MediaShield User’s Guide ForceWare Software Version 3.1

ForceWare Software

MediaShield User’s

Guide

Version 3.1

NVIDIA Corporation

September 23, 2005

NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide Version 3.1

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

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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

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Trademarks

NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, MediaShield, 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 & Nth Superscript Design Logo, CineFX, the Communications & Nth

Superscript Design Logo, Detonator, Digital Vibrance Control, DualNet, FlowFX, ForceWare, GIGADUDE, Glide,

GOFORCE, the Graphics & Nth Superscript Design Logo, Intellisample, M-BUFFER, nfiniteFX, NV, NVChess, nView, NVKeystone, NVOptimizer, NVPinball, NVRotate, NVSensor, NVSync, the Platform & 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 & 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 trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

Copyright

© 2004–2005 by NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.

NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide v3.1

Table of Contents

1.About NVIDIA RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Hardware Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Operating System Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

RAID Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

RAID 0+1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

JBOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Summary of RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

NVIDIA RAID Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Additional RAID Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Features and Benefits Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

2.Setting Up Your RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Setting Up the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Setting Up the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Installing the RAID Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

3.Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

About the MediaShield RAID Management Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Viewing RAID Array Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Assigning a Free Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Assigning a Dedicated Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Removing a Dedicated Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Creating RAID Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Using the MediaShield Create Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Creating a Striped Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Creating a Mirrored Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Creating a Spanning Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Creating a RAID 5 Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Deleting a RAID Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Morphing From One RAID Array to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

General Morphing Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Morphing Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Hot Plug Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Hot Plug Array with System Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

4.Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Initializing a RAID Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Rebuilding a RAID Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Rebuilding Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

More About Rebuilding Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Synchronizing a RAID Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

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5.Initializing and Using the RAID Array Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

6.Using Disk Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About Disk Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Disk Alert Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Example of All Good Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Example of a Degraded Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Example of a Failed Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

7.MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Basic RAID Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

RAID ROM Setup Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Rebuilding Arrays Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Dedicated Disk Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Array Morphing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Windows RAID Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

8.MediaShield Application Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

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H A P T E R

A

BOUT

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:

•

“System Requirements” on page 2 .

•

“RAID Arrays” on page 3 describes the RAID levels supported by NVIDIA RAID.

•

“NVIDIA RAID Features” on page 9 describes additional features offered by NVIDIA

RAID.

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About NVIDIA RAID

System Requirements

Hardware Support

NVIDIA RAID supports the following NVIDIA

®

nForce

™

versions:

• nForce 430

• nForce 410

• nForce4

• nForce4 Ultra

• nForce4 SLI

• nForce4 SLI Intel Edition

• nForce4 Professonal IO-4

• nForce4 Professonal Pro

• nForce4 Professonal Pro SLI

• nForce3 Pro250

• nForce3 250Gb

• nForce3 Ultra

• nForce3 250

• nForce3 150

• nForce2 MCP2S

Operating System Support

NVIDIA RAID supports the following operating systems:

• Windows

®

XP Home Edition

• Windows XP Professional Edition

• Windows 2000 Professional

• Windows Server 2003

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RAID Arrays

This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that MediaShield supports:

•

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.

•

RAID 5

1

RAID 5 provides fault tolerance and better utilization of disk capacity.

•

JBOD

JBOD provides a method for combining drives of different sizes into one large disk.

Note: Not all nForce platforms provide support for all the RAID levels listed.

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1. RAID 5 is supported on select boards only. Please check with your motherboard manufacturer to determine whether RAID 5 is supported for the type and model of your motherboard.

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About NVIDIA RAID

RAID 0

How RAID 0 Works

In a RAID 0 array, the controller ʺstripesʺ 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 0 set. Performance of applications running with a RAID 0 can vary greatly depending on the stripe size configured when creating the array. The default stripe size is 64K, but 32K or 16K may be more efficient if the application issues many smaller I/O operations. Some amount of trial and error may be appropriate to find the optimum stripe size.

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Figure 1.1

RAID 0 Array Diagram

RAID 0 is 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

• Benefits: Provides increased data throughput, especially for large files.

• Drawbacks: No fault tolerance—all data is lost if any drive in the array fails.

• Uses: Intended for non-critical data requiring high data throughput, or any environment that does not require fault tolerance.

• Drives: Minimum: 1. Maximum: Up to 8, depending on the platform.

• Fault Tolerance: No.


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About NVIDIA RAID

RAID 1

How RAID 1 Works

In a 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 unavailable 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 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.


• Benefits: Provides 100% data redundancy. Should one drive fail, the controller switches to the other drive.

• Drawbacks: Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive. Performance is impaired during drive rebuilds.

• Uses: RAID 1 is ideal for small databases or any other application that requires fault tolerance and minimal capacity.

• Drives: Minimum, 2. Maximum, 2.

• Fault Tolerance: Yes

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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.

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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 duplicated on another set of drives.


• 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.

• Drawbacks: Requires twice the available disk space for data redundancy, the same as

RAID level 1.

• Drives: Minimum: 4. Maximum: 6 or 8, depending on the platform.



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RAID 5

How RAID 5 Works

RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives. It writes data and parity blocks across all the drives in the array. Fault tolerance is maintained by ensuring that the parity information for any given block of data is placed on a different drive from those used to store the data itself.

Figure 1.4



• Benefits: An ideal combination of good performance, good fault tolerance, and high capacity and storage efficiency.

• Drawbacks: Individual block data transfer rate same as a single disk. Write performance can be CPU intensive.

• Uses: RAID 5 is recommended for transaction processing and general purpose service.

• Drives: Minimum, 3


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About NVIDIA RAID

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.

Figure 1.5

JBOD Array Diagram


• Benefits: JBOD provides the ability to combine odd size drives using all of the capacity of the drives.

• Drawbacks: No additional fault tolerance or performance relative to individual disks.

• Uses: JBOD works best if you have odd sized drives and you want to combine them to make one big drive.

• Fault Tolerance: No

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Summary of RAID Configurations

Table 1.1

RAID Configuration Summary

Array Uses

RAID 0

Non-critical data requiring high performance.

RAID 1

Small databases or any other small capacity environment requiring fault tolerance.

RAID

0+1

Critical data requiring high performance.

Advantages Drawbacks

High data throughput. No fault tolerance.

100% data redundancy.

Allows spare disks

Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive.

RAID 5

Critical data and reasonable level of performance.

JBOD

Combining odd size drives into one big drive.

Optimized for both

100% data redundancy and performance.

Allows spare disks.

Fault tolerance and better utilization of disk space.

Combines and uses the capacity of odd size drives.

Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive—the same as

RAID level 1.

Decreased write performance due to parity calculations.

Requires at least three drives.

Decreases performance because of the difficulty in using drives concurrently or to optimize drives for different uses.

