MSI K7n2 Delta 2 Manual

							5-3
nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Basic Configuration Instructions
The following are the basic steps for configuring NVRAID:
Non-Bootable RAID Array
1. Choose the hard disks that are to be RAID enabled in the system BIOS. (Check p.
    3-13 for details.)
2. Specify the RAID level, either Mirroring (RAID 1), Striping (RAID 0), Striping and
    Mirroring (RAID 0+1), or Spanning (JBOD) and create the desired RAID array.
3. Enter the Windows OS, run the Windows nForce Setup application and install the
    RAID software. (Check p.5-7 for details.)
4. Initialize the NVRAID Array Disks.
Bootable RAID Array
1. Choose the hard disks that are to be RAID enabled in the system BIOS. (Check p.
    3-13 for details.)
2. Specify the RAID level, either Mirroring (RAID 1), Striping (RAID 0), Striping and
    Mirroring (RAID 0+1), or Spanning (JBOD) and create the desired RAID array.
3. Boot from the Windows CD, use the floppy disk that has the RAID driver to copy
    and install the nForce RAID software. (Check p.5-7 for details.)
4. Initialize the NVRAID Array Disks.
Setting Up the NVRAID BIOS
Be sure to enable the SATA Primary/Secondary/Master RAID items in RAID Config
of Integrated Peripherals/Onboard Devices in BIOS (refer to p.3-13 for details)
before configuring the NVRAID BIOS. After that press F10 to save the configuration
and exit. The PC will reboot right away. Then enter the RAID BIOS Setup by pressing
F10 when prompted, and follow the procedures described below to set up the
NVRAID BIOS.
NVRAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID array type and which hard drives you
want to make part of the array.
Entering the RAID BIOS Setup
1. After rebooting your PC, wait until you
see the RAID software prompting you
to press F10. The RAID prompt ap-
pears as part of the system POST and
boot process prior to loading the OS.
2. Press F10, and the NVIDIA RAID Utility
--- Define a New Array window will
appear.
The default RAID Mode is set to Mir-
roring and Striping Block is set to
Optimal.
RAID Configuration 
						

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MS-6570E ATX Mainboard
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
Depending on the platform used, the system can have one or more channels. In a
typical system there is usually one controller and multiple channels, and each chan-
nel has a slave and a master.
The channel/controller/master/slave status of each hard disk is given in the Loc
(location) columns of the Free Disks and Array Disks lists.
In the example above, 1.0.M means the hard drive is attached to Channel 1, Controller
0, and the drive is set to Master. The following is a list of all possible combinations:
Parallel ATA
0.0.MChannel 0, controller 0, Master
0.0.SChannel 0, controller 0, Slave
0.1.MChannel 0, controller 1, Master
0.1.SChannel 0, controller 1, Slave
Serial ATA
1.0.MChannel 1, controller 0, Master
1.1.MChannel 1, controller 1, Slave
MSI Reminds You...
There is no such thing as Slave drive in Serial ATA. All drives are
considered to be Master since there is a one to one connection
between the drive and the controller. 
						

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Using the Define a New Array Window
If necessary, press the tab key to move from field to field until the appropriate field is
highlighted.
• Selecting the RAID Mode
By default, this is set to [Mirroring]. To change to a different RAID mode, press the
down arrow key until the mode that you want appears in the RAID Mode box—either
[Mirroring], [Striping], [Spanning], or [Stripe Mirroring].
• Selecting the Striping Block Size
Striping Block size is given in kilobytes, and affects how data is arranged on the
disk. It is recommended to leave this value at the default [Optimal], which is 32KB, but
the
values can be between [4 KB] and [128 KB].
• Assigning the Disks
The disks that you enabled from the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free
Disks block. These are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks.
To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID array disk,
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 right
arrow key (-->). 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 (
						

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MS-6570E ATX Mainboard
Completing the RAID BIOS Setup
1. After assigning your RAID array disks, press F7. The Clear disk data prompt
appears.
2. Press Y if you want to wipe out all the data from the RAID array, otherwise press
N. You must choose Yes if the drives were previously used as RAID drives.
The Array List window appears, where you can review the RAID arrays that you
have set up.
3. Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up, then press Enter.
The Array Detail window appears.
4. If you want to mark this disk as empty and wipe out all its contents then press C.
5. At the prompt, press Y to wipe out all the data, otherwise press N.
6. Press Enter again to go back to the previous window and then press F10 to exit
the RAID setup. Now that the RAID setup has been configured from the RAID BIOS,
the next step is to configure and load NVRAID drivers under Windows, as ex-
plained in “Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows” on p5-7. 
						

