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NVIDIA RAID User's Guide

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1. Details Figure 3 90 RAID Array Created Now that a four disk mirrored stripe array has been created you can use the SATA SATA SATA SATA Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Master Master Master Master NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a four disk RAID 0 1 into a four disk RAID 0 array 97 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select Convert Array as shown in the following screen shot 68 95 GB Hot Plug Array fal woc Rebuild Array 34 48GB SATA Primary Master fea wOC Delete Array 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master fea wOC 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Heal 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 91 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing 4 RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next Figure 3 92 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen 98 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Versio
2. NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k lt Back Cancel Figure 3 31 RAID Array Selection Page 4 Click Next and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Channel Device Oka woc WD360GD 00FNA0 Primary Master Oka woc WD360GD 00FN40 Secondary Master Olga woc WD740GD O0FLAO Primary Master Ola woc WD740GD DOFLAD Secondary Master A Striping array requires 1 or more Free hard disks ca Figure 3 32 Free Disk Selection Page 58 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Select the two drives that you want to use in the Mirrored array In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3 33 NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Channel Device Primary Master Secondary Master Cad WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Primary Master O woc wD740GD OOFLAO Secondary Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more free hard disks lt Back Cancel Figure 3 33 Free Disk Selection Page Selecting Disks 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Data Disk Selection Select the disk with data
3. What does Clear Disk mean in the RAID ROM Setup Clear Disk clears the MBR Master Boot Record This is needed to prevent invalid data from appearing in the MBR space on any of the drives included in the array Not doing so could render the system unstable Rebuilding Arrays Questions Why does the RAID rebuilding process take so long to complete In the rebuilding process all data is copied from one hard drive to another and then the data is synchronized between the two hard drives Because the rebuilding process occurs in the background in a way that does not affect system performance the process can be very slow See Rebuilding a RAID Mirrored Array on page 47 for more information NVIDIA Corporation 109 CHAPTER 4 NVIDIA RAID Frequently Asked Questions Dedicated Disk Questions e Can I assign a dedicated disk to a striped array JBOD or use a free disk with striped array JBOD No free disks and dedicated disks can be only used with a mirrored array or a striped mirrored array Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array can I remove it Yes a dedicated disk can be removed from a RAID 1 or a RAID 0 1 array Windows RAID Application What functions can be performed using the NVRAIDMAN application The following tasks can be performed View information about RAID 0 1 0 1 and JBOD as well as any supported configuration if you have more than one RAID array active Ass
4. 0 T380023AS 74 56GB Master 1 T380023AS 74 56GB R Rebuid D Delete C Clear Disk Enter Return Figure 2 9 Array Detail Window The Array Detail window shows information about the array that you selected such as Striping Block used RAID Mode Striping Width Disk Model Name and disk capacity 4 If you want to mark this disk as empty and wipe out all its contents then press C 5 At the prompt press Y to wipe out all the data otherwise press N 6 Press Enter again to go back to the previous window and then press F10 to exit the RAID setup Now that the RAID setup has been configured from the RAID BIOS the next step is to configure and load NVIDIA RAID drivers under Windows as explained in Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows on page 21 20 NVIDIA RAID User Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows The existing Windows IDE Parallel ATA driver as well as the Serial ATA driver if SATA is enabled must be upgraded to use the NVIDIA IDE Parallel ATA driver as well as the NVIDIA Serial ATA driver if SATA is enabled This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software which will upgrade the Windows IDE driver and install the RAID software 1 Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers Select Featu jo not want to inst
5. CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID System Requirements Hardware Support NVIDIA RAID supports the following NVIDIA nForce versions e nForce 4 e nForce4 Ultra e nForce4 SLI e nForce3 Pro250 e nForce3 250Gb e nForce3 Ultra e nForce3 250 e nForce3 150 e nForce2 MCP2S Operating System Support NVIDIA RAID supports the following operating systems e Windows XP Home Edition e Windows XP Professional Edition e Windows 2000 Professional e Windows 2003 Server 2 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID RAID Arrays This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that NVIDIA RAID supports NVIDIA Corporation RAID 0 RAID 0 defines a disk striping scheme that improves the disk read and write times for many applications RAID 1 RAID 1 defines techniques for mirroring data RAID 0 1 RAID 0 1 combines the techniques used in RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays Spanning JBOD JBOD provides a method for combining drives of different sizes into one large disk CHAPTER 1 R About NVIDIA RAID RAID 0 How RAID 0 Works In a RAID 0 array the controller stripes data across multiple drives in the RAID subsystem RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads and writes across multiple drives in parallel The size of each block is determined by the stripe size parameter which you set during the creation of the RAID set based on the
6. CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing Instructions This sections includes specific instructions for the following RAID morphing combinations e Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0 Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set on page 74 e Morphing from RAID 0 with One Disk to RAID 1 with Two Disks on page 79 e Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0 1 on page 83 e Morphing from RAID 1 to RAID 0 on page 88 e Morphing from RAID 1 to RAID 0 1 on page 92 e Morphing from RAID 0 1 to RAID 0 on page 97 e Morphing from RAID 0 1 to RAID 0 1 on page 101 Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0 Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set The following example shows you how to expand a RAID 0 array with two disks to include an additional disk 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Striped Array on page 52 to create a two disk stripe array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following SA NVIDIA nvraid x Healthy 68 95 GB o Create Array fa WOC WD360GD DO0FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master etails Figure 3 55 RAI
7. In Figure 2 27 there is a 111 GB unallocated partition which is the total combined storage of two 60 GB HD You must format the unallocated disk space in order to use it Format the unallocated disk space Right click Unallocated space select New Partition and follow the Wizard instrucrtions After the drive has been formatted it is ready for use NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A USING THE NVRAIDMAN UTILITY About the NVIDIA RAID Management Utility The NVIDIA RAID software ships with an application called NVRAIDMAN This chapter describes the NVRAIDMAN tasks in the following sections NVIDIA Corporation Viewing RAID Array Configurations View an array configuration mirrored striped mirrored striped JBOD or any supported combination Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk View free and or dedicated free disks Designate a free disk to a particular array Rebuilding a RAID Array Rebuild a broken mirrored array Watch the progress of rebuilding of an array Only applies to RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 arrays Creating RAID Arrays Deleting a RAID Array Morphing From One RAID Array to Another Hot Plug Array 37 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Viewing RAID Array Configurations 38 To view your RAID configuration from Windows launch the NVIDIA RAID Management utility by double clicking NVRAIDMAN The RAID configuration information appears in the right side pane as shown in Figure 3 SA
8. Reboot the system Press the DEL key as the system is rebooting to enter into the system BIOS Select Integrated Peripherals menu Select the RAID Config menu Enable RAID for the selected drive the one containing the Windows 2000 operating system Press F10 to exit and save settings in the system BIOS This action reboots the System Press F10 as the system is rebooting to go into the RAID ROM The system directs you into the NVIDIA RAID Utility 10 Select Striping under RAID Mode 11 Press TAB to go into the Free Disk menu 12 Use the Right Arrow key to add the desired disk NVIDIA Corporation 113 CHAPTER 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes 13 Press F7 to finish 14 Select N NO when asked to Clear Disk Data 15 Press Ctrl X to exit The system reboots into Windows 2000 16 Install the NVIDIA nForce Driver Package while in Windows 2000 17 Reboot the system 18 Go to START gt Programs gt Nvidia Corporation and select NVRAID Manager You should see the single disk RAID array in striping mode that was created from the boot disk 19 Select the single boot disk RAID Array by clicking on it 20 Select Convert Array under the System Tasks The Convert Array wizard is displayed 21 Select Next 22 Select the desired type of RAID array you want to convert 23 Select Next You are prompted to select the desired Free Disk s to add to the bootable RAID array 24 Click Finish At this point NVRAID start
9. Rebuilding an array can take up to a day to To continue click Next Figure 3 16 NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard 48 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 4 Click Next The Disk Selection page appears NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Disk Selection Select a disk from within the RAID array Select a member disk From the list Name Channel Device Fa WoC WD360GD 00FNAO Primary Master WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Secondary Master Figure 3 17 Disk Selection Page 5 Select the drive that you want to rebuild by clicking it from the list then click Next The Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array page appears NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard You have chosen to rebuild the Following disk WDC WD360GD 00FN40 In the Following RAID array NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G To close this wizard and begin rebuilding the disk click Finish Figure 3 18 Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Page NVIDIA Corporation 49 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 50 6 Click Finish The array rebuilding starts after a few seconds and a small pop up message appears towards the bottom right corner of the screen as shown in Figure 3 19 i Rebuild In Progress NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G Figure 3 19 Rebuild Bubble Message When the rebuilding process is finished you will see the pop up
10. CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 96 The Morphing Process As soon as the new four disk mirrored stripe array has been created a pop up window similar to the following will appear i RAID Yolume Added WDC WD 40GD 00FLA0 has been added to NVIDIA RAID 0 1 68 956 followed by the following pop up window Upgrade In Progress NVIDIA RAID 0 1 68 956 It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time it takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A Morphing from RAID 0 1 to RAID 0 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 1 array with four disks to a RAID 0 array with four disks 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array on page 61 to create a four disk mirrored stripe array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following NVIDIA Corporation of Hot Plug Array Stripe Mirroring Healthy 68 95 GB ka woc WD360GD O0FNA0 Healthy 34 48 GB E woc WD360GD O0FNA0 Healthy 34 48 GB koc WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25 GB k woc WD740GD OOFLAO Healthy 69 25 GB
11. GHOST can interface with hard disk controllers by accessing the appropriate memory and hardware locations directly However in doing so this can bypass the RAID enhancements that are provided by the system BIOS The system BIOS understands the underlying disk and RAID array structures and formats In order to properly use GHOST to interact with a RAID volume the user should ensure that the tool is operating in a mode where it does not talk directly to the hardware resources but rather communicates using the system BIOS In order to use GHOST in a RAID volume the user must e Disable the GHOST Direct Disk Access e Force it to rely on Extended INT13 to access the disk To set GHOST to use Extended Interrupt 13h INT13 access Start GHOST from the DOS prompt Not the Windows Command Prompt session Select the Options ALT O menu Scroll to the HDD Access Tab Select the Use Extended Interrupt 13h disk access ALT E Select the Disable direct IDE access support ALT B Select the Disable direct ASPI SCSI access support ALT B Press ALT A to activate the Accept button to use the new settings Proceed to run GHOST as normal These steps will then allow the user to use GHOST to copy the disk image through the RAID array Note Typically disk cloning software accelerates data transfer through direct disk access Problem Solution a b c d e f g h 116 which also allows for overlapping r