# Hard

Disks

Fault

Tolerance

multiple None

2

4+

3+

Yes

Yes

Yes multiple No

NVIDIA RAID Features

Additional RAID Features

NVIDIA RAID offers the following additional features:

• Free Disk and Dedicated Spare Disk

A Free Disk or Dedicated Disk can be automatically used in case one drive of a faulttolerant array fails. NVIDIA RAID defines a fault-tolerant array as either RAID 1, RAID

0+1, or RAID 5. 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.

• Bootable RAID

This allows you to install the operating system onto the RAID volume.

• 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

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About NVIDIA RAID having to go through multiple steps. The morphing feature gives the user an upgradeable option to manage storage easily.

• Hot Plug Array

A nice flexibility feature is the ability to move MediaShield RAID arrays from one nForce system to another. Since most nForce systems support SATA hot plug capability, you can add/remove a RAID array even while the system is running. This is done using the Hot Plug Array wizard.

Features and Benefits Summary

Features

Spare Drive and Dedicated Drive

Support

Bootable RAID

Morphing

Disk Failure Identification

Hot Plug Array

Benefits

• Allows the user to dedicate a "spare" disk as a hot standby in the event of a array failure.

• Offers additional protection in case of a failure in a mirrored array.

• Supports the use of a RAID drive for loading the operating system at power up for optimal performance

• 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.

• Notifies the user when a disk fails and indicates which one to replace

• Allows the user to safely add a drive to the array when needed.

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ETTING

U

P

Y

OUR

RAID C

ONFIGURATION

This chapter provides instructions for:

•

Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array

•

Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array

Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array

RAID arrays can be created/deleted using both MediaShield RAID BIOS and the

MediaShield RAID Manager from Windows. This section only covers basic BIOS setup

required for non-bootable array. See the section ʺ Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array

” for instructions on configuring the RAID array in BIOS. See sections on using the

MediaShield RAID Manager for details on configuring non-bootable RAID from

Windows.

Setting Up the BIOS

1 Start your computer, then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup.

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Setting Up Your RAID Configuration

The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility window appears.

Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility

Standard CMOS Features

Advanced BIOS Features

Advanced Chipset Features

Integrated Peripherals

Power Management Setup

PnP / PCI Configurations

Load Fail-Safe Defaults

Load Optimized Defaults

Set Supervisor Password

Set User Password

Save & Exit Setup

Exit Without Saving

Esc : Quit

F10 : Save & Exit Setup

: Select Item

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.



Item Help

RAID Config

OnChip IDE Channel0

Primary Master PIO

Primary Slave PIO

Primary Master UDMA

Primary Slave UDMA


Secondary Master PIO

Secondary Slave PIO

Secondary Master UDMA

Secondary Slave UDMA

IDE Prefetch Mode

Init Display First

OnChip USB

USB Keyboard Support

USB Mouse Support

Serial - ATA

SATA Spread Spectrum

AC97 Audio

[Press Enter]

[Enabled]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Enabled]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Enabled]

[PCI Slot]

[V1.1 - V2.0]

[Disabled]

[Disabled]

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

[Auto]

Menu Level

:Move Enter:Select +/-/PU/PD:Value F10:Save ESC:Exit F1:General Help

F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults

Figure 2.2

Integrated Peripherals Window

3 Use the arrow keys to select the RAID Config (see

Figure 2.2

), then press Enter.

12


The RAID Config window appears.

RAID Enable

SATA 1 Primary

SATA 1 Secondary

SATA 2 Primary



RAID Config

[Enable]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Disabled]

Item Help

Menu Level

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Figure 2.3

RAID Config Window

4 From the RAID Config window, globally enable RAID, then enable the SATA ports with disks that you want to use for RAID.

If RAID is enabled globally but not enabled on the individual SATA port, disks on that port can only be used for non-RAID applications.

In the example in Figure 2.3

, three SATA ports are enabled, so the non-bootable RAID

array can include up to 3 SATA disks. If there is a disk Connected to ʺSATA 2

Secondaryʺ, it can not be used for RAID.

5 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit.

The PC reboots.

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Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows

This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software

1

.

1 Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page.

14

Figure 2.4

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 RAID Array Under Windows” on page 133 .

1. See the application note “Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000” on page 148 for infor-

mation on how to install the NVIDIA IDE Driver under Windows 2000.


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Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array

This section explains how to configure a bootable NVIDIA RAID array.

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

Advanced BIOS Features

Advanced Chipset Features


Power Management Setup

PnP / PCI Configurations

Load Fail-Safe Defaults

Load Optimized Defaults

Set Supervisor Password

Set User Password

Save & Exit Setup

Exit Without Saving

Esc : Quit

F10 : Save & Exit Setup

: Select Item

Figure 2.5

BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Screen

2 Use the arrow keys to select Integrated Peripherals (see

Figure 2.5

), then press Enter.

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The Integrated Peripherals screen (or a screen similar to it) appears.



Item Help

RAID Config


Primary Master PIO

Primary Slave PIO

Primary Master UDMA

Primary Slave UDMA


Secondary Master PIO

Secondary Slave PIO

Secondary Master UDMA

Secondary Slave UDMA

IDE Prefetch Mode

Init Display First

OnChip USB

USB Keyboard Support

USB Mouse Support

Serial - ATA

SATA Spread Spectrum

AC97 Audio

[Press Enter]

[Enabled]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Enabled]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Auto]

[Enabled]

[PCI Slot]

[V1.1 - V2.0]

[Disabled]

[Disabled]

[Enabled]

[Disabled]

[Auto]

Menu Level



Figure 2.6

Integrated Peripherals Screen

3 Use the arrow keys to select the RAID Config (see

Figure 2.6

).

4 Press Enter.

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The RAID Config screen appears.


RAID Config

RAID Enable

SATA 1 Primary


SATA 2 Primary


[Enable]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Enabled]

RAID [Disabled]

Item Help

Menu Level



Figure 2.7

RAID Config Screen

5 From the RAID Config window, globally enable RAID, then enable the SATA ports with disks that you want to use for RAID.

If RAID is enabled globally but not enabled on the individual SATA port, disks on that port can only be used for non-RAID applications.

In the example in Figure 2.7

, three SATA ports are enabled, so the non-bootable RAID

array can include up to 3 SATA disks. If there is a disk Connected to ʺSATA 2

Secondaryʺ, it cannot be used for RAID.

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.

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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.

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 2.8

).

RAID Mode

: Mirroring

NVIDIA RAID Utility

-

Define a New Array

-

Striping Block: Optimal

Free Disks

Loc Disk Model Name

1.0.M

1.1.M

ST380023AS

ST380023AS

[ ] Add

Array Disks


[ ] Del

[F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [ ] Select [ENTER] Popup

Figure 2.8

NVIDIA RAID Utility

By default, RAID Mode is set to Mirroring and Striping Block is set to Optimal.

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Understanding the Define a New Array Window

Use the Define a New Array window to

• Select the RAID Mode

• Set up the Striping Block

• Specify which disks to use for the RAID Array

The SATA ports are called channels and they are associated with adapters. The first digit in the Location field defines the adapter that the port is associated with. The 2nd digit defines the channel. (The ʺMʺ field,which used to specify Master or Slave, is obsolete.)