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
NVIDIA RAID Utility Installation
Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows
(for Non-bootable RAID Array)
The existing Windows IDE Parallel ATA driver (as well as the Serial ATA driver if SATA
is enabled) must be upgraded to use the NVIDIA IDE Parallel ATA driver (as well as the
NV Serial ATA driver if SATA is enabled).
This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software
which will upgrade the Windows IDE driver and install the RAID software.
1. Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page.
2. Select the modules that you want to install. Make sure that the “NVIDIA IDE Driver”
is selected.
3. Click Next and then follow the instructions.
4. After the installation is completed, be sure to reboot the PC.
5. After the reboot, initialize the newly created array. See “Initializing and Using the
Disk Array” on p5-10. 
						

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MS-6570E ATX Mainboard
Installing the RAID Driver (for bootable RAID Array)
1. After you complete the RAID BIOS setup, boot from the Windows CD, and the
Windows Setup program starts.
2. Press F6 and wait for the Windows Setup screen to appear.
3. Specify the NVIDIA drivers:
(1) Insert the floppy that has the RAID driver, press S, then press Enter. The
Windows Setup screen appears as below:
(2) Select “NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER” and then press Enter.
(3) Press S again at the Specify Devices screen, then press Enter.
(4) Select “NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller” and then press Enter. The follow-
ing Windows Setup screen appears listing both drivers:
MSI Reminds You...
Please follow the instruction below to make an nVIDIA Serial ATA RAID
driver for yourself.
1. Insert the MSI CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Ignore the Setup screen and use “Explorer” to browse the CD.
3. Copy all the contents (including the sub-folders) in the
\
Vidia\System\MCP2S\Win2k-XP\IDE\WinXP to a formatted
floppy disk.
4. The driver disk for nVIDIA Serial ATA driver is done. 
						

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
4. Press Enter to continue with Windows XP Installation. Be sure to leave the floppy
disk inserted in the floppy drive until the blue screen portion of Windows XP
installation is completed, then take out the floppy.
5. Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP. During the GUI portion of the
install you might be prompted to click Yes to install the RAID driver. Click Yes as
many times as needed in order to finish the installation. This will not be an issue
with a signed driver.
MSI Reminds You...
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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MS-6570E ATX Mainboard
Initializing and Using the Disk Array
The RAID array is now ready to be initialized under Windows.
1. Launch Computer Management by clicking “Start” --> “Settings” --> “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.
3. Click Next. The Select Disks to Initialize window appears. 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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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
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.
6. Click Finish. The “Computer Management” window appears.
The actual disks listed will depend on your system, and the unallocated partition is
the total combined storage of two hard disks. 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. After the drive has been formatted, it is ready
for use. 
						

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MS-6570E ATX Mainboard
RAID Drives Management
There is an application called NVRAIDMAN which helps you perform the following
tasks of nVDIA RAID.
• Viewing RAID Array Configurations
View an array configuration (mirrored, striped, mirror-striped, JBOD, or any sup-
ported combination)
• Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk
• View free and/or dedicated free disks
• Designate a free disk to a particular array
• Rebuilding a RAID Mirrored Array
• Rebuild a broken mirrored array
• Watch the progress of rebuilding an array
Viewing RAID Array Configurations
To view your RAID configuration from Windows, launch the NVRAID Management
utility by double-clicking NvRaidMan.exe (the default location of NvRaidMan.exe is in
\
Vidia\System\MCP2S\Win2k-XP\IDE\WinXP of the setup CD accompanied with your
mainboard).
The RAID configuration information appears in the right-side pane, as shown below.
MSI Reminds You...
The information in the figures in this part may very from what it is shown
in your system.
NVRAID Mirrored Array
The figure below shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array using iden-
tical 55.90 GB IDE hard drives (ST360015A), where one drive is configured as
Master and the other drive is configured as Slave. The total hard disk space used is
55.90 GB. (1.1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes)