Home

RAID User`s Manual

1. Fix or Ignore the error see Troubleshooting for more details 43 RAID User s Manual 44 RAID User s Manual Schedule event drop down box allows scheduling synchronization by minute by hour by day by week or by month If enabled the default is By Month This allows synchronization to take place during an off hour when the system is either not in use or not at peak demand Start time designates hr min am pm On the designates day of week or by ordinal 1st 2nd 3rd selection Setting Rebuild Options Rebuild Settings IT Disable Hot Spare Auto Rebuild Rebuild K U H H H H 4 71 Rate J Low High Disable Hot Spare Auto Rebuild turns off the use of a hot spare drive and automatic rebuilding of a mirrored array The default is unchecked or enable Hot Spare Auto Rebuild Rebuild Rate assigns the amount of importance that is given to mirroring data from one drive to another in the background A high setting assigns most of the resources to the rebuild process at the expense of responding to ongoing read write data reguests by the operating system A low setting gives priority to ongoing read write data reguests by the operating system at the expense of the rebuild process and will typically result in longer rebuild time The setting shown above is the default 45 RAID User s Manual Setting Disk Parameters Option MV Enable Write Cache Disk Parameters Enable 5 M A R T C
2. c ceccesscsscsecsecsecseceeceeceecesseaseuceuseuceeseeseeseuseaseuseaseaseas 35 REBUILDING AN ARRAY deed n nn A ed tea span za aa 37 USING CONTROLLER WINDOW ccccsssescesceesescescsesseesesceuceucsacseceeseesseseseesseeseesenss 40 USING OPTIONS WINDOW sssssesesnensseresrerernsrurarisnnrnrirerarninrarinnnratnnnranannnrnnnsrnnnee 40 UNDERSTANDING DISK ARRAY CONCEPTS ssrnennenznnzznnenzznnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnzenat 48 ABOUT THE BIOS EEEE T E E A N 48 FASTBUILD AUTO MENU SETUP ccscsecsesecsessesecsesessescsrsecesssesesucsesavsesaesecavencaene 48 RESERVED EC TO dok EE o bb ao dl 48 DISK ARRAY Teens 49 ABOUT COIN 50 TROUBLESHOOTING amp TIPS cssssssssssssssssessssseeseeseeseeseesesessessessesseeseesseseeeas 53 Dpwvp HR tamepEnpopns kei erareto i aana naese oaned e Paaren ENNEA Nair iraia na 53 OPERATING SYSTEM RELATED Eppops 57 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONG ssssssssssssssrserseeseessessessessesseessesseseeseeees 59 PRE INSTALLATION EE 59 ID A L 60 gg Rn NEE 60 POST INSTALLATION RAID User s Manual RAID User s Manual Introduction The RAID levels supported are Striping RAID 0 and Mirroring RAID 1 for master only With striping identical drives can read and write data in parallel to increase performance Mirroring increases read performance through load balancing and elevator sorting while creating a complete backup of your files Striping RAID 0 doubles the sustained data transfer r
3. two drives can be used for a single Mirrored array 13 RAID User s Manual Typical Application Usage The user can choose the type of PC usage to be performed in order to optimize the way the system handles data blocks that will help enhance performance Your choice will determine the block size used You may choose A V Editing for audio video applications or any similar application that requires large file transfers Server for numerous small file transfers or Desktop a combination of large and small file sizes Viewing Drive Assignments View Drive Assignments lt 2 gt in the Main Menu displays whether drives are assigned or unassigned to disk arrays Under the Assignment column drives are labeled according to their assigned disk array or are shown as Free if unassigned Such Free drives can be used for a future array or used as a spare drive when a drive fails in a mirrored array Unassigned drives are not accessible by the OS The menu also displays the data transfer mode that relates to speed used by each drive U5 refers to 100MB sec transfers U4 refers to 66MB sec transfers etc FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc View Drive Assignments Channel ID Drive Model Capacitv MB Assignment Mode 1 Master QUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Array 1 U5 1 Slave QUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Free U5 2 Master QUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Array 1 U5 Keys Available Up Down ESC Exit M