12. Page NVIDIA Corporation 65 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Click Next and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k lt Back Cancel Figure 3 45 RAID Array Selection Page 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select Spanning while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k lt Back Cancel Figure 3 46 RAID Array Selection Page Spanning 66 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Channel Device Oka woc WD360GD 00FN40 Primary Master Oka woc WD360GD 00FNA0 Secondary Master Olga woc WD 740GD 00FL40 Primary Master O woc wD740GD OOFLAO Secondary Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more free hard disks Figure 3 47 Free Disk Selection Page 6 Select the two drives that you want to use in the Spanned array In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in the following screen sho
13. above screen shot a striped array with two SATA disks has been created while the other two disks are allocated as Free Disks Similarly to create an array with three or more disks simply make sure to add the number of disks that you want to use in the array during creation You can also extend the size of an existing striped array but that requires that you use morphing the ability to convert from one RAID array to another as described in Morphing From One RAID Array to Another on page 72 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Creating a Mirrored Array The NVRAIDMAN application can be used to create a Mirrored Array By definition a mirrored array consists of two drives Data is written to both drives and if one drive fails then data can be recovered from the other drive To create a Mirrored Array do the following 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows and launch the NVRAIDMAN application then click on Create Array and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the creation of a new RAID array To continue click Next c Figure 3 30 Create Array Wizard Welcome Screen NVIDIA Corporation 57 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Click Next and the following screen will appear
14. box shown inFigure 3 20 i Rebuild Finished x NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G Figure 3 20 Rebuild Finished Bubble Message During the rebuilding process the NVIDIA RAID Management utility screen shows the status under the System Tasks and Details sections Rebuilding 34 48 GB Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master mal WDC WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk al DC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25G6B SATA Primary Master ial WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Rebuilding 7 15 complete Figure 3 21 Array Rebuilding Status Detail NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility More About Rebuilding Arrays Rebuilding Occurs in the Background The rebuilding process takes some time to complete and occurs in the background so as not to affect the performance of the system Rebuilding Applies Only to RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 Arrays Rebuilding an array works only when using RAID 1 and or RAID 0 1 Rebuilding does not apply to RAID 0 and JBOD arrays e Rebuilding applies to a degraded fault tolerant array You can rebuild a degraded mirrored array using any available Free Disk or Dedicated Disk For example Figure 3 22 shows a mirrored array using two 34 48 GB drives while having two Free Disks each 55 90 GB large Healthy 34 48 GB Hot Plug Array create Array fad WDC WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB
15. free disk will be automatically assigned to the mirrored array to be used instead of the failed disk Dedicated Disk A dedicated free disk is a disk that is assigned to a RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array and that disk is used by that array only when needed for example during a system crash where a RAID mirrored drive is broken The dedicated disk can be used only by the array that it is assigned to and not by any other array unlike a free disk which can be used by any available RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array Note You must have at least two RAID arrays to use this feature NVIDIA Corporation 2 Spare disks cannot be used for RAIDO or JBOD arrays 41 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Assigning a Free Disk To mark a disk as free or not a part of any array 1 Enter the system BIOS setup and make sure that the drive that you want to mark as free is RAID enabled 2 Enter the RAID BIOS and make sure that the drive is not part of any array if one exists 3 Boot into Windows and run the NVRAIDMAN program The drive appears under the Free Disk section Figure 3 7 shows an example of the NVRAIDMAN display if you have a mirror array and two free disks nvraid x Healthy 34 48 GB WDC WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD3606D 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk ill VDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master ead WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondar
16. hard disks that are to be RAID enabled in the system BIOS 2 Specify the RAID level either Mirroring RAID 1 Striping RAID 0 Mirrored Striping RAID 0 1 or Spanning JBOD and create the desired RAID array 3 Boot from the Windows CD and install the nForce RAID software 4 Initialize the NVRAID Array Disks See Initializing and Using the Disk Array on page 33 NVIDIA Corporation 11 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Setting Up a Non Bootable NVIDIA RAID Array All of the tasks that are related to a non bootable NVIDIA RAID Array can be performed from Windows using the NVRAIDMAN utility Setup Used in This Section This section assumes the following setup e Boot Disk One hard disk connected to the Primary IDE channel and set to Master or Slave e RAID Array Disks RAIDO Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave This example shows how to enable RAID 0 on the two hard disks RAID1 Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave This example shows how to enable RAID 1 on the two hard disks JBOD Spanning Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave This example shows how to enable a JBOD Spanning array on the two hard disks RAID0 1 Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one i
17. is attached to Adapter 1 Channel 0 and the drive is set to Master The following is a list of all possible combinations Parallel ATA 0 0 M Adapter 0 Channel 0 Master 0 0 S Adapter 0 Channel 0 Slave 0 1 M Adapter 0 Channel 1 Master 0 1 8 Adapter 0 Channel 1 Slave Serial ATA 1 0 M Adapter 1 Channel 0 Master 1 1 M Adapter 1 Channel 1 Master 2 0 M Adapter 2 Channel 0 Master 2 1 M Adapter 2 Channel 1 Master Note There is no such thing as Slave drive in Serial ATA All drives are considered to be Master since there is a one to one connection between the drive and the adapter 26 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Using the Define a New Array Screen If necessary press the tab key to move from field to field until the appropriate field is highlighted Selecting the RAID Mode By default this is set to Mirroring To change to a different RAID mode press the down arrow key until the mode that you want appears in the RAID Mode box either Mirroring Striping Spanning or Stripe Mirroring Selecting the Striping Block Size Striping block size is given in kilobytes and affects how data is arranged on the disk It is recommended to leave this value at the default Optimal which is 64KB but the values can be between 4 KB and 128 KB 4 8 16 32 64 and 128 KB Assigning the Disks NVIDIA Corporation The disks that you enabled f
18. pew a bea bape ee Oe amp 57 Creating a Stipe Mirroring Array gt s 242 eke ARR EEE Eee eee eR EEE eS 61 Creating a Spanning AMY as s deo to eA GMOS ERE Ad 65 Deleting a RAIDAN Va aaa ee eel ee a oe SOY od ee eR Soe we ed Ble 69 Morphing From One RAID Array to Another covers eee ee ee ee eR es 72 General Morphing Principles lt gt a erected adient d Eoaea e i e ee doae i enei E at 72 Morphing INSTUCIONS od sere ere bee bbe beh Oe a e SEES 74 MOUPIUIG AWAY oi m e e ee ae ee a de Gr ice Ge Ew ee RE Se Ot Gee A 104 4 NVIDIA RAID Frequently Asked Questions 00 0c eee ee eee 107 Basic RAID Questions cos ks eRe a a RE EO RA a A RS AAA 107 NVIDIA Corporation i NVIDIA Applications NVIDIA RAID User s Guide v2 0 A RAID ROM Setup QUESTIONS 2 hee Gh eRERe 2b kee da a Oh ERA Dee o 109 Rebuilding Arrays QUESIONS 23 s eaga roaa 4 S00 AAA RE Oe a ER 109 Dedicated Disk QUESIIONS 4 a das da REPS RS hae OEE 110 Windows RAID Application s 2 es cer ee ek be ak BEEN A BARR ERE EE MES Se DEEN ES 110 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes 000 cece eee eee eee 111 Installing NVIDIA RAID on a New Windows XP Operating System 0 0000024 e 112 rl m 2 itd deat E Boe bn oe eae Oe Roe ees aan a a bane os 112 SOUWUOM 6 2 24 6 heme tes Soe Choe te oe ee eek a tee have 112 Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID 02 00000 eee ee 113 Problem 22 2644424505 d he8 a bet bee o4 ed beh a 113 SOIW
19. storage devices for use with Windows press ENTER S Specify Additional Devices ENTER Continue F3 Exit Figure 2 22 Windows Setup NVIDIA drivers listed 4 Press Enter to continue with Windows XP Installation Be sure to leave the floppy disk inserted in the floppy drive until the blue screen portion of Windows XP installation is completed then take out the floppy 5 Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP After Windows XP is completely installed it is recommended that you install the ForceWare software in order to access NVRAIDMAN the RAID management tool Note Each time you add a new hard drive to a RAID array the RAID driver will have to be installed under Windows once for that hard drive After that the driver will not have to be installed 32 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Initializing and Using the Disk Array The RAID array is now ready to be initialized under Windows 1 Launch Computer Management by clicking Start gt Settings gt Control Panel then open the Administrative Tools folder and double click on Computer Management 2 Click Disk Management under the Storage section NVIDIA Corporation Figure 2 23 Initialize and Convet Wizard The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizards appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Welcome to the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard This wizard helps you to initialize new disks
20. system environment This technique reduces overall disk access time and offers high bandwidth Block e Biock3 e Block 5 Figure 1 1 RAID 0 Array Diagram RAID 0 involves no parity calculations to complicate the write operation This makes RAID 0 ideal for applications that require high bandwidth but do not require fault tolerance RAID 0 has the best performance and capacity of any RAID level but the lowest availability no fault tolerance If one drive fails the entire array fails because part of the data is missing with no way to recover it other than restoring from a backup Summary of Features and Benefits e Benefits Provides increased data throughput especially for large files e Drawbacks Does not deliver any fault tolerance If any drive in the array fails all data is lost e Uses Intended for non critical data requiring high data throughput or any environment that does not require fault tolerance e Drives Minimum 1 Maximum Up to 6 or 8 depending on the platform e Fault Tolerance No NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID RAID 1 How RAID 1 Works Ina RAID 1 array every read and write is carried out in parallel across two disk drives The mirrored or backup copy of the data can reside on the same disk or on a second redundant drive in the array RAID 1 provides a hot standby copy of data if the active volume or drive is corrupted or becomes unavaila
21. 30 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Installing the RAID Drivers 1 After you complete the RAID BIOS setup boot from the Windows CD The Windows Setup program starts 2 Press F6 and wait a few moments for the Windows Setup screen to appear S Specify Additional Devices ENTER Continue F3 Exit Figure 2 20 Windows Setup Specify Devices 3 Specify the NVIDIA drivers a Insert the floppy that has the RAID driver press S then press Enter The following Windows Setup screen appears Enter Select F3 Exit Figure 2 21 Windows Setup Select SCSI Adapter NVIDIA Corporation 31 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration b Select NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER required and then press Enter c Press S again at the Specify Devices screen then press Enter d Select NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller required and then press Enter The following Windows Setup screen appears listing both drivers Windows Setup Setup will load support for the following mass storage device NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller To specify additional SCSI adapters CD ROM drives or special disk controllers for use with Windows including those for which you have a device support disk from a mass storage device manufacturer press If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage device manufaturer or do not want to specify additional mass
22. 3DFX 3DFX INTERACTIVE the 3dfx Logo STB STB Systems and Design the STB Logo the StarBox Logo NVIDIA nForce GeForce NVIDIA Quadro NVDVD NVIDIA Personal Cinema NVIDIA Soundstorm Vanta TNT2 TNT RIVA RIVA TNT VOODOO VOODOO GRAPHICS WAVEBAY Accuview Antialiasing the Audio amp Nth Superscript Design Logo CineFX the Communications amp Nth Superscript Design Logo Detonator Digital Vibrance Control DualNet FlowFX ForceWare GIGADUDE Glide GOFORCE the Graphics amp Nth Superscript Design Logo Intellisample M BUFFER nfiniteFX NV NVChess nView NVKeystone NVOptimizer NVPinball NVRotate NVSensor NVSync the Platform amp Nth Superscript Design Logo PowerMizer Quincunx Antialiasing Sceneshare See What You ve Been Missing StreamThru SuperStability T BUFFER The Way It s Meant to be Played Logo TwinBank TwinView and the Video amp Nth Superscript Design Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and or other countries Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated Intel Indeo and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation Microsoft Windows Windows NT Direct3D DirectDraw and DirectX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered
