TX/LP Series Ultra ATA/100 RAID Cards User's Manual
Copyright Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”), 2001. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise. Trademarks All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Important data protection information You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 WHAT IS THE FASTTRAK100 TX/LP SERIES RAID CARD ?............................................1 KEYS FEATURES AND BENEFITS .................................................................................3 QUICK START ...............................................................................................................
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual UNDERSTANDING DISK ARRAY CONCEPTS.............................................................70 A BOUT FASTTRAK100 TX/LP SERIES DISK A RRAY A DAPTER ...................................70 A BOUT A DAPTER BIOS.............................................................................................70 FASTBUILD ™ A UTO MENU SETUP.............................................................................70 RESERVED SECTOR ..............................................
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Introduction The PC which you are using either already contains a Promise Technology FastTrak100 TX4, TX2, or LP RAID card installed by a third-party or you have acquired a FastTrak100 retail product for your existing PC and will be installing the card yourself. For PC owners wishing to install their Promise Technology FastTrak100 TX4/TX2/LP card, proceed to the Quick Start section (see page 5).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual performance through load balancing and elevator sorting while creating a complete backup of your files. Striping with mirroring offers both high read/write performance and fault tolerance. Spanning uses the full capacity of all attached drives without requiring identical drive size, but offers no other RAID functionality.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Keys Features and Benefits The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak100 TX4, TX2 or LP card. The table is divided into two areas: Advanced Hardware Design, and Compatibility.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Compatibility Features Complies with PCI v2.2 Local Bus standard Compliant with PCI IDE Bus Master standard. PCI IDE Bus Master support for Windows 98/95/ME, Windows NT4/2000, Netware 3.12/4.1x/5.0, RedHat Linux 6.2/7.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Quick Start This section is designed to quickly get your FastTrak100 TX/LP series controller up and running using the default settings, which will be optimal for most users. If you wish to modify any of the default settings, please refer to page 14, Using FastBuild™ Configuration Utility.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing The Card Installing the FastTrak100 TX/LP Series controller card in a system is a simple process. The card fits into any available 32-bit PCI slot (must be PCI 2.1 or 2.2 compliant), or the 32-bit portion of a 64-bit PCI slot, on the system’s motherboard (see fi gure below). 1. Remove the cover of your system. 2. Remove the inside slot cover of an available 32-bit PCI slot on the motherboard. 3.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing The Hard Drives WARNING: If you wish to include your current bootable drive using the Windows NT 4.x or Windows 2000 operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak100, do NOT connect the hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller yet. You MUST install the Windows NT4 or 2000 driver software first (see page 30) to this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual WARNING: Use of removable hard drive enclosures other than Promise SuperSwap is not supported and may result in performance loss or other undesired results. 3. Attach one Ultra ATA cable to each hard drive. Then attach one cable to each of the IDE connectors on the FastTrak100 controller card. The colored edge of the cable(s) indicates pin 1 (see below), and the blue cable connector must be attached to the FastTrak100 connector.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Checking CMOS Settings No changes are necessary in the Motherboard CMOS Setup for resources or drive types. Since FastTrak100 is a PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) device, the Interrupt and Port address resources are automatically assigned by the Motherboard's PCI PnP BIOS. The FastTrak100 system resources including port address, interrupt, and BIOS address are automatically determined by the system PnP BIOS.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Creating Your Disk Array You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS 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.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual [↑] Up [↓] Down [←, →, Space] Change Option [ESC] Exit [Ctrl-Y] Save NOTE: If you wish to customize certain settings at a later time, you may do so by manually creating your array (see page 19 in Using FastBuild Configuration Utility).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Creating an Array for Performance NOTE: FastTrak100 allows users to create striped arrays with 1, 2, 3, or 4 drives. To create an array for best performance, follow these steps: 1. Using the Spacebar, choose “Performance” under the Optimize Array for section. 2. Select how you will use your PC most under the Typical Application usage section. The choices are A/V Editing, Server, and Desktop (the default). 3. Press keys to Save and create the array. 4.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 7. Once the arrayed drives have been formatted, proceed to the Installing Driver chapter on page 30 to install your operating system and/or FastTrak100 driver. Creating a Security Array With An Existing Data Drive NOTE: Under the Security setting, FastTrak100 permits two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array or four drives to be used for a Mirrored/Striped array in Auto Setup.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 1 :Master 2 :Master QUANTUMCR8.4A QUANTUMCR8.4A 8063 8063 [↑] Up [↓] [ESC] Exit [Ctrl-Y] Save 4. Use the arrow keys to choose which drive contains the existing data to be copied. 5. Press [Ctrl-Y] keys to Save selection and start duplication. The following progress screen will appear. Start to duplicate the image . . . Do you want to continue? (Yes/No) Y – Continue N - Abort 6. Select “Y” to continue. If you choose “N”, you will be returned to step 1. 7.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using FastBuild™ Configuration Utility The FastBuildT M Configuration Utility offers several menu choices to create and manage the drive array on the Promise FastTrak100 adapter. For purposes of this manual, it is assumed you have already created an array in the previous chapter and now wish to make a change to the array or view other options.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Navigating the FastBuild™ Setup Menu When using the menus, these are some of the basic navigation tips: Arrow keys highlights through choices; [Space] bar key allows to cycle through options; [Enter] key selects an option; [ESC] key is used to abort or exit the current menu. Using the Main Menu This is the first option screen when entering the FastBuildT M Setup. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc. [ Main Menu ] Auto Setup...............
