SATA RAID Setup and Driver Installation – Foxconn
SATA RAID Setup and Driver Installation
SATA, RAID, and SATA RAID
This motherboard supports both parallel ATA (PATA) and serial ATA (SATA)
devices – hard disk drives and optical disk drives. It includes two or four SATA
connectors, supporting 1-4 SATA drives, one drive per motherboard connector.
RAID, short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks,
employs two or more hard disk drives in combination for performance and/or fault
tolerance.
The Intel I/O Control Hub xR (ICHxR), included on this motherboard, supports
RAID 0 and RAID 1 combinations (“arrays”) of SATA hard disk drives, SATA
RAID.
RAID 0 provides “data striping”, spreading data across multiple hard
drives. This improves performance but does not provide fault tolerance.
Performance is improved by accessing the drives simultaneously.
Because the drives in a RAID 0 array are seen by the operating system
as one large drive, if any drive in the array fails, the data on all drives
are lost.
RAID 1 provides “data mirroring”, duplication of data across a pair or
pairs of hard drives. This provides fault tolerance but lower
performance than a RAID 0 array. Each drive, or pair of drives, is a
“mirror” of the other. If one drive fails the other drive, or the other
drive pair, is not affected.
SATA RAID Driver – Floppy Disk Creation
NOTE: Skip this section if the floppy disk was provided with your motherboard.
Using an available Windows PC with a CD/DVD drive and a floppy disk drive,
proceed as follows:
1. Insert the provided “Motherboard Installation CD”. It will auto start.
2. Exit the driver installation menu.
3. Use Windows Explorer to reach F6install2600.exe. Assuming “D” is your
CD/DVD drive, the path is:
D:\Chip\RAID
4. Double click F6install2600.exe.
5. When prompted, insert a floppy diskette and then click OK. The floppy will
be formatted and the necessary files transferred.
6. Remove the floppy and CD.
7. If desired, label the floppy, “Foxconn RAID Driver for Windows 2000 and
Windows XP. For use during operating system installation (F6).”
System BIOS Setup
Assumptions:
A. You have assembled your “system” to the level where you can boot into
the system BIOS.
B. You have attached a CD/DVD drive and a floppy disk drive.
C. You have attached two (or four) identical SATA drives.
Proceed as follows:
1. Power on the system and hit DEL when the option prompt appears at the
bottom of the Intel Inside splash screen. The “CMOS Setup Utility” menu will
appear.
2. Cursor to “Advanced BIOS Features” and hit ENTER.
3. Cursor to “First Boot Device”, hit ENTER, cursor to select “CDROM”, hit
ENTER, and hit ESC. This will set your CD/DVD as your boot device for the
operating system installation.
4. Cursor to “Integrated Peripherals” and hit ENTER.
5. Cursor to “OnChip IDE Device” and hit ENTER.
6. Cursor to “SATA Mode”, hit ENTER, cursor to “RAID”, hit ENTER, and hit
ESC twice.
7. If you have not previously done so, insert your Windows 2000 or Windows XP
operating system CD into your CD/DVD drive.
8. Hit F10 and then ENTER. This will save your changes, exit the utility, and
reboot the system.
SATA RAID BIOS Configuration Setup
Assumption:
You are following from step 8, above.
Proceed as follows:
1. As the system reboots, three screens will appear – first the Intel Inside splash
screen, then the “general info” boot screen, and finally the “Intel RAID for Serial
ATA – RAID BIOS” screen.
2. When you reach the last of these three screens, the “Intel RAID for Serial ATA
– RAID BIOS” screen, quickly and simultaneously hit CTRL and “I” (“I” as in
Intel”). The “RAID Configuration Utility” screen will be displayed. NOTE: You
may need to retry, or retry more than once, before you catch the “RAID
Configuration Utility” screen. Tip: Hold down the CTRL key as you start to reboot.
Then very quickly hit the “I” key as soon as the “Intel RAID for Serial ATA – RAID
BIOS” screen appears
3. Select “Create RAID Volume” and hit ENTER.
4. Leave the RAID volume name as shown, or enter a new name, and hit
ENTER. [See the HELP section of the screen for limitations on the name.]
5. Review the HELP text, select the desired “RAID level” using the up and down
arrow keys, and hit ENTER.
6. Review the HELP text, select the desired “strip size” using the up and down
arrow keys, and hit ENTER twice.
7. When prompted, hit “Y” to confirm you wish to create the volume.
8. Review the “Disk/Volume Information” section of the resulting screen to
confirm that your drives are set up the way you want. If not, repeat the process
from step 3.
9. Cursor to “Exit”, hit ENTER, and hit “Y” to confirm you wish to exit the utility.
The system will now reboot.
SATA RAID Driver Installation – During Operating System
Installation
Assumption:
You are following from step 9, above.
Proceed as follows:
1. When prompted (bottom of the screen), hit ENTER to boot to the CD,
2. As soon as the first blue screen appears, hit the F6 key.
3. The operating system installation will begin and then wait for interaction with
“S = Specify Additional Devices” at the bottom of the screen, left side.
4. Hit “S” and then ENTER.
5. When prompted, insert the SATA RAID driver floppy diskette and hit ENTER.
The driver will be loaded.
6. Hit ENTER to continue the operating system installation. Follow the prompts
to complete the installation.
7. When the installation has completed, remove the operating system CD and
the floppy and restart the system.
8. Hit DEL when the option prompt appears at the bottom of the Intel Inside
splash screen. The “CMOS Setup Utility” menu will appear.
9. Cursor to “Advanced BIOS Features” and hit ENTER.
10. Cursor to “First Boot Device”, hit ENTER, cursor to select “Hard Disk”, hit
ENTER, and hit ESC. This will set your SATA RAID array as your boot device.
11. Hit F10 and then ENTER. This will save your changes, exit the utility, and
reboot the system.
Intel Application Accelerator (IAA) for SATA RAID Installation
Assumption:
You are following from step 11, above.
Proceed as follows:
1. Boot to the operating system desktop and insert the provided “Motherboard
Installation CD”. It will auto start.
2. Select “Install Driver” and then select “Chipset Software”. Follow the prompts
to install the Intel chipset software (INF and other files). When prompted, remove
the CD and click “Finish”. Allow the system to reboot to the operating system
desktop.
3. Reinsert the provided “Motherboard Installation CD”. It will auto start.
4. Select “Install Driver” and then select “IAA RAID Edition”. When prompted,
remove the CD and click “Finish”. Allow the system to reboot to the operating
system desktop.
5. Run the IAA utility to confirm everything is setup the way you want.
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