23. 8 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 65 RAID Mode Selection Page 80 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 For the New RAID Mode entry select Mirror as shown in the following screen shot 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode You must select a free disk to add to the new Mirroring array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 66 RAID Mode Selection Page Selecting Mirroring NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name _ Device O woc W0360GD 00FNAO 34 48GB Secondary O WDC wD740GD DOFLAO 69 25GB Primary O WDC WD740GD OOFLAO 69 25 GB Secondary Master Master Master Figure 3 67 Free Disk Selection Page 81 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 82 7 Select one of the disks and click Next then Finish In this example the WD360GD was chosen as shown in Figure 3 68 SA NAVIDIA nvraid x Mirroring Healthy 34 48 GB WDC WD360GD D0FNAD Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk all WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA P
24. CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc NVIDIA Corporation 87 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing from RAID 1 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0 array with two disks 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows and launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Mirrored Array on page 57 to create a two disk mirror array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following nvraid th Mirroring Healthy 34 48 GB WDC WD360GD D0FNAD Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master fe WOC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk WDC WD740GD DOFLAD Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 77 RAID Array Created Now that a two disk mirrored array has been created you can use the NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a two disk RAID 1 into a two disk RAID 0 array 88 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select Convert Array as shown in the following screen shot Hot Plug Array Rebuild Array thy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master Create Array althy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master De
25. D Array Created 74 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A 4 NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Now that a two disk stripe array has been created you can use the NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a two disk RAID 0 into a three disk RAID 0 array Right click on the newly created striped array or existing striped array and a select Convert Array as shown from the following screen shot Hot Plug Array Create Array Delete Array Ithy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master thy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk ill WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master all WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 56 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing a RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next lt Back Cancel Figure 3 57 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen 75 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAID
26. D array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k v lt Back Cancel Figure 3 39 RAID Array Selection Stripe Mirroring 62 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen will appear 6 Select the four drives that you want to use in the Stripe Mirroring array NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name d O woc wD3606D D0FMAO O woc wD360GD 00FMAO O woc WD740GD 00FLAO O woc wD7406D DOFLAO Channel Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Device Master Master Master Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more free hard disks NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name MI woc wD360GD 00FNAD MI woc wD360GD 00FNAD MI DC WD740GD 00FLAD MI WDC WD740GD 00FLAO c Figure 3 40 Free Disk Selection Page Channel Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Device Master Master Master Master A Stripe Mirroring array requires 4 or more free hard disks lt Back Cancel Figure 3 41 Free Disk Selection Page Selecting Disks In this example all of the drives are selected as shown in the following screen shot 63 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Click Next and the following screen shot w
27. Entering the RAID BIOS Setup 1 Wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10 The RAID prompt appears as part of the system POST and boot process prior to loading of the OS You have a few seconds to press F10 before the screen disappears 2 Press F10 The NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array screen appears Figure 2 14 NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array SAAV Mirroring Striping Block Optimal Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Disk Model Name F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate hy Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 14 NVIDIA RAID Utility By default RAID Mode is set to Mirroring and Striping Block is set to Optimal NVIDIA Corporation 25 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Understanding the Define a New Array Window Use the Define a New Array window to e Select the RAID Mode e Set up the Striping Block e Specify which disks to use for the RAID Array Depending on the platform used the system can have one or more channels Ina typical system there is usually one adapter and multiple channels and each channel has a slave and a master The adapter channel master slave status of each hard disk is given in the Loc location columns of the Free Disks and Array Disks lists 1 0 M M Master S Slave Channel Adapter 0 is used for PATA drives 1 and above is used for SATA drives Figure 2 15 Loc Column Information In Figure 2 15 1 0 M means the hard drive
28. IDIA Corporation 39 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility NVIDIA RAID Mirrored Array and Striped Array Figure 3 6 shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array as well as a two hard drive striped array GY NVIDIA nvraid x Healthy 34 48 GB Hot Plug Array Ealwoc WD360GD DOFNAOD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master fa woc WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Striping Healthy 138 50 GB mal VDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master meal VDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 6 NVRAIDMAN Mirrored Array and Striped Array Information 40 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array The spare drive can take over for a failed disk NVIDIA RAID supports two types of spare drives Free Disk A free disk is a disk that is not part of any RAID array but can be used by any available RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array that requires a particular disk when one of its disks crashes or becomes unusable The process is automatic and doesn t require any user interaction For example if you have a system with four hard disks where one disk is used to boot the OS two hard drives are set up in a mirrored array and a fourth hard disk is set up as a free disk then if one of the mirrored array drives fails the
29. MAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode Btriping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes Figure 3 58 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Capacity Channel Device ORA woc WD740GD 00FLAO 69 25GB Primary Master Oka woc WD740GD 00FL40 69 25GB Secondary Master lt Back Cancel Figure 3 59 Free Disk Selection Page 76 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Select the disk or disks that you want to add to the existing striped array In this example we are adding one disk which is the upper disk to the existing two disk striped array So select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish Figure 3 60 Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Screen 8 Click Finish then click on the newly created three disk striped ar
30. MGM 20 Pike tbe Ga os hae me or a Bee a She e be aes S A 113 Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 e e 115 Problem gt ocio 115 SONION 2 3 00 A a e RA a a Ad 115 Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID sacara a a evan Seu tee Paes 116 Problems sa eanta s A Oe Se os a a eee a a te oe a ee ace 116 SOON sfc bee dee e eRe hehe See eee ee SSE ws d a ie E or beweetea 116 NVIDIA Corporation ii ABOUT NVIDIA RAID NVIDIA brings Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID technology which is used by the world s leading businesses to the common PC desktop This technology uses multiple drives to either increase total disk space or to offer data protection RAID techniques were first published in 1988 by a multivendor consortium the RAID Advisory Board RAID techniques were divided into different categories or levels Originally RAID levels focused on improving resiliency or data availability As additional RAID levels were defined one was introduced for improving performance For all levels RAID techniques optimize storage solutions by using multiple disks grouped together and treating them as a single storage resource This chapter describes NVIDIA RAID in the following sections e System Requirements on page 2 e RAID Arrays on page 3 describes the RAID levels supported by NVIDIA RAID e NVIDIA RAID Features on page 9 describes additional features offered by NVIDIA RAID NVIDIA Corporation 1
31. N NO lt Del F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate y Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 17 Clear Disk Data Prompt 2 Press Y to clear the disk data The Array List screen appears where you can review the RAID arrays that you have set up NVIDIA RAID Utility Array List Boot Id Status Vendor Array Model Name Healthy NVIDIA MIRROR 74 53G Ctrl X Exit Ay Select B Set Boot N New Array ENTER Detail Figure 2 18 Array List Window NVIDIA Corporation 29 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up then press B to specify the array as bootable 4 Press Enter to view and verify details The Array Detail screen appears Array 2 NVIDIA MIRROR 74 56G Array Detail RAID Mode Mirroring Striping Width 1 Striping Block 32K Adapt Channel M S Index Disk Model Name Capacity 0 T380023AS 74 56GB Master 1 T380023AS 74 56GB R Rebuid D Delete C Clear Diskt Enter Return Figure 2 19 Array Detail Screen The Array Detail screen shows various information about the array that you selected such as Striping Block used RAID Mode Striping Width Disk Model Name and disk capacity 5 If you want to mark this disk as empty and wipe out all its contents press C 6 At the prompt press Y to wipe out all the data otherwise press N 7 Press Enter again to go back to the previous screen and then press F10 to exit the RAID setup
32. NVIDIA nvraid x Healthy 34 48 GB SF Hot Plug Array off create Array WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master fe WOC WD360GD 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk WDC WD740GD 00FLAD Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master fea WOC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 1 NVRAID Management Utility Window The following are examples of the information displayed for the various RAID levels While the details of your own configuration will likely vary from what is shown the examples serve to illustrate the basic differences between the RAID levels NVIDIA RAID Mirrored Array Figure 3 2 shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array using identical 34 4 GB SATA hard drives WD360GB where one drive is configured as Primary and the other drive is configured as Secondary The total hard disk space used is 34 4 GB Name Status Capacity Interface channel Device Healthy 34 48 GB ead WDC WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master ead WC WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 2 NVRAIDMAN Mirrored Array Information 1 1 GB 1 073 741 824 bytes NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility NVIDIA RAID Striped Array Figure 3 3 shows an example of a two hard drive striped array using identical 34 48 GB SATA hard drives WD360GB where one drive is configured as Pr
33. NVRAIDMAN Utility From the RAID Array Selection page select one of the arrays from the list This is the array to which you want to allocate the dedicated free disk Note In Figure 3 10 there are two arrays available Click Next The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard You have chosen to allocate 513800114 As a Spare Disk for the Following RAID array NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G To close this wizard click Finish Figure 3 11 Completing Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Page 45 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 6 Click Finish As shown in Figure 3 12 the ST380011A drive is now a dedicated free disk in the mirrored array mvraid x ENS ERA al rl RES Hot Plug Array Se Mirroring Healthy 34 48 GB ST3800114 Healthy 74 53GB PATA Secondary Master sf WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master S Mirroring Healthy 69 25 GB se ST3800114 Healthy 74 53GB PATA Secondary Slave ee WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master S WDC WD740GD 00FL40 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 12 Designated Spare Disk If a system crash occurs that causes any of the two WD360GD drives to fail the ST380011A hard drive will take o
34. Phy Secndry Int SATA Phy Primary Int SATA Phy Secndry Menu Level gt gt AV gt lt Move Enter Select PU PD Value F10 Save ESC Exit F1 General Help F5 Previous Values F6 Fail Safe Defaults F7 Optimized Defaults Figure 2 3 RAID Config Window 4 From the RAID Config window enable RAID then enable the disks that you want to use as RAID disks In Figure 2 3 the master and slave drives on the secondary IDE port are enabled as RAID disks Make sure to enable the SATA drives also if you are setting up a RAID 0 1 array 5 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit The PC reboots 6 Enter the RAID BIOS Setup by pressing F10 when prompted and proceed to set up the NVIDIA RAID BIOS as described in the next section 14 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS The NVIDIA RAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID array type and which hard drives you want to make part of the array Entering the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After rebooting your computer wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10 The RAID prompt appears as part of the system POST and boot process prior to loading the OS You have a few seconds to press F10 before the window disappears 2 Press F10 The NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array window appears Figure 2 4 NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array UTES Mirroring Striping Block Optima
35. SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk fad WOC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master fad WOC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Details Figure 3 22 Free Disks Available for Rebuilding To use one of these available free disks to rebuild your array follow the same steps as explained in Rebuilding a RAID Array on page 47 except when prompted to select a disk choose one of the two available free disks NVIDIA Corporation 51 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Creating RAID Arrays This section includes examples of using NVRAIDMAN for e Creating a Striped Array e Creating a Mirrored Array e Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array e Creating a Spanning Array In these examples the system is configured with four SATA hard disks Creating a Striped Array NVRAIDMAN can be used to create a striped array from one disk up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system To create a two disk Striped Array do the following 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows and launch the NVRAIDMAN application 52 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Create Array and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the creation o
36. a NVIDIA ForceWare Software NVIDIA RAID User s Guide A Version 2 0A AN Ne aN Su Ss x NVIDIA Corpg September 35 NVIDIA Applications NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 Published by NVIDIA Corporation 2701 San Tomas Expressway Santa Clara CA 95050 Notice ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS REFERENCE BOARDS FILES DRAWINGS DIAGNOSTICS LISTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY MATERIALS ARE BEING PROVIDED AS IS NVIDIA MAKES NO WARRANTIES EXPRESSED IMPLIED STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIALS AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable However NVIDIA Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties that may result from its use No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of NVIDIA Corporation Specifications mentioned in this publication are subject to change without notice This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation Trademarks NVIDIA the NVIDIA logo
37. ails 2 513800114 Healthy 74 53GB PATA Secondary Master 2 ST3800114 Healthy 74 53GB PATA Secondary Slave Figure 3 96 RAID Array Created Now that a four disk stripe mirror array has been created you can use the NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a four disk RAID 0 1 into a six disk RAID 0 1 array NVIDIA Corporation 101 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select Convert Array as shown in the following screen shot Name WDC ea WDC Free Di ST3800114 s ST3800114 Se Stripe Mirroring lot Plug Array mae Hi ae WDC Rebuild Array Create Array Delete Array Status Capacity Healthy 68 95 GB 34 48 GB 34 48 GB 69 25 GB 69 25 GB Healthy 74 53 GB Healthy 74 53 GB Interface Channel SATA SATA SATA SATA PATA PATA Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Secondary Secondary Device Master Master Master Master Master Slave Figure 3 97 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Strip
38. alize and Convert Disk Wizard Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard You have successfully completed the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard You selected the following settings Initialize Disk 1 Convert None To close this wizard click Finish lt Back Finish Cancel Figure 2 26 Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Page 35 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 6 Click Finish The Computer Management window appears Computer Management DER 36 El File Action View Window Help e om 2 hss Computer Management Local File System Free Space Free Fault Tolerance ll System Tools 3 D Partition Basi Healthy 7 21 3 Event viewer 2 E Partition Healthy i 98 H 2 Shared Folders Partition i Healthy 100 Local Users and Groups SIms DOS_6 C Partition Healthy System 1 99 GB 1 A z Performance Logs and Alerts Device Manager S amp Storage Removable Storage Disk Defragmenter Disk Management fe Services and Applications lt Disk 0 Basic MS DOS_6 i f D F 28 63 GB 1 99 GB FAT 2 00 GB FAT 2 00 GB FAT 1 85 GB 20 79 GB Online Healthy Syste J Healthy Healthy Healthy Unallocated Disk 1 Basic 111 80 GB 111 80 GB Online Unallocated gt Unallocated Primary partition PY Extended partition PY Logical drive Figure 2 27 Computer Management Window The actual disks listed will depend on your system
39. all NVIDIA SMBus Driver NVIDIA Ethemet Driver NVIDIA IDE Driver NVIDIA Audio Driver Figure 2 10 nForce Driver Installation Window 2 Select the modules that you want to install Make sure that the NVIDIA IDE Driver is selected You must install the NVIDIA IDE driver in order to enable NVIDIA RAID If you do not install the NVIDIA IDE driver NVIDIA RAID will not be enabled 3 Click Next and then follow the instructions 4 After the installation is completed be sure to reboot the PC 5 After the reboot initialize the newly created array See Initializing and Using the Disk Array on page 33 1 See the application note Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 on page 115 for infor mation on how to install the NVIDIA IDE Driver under Windows 2000 NVIDIA Corporation 21 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Setting Up a Bootable NVIDIA RAID Array This section explains how to configure a bootable NVIDIA RAID array Setup Used in This Section This section assumes the following setup Boot Disk An IDE CD ROM is connected to the Primary IDE channel and set to Master or Slave Make sure to have a bootable Windows XP Windows 2000 CD inserted into the CD ROM so you can boot from it e RAID Array Disks RAID 0 Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave A fresh copy of Windows XP will be installed on th
40. and to convert empty basic disks to dynamic disks You can use dynamic disks to create software based RAID volumes that can be mirrored or they can be striped or spanned across multiple disks You can also expand single disk and spanned volumes without having to restart the computer After you convert a disk to dynamic you can only use Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows on any volume of that disk To continue click Next Next gt Cancel 33 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Click Next The Select Disks to Initialize window appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Select Disks to Initialize You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it Select one or more disks to initialize Disks Figure 2 24 Select Disks to Initialize Page The disks listed depend on how many arrays you have configured 4 Click Next The Select Disks to Convert window appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Select Disks to Convert The disks you select will be converted to dynamic disks Select one or more disks to convert Disks Figure 2 25 Select Disks to Convert Page 34 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A 5 NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Check the disk in the list if you want to make the array a dynamic disk then click Next The Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard window appears Initi
41. array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc NVIDIA Corporation 91 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing from RAID 1 to RAID 0 1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0 1 array with four disks 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Mirrored Array on page 57 to create a two disk mirrored array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following SY NVIDIA nvraid x Mirroring Healthy 34 48 GB WDC W03606D 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk WDC WD740GD DOFLAD Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 83 RAID Array Created Now that a two disk mirrored array has been created you can use the NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a two disk RAID 1 into a four disk RAID 0 1 array 92 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select Convert Array as shown in the following screen shot SY NVIDIA nvraid x Hot Plug Array Rebuil
42. ary Master 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master A mirrored array has been created while the other two disks are set to free disks NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array NVRAIDMAN can be used to create a Stripe Mirroring array which requires at least four disks to start such an array To create a Stripe Mirror Array do the following 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then click on Create Array and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the creation of a new RAID array To continue click Next cm Figure 3 37 Create Array Wizard Welcome Page NVIDIA Corporation 61 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Click on Next and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k lt Back Cancel Figure 3 38 RAID Array Selection 4 Click on RAID Mode and select Stripe Mirroring while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAI
43. ay as shown in the following screen shot SA AVIDIA nvraid x Hot Plug Array Create Array hy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master Delete Array Convert Array WDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master kad DC WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master mn kag WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25 GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 63 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu NVIDIA Corporation 79 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing a RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next Figure 3 64 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 4
44. ble due to a hardware failure RAID 1 techniques can be applied for high availability solutions or as a form of automatic backup that eliminates tedious manual backups to more expensive and less reliable media Figure 1 2 RAID 1 Array Diagram RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy but at the cost of doubling the required data storage capacity resulting in 50 capacity utilization Performance is roughly the same as for a single drive although in some instances the dual write may be somewhat slower Summary of Features and Benefits e Benefits Provides 100 data redundancy Should one drive fail the controller switches to the other drive e Drawbacks Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive Performance is impaired during drive rebuilds e Uses RAID 1 is ideal for small databases or any other application that requires fault tolerance and minimal capacity e Drives Minimum 2 Maximum 2 e Fault Tolerance Yes NVIDIA Corporation 5 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID RAID 0 1 How RAID 0 1 Works RAID 0 drives can be mirrored using RAID 1 techniques resulting in a RAID 0 1 solution for improved performance plus resiliency lll o i Block 1 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 3 y Block 4 Blo k5 Biock 5 Block 6 Figure 1 3 RAID 0 1 Array Diagram The controller combines the performance of data striping RAID 0 and the fault tolerance of disk mirroring RAID 1 Data is striped across multiple drives and
45. bled Disabled Auto Figure 2 12 Integrated Peripherals Screen NVIDIA Corporation 23 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Use the arrow keys to select the RAID Config see Figure 2 12 4 Press Enter The RAID Config screen appears Phoenix Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility RAID Config RAID Enable Enable Item Help IDE Primary Master IDE Primary Slave IDE Secndry Master IDE Secndry Slave Ext SATA Phy Primary Ext SATA Phy Secndary Int SATA Phy Primary Int SATA Phy Secndry Menu Level gt gt AV gt lt Move Enter Select PU PD Value F10 Save ESC Exit F1 General Help F5 Previous Values F6 Fail Safe Defaults F7 Optimized Defaults Figure 2 13 RAID Config Screen 5 From the RAID Config screen enable RAID then enable any of the disks that you want to use as RAID disks In Figure 2 13 the master and slave drives on the secondary IDE port are enabled as RAID disks Make sure to enable the SATA drives also if you are setting up a RAIDO 1 array 6 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit The PC reboots 7 Enter the RAID BIOS Setup by pressing F10 when prompted and proceed to set up the NVIDIA RAID BIOS as described in the next section 24 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS The NVIDIA RAID BIOS set up lets you choose the RAID type and which hard drives you want to make part of the array
46. d Array Create Array Delete Array Convert Array Ithy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master lthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master WDC WD740GD 0OFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 84 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting aRAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing a RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next lt Back Cancel Figure 3 85 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen NVIDIA Corporation 93 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode Striping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 86 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 F