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Creating Arrays Automatically The Auto Setup <1> selection from the Main Menu can intuitively help create your disk array. It will assign all available drives appropriate for the disk array you are creating. After making all selections, use Ctrl-Y to Save selections. FastBuild will automatically build the array. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Capacity (Spanning) Achieves the maximum amount of capacity by adding the sum of all attached drives. The Stripe Block option does not apply.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Defining Typical Application Usage Allows the user to choose the type of PC usage that will be performed in order to optimize how FastTrak100 handles data blocks to enhance performance. Your choice will determine the block size used. You may choose from: A/V Editing (for audio/video applications, or any similar application that requires large file transfers), Server (for numerous small file transfers), or Desktop (a combination of large and small file sizes).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Viewing Drive Assignments The View Drive Assignments <2> option in the Main Menu displays whether drives are assigned to a disk array or are unassigned. Under the “Assignment” column, drives are labeled with their assigned disk array or shown as “Free” if unassigned. Such “Free” drives can be used for a future array or used as a spare drive when a drive fails in a mirrored array, provided the free drive’s capacity is equal to or larger than the smallest array member.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Manually Creating an Array The Define Array <3> option from the Main Menu allows users to begin the process of manually defining the drive elements and RAID levels for one or multiple disk arrays attached to FastTrak100. Users will commonly create one or two drive arrays with FastTrak100, though the card will support a maximum of four arrays1. NOTE: For most installations, Promise recommends the <1> Auto Setup for easy disk array creation. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Selecting Array Type 1. Under the Definition section of this menu, highlight the Array # for which you want to assign a RAID level. 2. Use the [Space] key to cycle through three array types: Performance (RAID 0 Striping), Security (RAID 1 Mirroring, RAID 0+1 Striping/Mirroring (for 4 drives), or Capacity (Spanning)). See page 70 about RAID levels. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual is no longer available. Without this feature enabled, FastTrak100 will NOT permit the use of a replacement drive that is slightly smaller than the remaining working drive. For the Gigabyte Boundary feature to work, the Gigabyte Boundary feature must be set to “ON” when the original mirrored array is created. When enabled, the Gigabyte Boundary feature rounds the drive capacity of both drives to the common w hole GB drive size.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 3. A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system Array has been created.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Adding Fault Tolerance to an Existing Drive FastTrak100 will create a mirrored array using an existing system drive with data. You must assign the existing drive and another drive of same or larger capacity to the Mirroring array. The BIOS will send the existing data to the new blank drive. WARNING: Backup any necessary data before proceeding. Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 26
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 3. Use the arrow keys to choose which drive contains the existing data to be copied. WARNING: All target drive data will be erased. Make sure you choose the correct drive. 4. Press [Ctrl-Y] keys to Save selection and start duplication. The following confirmation screen will appear. Start to duplicate the image . . . Do you want to continue? (Yes/No) Y – Continue N - Abort 5. Select “Y” to continue. If you choose “N” , you will be returned to step 1. 6.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Making a FastTrak100 Disk Array Bootable WARNING: In order for you to boot from an array on the FastTrak100, your PC or server must be configured in the CMOS Setup to use the FastTrak100 as a bootable device (versus the onboard controller or another add-in card). This option is not available if the FastTrak100 is being used as a secondary controller. 1. Once you have returned to the Define Array Menu window (below), you will see the array(s) you have created.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual the “spare” drive will fail to be recognized by the system. For this r eason Promise recommends using “spare” drives only on the FastTrak100 TX4.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual How FastTrak100 Orders Arrays During startup, the disk arrays on the FastTrak100 are recognized in this order: 1) The array set to bootable in the FastBuildT M Setup, and 2) the Array number (i.e. Array 0, Array 1… ). This would be involved in determining which drive letters will be assigned to each disk array. How FastTrak100 Saves Array Information All disk array data is saved into the reserved sector on each array member.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Deleting An Array The Delete Array <4> Menu option allows for deletion of disk array assignments. This is not the same as deleting data from the drives themselves. If you delete an array by accident (and before it has been used again), the array can normally be recovered by defining the array identically as the deleted array. WARNING: Deleting an existing disk array could result in its data loss.