C. Configuring RAID set in RAID BIOS Enter the RAID BIOS setup utility to configure a RAID array. For a non-RAID configuration, please skip this step and proceed to the installation of Windows operating system. Step 1: After the POST memory test begins and before the operating system boot begins, look for a message which says "Press to enter RAID setup utility" (Figure 3). Hit the key to enter the NVIDIA RAID setup utility. MediaShield ROM BIOS 6.94 Copyright (C) 2006 NVIDIA Corp. Detecting array ... Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility ... Figure 3 Step 2: The Define a New Array screen is the first option screen when you enter the NVIDIA RAID setup utility (Figure 4). You can press the key to move from field to field until the appropriate field is highlighted. Step 3: In the RAID Mode field, use the up or down arrow key to select a RAID mode. The supported RAID modes include Mirroring, Striping, Stripe Mirroring, RAID 5, and Spanning. The following procedure demonstrates how a RAID 0 array (Striping) is created. Step 4: If RAID 0 (Striping) is selected, you can manually set the stripe block size. In the Striping Block field, use the up or down arrow key to set the striping block size. Striping block size is given in kilobytes. We recommend you leaving it at the default Optimal, which is 64 KB. The striping block size can be set from 4 KB to 128 KB. MediaShield Utility Nov 20 2006 - Define a New Array - Striping Block: Optimal RAID Mode : Striping Array Disks Port Disk Model Capacity Free Disks Port Disk Model Capacity 1.0 ST3120026AS 111.79GB 1.1 ST3120026AS 111.79GB [g] Add [f] Del [ESC] Quit [F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [hi] Select [ENTER] Popup Figure 4 Step 5: Next, select the hard drives which you wish to be included in the disk array. The Free Disks block displays the information about the SATA hard drives that are available for use as RAID array drives. Press to move to the Free Disks block. Select the target hard drives using the up or down arrow key and use the right arrow key to add the hard drives to the Array Disks block (Figure 5). MediaShield Utility Nov 20 2006 - Define a New Array - Striping Block: Optimal RAID Mode : Striping Array Disks Port Disk Model Capacity Free Disks Port Disk Model Capacity 1.0 ST3120026AS 111.79GB 1.1 ST3120026AS 111.79GB [g] Add [f] Del [ESC] Quit [F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [hi] Select [ENTER] Popup Figure 5 Step 6: After assigning the RAID drives, press . A message which says "Clear disk data?" appears (Figure 6). Press to confirm or press to cancel. (If the hard drives contain a previously created RAID array, you need to press to clear the data in the hard drives.) MediaShield Utility Nov 20 2006 - Define a New Array - Striping Block: Optimal RAID Mode : Striping Array Disk Port Disk Model Capacity Free Disks Port Disk Model Capacity Clear disk data? [Y] YES [N] NO 1.0 ST3120026AS 111.79GB 1.1 ST3120026AS 111.79GB [g] Add [f] Del [ESC] Quit [F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [hi] Select [ENTER] Popup Figure 6 After that, the Array List screen appears, displaying the RAID array that you have created (Figure 7). MediaShield Utility Nov 20 2006 - Array List- Boot Status Vender Array Model Name No Healthy NVIDIA STRIPE 223.57G [Ctrl-X] Exit [hi] Select [B] Set Boot [N] New Array [ENTER] Detail Figure 7 To read more information about the RAID array, press to enter the Array Detail screen (Figure 8), which shows various information about the array, including the RAID mode, stripe block size, hard drive model name, and hard drive capacity, etc. MediaShield Utility Nov 20 2006 - Array Details- RAID Mode: Striping Striping Width : 2 Striping Block: 64K Port Index Disk Model Capacity 1.0 0 ST3120026AS 111.79GB 1.1 1 ST3120026AS 111.79GB [R] Rebuild [D] Delete [C] Clear Disk [ENTER] Return Figure 8 To delete the array, press in the Array Detail screen. When the "Delete this array?" message appears, press to confirm or to cancel. Press to return to the Array List screen. To exit the NVIDIA RAID setup utility, press in the main menu or + in the Array List screen. Now, you can proceed to the installation of the SATA controller driver and operating system. 5-1-2 Making a SATA RAID Driver Diskette To successfully install operating system onto RAID drive(s), you need to install the SATA controller driver during the OS installation. Without the driver, the hard drive may not be recognized during the Windows setup process. First of all, copy the driver for the SATA controller from the motherboard driver disk to a floppy disk. For installing Windows Vista, you also can copy the SATA controller driver from the motherboard driver disk to a USB flash drive. See the instructions below about how to copy the driver in MS-DOS and Windows mode. In MS-DOS mode: Prepare a startup disk that has CD-ROM support and a blank formatted floppy disk. Steps: 1: Boot from the startup disk. 2: Remove...