47. dd to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Capacity Channel Device Oka woc WD 740GD 00FLA0 69 25GB Primary Master Oia woc WD740GD DOFLAD 69 25GB Secondary Master lt Back Cancel Figure 3 81 Free Disk Selection Page 90 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A 7 Click Next then click Finish to complete the process CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Ifyou want to convert the existing two disk mirrored array into a three disk or more striped array then you need to select the number of disk s that you want to add to the newly created striped array and click Next In this example there is no need to select any additional disks since we are simply convert the existing two disk mirrored array into a two disk striped array 8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear nvraid Healthy 68 95 GB aoc WD360GD DOFNAO Healthy 34 48 GB koc WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48 GB Free Disk WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25 GB fed WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25 GB Figure 3 82 New Morphed RAID Array The Morphing Process SATA SATA SATA SATA Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Master Master Master Master As soon as the new array has been created a pop up window similar to the following will appear i Upgrade Started x NVIDIA STRIPE 68 956 It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time it takes to convert an
48. disk devices within a single RAID Array Single set up procedure applies to all drives Spare Drive and Dedicated Drive Allows the user to dedicate a spare disk as a hot Support standby in the event of a array failure e Offers additional protection in case of a failure in a mirrored array Bootable RAID Supports the use of a RAID drive for loading the operating system at power up for optimal performance Morphing Allows the user to upgrade for more performance security and capacity Allows the user to change the current state of a disk array to another array with a one step process called morphing without losing any data during the configuration change Disk Failure Identification e Notifies the user when a disk fails and instructs you on which one to replace 10 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A SETTING UP YOUR RAID CONFIGURATION Basic Configuration Instructions The following are the basic steps for configuring NVIDIA RAID Non Bootable RAID Array 1 Choose the hard disks that are to be RAID enabled in the system BIOS 2 Specify the RAID level either Mirroring RAID 1 Striping RAID 0 Mirrored Striping RAID 0 1 or Spanning JBOD and create the desired RAID array 3 Run the Windows nForce Setup application and install the RAID software 4 Initialize the NVRAID Array Disks See Initializing and Using the Disk Array on page 33 Bootable RAID Array 1 Choose the
49. duplicated on another set of drives Summary of Features and Benefits Benefits Optimizes for both fault tolerance and performance allowing for automatic redundancy May be simultaneously used with other RAID levels in an array and allows for spare disks e Drawbacks Requires twice the available disk space for data redundancy the same as RAID level 1 e Drives Minimum 4 Maximum 6 or 8 depending on the platform e Fault Tolerance Yes 6 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID Spanning JBOD How JBOD Works JBOD stands for Just a Bunch of Disks Each drive is accessed as if it were on a standard SCSI host bus adapter This is useful when a single drive configuration is needed but it offers no speed improvement or fault tolerance Single Logical Drive Disk 1 40GB Disk 2 80GB E Disk 3 40GB Disk 4 120GB Figure 1 4 JBOD Array Diagram Summary of Features and Benefits e Benefits JBOD provides the ability to combine odd size drives using all of the capacity of the drives Drawbacks Decreases performance because of the difficulty in using drives concurrently e Uses JBOD works best if you have odd sized drives and you want to combine them to make one big drive e Fault Tolerance No NVIDIA Corporation 7 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID Summary of RAID Configurations Table 1 1 RAID Configuration Summary Hard Fault Array Uses Advantages Drawbac
50. e 2 striped hard disks RAID 1 Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave A fresh copy of Windows XP will be installed on the 2 mirrored hard disks RAID 0 1 Two hard disks connected to the secondary IDE channel where one is set to Master and the other set to Slave Two SATA hard disks A fresh copy of Windows XP will be installed on the mirrored striped hard disks 2 For Windows 2000 bootable RAID installation see the application note Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID on page 113 22 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Setting Up the BIOS 1 Start your computer then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility screen appears Standard CMOS Features Load Fail Safe Defaults Advanced BIOS Features Load Optimized Defaults Advanced Chipset Features Set Supervisor Password Set User Pasword Power Management Setup Save amp Exit Setup PnP PCI Configurations Exit Without Saving Onboard IO IRQ DMA Asgigment Figure 2 11 BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Screen 2 Use the arrow keys to select Integrated Peripherals see Figure 2 11 then press Enter The Integrated Peripherals screen or a screen similar to it appears Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled PCI Slot V1 1 V2 0 Disabled Disabled Ena
51. e 3 71 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen 84 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode Striping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 72 RAID Mode Selection Page 5 Change the New RAID Mode to Stripe Mirroring as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k y lt Back Cancel Figure 3 73 RAID Mode Selection Page Selecting Stripe Mirroring NVIDIA Corporation 85 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Capacity Channel __ Device O woc W0740GD 00FLAO 69 25GB Primary Master Oma woc WD740GD 00FL40 69 25GB Secondary Master lt Back Cancel Figure 3 74 Free Disk Selection Page 7 Select the two disks that you want to add to the new stripe mirror array In this example we are adding two disks wh
52. e two disks that you want to include in the stripe set In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3 27 NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Channel Device Z lt lt o mary Master WDC WD360GD 00FNA0 Secondary Master O WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Primary Master O woc WD740GD DOFLAO Secondary Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more free hard disks lt Back Cancel Figure 3 27 Free Disk Selection Page Selecting Disks To create a striped array with more disks select additional disks from the list 8 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Completing the NYIDIA Create Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish Cancel Figure 3 28 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard NVIDIA Corporation 55 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 56 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear GSI NVIDIA nvraid Healthy Ealwoc WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy fea wor WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy Free Disk ll WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy dll VDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy Figure 3 29 Stripe RAID Array Created 68 95 GB 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master 69 25GB SATA Primary Master 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master As you can see from the
53. ead and write calls further accelerating the process Because INT13 calls cannot overlap read and write operations must be performed in series which causes the disk cloning process to perform slower when RAID is enabled NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A
54. ected and ready to be moved Continue pressing the right arrow key gt until all the disks that you want to use as RAID array disks appear in the Array Disks block 17 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Figure 2 6 illustrates the Define a New Array window after two disks have been assigned as RAID 1 array disks NVIDIA RAID Utility Define aNew Array RAID Mode Mirroring Striping Block Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Loc Disk Model Name F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate MECA ENTER Popup Figure 2 6 NVIDIA RAID Utility Array Disks Assigned 18 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Completing the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After assigning your RAID array disks press F7 The Clear disk data prompt appears Mirroring Optimal Clear disk data Y YES N NO Figure 2 7 Clear Disk Data Prompt 2 Press Y to clear all drive data The Array List window appears where you can review the RAID arrays that you have set up No 2 Healthy NVIDIA MIRROR 74 53G Figure 2 8 Array List Window NVIDIA Corporation 19 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up then press Enter The Array Detail window appears Array 2 NVIDIA MIRROR 74 56G Array Detail RAID Mode Mirroring Striping Width 1 Striping Block 32K Adapt Channel M S Index Disk Model Name Capacity
55. een 3 Connect the RAID disk that you want to use with any given RAID array 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish lt Back Cancel Figure 3 103 Completing the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Page 5 Click Finish NVIDIA Corporation 105 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 106 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A NVIDIA RAID FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS The FAQ in this chapter are organized by the following categories e Basic RAID Questions on page 107 e RAID ROM Setup Questions on page 109 e Rebuilding Arrays Questions on page 109 e Dedicated Disk Questions on page 110 e Windows RAID Application on page 110 Basic RAID Questions e What is RAID RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and refers to the grouping of 2 or more disk drives that the system views as a single drive Different groupings have difference advantages that include better performance and data fault tolerance See About NVIDIA RAID on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays What type of RAID array is right for me In general for better throughput of non critical data use RAID 0 for fault tolerance use RAID1 and for better throughput as well as fault tol
56. erance use RAID 0 1 See About NVIDIA RAID on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays NVIDIA Corporation 107 CHAPTER 4 NVIDIA RAID Frequently Asked Questions e What is the difference between a bootable and a non bootable RAID array A system with a non bootable RAID array includes a separate hard disk that contains the OS and is not part of the RAID array See Non Bootable RAID Array on page 9 for more information In a bootable RAID array the OS is installed on the RAID array disks See Bootable RAID Array on page 9 for more information I just configured a RAID 1 array why is the array size one half the total cumulative size of the drives RAID 1 uses one half the total disk space for data redundancy See RAID 1 on page 4 for more information on RAID1 arrays e What is the optimal hard drive configuration for RAID 1 mirror In a mirrored array a mirror is created using the maximum drive size of the smaller of the two drives Ideal configuration is achieved using drives of identical size How do I configure a multiple array system Two different arrays can be configured and active at the same time For example a mirrored array with two hard drives as well as a striped array using three hard drives can exist at the same time You need to configure each array separately in the RAID BIOS as well as initialize the arrays in Windows as described in Setting Up Y
57. f a new RAID array To continue click Next conei Figure 3 23 Create Array Wizard Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Stripe Size 64k lt Back Cancel Figure 3 24 RAID Array Selection Page NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 3 53 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select Striping and leave the Stripe Size with its default value as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Striping y Stripe Size X lt Back Cancel Figure 3 25 RAID Array Selection Striping 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Mame Channel Device Od woc WD360GD 00FN40_ Primary Master Oka woc WD360GD 00FN40 Secondary Master Olga woc WD740GD 00FLA0 Primary Master O woc WD740GD DOFLAO Secondary Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more Free hard disks ca Figure 3 26 Free Disk Selection Page 54 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Select th
58. ia aed eRe ER EEE AER SAE SR a EOS 13 Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS eira ecc mei ee ee ib ee ee ee oa eee ee eee i ee 15 Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows 2 aa a a a 21 Setting Up a Bootable NVIDIA RAID Array 2 sa coore reeta tardy nd da ey dey a a 22 Sewp Used im ThS SOCION y s A g sa ke ote rs a E eok Ed a eae s e en i e E 22 Seting Upthe BIOS o cence a ee he E a a wee A BES be wee Bee 23 Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS laaa aaa a 25 Installing the RAID DIVES s s 2 reae bane ee ee ee a a ee A on 31 Initializing and Using the Disk AMY oa i2 80844 2020 ham Aa Raw E 33 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt lt ooooooooom 37 About the NVIDIA RAID Management Utility 20 0 020000000022 ee 37 Viewing RAID Array Configurations soccer Re EE Ee OE ee Ree he ee 38 Setting Upa Spare RAID DISK 20 a Glen Bos Se Ooi or ORE GE OOS eR Ae eo Ree eww SG 41 Assigning a Free Disk e er oe bin eee a BA SAPO REE SSO oe ee OE Rees 42 Assigning a Dedicated Disk s e ir hao eR aE A ddeg i A RRR eee EERE 43 Rebuilding a RAID Atay lt lt od 4 be be Ghee A hig eed ee GOH bie Ewe le bd 47 Rebuilding INSIMIGUONS s e Gri as Rae os ee ee ee Boe OOS e OES ee es 47 More About Rebuilding Arrays 2 2 ee 51 Cr ating RAID ANYS e 2 2 00 Fie ee bd ke A 52 Creating a striped Atay ta sa aka aaue ee Zoe ED AES AA A 52 Creating a Minored Alay o 40h ce os ete