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Are you sure you want to delete this array? Press Ctrl-Y to Delete, others to Abort 4. After deleting the array, you should create a new array using Auto Setup or the Define Array menu from the FastBuild Main Menu.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Rebuilding A Mirrored Array The Rebuild Array <5> Menu option can be used to recover from an error in a mirrored disk array. You will receive an error message when booting your system f rom the FastTrak BIOS. NOTE: Drives MUST be replaced if they contain any physical errors. Follow these steps BEFORE using the Rebuild Array menu option: 1. On bootup, the FastTrak100 Startup BIOS will display an error message identifying which drive has failed. 2.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc. [ Rebuild Array Menu ] Array No Array 2 RAID Mode Mirror Total Drv 2 Status Critical Stripe Block: Not Available ON Gigabyte Boundary: [ Select Drive for Rebuild ] Channel:ID 1 : Slave Drive Model QUANTUMCR8.4A Capacity (MB) 8063 [ Keys Available ] [↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Enter] Select 11. Under [Select Drive for Rebuild], highlight the replacement drive. 12.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Viewing Controller Settings The Controller Configuration <6> menu selection allows you to enable or disable the FastTrak100 BIOS from halting (the default) if it detects an error on boot up. You may also view the system resources (Interrupt and I/O port address) of FastTrak’s data channels. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2001 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing Drivers This section details the FastTrak100 driver installation when used with various operating systems. The software includes the driver necessary to identify FastTrak100 to the operating system. Windows 2000 Installing Driver During New Windows 2000 Installation 1. Start the installation: a. Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows 2000 installation diskettes. b. Floppyless Install: Boot from floppy and type “WINNT”.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing Driver in Existing Windows 2000 System WARNING: If you will be moving the boot drive containing the existing Windows 2000 operating system to a mirrored RAID 1 array on the FastTrak100 card, the FastTrak100 driver MUST be loaded to the hard drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller. Do not attach this drive or any other hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller card before completing this step.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Windows NT4 Installing Drivers During Windows NT 4.0 Ins tallation 1. Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk: a. Floppy install: boot the system with the Windows NT installation diskettes. b. Floppyless install: boot from floppy and type “WINNT /B”. After files have been copied, the system will reboot. On the reboot, press the “F6” key when the message “Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware configuration… ” appears. c.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing Driver with Existing Windows NT 4.0 WARNING: If you plan to move your boot drive to a mirrored RAID 1 FastTrak array, hard drives should NOT be connected to the FastTrak100 controller card before performing the following procedure. The FastTrak100 drivers must be loaded on the system hard drive (running under the existing hard drive controller) before any hard drives are connected to the FastTrak100 controller card. 1.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Windows ME Installing Drivers During Windows ME Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak100 drivers while installing Windows ME (with the FastTrak100 controller card already in place). If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system with ME already installed, see “Installing Drivers with Existing Windows ME System.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing Drivers with Existing Windows ME System The following section details the installation of FastTrak100 drivers on a system that has Millennium already installed and running. If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system during an installation of ME, see “Installing Drivers During Windows ME Installation.” NOTE: If you have the FastTrak100 TX4, you will need to go through these steps twice, since the TX4 appears as 2 controllers to the systems. 1.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Windows 95/98 Installing Drivers During Windows 95/98 Installation The following three sections detail the installation of the FastTrak100 drivers while installing Windows 95/98 (with the FastTrak100 controller card already in place). If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system with Windows 95/98 already installed, see “Installing Drivers with Existing Windows 95/98” on page 38.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 4. From the “Settings” menu, choose “Control Panel.” 5. In the “Control Panel” window, double -click on the “System” icon. 6. In the “System” window, choose the “Device Manager” tab. 7. In the hierarchical display under “Other Devices” is a listing for “PCI Mass Storage Controller.” Choose it and then press the “Properties” button. 8. Choose the “Driver” tab in the “Properties” window, and then press the “Update Driver” button. 9.