User manual GIGABYTE GA-8IRXP

[. . . ] Promise RAID Function (Only For Chipset 20265/20276 Used) USER'S MANUAL 12ME-RAI276-001 RAID Function Copyright Copyright by GIGA-BYTE TECHNOLOGY CO. , LTD. ("GBT") No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any from without the expressed, written permission of GBT. Trademarks Third-party brands and names are the property of their respective owners. Notice Due to rapid change in technology, some of the specifications might be out of date before publication of this booklet. The author assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions which may appear in this document nor does it make a commitment to update the information contained herein. Please do not remove any labels on VGA card , this may void the warranty of this VGA card. 2 Table of Content Table of Content 1. [. . . ] Status: Indicates whether attached hard drive implements Self-Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology to predict drive failure Size: Indicates capacity of individual drive. Location: Shows physical location of drive. Indicates on which IDE channel (1 or 2), and whether drive is Master or Slave on cable. This allows user to identify drives for removal/replacement. Mapping: Indicates physical parameters of drive (cylinders, heads, sectors) Timing: Shows selection of drive timing (directly related to burst speed) based on type of drive and cable used. Using Array Pull-down Menu At the bottom of the Array window, it indicates to right-click on an Array to perform synchronization or rebuild operations. Right-clicking displays the following pull-down menu: From this menu, users may choose to have the Window Always Appear on Top of applications, Minimize, Synchronize mirrored drives, Rebuild a mirrored array, use About to check FastCheck version #, or Exit the onscreen window. 33 RAID Function 5-5 Synchronizing An Array Synchronization is a periodic maintenance procedure for Mirroring arrays to maintain data consistency on all mirrored drives. In operation, array synchronization compares data on the mirrored drives for any differences. If there are differences detected, data from the primary drive(s) is automatically copied to the secondary drive(s). This assures that all mirrored drives will contain the exact information. NOTE: You may instead choose to schedule array synchronization automatically under the Options Tab view versus manually initiating synchronization. . To synchronize, choose the Array Tab View (see figure on previous page). Right-click on the array you wish to synchronize and choose "Synchronize" from the context menu. Click "Yes" to initiate Synchronization (see below) when the Confirmation window appears. To cancel this option, click the No button. WARNING: Once initiated, synchronization can NOT be halted in order to prevent data errors. . Once Synchronization is confirmed, the following information screen appears. Click OK button or close the window to proceed. 34 Using The FastCheck Monitoring Utility NOTE: During Array Synchronization, users may continue to access the working array and perform normal PC functions. However, system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer. A progress bar will appear at the bottom of the FastCheck Monitoring window showing synchronization in progress and the percentage that has been completed. . 35 RAID Function 5-6 Rebuilding An Array This command effectively copies or overwrites data from an existing data drive in the array on to a blank drive. The operation will be typically used when a failed drive has been replaced with a new drive as part of a mirrored array. To perform a Rebuild, choose the Array Tab View. Right click the array number and choose Rebuild from the context menu. [. . . ] You can, and should, use the FDISK and FORMAT utilities to partition/format the array. You can partition the array however you see fit. You can format the array with whatever file system you wish. Installation Issues (Capacity, Booting) Q: Why are some drives recognized by the RAID Function Array Setup utilities with only partial capacity? [. . . ]