59. ich are both of the upper disks to the existing two disk mirrored array So select both disks and click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish Cancel Figure 3 75 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen 86 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 8 Click Finish then click the newly created four disk mirrored stripe array and the following screen shot will appear SY nvivia nvraid x Stripe Mirroring Healthy 68 95 GB Ealwoc WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master fa woc WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master koc WD740GD 00OFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master mal woc WD740GD O0FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 76 New Morphed RAID Array The Morphing Process As soon as the new four disk mirrored stripe array has been created a pop up window similar to the following will appear i RAID Yolume Added x WDC WD 40GD 00FL40 has been added to NVIDIA RAID 0 1 68 956 followed by the following pop up window Upgrade In Progress x NVIDIA RAID 0 1 68 956 It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time it takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the
60. ign a dedicated disk to RAID 1 and RAID 0 1 Remove a dedicated disk from a RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array View Free Disks Rebuild a RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 array View the status of the rebuilding process Create a RAID Array Delete a RAID Array Morph Convert RAID Arrays Hot Plug Array 110 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A NVIDIA RAID APPLICATION NOTES This chapter includes several application notes that address specific issues that may be encountered when trying to install the NVIDIA RAID software or other software required to run NVIDIA RAID e Installing NVIDIA RAID on a New Windows XP Operating System on page 112 describes how to create a floppy disk to install NVIDIA RAID on a fresh Windows operating system e Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID on page 113 describes how to create a bootable RAID volume with Windows 2000 via the morphing method e Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 on page 115 describes how to install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 which required for installing the NVIDAI IDE driver e Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID on page 116 describes how to use disk cloning software with a RAID array NVIDIA Corporation 111 CHAPTER 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes Installing NVIDIA RAID on a New Windows XP Operating System Problem To install NVIDIA RAID technology on a new Windows XP operating system a floppy disk with the NVIDIA IDE drivers must be created to enab
61. ill eventually appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish Figure 3 42 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Page 8 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear er 9 SI nNvivia mvraid me Wastripe Mirroring Healthy 68 95 GB of Hot Plug Array a woc WD360GD O0FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master E woc WD360GD O0FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master k woc WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master E woc WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master E Figure 3 43 RAID Stripe Array Created A Stripe Mirroring array has been created 64 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Creating a Spanning Array NVRAIDMAN can be used to create a Spanning Array which requires at least one disk to start such an array To create a Spanning Array do the following 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows and launch the NVRAIDMAN application then click on Create Array and the following screen will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the creation of a new RAID array To continue click Next cm Figure 3 44 Create Array Wizard Welcome
62. imary and the other drive is configured as Secondary The total disk space used is 68 95GB Name Status Capacity Interface Channel Device striping Healthy 68 95 GB ead WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master mad wor WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 3 NVRAIDMAN Striped Array Information NVIDIA RAID Mirrored Stripe Array Figure 3 4 shows an example of a four hard drive mirrored stripe array The total disk space used is 68 95 GB The total storage space is 68 95 GB because the two upper drives the drives with the 34 48 GB size are first striped and then they are mirrored onto the 69 25 GB drives Name Status Capacity Interface Channel Healthy 68 95 GB Device ied WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master iad WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master ied WDC WD740GD 00FL40 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master ead WDC WD 740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 4 NVRAIDMAN Stripe Mirroring Array Information NVIDIA RAID Spanning JBOD Array Figure 3 5 shows an example of a two hard drive spanning array The total disk space used is 68 95 GB Name Status Capacity Interface Channel Device bg Spanning Healthy 68 95 GB ead WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master ied WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 5 NVRAIDMAN Spanning Array Information NV
63. ing array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing 4 RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next 102 Figure 3 98 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode ptriping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 99 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the New RAID Mode entry select Stripe Mirror then click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Name Capacity Channel Device C sT3800114 74 53GB Secondary Master C 573800114 74 53GB Secondary Slave Selecting a free disk removes it from the free disk pool The contents of the disk will be erased and replaced with content from the RAID array Figure 3 100 Free Disk Selection Page 7 Select the disks that you want to Morph in increments of two then click Next and Finish NVIDIA Corporation 103 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utilit
64. ks Disks Tolerance RAID 0 Non critical data High data throughput No fault tolerance multiple None requiring high performance RAID 1 Small databases orany 100 data Requires two drives 2 Yes other small capacity redundancy for the storage space environment requiring of one drive fault tolerance RAID Critical data requiring Optimized for both Requires two drives 4 Yes 0 1 high performance 100 data redundancy for the storage space and performance of one drive the Allows spare disks same as RAID level 1 JBOD Combining odd size Combines and uses the Decreases multiple No drives into one big capacity of odd size performance because drive drives of the difficulty in using drives concurrently or to optimize drives for different uses NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID NVIDIA RAID Features Additional RAID Features NVIDIA RAID offers the following additional features NVIDIA Corporation Free Disk and Dedicated Spare Disk A Free Disk or Dedicated Disk can be automatically used in case one drive of a fault tolerant array fails NVIDIA RAID defines a fault tolerant array as either RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 A free disk can be used by any available fault tolerant array while a dedicated disk can be used only by the array to which it is assigned RAID Across PATA and SATA NVIDIA RAID can span across both Parallel ATA as well as Serial ATA controllers RAID operations can be performed
65. l Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Disk Model Name F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate py Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 4 NVIDIA RAID Utility By default RAID Mode is set to Mirroring and Striping Block is set to Optimal NVIDIA Corporation 15 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Understanding the Define a New Array Window Use the Define a New Array window to e Select the RAID Mode e Set up the Striping Block e Specify which disks to use for the RAID Array Depending on the platform used the system can have one or more channels Ina typical system there is usually one adapter and multiple channels and each channel has a slave and a master The adapter channel master slave status of each hard disk is given in the Loc location columns of the Free Disks and Array Disks lists 1 0 M M Master S Slave Channel Adapter 0 is used for PATA drives 1 and above is used for SATA drives Figure 2 5 Loc Column Information In Figure 2 5 1 0 M means the hard drive is attached to Adapter 1 Channel 0 and the drive is set to Master The following is a list of all possible combinations Parallel ATA 0 0 M Adapter 0 Channel 0 Master 0 0 S Adapter 0 Channel 0 Slave 0 1 M Adapter 0 Channel 1 Master 0 1 8 Adapter 0 Channel 1 Slave Serial ATA 1 0 M Adapter 1 Channel 0 Master 1 1 M Adapter 1 Channel 1 Master 2 0 M Adapter 2 Channel 0 Master 2 1 M Adapter 2 Chan
66. l Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Secondary Secondary Device Master Master Master Master Master Slave ed S130 painted 11m ath ae 5138 Hot Plug Array Create Array l Figure 3 8 Designate Spare Pop up Menu NVIDIA Corporation 43 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 2 Select Designate Spare from the menu to launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard This wizard will quide you through the configuration and assignment of an array spare disk RAID 1 techniques allow you to designate spare disks to configured into an array in the event of a disk Failure To continue click Next Figure 3 9 Spare Disk Allocation Wizard 3 Click Next The RAID Array Selection page appears NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the RAID array to receive a spare disk Select a RAID array from the list Name Status Partitions S NVIDI4 MIRROR 34 47G Healthy None S NVIDIA MIRROR 69 24G Healthy None e Designating a free disk as a spare disk removes it from the free disk pool The 1 contents of the spare disk will be erased and replaced with content from the RAID array in the event of a disk Failure Figure 3 10 RAID Array Selection Page 44 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A 4 5 NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 3 Using the
67. le installation of NVIDIA RAID Solution To create the NVIDIA IDE drivers floppy disk the end user must 1 Copy these files from the NVIDIA nForce driver directory IDE WinXP or Win2K onto a formatted floppy disk Diskl Txtsetup oem Nvraid sys NvAtaBus sys 2 Go into the BIOS setup menu and enable RAID a In the BIOS menu specify which disks should be dedicated to RAID b Exit the BIOS menu and reboot 3 At the RAID ROM screen press F10 to enter RAID setup a Create a RAID array and add disks to it b Select Yes when asked to clear disk data c Reboot system 4 Select F6 when prompted 5 Install the NVIDIA RAID drivers created on the floppy disk Select both the RAID and IDE drivers from the floppy to enable RAID functionality 6 Continue with the driver installation process 112 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID Problem In Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or previous versions the end user cannot install this operating system to a bootable RAID volume Solution There are two solutions to resolve this issue described as follows Use the NVRAIDMAN Tool Use the NVRAID Tool nForce Driver Version 5 xx to convert the boot volume to a RAID array The following are step by step instructions 1 2 Install Windows 2000 on a selected hard drive Download and install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 from Microsoft s website
68. lete assuming that you have a RAID array already created as shown in the following screen shot SA NVIDIA nvraid x ealthy 34 48 GB Hot Plug Array Ewocy Rebuild Array 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master ka woc y Create Array 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master AD elete Arra Free Convert Array WDC WD740GD 0OFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 51 Selecting Delete Array from the Pop Up Menu The above screen shot shows that there is a Mirrored array that will be deleted 69 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility After the Delete Array has been selected the following screen shot appear NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the deletion of a RAID array To continue click Next conei Figure 3 52 Delete Array Wizard Welcome Page 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard You have chosen to delete the following RAID array NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G To close this wizard click Finish lt Back Cancel Figure 3 53 Completing the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard Page 70 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Click Finish and the ar
69. lete Array Convert Array mal WDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master all WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 78 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array From one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing a RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next Figure 3 79 Convert Array Wizard Welcome Screen NVIDIA Corporation 89 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode Striping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 80 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to a
70. n 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode Striping You may select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes lt Back Cancel Figure 3 93 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the New RAID Mode entry select Striping as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Create Array Wizard RAID Array Selection Please select the type of RAID array to create Select the type of RAID array to create RAID Mode Striping Stripe Size y lt Back Cancel Figure 3 94 RAID Array Selection Page Selecting Striping NVIDIA Corporation 99 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Click Next then click Finish 8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear mvraid x Healthy 137 91 GB Ea woc WD360GD DOFNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master faa wo WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master faa wo WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master ma woc WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 95 New Morphed RAID Array The Morphing Process As soon as the new four disk striped array has been created a pop up window similar to the following will appea