1.0.M

(Obsolete)

Channel

Adapter

Figure 2.9

Loc Column Information

In Figure 2.9

, 1.0. means the hard drive is attached to Adapter 1, Channel 0.

The location, disk model and capacity fields should allow you to identify disks. It may be useful to try attaching a SATA hard drive to the ports provided with your platform and determine which location IDs are associated with SATA ports on your motherboard.

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, Stripe Mirroring or RAID 5.

Note: Not all RAID levels are supported on all platforms.

• 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)

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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,

1

Tab to the Free Disks section.

The first disk in the list is selected

2

Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the rightarrow key (Æ).

The first disk in the list is moved, and the next disk in the list is selected and ready to be moved.

3

Continue pressing the right-arrow key (Æ) until all the disks that you want to use as

RAID array disks appear in the Array Disks block.

Figure 2.10

illustrates the Define a New Array screen after two disks have been

assigned as RAID1 array disks.

RAID Mode

: Mirroring

MediaShield Utility

-


-

Striping Block: Optimal

Free Disks


[ ] Add

Array Disks


1.0.M

1.1.M

ST380023AS

ST380023AS

[ ] Del


Figure 2.10

MediaShield Utility—Array Disks Assigned

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Completing the RAID BIOS Setup

1 After assigning your RAID array disks, press F7.

The Clear disk array prompt appears.

RAID Mode

: Mirroring


-


-

Striping Block:

Optimal

Free Disks

Loc

Disk Model Name

Array Disks

Loc

Disk Model Name

Clear disk data?

1.1.M

ST380023AS

ST380023AS

[ ] Del


Figure 2.11

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.


-

Array List -

Boot Id Status Vendor Array Model Name

Yes 2 Healthy NVIDIA MIRROR 74.53G

NVIDIA Corporation

[Ctrl-X] Exit [ ] Select [B] Set Boot [N] New Array [ENTER] Detail

Figure 2.12

Array List Window

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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

1 0 Master 0 ST380023AS 74.56GB

1 1 Master 1 ST380023AS 74.56GB

[R] Rebuild [D] Delete [C] Clear Disk [Enter] Return

Figure 2.13

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.

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Installing the RAID Drivers

Your system may come with a Windows install CD that already includes NVIDIA RAID drivers. If so, then this section is not relevant.

If that is not the case (or you are trying to install a new version of Windows), then you will need an NVIDIA RAID driver F6 install floppy. Check to see if one came with your system. If not, you can create one by downloading the appropriate driver package and following the steps in this section.

1 Create an F6 install floppy by using the ʺ-xʺ option, then copy all files in ʺ…\IDE\

WinXP\sataraidʺ to a floppy disk. (For Windows 2000, substitute ʺWin2Kʺ in the path.)

2 After you complete the RAID BIOS setup, boot from the Windows CD.

The Windows Setup program starts.

3 Press F6 and wait a few moments for the Windows Setup screen to appear.

Windows Setup

Setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices installed in your system, or you have chosen to manually specify an adapter.

Currently, Setup will load support for the following mass storage device(s):

<none>

* 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 S.

* If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage

device manufacturer, or do not want to specify additional

mass storage devices for use with Windows, press ENTER.

S=Specify Additional Devices ENTER=Continue F3=Exit

Figure 2.14

Windows Setup—Specify Devices

4 Specify the NVIDIA drivers.

a Insert the floppy that has the RAID driver, press S, then press Enter.

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The following Windows Setup screen appears:

Windows Setup

You have chosen to configure a SCSI Adapter for use with Windows, using a device support disk provided by an adapter manufacturer.

Select the SCSI Adapter you want from the following list, or press ESC to resutrn to the previous screen.

NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER (required)

NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller (required)

24

Enter=Select F3=Exit

Figure 2.15

Windows Setup—Select SCSI Adapter

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 S.

* If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage

device manufacturer, or do not want to specify additional

mass storage devices for use with Windows, press ENTER.

S=Specify Additional Devices ENTER=Continue F3=Exit

Figure 2.16

Windows Setup—NVIDIA drivers listed

5 Press Enter to continue with Windows XP Installation.


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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.

6 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 the MediaShield 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.

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C

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U

SING THE

NVIDIA M

EDIA

S

HIELD

RAID

M

ANAGEMENT

U

TILITY

About the MediaShield RAID Management Utility

The MediaShield RAID software ships with an application called MediaShield. This chapter describes the MediaShield tasks in the following sections:

•

Viewing RAID Array Configurations

View an array configuration (mirrored, striped, mirrored-striped, JBOD, RAID 5 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

• Creating RAID Arrays

• Deleting a RAID Array

• Morphing From One RAID Array to Another

• Hot Plug Array

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Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility

Viewing RAID Array Configurations

To view your RAID configuration from Windows, launch the MediaShield RAID

Management utility by double-clicking MediaShield.

The RAID configuration information appears in the right-side pane, as shown in Figure

3.1

.

Figure 3.1

MediaShield RAID 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.

Mirrored RAID Array

Figure 3.2

shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array using identical 34.4 GB

1

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.

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Figure 3.2

MediaShield Mirrored Array Information

1. 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes


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Striped RAID 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 Primary and the other drive is configured as Secondary. The total disk space used is 68.95GB.

Figure 3.3

MediaShield Striped Array Information

Mirrored-Stripe RAID 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.

Figure 3.4

MediaShield Stripe Mirroring Array Information

Spanning (JBOD) RAID Array

Figure 3.5

shows an example of a two hard drive spanning array. The total disk space used is 68.95 GB.

Figure 3.5

MediaShield Spanning Array Information

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Mirrored RAID Array and Striped RAID Array

Figure 3.6

shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array as well as a two hard

drive striped array.

Figure 3.6

MediaShield Mirrored Array and Striped Array Information

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Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk

You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or

RAID 5 array

2

. The spare drive can take over for a failed disk. MediaShield 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, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 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 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, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 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, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 array.

Note: You must have at least two RAID arrays to use this feature.

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2. Spare disks cannot be used for RAID0 or JBOD arrays.

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Assigning a Free Disk

To mark a disk as free, or not a part of any array, do the following:

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 MediaShield program.

The drive appears under the Free Disk section.

Figure 3.7

shows an example of the MediaShield display if you have a mirror array and two free disks.

Figure 3.7

MediaShield Free Disk Information

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Assigning a Dedicated Disk

To mark a disk as dedicated, or reserve it for use by a specific array, you must have at least one free disk and you must also have at least two RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 arrays created. In this example, there are two mirrored arrays and two 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 MediaShield 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 MediaShield, dedicate a free disk to an array by doing the following:

1 Right click one of the two Mirrored arrays as shown below

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.8

Designate Spare Pop-up Menu

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2 Select Designate Spare from the menu to launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard.

