MSI K8n Neo4 F Manual

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Chapter 5. nVidia RAID In-
troduction
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. For all
levels, RAID techniques optimize storage solutions by using multiple
disks grouped together and treating them as a single storage
resource.
nVidia RAID Introduction 

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MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
Introduction
System Requirement
Operating System Support
NVRAID supports the following operating systems:
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional Edition
Windows 2000 Professional
RAID Arrays
NVRAID supports the following types of RAID arrays described in this section:
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...

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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.
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.5-9 for...

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MS-7125 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...

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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...

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MS-7125 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...

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
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,...

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MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
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...

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nVIDIA RAID Introduction
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...

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MS-7125 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”
--> “Switch to Classic View” 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...