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Installing Drivers with Existing Windows 95/98 The following three sections detail the installation of FastTrak100 drivers on a system that has Windows 95/98 already installed. If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system during a Windows 95/98 installation, see “Installing Drivers During Windows 95/98 Installation” on page 36.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 7. Choose “Yes” when asked whether you want to start your computer. Be sure to remove the diskette from drive A:. Confirming Driver Installation in Windows 98/95 To confirm that the driver has been properly loaded in Win 95/98, perform the following steps: 1. Choose “Settings” from the “Start” menu. 2. Choose “Control Panel,” and then double -click on the “System” icon. 3.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Netware 3.12 NWPA Update Package Installation Instructions for NetWare 3.12 Before installing the FastTrak100 NetWare driver, make sure that you have installed the latest update for the NetWare 3 operating system. 1. From the website at http://developer.novell.com/devres/sas/certinfo.htm download NWPA_UP.EXE from the "Download the Update Package" link. 2. Install DOS and the CD-ROM driver on the target server machine. 3. Create the directory C:\SERVER.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual load c:\SERVER.312\nbi31x 8. Save the file. 9. DOWN and EXIT the server. 10. Remove the NetWare CD-ROM. 11. Reboot the server. For Existing Netware 3.12 Servers: 8. Copy Fasttrak driver FASTTRAK.HAM & FASTTRAK.DDI into the Netware 3.12 boot directory. Ex. C:\SERVER.312\ 9. Edit STARTUP.NCF and add the following lines after any set parameters but before any file loading: load c:\SERVER.312\312ptd\native\start\npapatch load c:\SERVER.312\mmattrfx load c:\SERVER.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Netware 4.11 NWPA Update Package Installation Instructions for NetWare 4.11 Before installing the FastTrak100 NetWare driver, make sure that you have installed the latest update for the NetWare 4 operating system. 1. From the website at http://developer.novell.com/devres/sas/certinfo.htm download NWPA_UP.EXE from the "Download the Update Package" link. 2. Install DOS and the CD-ROM driver on the target server machine. 3.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 12. DOWN and EXIT the server. 13. Reboot the server. For Existing Netware 4.11 Servers: 7. Copy the Fasttrak driver FASTTRAK.HAM & FASTTRAK.DDI into the Netware 4.11 boot directory. Ex. C:\NWSERVER\ 8. Edit STARTUP.NCF and add the following lines after any set parameters but before any file loading: load c:\update\nwpa load c:\update\nbi load c:\update\idehd.cdm Also add subsequent line "load FastTrak" to load the FASTTRAK.HAM driver. 9. Boot the server.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Netware 5 For new NetWare 5 servers: 1. Start the Netware 5 installation as you normally would. 2. When you reach the point in the installation where you install storage adapters, choose “Modify” in the “Options” window and press ENTER. 3. Highlight the “Storage Adapters” field and press ENTER. 4. Press the INSERT key on your keyboard to “Add” a device. 5. Insert the FastTrak100 driver disk into your A: floppy drive. 6.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 8. The FASTTRAK.HAM driver should be listed in the “Select a driver to install:” window. Press ENTER to select this driver. 9. Choose “Yes” wh en asked if you want to copy this driver.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Netware Error and Informational Messages The FastTrak100 TX/LP series Netware driver will display error and other informational messages to the console. "Warning...Master/Slave Device on Channel [1/2] for Promise RAID [0/1/0+1] Deactivated" A problem has been detected in one of the drives of the array and the drive has been taken “offline.” If this is a RAID 0 or Spanning array, the entire array has been taken “offline” and you have likely lost data.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Linux For the latest Linux drivers and documentation, please visit the Technical Support area at w ww.promise.com.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using The FastCheck™ Monitoring Utility You can monitor the operating status of all arrays and drives configured on the FastTrak100 TX/LP series controllers using the supplied FastCheck monitoring utility for Windows-based operating systems. FastCheck generates visual and audible messages alerting you of possible problems with the disk array or controller.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Running FastCheck As described in the Installation section, the default option for FastCheck is to load during startup of Win95/98/NT/2000/ME. It appears minimized on the taskbar under Win 95/98/NT4/2000/Millennium (see below). To start FastCheck, double-click on the FastCheck icon on the taskbar (above) or you may also use the Taskbar Start/Promise/FastTrak/FastCheck menus shown below.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using FastCheck Array Window Once FastCheck is selected, the FastCheck Monitoring Utility window will appear. The main pane has three information window tabs: Array, Controller, and Options. The user can switc h screens by clicking on the tab. The Array Window is the active screen by default as shown below: The Array Window (see above) displays information about the arrays configured on your FastTrak100 through the FastBuild BIOS.