Figure 3.9

Spare Disk Allocation Wizard

3 Click Next.

The Free Disk Selection page appears.

34

Figure 3.10

Free Disk Selection Page


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4 From the Free Disk Selection page, select one of the two free disks available.

This would be the disk that will be designated to the mirror array.

Note: In

Figure 3.10

there are two disks available.

5 Click Next.

The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears.

Figure 3.11

Completing Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Page

6 Click Finish.

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As shown in Figure 3.12

, the ST380011A drive is now a dedicated free disk in the mirrored array.

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 over 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 “Remove Disk...” to remove it. In the previous example, simply right click on the ST380011A drive and select

“Remove Disk...”. as shown in the screen shot below:

36

Figure 3.13

Removing a Dedicated Disk


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Creating RAID Arrays

This section covers use of the MediaShield Creation Wizard. This wizard will step through configuration of your available storage.

There are three ways in which the MediaShield Create Wizard can be launched:

• Using the balloon popup that appears when the system boots:

This balloon indicates that MediaShield has discovered free disks in your system available for configuration. If you click on the bubble, the MediaShield Create Wizard will be launched.

Note: This balloon will only pop up if you have up to three available disks. If you have four or more disks available, you must use one of the remaining two methods to start the MediaShield Create Wizard.

• Using the following dialog that appears when launching MediaShield:

If you select Yes, the MediaShield Create Wizard will be launched, and will step you through configuration of your storage.

• You can also select the Create option under System Tasks to launch the MediaShield

Create Wizard.

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Using the MediaShield Create Wizard

The MediaShield Create Wizard walks you through the creation of your available storage resources.

Figure 3.14

MediaShield Wizard Welcome Screen

The welcome screen lists the disks that are available for configuration.

1 Click Next to go to the following screen:

38

Figure 3.15

MediaShield Wizard–Select a Configuration Screen

Note: You will only see this screen if you have less than 4 free disks in the system. If there are 4 or more free disks available, you will proceed to directly to custom setup.


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As shown in Figure 3.15

, there are three options:

•

Protection

•

Capacity

•

Custom

Protection

Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and with the criteria that if a drive fails you will not lose your data. The total capacity of the volume that will be created is displayed. You can click on more information to see a detailed description of the volume that will be created.

1 Click Next.

The following screen appears:

The checkbox titled ʺLaunch Windows Disk Manager when finishedʺ will automatically bring up Windows Disk Manager to complete the configuration.

See the chapter titled “ Initializing and Using the RAID Array Under Windows

ʺ for more information on using Windows Disk Manager.

2

C

lick Finish.

Your RAID volume will be configured and ready for use.

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Capacity

Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and the desire for maximum capacity. This array will NOT be fault-tolerant, so choose this option only if your data is non-critical or is being backed up. The total capacity of the volume that will be created is displayed. You can click on

more information to see a detailed description of the volume that will be created.

1 Click Next.

The following screen appears:

40

The checkbox titled ʺLaunch Windows Disk Manager when finishedʺ will automatically bring up Windows Disk Manager to complete the configuration. See the

chapter titled ʺ Initializing and Using the RAID Array Under Windows

ʺ for more information on using Windows Disk Manager.

2 Click Finish.

Your RAID volume will be configured and ready for use.

Custom

Select this option to perform the RAID array configuration yourself.

Note: Custom is the only option if there are 4 or more free disks in system.

Click Next to see the RAID Array Selection screen. The next sections explain how to custom create various types of RAID arrays.


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Creating a Striped Array

MediaShield 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 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS.

2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard.

3 :Click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.16

RAID Array Selection Page

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4 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:

Figure 3.17

RAID Array Selection—Striping

5 Click Next, and the following screen shot will appear:

42

Figure 3.18



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6 Select the two disks that you want to include in the stripe set.

In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in

Figure 3.19

.

Figure 3.19

Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks

To create a striped array with more disks, select additional disks from the list.

7 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.20

Clearing System Data

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8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear:

Figure 3.21

Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard

9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear:

44

Figure 3.22

Stripe RAID Array Created

As you can see from the above screen shot a striped array with two SATA disks has been created, while the other two disks are allocated as Free Disks.

To create an array with three or more disks, be sure to add the number of disks that you want to use in the array during creation. To “extend” the size of an existing striped array, use the process described in

“Morphing From One RAID Array to Another” on page 63

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Creating a Mirrored Array

The MediaShield 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:



3 Click Next and the following screen will appear:

Figure 3.23


4 Select the two drives that you want to use in the Mirrored array.

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In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.24

.

Figure 3.24


5 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear:

46

Figure 3.25



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Figure 3.26


7 Click Finish.

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.27

Mirrored RAID Array Created

A mirrored array has been created, while the other two disks are set to free disks.

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Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array

MediaShield 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:



3 Click Next and the following screen will appear:

Figure 3.28

RAID Array Selection

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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:

Figure 3.29

RAID Array Selection—Stripe Mirroring


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Figure 3.30


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6 Select the four drives that you want to use in the Stripe Mirroring array.

In this example all of the drives are selected as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.31


7 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.32



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Figure 3.33



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Figure 3.34

RAID Stripe Array Created

A Stripe Mirroring array has been created.

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Creating a Spanning Array

MediaShield 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:




Figure 3.35


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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:

Figure 3.36

RAID Array Selection Page—Spanning

5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.37


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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 shot:

Figure 3.38


7 Click Next and Next again, the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.39



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Figure 3.40



NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.41

RAID Spanned Array Created

A Spanned Array has been created.

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Creating a RAID 5 Array

MediaShield can be used to create a RAID 5 array using at least 3 disks and up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system.

To create a 3 disk RAID 5 Array do the following:



3 :Click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.42


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4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select RAID 5, and leave the “Stripe Size” with its default value as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.43

RAID Array Selection—RAID 5

5 Click Next, and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.44


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6 Select the three disks that you want to include in the RAID 5 array.

In this example the upper three disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.19

.

Figure 3.45


To create a RAID 5 array with more disks, select additional disks from the list.

7 Click Next and Next again, the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.46



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8 To clear all system data from the drives click Next.

Figure 3.47



NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.48

RAID 5 Array Created

As you can see from the above screen shot a RAID 5 array with 3 SATA disks has been created, while the other one disk is allocated as a Free Disk. Similarly, to create an array with four 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 RAID 5 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 63

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Deleting a RAID Array

MediaShield can be used to delete an Array.

To delete an Array do the following:

1 Launch the MediaShield application and right click on the RAID array that you want to delete (assuming that you have a RAID array already created) as shown in the following screen shot:

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Figure 3.49

Selecting “Delete Array” from the Pop Up Menu

The above screen shot shows that there is a Mirrored array that will be deleted.