4. If you deleted an array by accident and before it has been used again the array can normally be recovered by defining the array identical to the deleted array WARNING Deleting an existing disk array could result in its data loss Make sure to record all array information including the array type the disk members and stripe block size in case you wish to undo a deletion 3 FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Delete Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacitv MB Siatus Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional Array 2 Arrav 3 Arrav 4 Keys Available Up Down ESC Exit Del Delete To delete an array highlight the array you wish to delete and press the lt Del gt key View Array Menu will appear see below showing the drives that are assigned to this array FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc View Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Dn Capacitv MB Status Array 1 Stripe Block 64 KB Drive Assignments Channel ID Drive Model Capacity MB Assignment 1 Master QUANTUMCRB8 4A 8063 Y 2 Master OUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Y Confirm the following warning message using the lt Ctrl Y gt keys to continue array deletion Are you sure you want to delete this array Press Ctrl Y to Delete others to Abort 17 RAID User s Manual 4 After deleting the array you should crea
5. any key to reboot the system Install the appropriate driver Refer to the Installing Drivers section of this manual 10 RAID User s Manual Using the FastBuild Configuration Utility The FastBuild Configuration Utility offers several menus to create and manage the drive array For purposes of this manual it is assumed you have already created an array in the previous chapter and now wish to make changes to the array or view other options Viewing the BIOS Screen When you boot your system with drives connected to the RAID IDE connectors the Promise onboard BIOS will detect the drives attached and display the following screen FastTrak100 Lite tm BIOS Version 1 xx Build xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc All Rights Reserved Scanning IDE drives If an array already exists the BIOS will display the following screen showing the BIOS version and status of the array FastTrak100 Lite tm BIOS Version 1 xx Build xxxx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc All Rights Reserved ID MODE SIZE TRACK MAPPING STATUS 1 2 0 Stripe 16126M 611 128 32 Functional Press lt Ctrl F gt to enter FastBuild tm Utility There are 3 array status Functional Critical Offline Functional The array is operational Critical The mirrored array contains a drive that has failed or has been disconnected The remaining drive member in the array is functional However the array has temporarily lost its a
6. different capacities there may be unused capacity on the larger drive Using a Spare Drive Under a RAID 1 setup an extra hot spare drive a third drive can be attached and not assigned to the array Such a drive will be activated to replace a failed drive A rebuild is performed automatically in the background to mirror the good drive data on to the spare At a later time the system can be powered off and the failed drive can be physically removed and replaced Spare drives must be of the same or larger in capacity than the smallest array member 51 RAID User s Manual Under RAID 0 1 the array maintains data integrity if any 1 or 2 combination survives Event Failed Drives Array Status Why 1 A1 A2 Working B1 B2 retain array integrity 2 B2 B1 Working A1 A2 retain array integrity 3 A1 B2 Working B1 A2 retain array integrity 4 B1 A2 Working A1 B2 retain array integrity 5 A1 B1 Offline B2 A2 contain only half of the array data 6 B2 A2 Offline A1 B1 contain only half of the array data 52 RAID User s Manual Troubleshooting amp Tips This section is used to assist troubleshooting conflicts and installation problems Also refer to the README TXT file in the CD for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline services listed in Appendix A Drive Related Errors Critical Array Status Error Reported during Boot If the critical status error message of a mirrored array appears on the BIOS startu
7. disk arrays with capacities exceeding 8 4 GB and using Extended Interrupt13 When the BIOS appear during boot up press lt Ctrl F gt to enter the FastBuild utility and select the menu settings FastBuild Auto Menu Setup The setup utility is used to build and manage disk arrays It is menu driven and features Auto Setup lt 1 gt which uses a simple interactive setup process Once the array is built all the array members store the configuration information in the drive s reserved area Reserved Sector Array configuration data about the drive member and other members in the disk array are saved in a special location on the disk drives called the reserved sector If any member of the array becomes corrupt or lost the redundant configuration data on the other members can be used for rebuilds 48 RAID User s Manual Disk Array Terms Disk Array Description A disk array is formed from a group of 2 or more disk drives which appear to the system as a single drive The advantage of an array is to provide better throughput performance and or data fault tolerance Better performance is accomplished by sharing the workload in parallel among multiple physical drives Fault tolerance is achieved through data redundant operation where if one or more drive fails or has a sector failure a mirrored copy of the data can be found on another drive s For optimal results select identical Ultra ATA 100 drives in the same di