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Status: (Functional, Critical, Offline) Functional: Means the array is providing full functionality Critical: Used only in reference to a Mirroring array (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1). A problem has been detected in one of the drives of the array and the drive has been taken “offline.” However, a “critical” array will continue to save and retrieve data from the remaining working drive(s).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Offline: Drives that are NOT identified as “bad” may be taken offline if part of a Striping or Spanning array containing a “bad” drive. These drives do NOT need to be replaced, however. S.M.A.R.T. Status: Indicates whether attached hard drive implements SelfMonitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology to predict drive failure. Size: Indicates capacity of individual drive. Location: Shows physical location of drive.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using Array Pull-down Menu At the bottom of the Array window, it indicates to right-click on an Array to perform synchronization or rebuild operations. Right-clicking displays the following pull-down menu: From this menu, users may choose to have the Window Always Appear on Top of applications, Minimize, Synchronize mirrored drives, Rebuild a mirrored array, use About to check FastCheck version #, or Exit the onscreen window.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Synchronizing An Array Synchronization is a periodic maintenance procedure for Mirroring (RAID 1, RAID 0+1) arrays to maintain data consistency on all mirrored drives. In operation, array synchronization compares data on the mirrored drives for any differences. If there are differences detected, data from the primary drive(s) is automatically copied to the secondary drive(s). This assures that all mirrored drives will contain the exact information.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 4. Once Synchronization is confirmed, the following information screen appears. Click OK button or close the window to proceed. NOTE: During Array Synchronization, users may continue to access the working array and perform normal PC functions. However, system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer. 5.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Rebuilding An Array This command effectively copies or overwrites data from an existing data drive in the array on to a blank drive. The operation will be typically used when a failed drive has been replaced with a new drive as part of a mirrored array. 1. To perform a Rebuild, choose the Array Tab View. 2. Right click the array number and choose Rebuild from the context menu. 3.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 3. Click the Next button to proceed to Rebuild Wizard Step 2 (see next page) or Cancel button to stop.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 4. 5. 6. Rebuild Wizard Step 2 confirms the Target or “Rebuild” disk by Array # and drive ID. Click Finish button to initiate physical Rebuild, Back button to review Step 2, or Cancel button to Stop. A final confirmation window appears as below: Click “Yes” to initiate Rebuild. To cancel this option, click the No button. WARNING: Once initiated, Array Rebuild can NOT be halted in order to prevent data errors.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual NOTE: During Array Rebuild, users may continue to access the array and perform normal PC functions however the array will NOT provide data redundancy until Rebuild is completed. If you choose to continue using the PC during rebuild, system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer. 7. Once Array Rebuild has begun, users are returned to the FastCheck Monitoring window.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using Controller Window Clicking on the Controller tab will reveal the Controller Window. This displays physical information about the location of FastTrak100, data channels on the card, and the attached drives. Viewing Controller Card Information By left-clicking on the FastTrak controller icon, the right pane shows the following information categories for that array: IRQ: Identifies interrupt request assigned to PCI slot.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Viewing IDE Channel Information Left-clicking on a given Channel icon or # in the left pane, will show the Base IO addresses of the channel in the right pane (used for troubleshooting).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Viewing Drive Information Left-clicking on a given Drive icon or ID in the left pane, will show similar information categories as the Array Window Drive Information in the right pane. Status: (also shown under the Array Window) can be Functional, Critical, or Offline. The meanings are shown below. Functional: Means the drive is working normally . Critical: A problem has been detected in the drive and the drive taken offline as part of a mirroring array.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Timing: Shows selection of drive timing (directly related to burst speed) based on type of drive and cable used. Optional Enclosure Management for SuperSwapTM Drive Chassis If using your FastTrak100 with an optional Promise Technology SuperSwapT M hotswap drive chassis, the FastCheck controller window will also display voltage, fan, and drive temperature status of the SuperSwap unit when a drive icon is selected as follows below : Encl.