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After the “Delete Array...” has been selected, the following screen shot appear:

Figure 3.50

Delete Array Wizard—Welcome Page


NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.51

Completing the NVIDIA Delete Array Wizard Page

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3 Click Finish and the array will be deleted and the following screen shot will appear showing all the free disks:

Figure 3.52

RAID Array Deleted

A similar process can be applied to delete any array created by MediaShield RAID.

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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 a new 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.

MediaShield RAID allows the end user to change the current state of the disk or array to another with a one-step process called ʺMorphingʺ. 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

MediaShield RAID includes extensive support for morphing, a process of converting from one RAID mode to another RAID mode.

General Requirements and Limitations

• 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 array as long as the RAID 0 array is the same size as (or larger than) the RAID 1 array.

• You cannot morph

•

To or from a JBOD (Spanning) array

•

From RAID 1 to RAID 1

•

From RAID 0+1 to RAID 1

•

From RAID 5 to 1

• Free disks used for the morph must be no smaller than any of the current disks in the array.

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Specific Morphing Requirements

The following table lists the disk requirements for a new RAID array for various morphing combinations.

Table 3.1

RAID Array Disk Requirements for Morphing

From To New Array Disk Requirements i

RAID 0 RAID 0

RAID 1

RAID 5

RAID 0

RAID 1

RAID 0+1

RAID 5

RAID 0+1 RAID 0

RAID 5

RAID 1

RAID 0+1

RAID 1

RAID 0+1

RAID 5

RAID 0

RAID 1

RAID 0+1

RAID 5

m > n

Number of disks in the new array must be greater than the original array.

m=2, n=1

RAID 1 array must include two disks, converted from a one disk RAID 0 array.

m >= 2 x n

Number of RAID 0+1 disks must be equal to or greater than twice the number of RAID 0 disks.

m >= n + 1

No additional restrictions.

** Not a valid combination **

No additional restrictions.

m >= 3

m >= n/2

Number of RAID 0 disks must be equal to or greater than half the number of RAID 0+1 disks.


m >= 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.

m >= (n/2 + 1)

m >= n - 1


m >= 2 x (n - 1) ; where m is an even number of disks.

m >= n i. m = quantity of disks in the new array. n = quantity of disks in the original array.

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Morphing Instructions

This sections includes specific instructions for the following RAID morphing combinations:

•

“Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0—Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set” on page 66

•

“Morphing from RAID 0 (with One Disk) to RAID 1 (with Two Disks)” on page 71

•

“Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0+1” on page 75

•

“Morphing from RAID 1 to RAID 0” on page 80

•


•

“Morphing from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0” on page 89

•

“Morphing from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0+1” on page 93

•


•


•

“Morphing from RAID 0+1 to RAID 5” on page 106

•


•


•


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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 MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in

“Creating a Striped Array” on page 41 to create a two disk stripe array.

When that is done, you should see a screen shot similar to the following:

Figure 3.53

RAID Array Created

Now that a two disk stripe array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a two-disk RAID 0 into a three-disk RAID 0 array.

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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:

Figure 3.54

Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu

4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.55

Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen

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Figure 3.56

RAID Mode Selection Page


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Figure 3.57



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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 twodisk striped array. So, select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.58

Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Screen

8 Click Finish then click on the newly created three disk striped array and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.59

New Morphed RAID Array

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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: followed by the following pop up window:

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.

More About This Example

When creating a stripe array using hard drives of different sizes, the stripe array uses the stripe size of the smallest drive. For example, if you try to create a 3-disk stripe array that consists of a 10 GB, 20 GB and 40 GB hard drive, the resulting 3-disk stripe array will have a capacity of 30 GB (since 10 GB x 3 = 30 GB).

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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)


enabled.


“Creating a Striped Array” on page 41 with the exception that you need to select one

disk instead of two disks.


Figure 3.60

RAID Array Created

3 Click click on Striping and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.61


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After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.62



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Figure 3.63



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5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select Mirror as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.64

RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Mirroring


NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.65


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7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish.

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Figure 3.66



As soon as the new two disk mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:



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Morphing from RAID 0 to RAID 0+1

The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a four disk RAID 0+1 array.


enabled.


“Creating a Striped Array” on page 41 to create a two-disk striped array.


Figure 3.67

RAID Array Created

Now that a two-disk striped array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a two-disk RAID 0 into a four-disk RAID 0+1 array.

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Figure 3.68



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Figure 3.69



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Figure 3.70


5 Change the “New RAID Mode:” to Stripe Mirroring as shown in the following screen shot:

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Figure 3.71

RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Stripe Mirroring

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Figure 3.72


7 Select the two disks that you want to add to the new stripe mirror array.

In this example, we are adding two disks (which 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:

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Figure 3.73



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8 Click Finish, then click the newly created four-disk stripe mirror array and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.74



As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:


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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 MediaShield application then follow the steps outlined in

“Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 45 to create a two-disk mirror array.


Figure 3.75

RAID Array Created

Now that a two disk mirrored array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a two-disk RAID 1 into a two-disk RAID 0 array.

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3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.76



NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.77


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Figure 3.78


6 Click on Stripe Mirroring and select Striping, then click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.79



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7 Click Next, then click Finish to complete the process.

•

If you 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 converting the existing two-disk mirrored array into a two-disk striped array.

8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.80



As soon as the new array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:


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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.


enabled.


“Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 45 to create a two-disk mirrored array. When that

is done, you should see a screen shot similar to the following:

Figure 3.81

RAID Array Created

Now that a two-disk mirrored array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a two-disk RAID 1 into a four-disk RAID 0+1 array.

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3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.82



NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.83


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Figure 3.84


6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Stripe Mirroring” as shown in the following screen shot:

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Figure 3.85

RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Stripe Mirroring


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Figure 3.86


8 Select both of the disks and click Next, then click Finish.

9 Click on Strip Mirror and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.87


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As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:


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Morphing from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0

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.


enabled.


“Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array” on page 48 to create a four-disk mirrored stripe

array. When that is done, you should see a screen shot similar to the following:

Figure 3.88

RAID Array Created

Now that a four-disk mirrored stripe array has been created, you can use the

MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a four-disk RAID 0+1 into a fourdisk RAID 0 array.

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3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.89



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Figure 3.90



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Figure 3.91


6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Striping” as shown in the following screen shot:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.92

RAID Array Selection Page—Selecting Striping

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7 Click Next, then click Finish.

8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.93



As soon as the new four-disk striped array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:



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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.


enabled.


“Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array” on page 48 to create a four-disk mirrored stripe

array. When that is done, you should see a screen shot similar to the following:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.94

RAID Array Created

Now that a four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a four-disk RAID 0+1 into an six-disk RAID

0+1 array.

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3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.95



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Figure 3.96



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Figure 3.97


6 From the “New RAID Mode:” make sure that “Stripe Mirroring” is selected, then click

Next and the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.98


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7 Select the disks that you want to Morph (in increments of two), then click Next and

Finish.