8. in the array A RAID 0 array consisting of four HDDs will transfer at about three times the speed of the slowest HDD in the array RAID 1 mirror For capacity The array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array The larger HDD will simply be truncated The truncated space on the bigger HDD will then be unusable For sustained data transfers The array will write data at the rate of the slowest HDD in the array and will read data at twice the rate of the slowest HDD in the array JBOD spanning For capacity The array will combine the sizes of the HDDs in the array As soon as one HDD is filled to capacity the next HDD will automatically be used For sustained data transfers There is no performance increase with spanning reading or writing 59 RAID User s Manual Drive Issues Q Can I add a drive to a RAID array via hot swap and dynamically adjust the array size configuration A No The system does not support dynamically adjustable RAID size configurations Q Do the HDDs have to be the same size A The HDDs that you use do not have to be the same size If the sizes differ the system will adjust the HDDs so that they are compatible Basically it will truncate the bigger HDD so the sizes match Any unused space that results from this is unusable so don t use HDDs that differ too much It Il work but it s a waste Q Can take a set of drives belonging to an array in one server and move it
9. menu 3 You will be asked to Initialize Rebuild process on Array Click OK Using the Rebuild Wizard 1 Initiating the rebuild array will open the Rebuild Wizard Step 1 screen as shown below 2 Select the Target drive that will receive data Make sure you select the new blank or replacement drive The unselected drive contains good data It will be the remaining working drive in an array or a system drive containing existing data that you would wish to mirror Rebuild Wizard Step 1 of 2 Salad the targat disk to rebuild RAID Mode MIRRORING WARNING You must be absolutely sure of the drive If data exists on the target drive it will be overwritten 3 Click Next to proceed to Rebuild Wizard Step 2 see next page or Cancel to stop 37 RAID User s Manual Rebuild Wizard Step 2 of 2 4 Rebuild Wizard Step 2 confirms the target or Rebuild disk by Array and drive ID 5 Click Finish to initiate physical Rebuild Back to review Step 2 or Cancel to Stop A final confirmation window appears as below FastTrak 6 Click Yes to initiate Rebuild To cancel this option click No WARNING Once initiated Array Rebuild CANNOT be halted This is to prevent data errors NOTE During Array Rebuild users may continue to access the array and perform normal PC operations however the array will NOT provide data redundancy until Rebuild is co
10. mirrored array While the Array window does not allow you to change the array configurations directly it clearly identifies the drives that are associated in each array as shown in the left pane Viewing Array Information By left clicking on the Array the right pane shows the following information of that array RAID mode Striping Mirroring or Spanning Mapping similar to physical drive specifications Shows the of cylinders heads and sectors of the array s virtual drive as seen by the system Size Storage capacity of the array 32 RAID User s Manual Status Functional Critical Offline Functional Means the array is providing full functionality Critical Offline Used only in reference to a Mirroring array RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 A problem has been detected in one of the drives in the array and the drive has been taken offline However a critical array will continue to save and retrieve data from the remaining working drive s We recommend replacing the failed drive as soon as possible since a Critical array offers no data redundancy This would appear most commonly within a RAID 0 or Spanning array Offline results from a drive having failed and has taken the entire array offline In this case you have likely lost data Fix replace the drive that has failed then restore data from a backup source Viewing Arrayed Drive Information By left clicking on a drive membe
