Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product P55 Extreme4 Asrock
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1 Guide to SA T A Hard Disk s In stallation a nd RAID Configuration 1. Guide to SA T A Hard Disk s In stallation ............................ 2 1.1 Seri al A T A (SA T A) Hard Disk s In stallation ............... 2 2. Guide to RAID Configurations ....
2 1. Guide to SA T A Hard Disks In stallation 1. 1 Serial A T A (SA T A) Hard Disk s Installation Intel P55 chipset supports Serial A T A (SA T A) hard disks with RAID functions, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, and Intel Ra pid Storage.
3 2. Guide to RAID Configurations 2.1 Introduction of RAID This motherboard adopts Intel southbridge chipset that integrates RAID controller supporting RAID 0 / RAID 1/ Intel Ra pid Storage / RAID 10 / RAID 5 function with four independent Seri al A T A (SA T A) channels.
4 Intel Ra pid Storage The Intel Ra pid Storage technology supported allows you to create a RAID 0 and RAID 1 set using only two identical hard disk drives. The Intel Ra pid Storage technology creates two partitions on ea ch hard dis k drive to create a virtual RAID 0 and RAID 1 sets.
5 2.2 RAID Configurations Precautions 1. Plea se use two new drives if you are creating a RAID 0 (striping) array for performance. It is recommended to use two SA T A drive s of the sa me size. If you use two drives of different size s, the smaller ca pa city hard disk will be the ba se storage size for ea ch drive.
6 2.3.1 Installing Windows ® XP / XP 64-bit With RAID Functions If you wa nt to install Windows ® XP / XP 64-bit on your SA T A / SA T AII HDDs with RAID functions, plea se follow below ste ps. STEP 1: Set up BIOS. A. Enter BIOS SETUP UTILITY Advanced screen Storage Configuration.
7 If you wa nt to use “Intel Ra pid Storage” in Windows ® environment, plea se install SA T A / SA T AII drivers from the Support CD again so that “Intel Ra pid Storage” will be installed to your system a s well.
8 2.3.3 Migrating a “RAID Ready” System to RAID 0, RAID 1 or RAID 5 If you have an existing “RAID Ready” system, then you can use the following steps to perform a migration from a single non-RAID configuration to a two drive RAID 0, RAID 1 configuration or three drive RAID 5 configuration.
9 2.3.4 Installing Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit With RAID Functions If you want to install Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista TM / Vista TM 64-bit on your SA T A / SA T AII HDDs with RAID functions, plea se follow below steps. STEP 1: Set up BIOS.
10 If you wa nt to use “Intel Ra pid Storage” in Windows ® environment, plea se install SA T A / SA T AII drivers from the Support CD again so that “Intel Ra pid Storage” will be installed to your system a s well.
11 2. 4 Setting the BIOS RAID Items After installing the hard disk drives, plea se set the necessary RAID items in the BIOS before setting your RAID configuration. Boot your system, and press <F2> key to enter BIOS setup utility. Highlight Adva nced a nd press <Enter>, then the main interfa ce of BIOS setup utility will a ppear .
12 Vo l u m e 0 In the Create V olume Menu, under Na me item, plea se key-in a unique na me with 1-16 letters for your RAID volume then press <Enter>. Use the up or down arrow keys to select your desired RAID Level . Y ou may select RAID0 (Stri pe), RAID1 (Mirror), RAID 5, RAID 10, or Matrix Storage for your RAID level.
13 Vo l u m e 0 If you selected RAID 0 (Stripe), use the up or down arrow keys to select the stripe size for your RAID 0 array then press <Enter>.The available values range from 8 KB to 128 KB. The default selection is 128 KB. The stri p value should be chosen ba sed on the pla nned drive usage.
14 Vo l u m e 0 Press <Enter> under the Create V olume item. The utility prompts a confirmation message a s below . Vo l u m e 0 Press <Y> to complete the setup of RAID. After the completion, you will see the detailed information about the RAID that you set up.
15 2. 6 Deleting RAID V olume If you wa nt to delete a RAID volume, plea se select the option Delete RAID V olume , press <Enter>, a nd then follow the instructions on the screen. Plea se note that you are only allowed to create one RAID partition at a time under BIOS RAID environment.
An important point after buying a device Asrock P55 Extreme4 (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
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If you already are a holder of Asrock P55 Extreme4, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Asrock P55 Extreme4.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Asrock P55 Extreme4. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Asrock P55 Extreme4 along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