8 Click on Stripe Mirroring and the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.99

Array Morphing Started

When morphing from one RAID 0+1 array to another RAID 0+1 array, be sure to have a total of at least six available disks in the system, otherwise you will not be able to complete the operation.


As soon as the new six-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:



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The following example shows you how to morph from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a

RAID 5 array with three disks.


enabled.


“Creating a Striped Array” on page 41 to create a two disk stripe array.


Figure 3.100

RAID Array Created

Now that a two disk stripe array has been created, you can use the MediaShield convert feature to morph the array from a two-disk RAID 0 into a three-disk RAID 5 array.

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Figure 3.101



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Figure 3.102



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Figure 3.103


6 Click on Striping and select RAID 5 then click on Next and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.104


7 Select the disk (or disks) that you want to add to Morph to the RAID 5 array.

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In this example, we are adding one disk (which is the upper disk) to the new three disk

RAID 5 array. So, select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.105

Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Screen

8 Click Finish then click on the newly created three disk striped array and the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.106


Note: As you can see from the above screen shot, only 2/3 of the disk space is actually used by RAID 5 since 1/3 of the disk space is used for to store parity information.


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As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 5 array has been created and the morphing process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:

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.

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The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 1 array with two disks to a



enabled.


“Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 45 .


Figure 3.107

RAID Array Created

3 Click click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

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Figure 3.108



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Figure 3.109



NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.110


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5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select RAID 5 as shown in the following screen shot:

Figure 3.111

RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting RAID 5


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Figure 3.112



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7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish..

Figure 3.113






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Morphing from RAID 0+1 to RAID 5

The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a

RAID 5 array with four disks.


enabled.


“Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array” on page 48 .


Figure 3.114

RAID Array Created

3 Click click on “Stripe Mirroring” and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

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Figure 3.115



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Figure 3.116



Figure 3.117


5 Make sure RAID 5 is selected.

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6 Click Next, then Finish and the following screen shot will appear showing the four disk RAID 5 array.

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Figure 3.118




As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 5 array has been created and the morphing process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:



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The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a



enabled.


“Creating a RAID 5 Array” on page 56

.


Figure 3.119

RAID Array Created

3 Click on RAID 5 and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.120


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Figure 3.121


4 Click Next, then select Striping and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.122



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5 Click Next, then Finish.

In this example, the WD360GD was chosen as shown in Figure 3.66

.

Figure 3.123





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The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a 0+1 array with four disks.


enabled.



.


Figure 3.124

RAID Array Created


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Figure 3.125



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Figure 3.126


4 Click Next, then select Stripe Mirroring and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear:

NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.127


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5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish.

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Figure 3.128



As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 0+1 array has been created and the morphing process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:



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The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a

RAID 5 array with four disks.


enabled.



.


Figure 3.129

RAID Array Created


NVIDIA Corporation

Figure 3.130


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Figure 3.131


4 Click Next, then select RAID 5 and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear:

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Figure 3.132



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5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish.

Figure 3.133



As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 5 array has been created and the morphing process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window:


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Hot Plug Array

NVIDIA MediaShield arrays can be moved from one NVIDIA-based system to another.

There are two scenarios for doing this.

• System has been properly shut down

See Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown

.

• System is running

See Hot Plug Array with System Running .

Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown

When the system is properly shutdown, the Hot Plug Array Wizard is not required. You can simply add or remove the array, modify the BIOS RAID settings accordingly, and then power the system back up.

Hot Plug Array with System Running

If required, you can also add or remove a MediaShield array while the system is still running by using the nForce SATA hot plug capability. However, in order to do this without the state of the array changing to Degraded or an Error state, you need to alert

MediaShield that the array is about to be removed/added. This is done using the Hot Plug

Array wizard. When the wizard prompts that it is safe to add disks, disks for the array can be added/removed at that time.

See the following instructions and screen shots for the Hot Plug Array wizard:

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1 Launch MediaShield and click on “Hot Plug Array” and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.134

NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard—Welcome Screen

2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 3.135

Hard Disk Insertion Screen

3 Connect the RAID disk that you want to use with any given RAID array.

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Figure 3.136

Completing the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Page

5 Click Finish.

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H A P T E R

I

NITIALIZING

, R

EBUILDING

,

AND

S

YNCHRONIZING

RAID A

RRAYS

This chapter describes the following MediaShield tasks:

•

Initializing a RAID Array

•

Erase the data on the array by writing all zeros to the sectors of each hard disk.

•

Rebuilding a RAID Array

•

Rebuild a broken mirrored array

•

Watch the progress of rebuilding of an array

•

Only applies to RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and RAID 5 arrays

•

Synchronizing a RAID Array

•

Rebuild the redundancy in RAID 1 or RAID 0+1 arrays (copy the data to the redundant disk—the same operation as rebuilding)

•

Rebuild the parity in RAID 5 arrays

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Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays

Initializing a RAID Array

Initializing a RAID array erases all the data that is stored on that array, and writes all zeros to the disks. Initialization of newly configured RAID arrays is recommended to ensure consistency and reliable performance on any supported fault tolerant array such as

RAID 5, RAID 0, and RAID 0+1.

Use this feature only if you are absolutely sure that you want to wipe out all the data on

that array.

Initialization of a fault tolerant array can only be done when the array is being created. To initialize an array, perform the following steps:

Note: In this example, a mirror array is initialized.

1 From the MediaShield window, right click on any available free disk and select Create

Array as show in Figure 4.1

.

122

Figure 4.1

Create an Array to be Initialized

The Create Array Wizard opens.

2 Follow the Wizard to create a Mirror array.

See “Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 45 .

3 At the Create Array Wizard Welcome screen, click Next.

4 At the RAID Array Selection page, make sure that RAID Mode is set to “Mirroring” and Stripe Size is set to its default value of 64K, then click Next.

5 At the Free Disk Selection page, select the two drives that you want to Mirror and click

Next.


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6 Click Next again and the following screen shot will appear:

Figure 4.2

Clearing System Data Screen

7 Check “Intialize Array” and then click Next.

The Initialization Warning dialog appears.

Figure 4.3

Initialization Warning

8 Click OK.

The Clearing System Data screen appears again with the Initialize Array check box checked as shown in

Figure 4.4

.

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Figure 4.4

Clearing System Data and Initialize Array

9 Click Next, then click Finish at the Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard screen.

The MediaShield window shows the created RAID array as shown in Figure 4.5

.

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Figure 4.5

Mirrored RAID Array Initializing


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The Initialization Process

As you can see from the screen shot above, the initialization process has started and it will be completed in a short period of time. As soon as the Initialization process starts, a popup window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop-up window:

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Rebuilding a RAID Array

Rebuilding is the process of restoring data to a hard drive from other drives in the array.

This applies only to fault tolerant arrays such as RAID 1, RAID 0+1, as well as a RAID 5.