11. restore data from a backup source Drives that are NOT identified as bad may be taken offline if part of a Striping or Spanning array contains a bad drive These drives do NOT need to be replaced however S M A R T Status Indicates whether the attached hard drive implements Self Size Location Mapping Timing Monitoring Analysis amp Reporting Technology to predict drive failure Indicates the capacity of the individual drive Shows physical location of the drive Indicates the IDE channel 1 or 2 and the drive that is Master or Slave This allows you to identify the drives for removal replacement Indicates the physical parameters of the drive cylinders heads sectors Shows the drive timing directly related to burst speed based on the type of drive and cable used Using Options Window Clicking on the Options tab reveals the Options window Array administrators can customize the FastCheck Monitoring Utility in four major areas Notification Array Synchronization Scheduling setting Password and Desktop Appearance Most options relate to Mirroring arrays RAID 1 or RAID 0 1 40 RAID User s Manual FastCheck Monitoring Utility Vv iS Abate gt arore 51 nteract 41 RAID User s Manual Selecting Notification Options This section of the Options window allows users to select how they are notified of a system event A System Event includes driver initiated Rebuilds autom
12. 5 RAID User s Manual ECC Error on Synchronize Your choices are as follows Abort Fix the Error Block Skip the Error Block Halts the synchronization process You may select to retry at a later date The system will take a good data block from either drive and copy it to the drive where the error was detected The system will log the event error and continue the synchronization process Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors but do not want to fix these errors yet You may then decide what to do about the error s detected 56 RAID User s Manual Operating System Related Errors The operating system no longer boots after creating a Mirrored Array with an existing boot drive that uses Windows 98 NT4 2000 This is due to Drive Geometry issues You can verify this by attaching the original drive to the standard IDE connector and check whether it boots Each controller can view a drive differently This can be an issue for a new controller that loads the original Master Boot Record MBR and then has a problem translating it or an issue of Operating System boot record For Windows NT or Windows 2000 we recommend a clean install of the operating system This restores the MBR and OS boot record You will then need to repartition and format the drive For Windows 98 you can perform the DOS Command SYS C from a bootable floppy or CD ROM to restore the operating system boot recor
13. DE and or Fast ATA 2 compatible For optimal performance install identical drives of the same model and capacity The drives matched performance allows the array to function better as a single drive 1 Drives in an array must be identical If striping for performance use two new drives If mirroring for protection you can use two new drives or use an existing drive and a new drive the new drive must be the same size or larger than the existing drive Striping or mirroring is done between 2 RAID IDE channels not between 2 drives that are chained on the same channel 2 Configure the jumpers of the hard drive using the correct Master Slave or Cable Select settings in the positions described in the table below NOTE Sometimes the Master drive with no slave attached is called Single The master slave setting differentiates two drives chained on the same channel Jumper Settings IDE Channel 1 IDE Channel 2 M Master S Slave 3 Install the hard drives into the hard drive bays of your system including the power cables RAID User s Manual RAID User s Manual 4 Install the 40 pin connector of the IDE cable into the RAID IDE connector and the other 40 pin connector s into the hard drives with the colored edge of the ribbon cable aligned with pin 1 of the drive edge connector s NOTE You must use an 80 wire 40 pin cable when connecting an Ultra ATA 100 hard drive Checking CMOS Settings If
14. RAID User s Manual Copyright Copyright by Promise Technology Inc Promise 2000 No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed written permission of Promise Trademarks All trademarks are the property of their respective holders Important data protection information You should backup all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral Promise is not responsible for any loss of data resulting from the use disuse or misuse of this or any other Promise product Notice Although Promise has attempted to ensure the accuracy of the content of this manual it is possible that this document may contain technical inaccuracies typographical or other errors Promise Technology Inc assumes no liability for any error in this publication and for damages whether direct indirect incidental consequential or otherwise that may result from such error including but not limited to loss of data or profits Promise provides this publication as is without warranty of any kind either express or implied including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose The published information in the manual is subject to change without notice Promise reserves the right to make changes in the product design layout and driver revisions without notification to its users RAID User s Manual Table of Contents INTROD
