MSI P6ngml Manual

							MS-7366 Mainboard
B-2Introduction
System Requirement
Operating System Support
NVRAID supports the following operating systems:
Windows XP, Windows Vista
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 techniques used in RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays.
RAID 5: RAID 5 defines techniques for parity data.
Spanning (JBOD): JBOD provides a method for combining drives of different sizes
into one large disk
Summary of RAID Configurations
Array Uses Advantages Drawbacks # Hard 
Disks Fault 
Tolerance RAID 0 Non-critical data 
requiring high 
performance. High data throughput. No fault tolerance. multiple None RAID 1 Small databases or any 
other small capacity 
environment requiring 
fault tolerance. 100% data 
redundancy. Requires 2 drives for 
the storage space of 1 
drive. 2 Yes  RAID 0+1 Critical data requiring 
high performance. Optimized for both 
100% data 
redundancy and 
performance. 
Allows spare disks. Requires 2 drives for 
the storage space of 1 
drive—the same as 
RAID level 1.  4+ Yes RAID 5 Critical data and 
reasonable level of 
performance. Fault tolerance and 
better utilization of 
disk space. Decreased write 
performance due to 
parity calculations. 
Requires at least 
three drives. 3+ Yes JBOD Combining odd size 
drives into one big drive Combines and uses 
the capacity of odd 
size drives. Decreases 
performance because 
of the difficulty in 
using drives 
concurrently or to 
optimize drives for 
different uses. Multiple No  7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:442 
						

							B-3 nVidia RAIDRAID Configuration
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. (To enable
the SATA 0/ 1/ 2  Primary/ Secondary Channel in nVidia RAID Setup of Inte-
grated Peripherals in BIOS.)
2. Specify the RAID level, either Mirroring (RAID 1), Striping (RAID 0), Striping and
    Mirroring (RAID 0+1), RAID 5 or 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.C-9 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. (To enable
the SATA 0/ 1/ 2  Primary/ Secondary Channel in nVidia RAID Setup of Inte-
grated Peripherals in BIOS.)
2. Specify the RAID level, either Mirroring (RAID 1), Striping (RAID 0), Striping and
Mirroring (RAID 0+1), RAID 5 or 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.B-7 for details.)
4. Initialize the NVRAID Array Disks.
Setting Up the NVRAID BIOS
Be sure to enable the RAID function in SATA Channel of Integrated Peripherals
in BIOS before configuring the NVRAID BIOS. After that press F10 to save the con-
figuration 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 prompt-
ing you to press F10. The RAID
prompt appears as part of the sys-
tem POST and boot process prior to
loading the OS.
2. Press F10, and the NVIDIA RAID Util-
ity --- Define a New Array win-
dow will appear.
The default RAID Mode is set to
Mirroring and Striping Block is
set to Optimal.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:443 
						

							MS-7366 Mainboard
B-4Understanding 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 2, Controller
0, and the drive is set to Master. The following is a list of all possible combinations:
Serial ATA
1.0.MController 1, Channel 0, Master (SATA1)
1.1.MController 1, Channel 1, Master (SATA2)
2.0.MController 2, Channel 0, Master (SATA3)
2.1.MController 2, Channel 1, Master (SATA4)
3.0.MController 3, Channel 0, Master (SATA5)
3.1.MController 3, Channel 1, Master (SATA6)Important
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.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:444 
						

							B-5 nVidia RAID
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], [RAID5], [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 (
						

							MS-7366 Mainboard
B-6Completing 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 Ctrl+X 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
explained in “Installing the NVIDIA RAID Software Under Windows” on C-9.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:446 
						

							B-7 nVidia RAIDInstalling Driver
Install Driver in Windows Vista / XP / 2000
† New Windows Vista / XP / 2000 Installation
The following details the installation of the drivers while installing Windows XP /
2000.
1.When you start installing Windows XP and older operating systems, you may
encounter a message stating, “Setup could not determine the type of one or
more mass storage devices installed in your system”. If this is the case, then
you are already in the right place and are ready to supply the driver. If this is
not the case, then press F6 when prompted at the beginning of Windows
setup.
2.Press the “S” key to select “Specify Additional Device”.
3.You should be prompted to insert a floppy disk containing the NVIDIA RAID
driver into the A: drive.
Note: For Windows Vista you can use Floppy, CD/DVD or USB.Important
Please follow the instruction below to make an “NVIDIA RAID Driver” for
yourself.
1. Insert the MSI CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click the “Browse CD” on the Setup screen.
3.Copy all the contents in the \\nVidia\System\MCP73\IDE\WinXP\sataraid to a
formatted floppy disk.
4.The driver diskette for NVIDIA RAID Controller is done.
4.For Windows Vista:
During the Operating system installation, after selecting the location to install
Vista click on “Load Driver” button to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.
5.When prompted, insert the floppy disk or media (Floppy, CD/DVD or USB) you
created in step 3 and press Enter.
6.You should be shown a list of available SCSI Adapters.
7.Select the  “NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER” and press ENTER.
8.Press “S” again at the Specify Devices screen, then press ENTER.
9.Select “NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller” and then press ENTER. The fol-
lowing Windows Setup screen appears listing both drivers:7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:447 
						

							MS-7366 Mainboard
B-810.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.
11.Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP. After Windows XP is
completely installed, it is recommended that you install the the RAID manage-
ment tool.Important
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.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:448 
						

							B-9 nVidia RAID
Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield 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 NVIDIA nForce Drivers installation 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.Important
You must install the NVIDIA IDE driver in order to enable NVIDIA
MediaShield. If you do not install the NVIDIA IDE driver, NVIDIA
MediaShield will not be enabled.NVIDIA IDE Drive/ RAID Utility Installation7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:449 
						

							MS-7366 Mainboard
B-10Initializing 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.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:4410 
						

							B-11 nVidia RAID
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.7366v1.0-B_NVRAID.p65  2007/10/1, 下午 03:4411