For example, assuming you have a three disk RAID 5 array, and one of the drives fail, then you need to replace the failed drive with a new one, and rebuild the array to regenerate the lost data on the newly added drive.

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 4.6

shows an example of a system with one mirrored array and two free disks.

Figure 4.6

Mirrored Array

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2 Right-click on Mirroring.

The popup menu appears.

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Figure 4.7

Array Pop-up Menu

3 From the popup menu, click Rebuild Array.

The NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard appears.

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Figure 4.8

NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard

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4 Click Next.

The Disk Selection page appears.

Figure 4.9

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.

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Figure 4.10

Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Page


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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 4.11

.

Figure 4.11

Rebuild Bubble Message

When the rebuilding process is finished you will see the pop up box shown in Figure

4.12

.

Figure 4.12

Rebuild Finished Bubble Message

During the rebuilding process, the NVIDIA RAID Management utility screen shows the status under the System Tasks and Details sections.

Figure 4.13

Array Rebuilding Status Detail

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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, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 Arrays

Rebuilding an array works only when using RAID 1 , RAID 0+1, or RAID 5. Rebuilding does not apply to RAID 0 and JBOD arrays.

• 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 4.14

shows a mirrored array using two 34.48 GB drives while

having two Free Disks each 55.90 GB large.

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Figure 4.14

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 126 , except when prompted to select

a disk, choose one of the two available free disks.


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Synchronizing a RAID Array

Synchronizing an array will force a rebuild of redundancy or parity. The operation is applicable to any fault tolerant array such as RAID 1, 0+1 and RAID 5.

• For RAID1 and RAID 0+1, “sync” results in copying the data to the redundancy disk,

• For RAID 5, “sync” results in rebuilding the parity

To sync an array, do the following (This example assumes you have already created a fault tolerant array such as RAID 1):

1 Right click on “Mirroring” and select Synchronize Array as shown in

Figure 4.15

.

Figure 4.15

Array Pop-up Menu

The Synchronize Array Wizard Welcome screen appears.

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Figure 4.16

Synchronize Array Wizard—Welcome Screen

2 Click on Next and then click Finish at the Wizard Completion screen.

The MediaShield window indicates that the array is synchronizing, as shown in

Figure

4.17

.

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Figure 4.17

Mirrored Array Synchronizing

As you can see from the screen shot above, the synchronization process has started and it will be completed in a short period of time.


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The RAID array is now ready to be initialized under Windows.

1 Launch Computer Management by clicking Start Æ Settings Æ Control Panel then open the Administrative Tools folder and double click on Computer Management.

2 Click Disk Management (under the Storage section).

The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizards appears.

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Figure 5.1

Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard

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Initializing and Using the RAID Array Under Windows

3 Click Next.

The Select Disks to Initialize window appears.

Figure 5.2

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.

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Figure 5.3

Select Disks to Convert Page


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5 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.

Figure 5.4

Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Page

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6 Click Finish.

The Computer Management window appears.

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Figure 5.5

Computer Management Window

The actual disks listed will depend on your system. In Figure 5.5

, 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.

7 Format the unallocated disk space.

Right click “Unallocated space”, select “New Partition…” and follow the Wizard instructions.

After the drive has been formatted, it is ready for use.


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About Disk Alert

The RAID manager application includes a disk alert feature that provides a graphical indication of the status of the hard disks in the system.

When the RAID manager application detects a failure condition of an attached drive, a pop-up box appears in the clock area of the Windows system tray. Click the pop-up box to view the manufacturer-provided bitmap image of the system motherboard. The image shows the hard drive connector ports and provides a visual indication of the location and status of the drives as follows:

• Red rectangle: A red rectangle will flash around the port connector that is attached to the failed drive.

• Green rectangle: Ports that have a drive attached, and are in a healthy state, are indicated with a green rectangle around the port connector.

• Yellow rectangle: Ports that have a drive attached, are members of a failed RAID array, but are not the cause of the failure have a yellow rectangle around the port connector.

Unconnected ports have no visual indication.

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Using Disk Alert

Disk Alert Examples

Figure 6.1

through

Figure 6.3

illustrate how the Disk Alert feature is implemented on an

NVIDIA reference board. The actual picture in your system will depend on the motherboard.

Example of All Good Drives

Figure 6.1

shows four green connections indicating four active SATA ports—all SATA

ports are OK.

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Figure 6.1

Disk Alert Example—All SATA Drive Connections OK


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Using Disk Alert

Example of a Degraded Array

Figure 6.2

shows a yellow SATA port indicating that an array has been degraded as well

as a single black SATA port indicating that there is no longer a SATA hard drive connected to that port.

SATA drive connected to this port is part of a degraded array.

No SATA drive connected to this port.

Figure 6.2

Disk Alert Example—Degraded and Missing SATA Connection

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Using Disk Alert

Example of a Failed Drive

Figure 6.3

shows a red SATA port indicating that a drive failure (or a RAID error) has

occured.

Failed SATA drive connected to this port.

Figure 6.3

Disk Alert Example—Failed SATA Drive

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The FAQ in this chapter are organized by the following categories:

•

“Basic RAID Questions” on page 142

•

“RAID ROM Setup Questions” on page 143

•

“Rebuilding Arrays Questions” on page 143

•

“Dedicated Disk Questions” on page 144

•

“Array Morphing Questions” on page 144

•

“Windows RAID Application” on page 144

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MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions

Basic RAID Questions

• 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 or RAID 5, and for better throughput as well as fault tolerance use RAID

0+1.

See “About NVIDIA RAID” on page 1

for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays.

• 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 “Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array” on page 11 for more information.

In a bootable RAID array, the OS is installed on the RAID array disks.

See “Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array” on page 15 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 5 for more information on RAID1 arrays.

• 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 Your RAID

Configuration” on page 11 .

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• 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.

For RAID 0 : Array size = (smallest drive size) x ( number of disks in the array)

For RAID 0+1 : Array size is = ((smallest drive size) x ( number of disks in the array)) / 2

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• How long does the RAID rebuilding process take?

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 take some time and the time it takes depends on the size of the drive, system performance and other factors.

See “Rebuilding a RAID Array” on page 126

for more information.

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Dedicated Disk Questions

• 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 stripedmirrored array.

• Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 array, can

I remove it?

Yes, a dedicated disk can be removed from a RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or a RAID 5 array.

Array Morphing Questions

• Is it possible to Morph a single bootable drive to a two-disk stripe array?

That is, if I have a single drive in the system that is not RAID enabled, then decide to add a second drive to the system, will I then be able to Morph the single bootable drive to a two-disk stripe array?

If ʺRAID Enableʺ in the BIOS RAID Config screen is not enabled when the OS is installed, it is not possible to convert the SATA boot drive into a multi-disk bootable

RAID array.