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Using Options Window Clicking on the Options tab reveals the Options Window. Array administrators can customize the FastCheck Monitoring Utility in four major areas: Notification, Array Synchronization Scheduling, setting Passw ord, Desktop Appearance. Most options relate to Mirroring arrays (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Selecting Notification Options This section of the Options windows allows users to select how they are notified of a system event. A System Event includes driver-initiated Rebuilds (automatic rebuild using a “hot” spare standby drive), user -initiated manual Rebuilds or manual Synchronization, and Error-Handling reporting for these processes.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Abort: Stops any Synchronization or Rebuild process if an error is encountered. Fix: In most cases, FastTrak100 automatically can correct errors. The method of correction varies depending on the type of error. Ignore: FastTrak100 will log the event error and continue the rebuild or synchronization process. Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors, but do not want to fix these errors at the time.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Abort: Stops the Synchronization process if an error is encountered. Fix: In most cases, FastTrak100 automatically can correct errors. The method of correction varies depending on the type of error (see Appendix under Error Correction Methodology). Ignore: FastTrak100 will log the event error and continue the synchronization process. (Warning: this may result in mismatched drives under RAID 1 or 0+1).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Setting PCI Bus Utilization Option NOTE: In most cases, a user does not need to change this setting since FastTrak100’s data handling rarel y conflicts with another PCI device. However, certain brands of video capture cards can produce a “glitch” on play back of A/V files that may require adjusting the default setting devices (see Tips for Audio/Video Editing for more information).
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Setting Screen Preferences This section controls how the FastCheck utility screen is displayed and sets the security password to protect the administrative settings. Start Minimized checkbox allows user to have FastCheck appear on the toolbar only on startup. Click on the icon to see the FastCheck utility screen. Always on Top checkbox tells the Utility to appear above all programs until closed or minimized manually.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Creating Password 1. To create a password, check the Enable Password checkbox in the Preferences section. The “Set Password” window will appear. 2. Type the password you want to use. Press the Tab key or click to retype the same password in the “Confirm New Password” section. Click the O K button. NOTE: Remember to record the password you use in a secure place in case you forget it. 3. A confirmation screen will appear saying “Password Checking is Enabled”.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual 3. Uncheck the “Enable Password” checkbox. Click Apply button on Options window.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual FastTrak DMI Service for Windows NT/2000 The DMI NT Service allows the FastTrak to appear as an instrumented component under DMI (Desktop Management Interface). The DMI 2.0 Service Provider, Win32sl, must be installed in order for the FastTrak DMI service to be installed. The ftdmisvc.mif provides the database (Management Information) for the CI (Component Instrumentation). For further information on DMI go to the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force) web site at www.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Understanding Disk Array Concepts About FastTrak100 TX/LP Series Disk Array Adapter FastTrak100 is a high performance Ultra ATA/EIDE RAID controller card that features concurrent data channel operation and an onboard BIOS. The channels on the FastTrak100 support concurrent operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multitasking operating systems and sharing the workload between multiple drives.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Disk Array Terms Disk Array Description A “d isk array” is formed from a group of 2 or more disk drives that appear to the system as a single drive. The advantage of an array is to provide better throughput performance and/or data fault tolerance. Better performance is accomplished by sharing the workload among multiple physical drives.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual About RAID Levels Striping (RAID 0) Reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between multiple drives. When any disk member fails, it affects the entire array. Performance is better than a single drive since the workload is balanced between the array members. This array type is for high performance systems. Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Mirroring (RAID 1) Writes duplicate data on to a pair of drives while reads are performed in parallel. ATA RAID 1 is fault tolerant because each drive of a mirrored pair is installed on separate IDE channels. If one of the mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure (e.g. spindle failure) or does not respond, the remaining drive will continue to function. This is called Fault Tolerance.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual NOTE: Due to IDE limitations when drives are in a Master/Slave configuration, if the drive that fails is on the same channel as the “spare” drive, there is a possibility that the “spare” drive will fail to be recognize d by the system. For this reason Promise recommends using “spare” drives only on the FastTrak100 TX4. Striping/Mirror (RAID 0+1) A combination of both above array types.