71. nel 1 Master Note There is no such thing as Slave drive in Serial ATA All drives are considered to be Master since there is a one to one connection between the drive and the adapter 16 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Using the Define a New Array Window If necessary press the tab key to move from field to field until the appropriate field is highlighted NVIDIA Corporation Selecting the RAID Mode By default this is set to Mirroring To change to a different RAID mode press the down arrow key until the mode that you want appears in the RAID Mode box either Mirroring Striping Spanning or Stripe Mirroring Selecting the Striping Block Size Striping block size is given in kilobytes and affects how data is arranged on the disk It is recommended to leave this value at the default Optimal which is 64KB but the values can be between 4 KB and 128 KB 4 8 16 32 64 and 128 KB Assigning the Disks The disks that you enabled from the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free Disks block These are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID array disk Tab to the Free Disks section The first disk in the list is selected Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the right arrow key gt The first disk in the list is moved and the next disk in the list is sel
72. on Parallel ATA hard drives Serial ATA hard drives or both Parallel and Serial ATA hard drives Bootable RAID NVIDIA RAID can be configured in a way to make it bootable For example two hard drives can be configured as a bootable mirrored RAID array RAID on Multiple Disk Controllers Unlike other RAID solutions that limits the user to a dedicated RAID controller NVIDIA RAID software can use a drive on one RAID controller and another drive on a second RAID controller Morphing Morphing is the ability to convert from one RAID mode to another RAID mode This allows the user to upgrade their current disk or array for better performance higher security and increased capacity More importantly this is accomplished without having to go through multiple steps The morphing feature gives the user an upgradeable option to manage storage easily Hot Plug Array Hot plug with respect to RAID is the ability to add a disk to a system safely and without causing problems for the RAID software For example when a drive ina mirrored array fails a user can launch the Hot Plug Array Wizard which instructs the user as to when a drive can be added safely to the system As soon as the drive is added the user can then finish running the RAID wizard and the drive becomes useable by the system CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA RAID Features and Benefits Summary Features Benefits RAID across PATA and SATA Supports both Serial ATA and Parallel ATA
73. our RAID Configuration on page 9 Why is the cumulative size of a RAID 0 Stripe or RAID 0 1 Stripe Mirror not equal to the sum of the drives The drive size is controlled by stripe blocks If you have mis matched drive sizes the size of the array is approximately the size of the smaller drive multiplied by two This is done because there must be corresponding data locations between the drives in the array Any space beyond the corresponding points is not usable Why can I not get into Windows after adding a non bootable array Possible cause would be adding the boot drive to the array and then clearing the array 108 NVIDIA RAID User Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 4 NVIDIA RAID Frequently Asked Questions RAID ROM Setup Questions Why can I not get into the RAID ROM Setup You must enable RAID functionality in the system BIOS as explained in Setting Up the BIOS on page 11 Why do my hard drives not appear in the RAID ROM Setup From the RAID Config window you must enable RAID and then enable the disks that you want to use as RAID disks See Setting Up the BIOS on page 11 for more information e What is the Optimal Striping Block Size in the RAID ROM Setup The default optimal striping block size is 64KB NVIDIA recommends using the optimal block size e What does BBS stand for in the RAID ROM F10 setup BBS stands for BIOS Boot Specification This indicates that the boot device is defined in the BIOS
74. r Upgrade In Progress x NVIDIA STRIPE 137 906 It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time it takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc 100 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing from RAID 0 1 to RAID 0 1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 1 array with four disks to a RAID 0 1 array with six disks Note To Morph from a RAID 0 1 array with four disks to a RAID 0 1 array with six disks you must have at least six hard drives in the system In this example the system has six free RAID enabled disks 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array on page 61 to create a four disk mirrored stripe array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following Name Status Capacity Interface Channel Device Se Stripe Mirroring Healthy 68 95 GB S WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master ee WDC WD740GD DOFLAD Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master S WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk Det
75. ray and the following screen shot will appear nvraid mR Healthy 103 43 GB Striping aoc WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master kg woc WD360GD DOFNAO Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master koc WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master Free Disk WDC WO7406D 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master 80 complete Figure 3 61 New Morphed RAID Array NVIDIA Corporation 77 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 78 The Morphing Process As you can see from the screen shot above a three disk stripe array has been created and the morphing process has begun A pop up window similar to the following will appear i RAID Yolume Added WDC WD 40GD 00FLA0 has been added to NVIDIA STRIPE 103 436 followed by the following pop up window y Upgrade In Progress NVIDIA STRIPE 103 436 It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time is takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc More About This Example In the example above we started with an identical two disk each disk had a size of 34 48 GB striped array that had a total disk space of 68 95 GB We then added a 69 25 GB disk to this array and the newly converted array had a size of 103 43 GB The reason is that when creating a striped array with several disks of variou
76. ray as long as the RAID 0 array is the same size as or larger than the RAID 1 array e You can t morph To or from a JBOD Spanning array From RAID 1 to RAID 1 From RAID 0 1 to RAID 1 72 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Specific Morphing Requirements The following table lists the disk requirements for a new RAID array for various morphing combinations Table 3 1 From To RAID Array Disk Requirements for Morphing New Array Disk Requirements RAID 0 RAID 0 m gt n Number of disks in the new array must be greater than the original array RAID 1 m 2 n 1 RAID 1 array must include two disks converted from a one disk RAID 0 array RAID 0 1 m gt 2xn Number of RAID 0 1 disks must be equal to or greater than twice the number of RAID 0 disks RAID 1 RAID 0 No additional restrictions RAID 1 Not a valid combination RAID 0 1 No additional restrictions RAID 0 1 RAIDO m gt n 2 Number of RAID 0 disks must be equal to or greater than half the number of RAID 0 1 disks RAID 1 Not a valid combination RAID 0 1 m gt n 2 where m must be an even number of disks The new array must include at least two more disks than the original array and can include any even number of disks beyond that i NVIDIA Corporation m quantity of disks in the new array n quantity of disks in the original array 73
77. ray will be deleted and the following screen shot will appear showing all the free disks Free Disk falwoc WD360GD DOFNAOD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master wc WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master wc WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master wc WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 54 RAID Array Deleted A similar process can be applied to delete any array created by NVIDIA RAID NVIDIA Corporation 71 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing From One RAID Array to Another In a traditional RAID environment when a user wants to change the current state of a disk or a current array to anew RAID configuration the process of reconfiguring the new array involves multiple steps The user must back up the data delete the array re boot the PC and then reconfigure the new array NVIDIA RAID allows the end user to change the current state of the disk or array to another with a one step process called Morphing This section describes the NVIDIA Morphing process and explains how to use Morphing to convert from one RAID array type to another General Morphing Principles NVIDIA RAID includes extensive support for morphing a process of converting from one RAID mode to another RAID mode General Requirements and Limitations e The new array capacity must be equal to or greater than the previous array For example it is possible to morph from a RAID 1 array to a RAID 0 ar
78. rimary Master ill VOC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 68 New Morphed RAID Array The Morphing Process As soon as the new three disk striped array has been created a pop up window similar to the following will appear 4 RAID Volume Added WDC WD360GD DOFNAD has been added to NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G followed by the following pop up window i Upgrade In Progress x NVIDIA MIRROR 34 47G It will take some time before the entire process is completed The time it takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU the size and type of hard drive being used the operating system etc NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0 1 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a four disk RAID 0 1 array 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Striped Array on page 52 to create a two disk striped array When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following Healthy 68 95 GB WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA WDC WD360GD D0FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Free Disk WDC WD740GD DOFLAD Healthy 69 25GB SATA WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Health
79. rom the New RAID Mode entry select Stripe Mirroring as shown in the following screen shot NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard RAID Mode Selection Please select the RAID Mode to convert the array to Select the RAID mode to change this array into New RAID Mode You must select free disks to add to the new Striping array Each disk s capacity must be at least 34 48 gigabytes At least 2 disks must be added lt Back Cancel Figure 3 87 RAID Mode Selection Page Selecting Stripe Mirroring 94 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Capacity Channel Device od WDC WD740GD DOFLAO 69 25GB Primary Master Oh WDC WD740GD DOFLAO 69 25GB Secondary Master lt Back Cancel Figure 3 88 Free Disk Selection Page 8 Select both of the disks and click Next then click Finish 9 Click on Stripe Mirroring and the following screen shot will appear SA AVIDIA nvraid ox Healthy 68 95 GB Eawoc WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master fea wo WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master faa woc WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master E woc WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 89 New Morphed RAID Array NVIDIA Corporation 95
80. rom the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free Disks block These are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID array disk Tab to the Free Disks section The first disk in the list is selected Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the right arrow key gt The first disk in the list is moved and the next disk in the list is selected and ready to be moved Continue pressing the right arrow key gt until all the disks that you want to use as RAID array disks appear in the Array Disks block 27 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Figure 2 16 illustrates the Define a New Array screen after two disks have been assigned as RAID1 array disks NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array ETS Mirroring Striping Block Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Loc Disk Model Name F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate my Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 16 NVIDIA RAID Utility Array Disks Assigned 28 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Completing the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After assigning your RAID array disks press F7 The Clear disk array prompt appears NVIDIA RAID Utility Define a New Array RAID Mode Mirroring Striping Block Optimal Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name sk Model Name Clear disk data MIYES N NO YES
81. s converting the single disk RAID array into a multi disk RAID array in a bootable format Note Conversion may take 1 2 hours depending on disk size Create a Combination CD 114 The user must create a combination installation CD that includes Windows 2000 and SP3 or SP4 fixes integrated in To create the combination installation CD refer to the following website http www microsoft com windows2000 downloads servicepacks sp4 HFdeploy htm Note If the end user chooses not to install Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or 4 RAID is still supported on Windows 2000 However the end user will not be able to create a bootable RAID volume NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 Problem In Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or previous versions the end user cannot install the NVIDIA IDE Driver without upgrading Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 Solution In order to upgrade Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 1 Install Windows 2000 on a selected hard drive 2 Download and install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 from the Microsoft website 3 Reboot the system 4 When in Windows 2000 install the NVIDIA nForce Driver Package The user will have an option to install the NVIDIA IDE driver during the installation process 5 Reboot the system NVIDIA Corporation 115 CHAPTER 5 NVIDIA RAID Application Notes Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID
82. s set to Master and the other set to Slave Two SATA hard disks Two hard disks will be used for striping and two hard disks will be used for mirroring 12 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Setting Up the BIOS 1 Start your computer then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility window appears Standard CMOS Features Load Fail Safe Defaults Advanced BIOS Features Load Optimized Defaults Advanced Chipset Features Set Supervisor Password Set User Pasword Power Management Setup Save amp Exit Setup PnP PCI Configurations Exit Without Saving Onboard IO IRQ DMA Asgigment Figure 2 1 BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Window 2 Use the arrow keys to select Integrated Peripherals see Figure 2 1 then press Enter The Integrated Peripherals window appears Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled PCI Slot V1 1 V2 0 Disabled Disabled Enabled Disabled Auto Figure 2 2 Integrated Peripherals Window NVIDIA Corporation 13 CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Use the arrow keys to select the RAID Config see Figure 2 2 then press Enter The RAID Config window appears Phoenix Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility RAID Config RAID Enable Enable PAE IDE Primary Master IDE Primary Slave IDE Secndry Master IDE Secndry Slave Ext SATA Phy Primary Ext SATA
83. s size the disk with the smallest size will be used as the base stripe disk size for the array In this example 34 48 GB is the smallest size common to all three disks Therefore if you multiply 34 48 by three the total will be 103 43 GB The remainder of the disk space on the 69 25 GB disk cannot be used in the newly created array That is why it is recommended to use identical disks type and size when creating a striped array NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Morphing from RAID 0 with One Disk to RAID 1 with Two Disks The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0 array with one disk to a RAID 1 array with two disks 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled 2 Boot to Windows launch the NVRAIDMAN application then follow the steps outlined in Creating a Striped Array on page 52 with the exception that you need to select one disk instead of two disks When that is done you should see a screen shot similar to the following SA NVIDIA nvyraid x Healthy 34 oe GB Ealwoc WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master Free Disk WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master WDC WD360GD 00FNAO Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 62 RAID Array Created 3 Click click on Striping and select Convert Arr
84. t NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Free Disk Selection Select the disks to add to the new RAID array Free Disks Channel Device Primary Master Secondary Master od WDC WD 40GD DOFLAO Primary Master O woc wD740GD OOFLAO Secondary Master 4 Striping array requires 1 or more free hard disks lt Back Cancel Figure 3 48 Free Disk Selection Page Selecting Disks NVIDIA Corporation 67 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 7 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish Figure 3 49 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Page 8 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear SA AVIDIA nvraid x 34 48 GB Primary Master WDC WD360GD D0FNAD Healthy 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk mal WDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master all WDC WD740GD DOFLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 50 RAID Spanned Array Created A Spanned Array has been created 68 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Deleting a RAID Array NVRAIDMAN can be used to delete an Array To delete an Array do the following 1 NVIDIA Corporation Launch the NVRAIDMAN application and right click on the RAID array that you want to de
85. to preserve Disks selected for the new array Name Channel Device e WDC WD360GD 00FNA0 Primary Master fea OC WD360GD O0FNA0 Secondary Master Data from one of the selected disks can be preserved in the new array If one of the disks in the new array has data you wish to save select it now Note Only the smallest disks in the new array can have their data preserved lt Back Cancel Figure 3 34 Data Disk Selection Page NVIDIA Corporation 59 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 60 7 If you want to start rebuilding the array right away copy data from one disk to the other select the disk that you wish to preserve Do not select a disk if you do not want to rebuild the array at this time 8 Click Next and the following screen shot appears NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard You have successfully completed the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard To close this wizard click Finish 9 Click Finish Cancel Figure 3 35 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard Page If you selected a disk to preserve in step 7 the rebuilding process begins Create Array WDC WO3606D 00FNAD WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Free Disk WDC WD7406D 00FLAD WDC WO740GD 00FLAG Details Figure 3 36 Mirrored RAID Array Created Healthy 34 48 GB Healthy Healthy Healthy Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master 69 25GB SATA Prim
86. trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated Copyright O 2004 by NVIDIA Corporation All rights reserved NVIDIA Applications NVIDIA RAID User s Guide v2 0 A Table of Contents 4 1 A pout NVIDIA RAID sernrrrara nana ERRE ACARREAR 1 System Requirements sec ee oo Bae E A EERE OED EET EEE EE eS 2 Hardware SUPPONE a doe wh os Be ee SS kh a e ed Ee Bp Bs 2 Operating System SUPPO s i es be ee ew he Phe ee ee ES Db ae a ee he ew ee es 2 RADAMI yS 4 cs eh oxo 2S OS kL Se PRE RE ee ESD ESS OE de oO ROSE eS hate Pee 3 RAIDO sor oa cok A o a a ds NA SEK A EA A A 4 RAID To ic cea eden sr AA A E dE 5 RAID OP 1s gm sisi hak A E e Ad ew ee 6 Spanning JBOD of2868 20286 RPE Reet A Ge soa ee OP oe 7 summary of RAID ContigurationS 2 era ARA eee eee aR Ree EES 8 NVIDIA RAID Features 024 6 e p o e ee REED Se EEL eee ES 9 Additional RAID Features lt lt bh 6 eb wae Sak Rie bee eH SERS Ro ee be Oo ee eS 9 Features and Benefits Summary 2 64 2 eo ee a SE Boe Pee we be BH ee Pe BES 10 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 00 0c eee ee 11 Basic Contiguration Instructions e sssr apia 0d ee A ESR EDS BES 11 Non Bootable RAID Aay gt ssa ae ace eee ee AA 11 Bootable RAID Amay sc au 0c2 dee mA Eek eee Dee eed dae we we hee BE eS 11 Setting Up a Non Bootable NVIDIA RAID Array 2 0 e e 12 setup Used in THIS SECON y r ee ae eee hee ee bob N rE kapri ENEE EY OA OSES 12 setting Up the BIOS 26s au p
87. ver and be used in the newly formed mirrored array Removing a Dedicated Disk Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a particular array it can be removed at any time To remove the disk right click on the dedicated disk and select the option to remove it For example right click on the ST380011A drive and select Remove Disk as shown in Figure 3 13 SY NVIDIA Name Status Capacity Interface Channel Device S Mirroring Healthy 34 48 GB fee arate 74 53GB PATA Secondary Slave i Hotplug Array 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master Rebuild Array 34 48 GB SATA Secondary Master Designate Spare 69 25 GB Create Array Delete Array 69 25GB SATA Primary Master Convert Array 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk lt lt 513800114 Healthy 74 53GB PATA Secondary Master Figure 3 13 Removing a Dedicated Disk 46 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility Rebuilding a RAID Array Rebuilding is the process of recovering data from one hard drive to another All data is copied from one hard drive to another and then the data is synchronized between the two hard drives This applies only to RAID 1 as well as a RAID 0 1 arrays Rebuilding Instructions After creating a mirrored array you can rebuild the array using the following steps 1 Go to Windows and run the NVIDIA RAID Management utility Figure 3 14 shows an example of a system
88. with one mirrored array and two free disks Healthy 34 48 GB WDC WD360GD DOFNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Primary Master fe WOC WD360GD 00FNAD Healthy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk mal VDC WD740GD 00FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master all WDC WD740GD 00FLA0 Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 14 Mirrored Array NVIDIA Corporation 47 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 2 Right click on Mirroring The popup menu appears SY AVIDIA mvraid x Hot Plug Array fal wOC we ACTA 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master E woc Wi Create Array 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Delete Array Free Di Convert Array mal VDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master al DC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Details Figure 3 15 Array Pop up Menu 3 From the popup menu click Rebuild Array The NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard appears NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through assigning a new disk into an existing RAID array The NVIDIA RAID solution allows you to rebuild a new mirrored data copy while the system is up and running without disrupting user and application access to the data set complete This operation occurs in the background and will not impede your work If you need to shutdown the computer the rebuild will continue where it left off when you restart i
89. y Hot Plug Array With respect to RAID hot plugging is the ability to add a disk to a system safely and without causing problems for the RAID software For example when a drive in a mirrored array fails the user can launch the Hot Plug Array Wizard which instructs the user as to when a drive can be safely added to the system As soon as the drive is added the user can then finish running the RAID wizard and the drive becomes usable by the system Hot Plug Array allows the user to add or remove an entire array without degrading the array in the process NVRAIDMAN can be used to hot plug a RAID disk To hot plug a disk simply do the following 1 Launch NVRAIDMAN and click on Hot Plug Array and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through hot plugging the drives of an existing RAID array To continue click Next lt Back Cancel Figure 3 101 NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Welcome Screen 104 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Hard Disk Insertion Please plug in all drives in your RAID array Plug in the drives which make up your RAID array now When all the drives in the array are plugged in hit Next to continue lt Back Cancel Figure 3 102 Hard Disk Insertion Scr
90. y 69 25GB SATA Details Figure 3 69 RAID Array Created Primary Master Secondary Master Primary Master Secondary Master Now that a two disk striped array has been created you can use the NVRAIDMAN convert feature to morph the array from a two disk RAID 0 into a four disk RAID 0 1 array NVIDIA Corporation 83 CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array or existing striped array and a select Convert Array as shown from the following screen shot Hot Plug Array Create Array Delete Array althy 34 48 GB SATA Primary Master althy 34 48GB SATA Secondary Master Free Disk mal DC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Primary Master meal VDC WD740GD O0FLAO Healthy 69 25GB SATA Secondary Master Figure 3 70 Selecting Convert Array from the Pop Up Menu After selecting Convert Array the following screen shot will appear NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Welcome to the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard This wizard will guide you through the process of converting a RAID array from one array type to another Converting a RAID array includes Adding disks to an existing RAID array For example changing a 2 disk Striping array to a 3 disk Striping array Changing a RAID array to a different array type For example changing a Mirroring array to a Stripe Mirroring array To continue click Next Figur
91. y Master Figure 3 7 NVRAIDMAN Free Disk Information 42 NVIDIA RAID User s Guide Version 2 0 A Assigning a Dedicated Disk To mark a disk as dedicated or reserve it for use by a specific array you must have at CHAPTER 3 Using the NVRAIDMAN Utility least one free disk and you must also have at least two RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 arrays created In this example there are four SATA drives and two PATA drives which are RAID enabled Four SATA drives are used to create two mirrored arrays while two PATA drives are used as free disks Step 1 Mark the Disk as a Free Disk 1 Enter the system BIOS setup and make sure that the drive that you want to mark as free is RAID enabled 2 Boot into Windows and run the NVRAIDMAN program If the disk is not part of any RAID array then it will appear under the Free Disk section of the RAID GUI Step 2 Dedicate the Free Disk to an Array While running NVRAIDMAN dedicate a free disk to an array by doing the following 1 Right click one of the available free disks under the Free Disk section Name Status amp Mirroring Healthy WDC WD360GD 00FN40 Healthy WDC WD360GD 00FNA0 Healthy e Mirroring Healthy WDC WD740GD 00FL40 Healthy WDC WD740GD DOFLAD Healthy Details Free Disk Capacity 34 48 GB 34 48 GB 34 48 GB 69 25 GB 69 25 GB 69 25 GB 74 53 GB 74 53 GB Interface SATA SATA SATA SATA PATA PATA Channe

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