Therefore, if you want to retain the capability to Morph a single SATA boot drive into a multi-disk RAID array at a future time, you must perform the OS install onto a single disk stripe array. You can do this by following the instructions in

“Setting Up a

Bootable RAID Array” on page 15 and selecting ʺRAID Modeʺ striping and then

adding just your single boot disk. Then install the OS using the F6 install mechanism as described in

Installing the RAID Drivers .

Later, when you want to morph the single disk into a multi-disk RAID array, follow the

instructions in “Morphing From One RAID Array to Another” on page 63 .

• Can I delete an array while it is being Morphed?

Yes, but doing so will erase all the data stored on the soon to be morphed array.

• Can I Morph a bootable RAID array?

Yes, you can morph to and from any supported RAID configuration.

Windows RAID Application

• What functions can be performed using the MediaShield application?

The following tasks can be performed:

•

View information about RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD (as well as any supported configuration if you have more than one RAID array active)

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•

Assign a dedicated disk to RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5

•

Remove a dedicated disk from a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array

•

View Free Disks

•

Rebuild a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array

•

View the status of the rebuilding process

•

Create a RAID Array

•

Delete a RAID Array

•

Morph a RAID Array

•

Hot Plug Array

•

Initialize Array

•

Synchronize Array

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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.

•

“Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID” on page 148

describes how to create a bootable RAID volume with Windows 2000 via the morphing method.

•

“Installing the NVIDIA IDE Driver in Windows 2000” on page 148

describes how to install Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, which required for installing the

NVIDAI IDE driver.

•

“Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID” on page 149

describes how to use disk cloning software with a RAID array.

•

“How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD” on page 150

describes how to use NVIDIA storage drivers to build an XP-SP2 slipstream that can be installed onto an NVIDIA SATA RAID controller.

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MediaShield 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

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.

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.

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Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID

Problem

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.

Solution

In order to use GHOST in a RAID volume, the user must:

• Disable the GHOST Direct Disk Access

• Force it to rely on Extended INT13 to access the disk

To set GHOST to use Extended Interrupt 13h (INT13) access:

a Start GHOST from the DOS prompt. (Not the Windows Command Prompt session)

b Select the “Options” (ALT+O) menu

c Scroll to the “HDD Access” Tab

d Select the “Use Extended Interrupt 13h disk access” (ALT+E)

e Select the “Disable direct IDE access support” (ALT+B)

f Select the “Disable direct ASPI/SCSI access support” (ALT+B)

g Press (ALT+A) to activate the “Accept” button to use the new settings

h 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, which also allows for overlapping read 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.

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How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD

Problem

Create a CD that will install XP-SP2 onto a bootable RAID array.

Solution

Create a slipstream CD that includes MediaShield RAID drivers using the following steps

Initial Setup

There are a number of options on how to setup the directory structures. This is just an example and is not meant to suggest other methods are incorrect.

1 Create the following 3 folders:

•

C:\slipstream\XP

•

C:\slipstream\XP-SP2

•

C:\slipstream\XP-BootImage

You can use any directory names and structure you wish to create the slipstream. The names and structure used in this app note are for example only.

2 Copy XP Gold CD contents into “XP” (make sure your Folder Options View tab has

[Show hidden files and folders] radio button is selected and [Hide protected operating system files] is unchecked.)

3 Download (NOT INSTALL) SP2 from Microsoft website into “XP-SP2” folder

4 Extract SP2 to “XP-SP2” folder with following command:

WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe –x

5 Run SP2 on c:\slipstream\XP with the following:

C\slipstream\XP-SP2\i386\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\slipstream\XP

6 Use IsoBuster or equivalent application to extract the bootable image file to c:\ slipstream\XP-BootImage.

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Add NVIDIA Drivers

1 Extract the NVIDIA driver files from the nForce package using ‘-x’ option.

2 Copy all *.sys, *.dll, *.inf and *.cat files from “…\IDE\WinXP\sataraid” to “c:\ slipstream\XP\i386”.

3 Edit “c:\slipstream\XP\i386\txtsetup.sif” and add the following

a Under [WinntDirectories] section add:

300 = nvidia\nvraid

This will add a directory to hold the storage driver files.

b Directly under header [SourceDisksFiles] add the following lines: nvraidco.dll = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0 nvraid.sys = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0 nvraid.inf = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0 nvraid.cat = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0

NvAtaBus.sys = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0 idecoi.dll = 1,,,,,,,300,0,0

NvAtaBus.sys = 100,,,,,,,4,0,0,,1,4 nvraid.sys = 100,,,,,,,4,0,0,,1,4

This tells installer to copy all driver files to ʺ%systemroot%\nvidia\nvraidʺ and then the two .sys files to ʺ%systemroot%\system32\driversʺ

c Now add the device IDs for your SATA controller directly under the

[HardwareIdsDatabase] section.

This will tell OS which drivers to load for SATA controllers on your platform.

You can get this information from the file

nvraid.inf. Search for “[NVIDIA]” and you should see something like the following:

[NVIDIA]

%CK804SSS%=Crush11_Inst,PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0055&CC_0104

%CK804SSS%=Crush11_Inst,PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0054&CC_0104

%NVRAID_DESC%=nvraid,GenNvRaidDisk

%NVRAID_BUS_DESC%=nvraidbus,*_NVRAIDBUS

%NVRAID_BUS_DESC%=nvraidbus,*NVRAIDBUS

You will require an entry for each of these lines in the following format.

[HardwareIdsDatabase]

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0054 = "nvatabus"

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0055 = "nvatabus"

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GenNvRaidDisk = "nvraid"

*_NVRAIDBUS = "nvraid"

*NVRAIDBUS = "nvraid"

Note: Your platform will likely have different device IDs, so you should modify your entries accordingly.

d Add NVIDIA storage drivers to the SCSI preload section.

[SCSI.Load] nvatabus = NvAtaBus.sys,4 nvraid = nvraid.sys,4

e Add the message that will get displayed during text setup driver load.

[SCSI] nvraid = "NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER" nvatabus = "NVIDIA nForce SATA Controller"

4 Modify hivesft.inf to include the driver files location info into the DevicePath registry key.

This tells the GUI mode setup where to find the driver files. Since this example places them in ʺ%systemroot%\nvidia\nvraidʺ, that is what we use here:

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\

CurrentVersion","DevicePath",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\ inf";"%systemroot%\nvidia\nvraid"

Burning a CD

There are a number of tools that allow you to burn a bootable CD image. Here are some tips when using Nero.

• Select CD-ROM [Boot] option

• Select the Boot tab and

•

Set image to file in c:\slipstream\XP-BootImage

•

Select “Enable expert settings”

•

Set Kind of Emulation to No Emulation

•

Set load segment to 07C0

•

Set number of loaded segments to 4 (Very important!)

• Select ISO 9660 Volume label to

•

XP Professional enter WXPCCP_EN

•

XP Home enter WXHCCP_EN

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XP Professional OEM enter WXPOEM_EN

•

XP Home OEM enter WXHOEM_EN

• Select everything from c:\slipstreap\XP for burning onto CD

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