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FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Under RAID 0+1, the array maintains data integrity if any 1, 2 combination survives.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Troubleshooting & Tips This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak100 installation problems. Also refer to the “README.TXT” file on the FastTrak100 driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline T M services listed in Appendix A. The section is divided into the following categories: Motherboard Issues, System CMOS Issues, Drive Errors, Operating System Errors, and Audio/Video Editing Tips.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Intermittent data problems Overclocking the PCI bus may cause the system to hang or data corruption. If you experience either of these problems, and are overclocking the PCI bus, set the PCI bus back to its normal setting to see if this is causing the errors. System CMOS Issues Set Mainboard CMOS Boot sequence to boot to FastTrak100 On some Mainboard BIOS, it is necessary to set the Boot sequence to “SCSI, A:, C:” since the Promise card is identified as a SCSI card.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Possible Master/Slave problems Master/slave problems may exist between two ATA or IDE drives of different brands attached to a single cable. For both compatibility and better performance, choose drives of the same model/brand and install them on separate cables. Refer to the Drive Setup by Connector table (see page 7) for more recommended drive placements.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual To remove the Reserve Sector, follow these steps: 1. When the FastTrak100 BIOS comes up, press Crtl-F to enter the FastBuild. 2. Press 2 to "View Drive Assignments". 3. Using the arrow keys, highlight the drive where you wish to remove the reserve sector. 4. Press ALT-F1. The highlighted drive will start blinking on the screen. 5. Press CTRL-TAB. A message will appear that says the reserved sector (which is where array information is kept) on the disk will be wiped. 6.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Your choices are as follows: Abort: Halts the rebuild process. You may elect to retry at a later date. Break ECC on Target Drive : If the error is detected on the source drive, “Break ECC on Targ et Drive” means that FastTrak will copy the bad data sector on to the target drive to assure that both drives are identical. If the error is detected on the target drive, FastCheck will copy the data contained in the good sector of the source drive again to the target drive.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Your choices are as follows: Abort: Halts the synchronization process. You may elect to retry at a later date. Fix the Error Block: FastTrak100 will take a good data block from either drive and copy it to the drive where the error was detected. Skip the Error Block : FastTrak100 will log the event error and continue the synchronization process. Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors, but do not want to fix these errors at the time.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Operating System-Related Issues Different drive lettering under Windows NT This may happen when using a SCSI card in addition to the Promise card. Windows NT does not necessarily load the driver for the boot device controller first. This results in a drive that in MS-DOS is the C: drive being the D:, or E:, etc. in Windows NT. Use Windows NT’s Disk Administrator utility to reassign the letters that NT has assigned to the drives.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual “No Hard Drives Found” Message Appears During CD-ROM Install of Windows NT or 2000 The "F6" key was not pressed at the appropriate time. Reboot the system, and press the "F6" key when the message "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration… " appears in Windows NT4 or the message "Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver" appears in Windows 2000.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Performance Tips Here are some tips that may optimize performance in a RAID 0 striped array. If you are using an audio/video-editing card, we also recommend reviewing your card’s documentation for additional information. Use FastTrak100 as D: or other non-bootable drive in a Striped Array For A/V editing, keep the original system boot drive on the standard IDE controller as C: drive.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Change Setting of PCI Bus Utilization Certain brands of video capture cards can produce a “glitch” on play back of .AVI files. A setting of “Less” for PCI Bus utilization reduces the time which FastTrak100 occupies on the PCI bus and frees that time for use by other PCI devices and will remove the “glitch” dropout effect on playback. Once a bus setting has been selected, click the Apply button to implement changes immediately. No reboot is required.