15. UCTION EE 1 KEYS FEATURES AND Bewere 2 Getting Started iii iii je i dace i aa ENEE age eegal 4 INSTALLING THE MARD DRIVES lt seivsssiecceseciucahsuesdtesssdeavcaceisavece palata ia ea darsa 4 CHECKING CMOS SETTINGS rniii raa aea ar aaan 6 CREATING A DISK ARRAY ccccessessescsscsscsecsecseeecseeceesessesseecenseuceeseuseseessaneeacaueaeeaeeas 7 USING THE FASTBUILD CONFIGURATION UTILITV sennnnnannannnnnnnnnnnnznnan 11 VIEWING THE BIOS SCREEN cccecccsscsscsecsecseceeceeceeseessesseeceuseuceuceeseesseseaseeseassaseas 11 NAVIGATING THE FASTBUILD TM Menu 12 CREATING ARRAYS AUTOMATICALLY csscsscsscssseeceeceesseesesseeceuseuceeceeseeesessuseeseaseaseas 13 VIEWING DRIVE AesIoNMENTS 14 VIEWING AN ARRAY iii NN EAR EEN DELETING AN ARRAY REBUILDING A MRRORED ARRAY sscesscosscesscesecsesctecseeesecsseecsscneeesaseneeceseneeeaese 19 VIEWING CONTROLLER SETTINGS ccscsscsscsscseceeceecescseesesseeceuseucseseeseeesessenseseaseaseas 22 INSTALLING DRIVERS sssssssssssssssessessssossonsssnssensensensenssonsecensonsenssnasuneuassaessersesse 23 WINDOWS 20 00 io A Abate isa ia a bt A d ia a bba 23 Wiridows TEE 21 WINDOWS NT AE 28 USING THE FASTCHECK MONITORING UTILITV ssenennenzannennanzannannnnnnznnan 30 INSTALLING EASTCHECK 30 RUNNING FASTG E K ilii L 31 GLOSING FASTGHEGK iii eeh AE 31 USING THE FASTCHECK ARRAY WINDOW seseesennnzzennenzenzenzznanzznrenzznzznzznzznnzzaza 32 SYNCHRONIZING AN ARRAY
16. again Click Finish then click Yes to restart your computer Installing the Driver on an Existing Windows 95 98 System The following sections detail the installation of the Windows 95 98 driver on an existing Windows 95 98 system If you are installing the driver during a Windows 95 98 installation refer to the Installing the Driver During Windows 95 98 Installation section Windows 98 1 After installing and configuring the hard drives power up the system 2 The Add New Hardware Wizard will appear informing you that it has found a PCI RAID Controller Click Next Click the Search for the best driver for your device box then click the Next button 4 Click the Specify a Location box and then click the Next button 5 Insert the CD included in the system board package into a CD ROM drive If the autorun screen appears click Exit 6 Click Browse then select CD ROM drive RAID IDE Win9x me which is where the driver is located Click Next 7 Click Next then click Next again 8 Click Finish then click Yes to restart your computer Windows 95 1 After installing and configuring the hard drives power up the system 2 The Update Device Drive Wizard will appear informing you that it has found a PCI Mass Storage Controller Click Next 3 Insert the CD included in the system board package into a CD ROM d
17. ager tab Click that is next to SCSI amp RAID Controllers hardware type Win2000 Promise FastTrak FastTrak100 Lite Controller will appear 24 RAID User s Manual Windows 95 98 Installing the Driver During Windows 95 98 Installation The following sections detail the installation of the Windows 95 98 driver while installing its operating system If you re installing the driver on an existing Windows 95 98 system refer to the Installing the Driver on an Existing Windows 95 98 System section Windows 98 1 After installing and configuring the hard drive s partition and format them if necessary 2 Follow the standard procedure of installing Windows 98 3 After installation go to the Start menu and click Settings 4 Fromthe Settings menu click Control Panel 5 Inthe Control Panel window double click the System icon 6 Inthe System window click the Device Manager tab 7 Inthe hierarchical display under Other Devices click PCI RAID Controller and then click the Properties button 8 Click the Driver tab click Update Driver and then click Next 9 Click Search for a better driver than the one your device is using now recommended then click Next 10 Click Specify Location 11 Insert the CD included in the system board package into a CD ROM drive If the autorun screen appear
