MSI K8n Neo4 Manual

5-11
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...

5-12
MS-7125 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...

5-13
nVIDIA RAID Introduction
NVRAID Striped Array
The figure below shows an example of a two hard drive striped array using identical
55.90 GB IDE hard drives (ST360015A), where one drive is configured as Master
and the other drive is configured as Slave. The total disk space used is 111.80 GB.
NVRAID Striped Mirror Array
The figure below shows an example of a four hard drive stripe-mirrored array. The
total disk space used is 111.80 GB.
NVRAID Spanning (JBOD) Array
The figure below shows an example of...

5-14
MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk
You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1 or RAID 0+1
array2. The spare drive can take over for a failed disk. NVRAID supports two types
of spare drives:
• Free Disk
A free disk is a disk that is not part of any RAID array, but can be used by any
available RAID 1 or RAID 0+1 array that requires a particular disk when one of its
disks crashes or becomes unusable. The process is automatic and doesn’t require
any user...

5-15
nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Assigning a Dedicated Disk
To mark a disk as dedicated, or reserve it for use by a specific array,
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. Enter the RAID BIOS and make sure that the drive is not part of any array (if one
exists).
3. Boot into Windows and run the NVRAIDMAN program. The drive appears under the
Free Disk section.
Step 2: Dedicate the Free Disk to an Array...

5-16
MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
3. Click Next.
The RAID Array Selection page appears.
4. From the RAID Array Selection page, select one of the arrays from the list.
This is the array to which you want to allocate the dedicated free disk.
5. Click Next.
The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears.
6. Click Finish.
As shown in figure below, the ST380023AS drive is now a dedicated free disk in the
mirrored array. If a system crash occurs that causes any of the two ST360015A
drives to fail, the...

5-17
nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Method 2: Select an array and then assign a free disk to it.
1. Right click on the array to which you want to assign a dedicated free disk. The pop-
up menu appears.
2. Select Designate Spare from the menu to launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard.
3. Click Next. The Free Disk Selection page appears.
4. From the Free Disk Selection page, select one of the disks from the list. Please note
that there can be more than one disk to choose from. 

5-18
MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
5. Click Next. The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears.
6. Click Finish.
You have now assigned a dedicated free disk to a mirrored array.
Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a particular array, it can be removed at
any time. To remove the disk, right click on the dedicated disk and select the option to
remove it. 

5-19
nVIDIA RAID Introduction
Example of Dedicating a Free Disk in a RAID 1 or RAID 0+1 Array
You can also assign a dedicated free disk to a RAID 1 or a RAID 0+1 array, using the
same process.
1. Right-click either the free disk that you want to dedicate to an array, the array type,
or the array drives as shown in the figure below. Then click Designate Spare to
launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard.
2. Click Designate Spare and then follow the instructions in the Wizard. The figure
below shows an...

5-20
MS-7125 ATX Mainboard
Rebuilding a RAID Mirrored Array
Rebuilding is the process of recovering data from one hard drive to another. All data
is copied from one hard drive to another and then the data is synchronized between
the two hard drives. This only applies to RAID 1 array as well as a RAID 0+1 array.
Rebuilding Instructions
After creating a mirrored array, you can rebuild the array using the following steps:
1. Go to Windows and run the NVRAID Management utility. The figure below shows
an...