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FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre-installation, drive issues, installation, and post-installation. Pre-Installation (Speed, Device Types, Capacity, Cabling) Q: What kind of hard drives can I use for a FastTrak100 array? A: You can use any IDE/EIDE hard drive(s) to create arrays on the FastTrak100. You should use matching drives for multiple-drive arrays to maximize capacity usage as well as performance.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Q: How does the FastTrak100 RAID controller provide storage and/or data protection with their arrays? A: FastTrak100 implements three different types of RAID levels as follows: RAID 0 (stripe) For capacity -- The FastTrak100 array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array times however many HDDs are in the array. Any larger HDDs will simply be truncated. The truncated space on the bigger HDDs will then be unusable.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Drive Issues Q: Can I add a drive to a FastTrak100 RAID array via hot-swap and dynamically adjust the array size/configuration? A: No. The FastTrak100 system does not support dynamically adjustable RAID size/configurations. Q: Do the HDDs on the FastTrak100 have to be the same siz e? A: The HDDs that you use with the FastTrak100 do not have to be the same size. If the sizes differ, the FastTrak100 will “adjust” the HDDs so that they are compatible.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual A: None. The drives on the FastTrak100 controller are supported by the FastTrak100 BIOS and/or an O/S drivers, not by your system BIOS. Q: How do I partition/format my FastTrak100 RAID array? A: The FastTrak100 “fools” the system into thinking that it’s dealing with a single HDD. Therefore, anything that you can do to a single HDD can also be done to a FastTrak100 array. You can, and should, use the FDISK and FORMAT utilities to partition/format the array.
FastTrak100 TX/LP™ Series User Manual Post-Installation Q: Why can’t I see the drives on the FastTrak100 under FDISK? A: You have not created an array yet. If no array has been created, the drive(s) attached to the FastTrak100 will not be recognized by the system.
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Appendix A Contacting Promise Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates. We encourage you to use one of our electronic services, which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support.
Appendix A Luchthavenweg 81 5657 EA Eindhoven, The Netherlands Pacific Rim Sales Office E-mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support: support@promise.com.tw +886 3 578 23 90 Attention: Technical Support +886 3 578 23 95 9:00-5:30pm Taiwan Time Promise Technology, Inc. Attn: Technical Support 2F, No. 30, Industry E. Rd. IX, Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Appendix B Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for two (2) years from the time of the delivery of the product to the original end user: a) the product will conform to Promise’s specifications; b) the product will be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service.
Appendix B Promise shall not be liable for the cost of procuring substitute goods, services, lost profits, unrealized savings, equipment damage, costs of recovering, reprogramming, or reproducing of programs or data stored in or used with the products, or for any other general, special, consequential, indirect, incidental, or punitive damages, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise, notwithstanding the failure of the essential purpose of the foregoing remedy and regardless of whether Promise has been advis
Appendix C Returning Product For Repair If you suspect a product is not working properly, or if you have any questions about your product, contact our Technical Support Staff through one of our Technical Services, making sure to provide the following information: • • • • • Product model and serial number (required); Return shipping address; Daytime phone number; Description of the problem; Copy of the original purchase invoice.
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Appendix C Your Responsibilities You are responsible for determining whether the product is appropriate for your use and will interface with your equipment without malfunction or damage. You are also responsible for backing up your data before installing any product and for regularly backing up your data after installing the product. Promise is not liable for any damage to equipment or data loss resulting from the use of any product.
INDEX A Alarms Setting, 62, 63 ACPI Usage, 86 Arrays "Hot" Spare, 73 Concepts, 70 Creating multiple, 17 Critical, 14, 49 Defining, 19 Definitions, 71 Deleting, 26 Drive members, 71 Drive status, 50 Dual Redundancy, 74 Functional, 14, 49 Mirroring, 72 Creating w/ existing drive, 21 Creating w/ new drives, 21 Monitoring, 47 Offline, 14, 49 Rebuilding, 26, 51, 55 Spare Drives, 17 Striping, 72 Striping/Mirroring, 74 Synchronization, 51, 53 Scheduling, 64 Types, 71, 87 Viewing assigned drives, 17 ATAPI devices,
INDEX Scheduling Synchronization, 64 Formatting, 88 L Log files Enabling, 63 Win NT, 63 P PCI Bus speed, 86 R Reserved Sectors, 70 S System resources, 86 T Troubleshooting Can't form array, 76 CMOS Booting, 76 Co-exist with IDE, 76 Critical error on boot, 77 Drive failure, 76 Intermittent data problems, 77 IRQ resources, 76 Master/Slave issues, 76 No appearance of driver in Win95/98, 77 PCI IRQ resources, 76 System lockup, 77 Win NT drive lettering, 77
