving disk I/O throughput and providing data accessibility in the face of hard disk failures.
RAID Explained RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID technology manages multiple disk drives to enhance I/O performance and provide redundncy in order to withstand the failure of any individual member, without loss of data. SATARaid provides two RAID Set types, Striped (RAID 0) and Mirrored (RAID 1). Disk Striping (RAID 0) Striping is a performance-oriented, non-redundant data mapping technique. While Striping is discussed as a RAID Set type, it is actually does not provide fault tolerance.
2. I NS TA L L IN G DRI VE RS AN D S OF T W AR E Before you install the drivers, please prepare an empty floppy disk. Then copy the serial ATA controller drivers files from the driver CD-title into the floppy disk.
Windows NT Operating System Insert the floppy in the floppy disk drive and click Have Disk. The next window is asking for the location of the driver. Most floppy disk drives are configured as [A:]. To verify, click on Browse. The next window verifies that the appropriate file is located on [A:]. Select the file Oemsetup.inf and click Open. [A:] should appear in the window. Click OK The next window allows you to select which driver to install. Only one driver should appear in this window.
3 . C R E AT I N G / D E L E T I N G R A I D S E T S Creating and deleting RAID sets is a function found in the BIOS. During bootup, the following message will appear, pausing for a few moments to allow the user to choose what to do: Press or F4 to enter RAID utility An easy-to-use screen will appear with the following choices in the top left: Create RAID Set Delete RAID Set Rebuild RAID Set Resolve Conflicts Below this will be listed the drives currently installed on the system.
Deleting RAID Sets 1. 2. To remove one or more RAID sets, select “Delete RAID Set.” Select desired set and press Y when asked “Are You Sure?” Resolving Conflict When a RAID set is created, the metadata written to the disk includes drive connection information (Primary Chanel, Secondary Channel). If, after a disk failure, the replacement disk was previously part of a RAID set (or used in another system), it may have conflicting metadata, specifically in reference to the drive connection information.
4 . C R E AT I N G / N A M I N G PA R T I T I O N S The creating and naming of partitions is something done within the Windows operating system. And while Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT both use the Disk Management window, there are enough nuances that make it important to follow the procedure specifically for the appropriate operating system. The procedure for Windows 98/Me is significantly different than the others.
Windows XP/2000 Operating System Before creating any partitions, RAID sets must first be created/dissolved using the BIOS RAID Utility. Once completed, continue booting Windows.
This window has three main sections: SECTION 1: System listing of all formatted and available disks/RAID Sets. SECTION 2: Report of physical connection of disks/RAID Sets. SECTION 3: Report of partition status, disk letter, and volume name. Initial Window In SECTION 2, every disk should report as: Basic Disk Size (the actual available disk space will be reported here) Online Instead of “Basic,” a disk may also report as either “Unknown” or “Dynamic.
5. The fifth window allows the user to label the volume name, and choose the type of formatting to take place upon the creation of the partition. Choose which ever drive letter is desired (the lowest possible value is automatically entered), name the volume whatever is desired (suggestions being something generic such as STRIPED SET or something specific to use such as FINANCIAL, CRITICAL, MISCELLANEOUS, etc.) then check the box next to “quick format.” Click Next. 6.
Windows NT Operating System Before creating any partitions, RAID sets must first be created/dissolved using the BIOS RAID Utility. Once completed, continue booting Windows. Once Windows is running, open the Disk Administrator window.
However, this Write Signature window may appear first: If so, answer YES for each disk reported with no signature found.
Button 1 opens the Disk Administrator Volumes window which lists the recognizable Volumes, their capacity, free space, type of format, etc. Button 2 opens the Disk Configuration window (shown above), detailing all disks (or RAID Sets), partitions, and allows he suer to format and name each partition and volume. Section 1 reports the size of each disk (or RAID Set). Section 2 reports on each partition, and allows the user to format or delete partitions.
Something similar to the following window should appear: 14. While Capacity can not be changed, make sure that File System has NTFS selected, don’t change Default Allocation Size, and since it is the Striped Set that is being formatted, enter Striped Set for Volume Label. Make sure that Quick Format is selected as the Format Option. 15. Repeat this procedure for the other two disks, but name them something else. 16. Close Disk Administrator and open My Computer (icon should be on Desktop). 17.
Windows 98/Me Operating System Windows 9x does not have a Disk Administrator or Disk Management window. Instead, after creating RAID sets using the BIOS RAID utility and booting Windows, start fdisk by: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click on the START button Select Run... Type fdisk Click OK The following window will probably appear: Press Enter for yes.
The FDISK Options window will appear: The Current Fixed Drive will be the System Drive (normally C:\). In order to create partitions, the fixed drive needs to be changed. Select 5 and press Enter. Enter the disk number to partition and press Enter.
With the Current fixed drive set at the disk needing to be partitioned, Select 1 and press Enter. The following window will appear: Select 2 to create an extended partition and press Enter.
The following window will appear: Once the percentage counter reaches 100%, the following window will appear: This window explains how much space will be available in the partition. Press Enter.
This window shows that the partition has been created. Press Esc. FDISK is now creating a logical drive.
Once again, this window reports size. Press Enter and the following window appears: This window now shows the drive and its drive letter and size. Press Esc.
If another drive (RAID set) needs to be partitioned, repeat the process, starting by changing the fixed disk drive (Press 5). If done, press Esc. The following window will appear: This window is a reminder to RESTART the computer.
After restarting the computer, and booting Windows 9x, double-click on the My Computer icon. Right-click on each new drive and select Format. Only a FULL format will be accepted at this point. Select Full Format, enter the Label Name for the drive or RAID set (if desired) and click OK. Once the drive has been formatted, repeat for each new drive. The new drives should now be ready to be used.
5 . U S I N G S I L I C O N I M A G E S ATA R a i d G U I Overview The SATARaid GUI offers the user the ability to easily monitor your RAID Set. To launch the GUI, simply double-click on the icon located in the bottom right hand corner of the Desktop. If the icon does not appear in the bottom right hand corner of the desktop, find where the application was saved and launch from there.
Selecting each different component in the configuration tree provides specific information for that component, such as the chip.
Selecting a specific drive reports all pertinent information to that drive, including Configuration and Disk Identification information.
Selecting Sets lists the Sets in the configuration tree and provides information on RIO Version: * By selecting a specific RAID set, such as Set 0, the type of RAID set, the number of members and capacity is reported.
* The Device Location refers to how each physical disk was reported in the BIOS RAID utility. The Members tab of this window reports the device identification (corresponding with the information in the BIOS) and the State of each device. Besides reporting information, the Members tab of a Mirrored set allows the user to remove a specific drive from that set, as well as add a designated Spare drive to a Mirrored set that has experienced a disk failure.
SMART and Configuration information, as well as Data Identification is again provided for each Set.
SATARaid Configuration Menu By clicking on the toolbox icon in the top left of the SATARaid GUI window, or right-clicking on the conductor icon in the bottom right of the computer screen (with other start-up icons), the user may configure SATARaid including customizing the settings for SMTP, E-mail, Notification, Event Level, Log File, Audio, and Popup. SMTP The SMTP server is the server that is used to send e-mails. Normally, the network administrator knows what this name is.
Notification When different types of events occur, SATARaid may be configured to send notices to assigned individual e-mail addresses. Using the Notification tab, all e-mail addresses desired to receive the notices may be entered. Event Level There are different types of e-mail notifications that may be sent which are set with the Event Level tab. The different levels are: Disabled - No event logs will be sent.
Log File The log file is used to store event information received from all the Silicon Image RAID drivers. The log file is a text file and can be viewed with Notepad or SATARaid. Use the Log File tab to set where the log file should be stored and the name of the file as well. Audio The user may set different audio alerts for the different levels of events.
Popup The popup window is a visual notification that an event occurred. The popup window can be disabled or set to popup for only certain event levels. The different levels are: Disabled - No popup will occur.