18. ate of Ultra ATA 100 drives It fully supports Ultra ATA 100 specification of up to 100 MB sec per drive depending on individual drive specifications It also offers fault tolerant data redundancy for entry level network file servers or simply for desktop PC users wanting to continually protect valuable data on their PC Mirroring RAID 1 for two drives can protect data Should a drive that is part of a mirrored array fail the mirrored drive which contains identical data assumes all data handling When a new replacement drive is later installed the mirrored drive rebuilds data to the new drive to restore fault tolerance The bootable BIOS supports individual drives larger than 8 4GB With FAT32 and NTFS partitioning the array can be addressed as one large single volume RAID User s Manual Keys Features and Benefits The following is an overview of the major RAID features categorized as Advanced Hardware Design and Compatibility Advanced Hardware Design Supports data Striping RAID 0 and Provides dramatic increase in drive Mirroring RAID 1 performance and or fault tolerant options Offers performance customization and data rebuild from the BIOS menu Supports Ultra DMA 5 4 3 2 1 0 and Burst data transfer rates up to 100MB sec DMA 2 1 0 from Ultra ATA 100 drives to boost overall system performance PCI Plug n Play PCI Interrupt sharing and Easy to install and supports four ATA coexists with the system board s standard
19. atic rebuild using a hot spare standby drive user initiated manual Rebuilds or manual Synchronization and Error Handling for these processes m Notification v Enable audible prompt I Popup message box IV Use log file c raideutity log I Use NT system event log On Errors C Abort Fix Ignore Interactive Dismiss Error Dialogs and Message Bones ater Enable audible prompt turns on off the audible alarm of an event typically a drive failure or completion of rebuild or synchronization Popup message box turns on off the appearance of an event message box that would typically indicate a drive failure or completion of rebuild or synchronization Use log file allows writing operating event logs of the array activity alerts and status reports to a given file name and directory If a file name is used but the path left blank the default directory is the same as that of the FastCheck Utility typically C Program Files Promise FastTrak100 Lite Use NT system event log is automatically grayed out under Windows 95 98 2000 Millennium Under Windows NT4 it permits you to write array logging to NT s own event log 1 To view FastCheck events under Windows NT go to Start Programs Administrative Tools Event Viewer 2 In Event Viewer choose Log from the menu bar and then click Application Any events generated by FastCheck will appear under the Source column as FastCheck O
20. bility to provide fault tolerance The user should identify the failed drive through the FastBuild utility and then replace the problem drive Offline The striped array contains a drive that has failed or has been disconnected When the array s condition is offline the user must replace the failed drive s then restore data from a backup source 11 RAID User s Manual Navigating the FastBuild Menu The basic navigation keys are Arrow keys to highlight through choices lt Space gt key to cycle through options lt Enter gt key to select an option and lt ESC gt key to abort or exit the current menu The Main Menu This is the first screen that will appear when you press lt Ctrl F gt to enter the FastBuild utility FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Main Menu Auto Setup View Drive Assignments View Array Delete Array Rebuild Array Controller Configuration Keys Available Press 1 6 to Select Option ESC Exit To create a new array automatically follow the steps in the Creating Arrays Automatically section This option is recommended for most users To view drives assigned to arrays refer to the Viewing Drive Assignments section To delete an array but not deleting the data contained in the array refer to the Deleting An Array section To rebuild a mirrored array refer to the Rebuilding a Mirrored Array section To vie
21. d tm Utility Main Menu 3 Press lt 1 gt to display the Auto Setup Menu below This is the fastest and easiest method to creating your first array FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Auto Setup Options Menu Optimize Array for Performance Typical Application usage A V Editing Auto Setup Configuration Drives used in Array Array Disk Capacity Keys Available Up Down Space Change Option ESC Exit Ctrl Y Save RAID User s Manual Creating an Array for Performance NOTE You can create striped arrays with 1 or 2 drives To create an array for best performance follow these steps 1 2 6 Using the Spacebar choose Performance under the Optimize Array for section Select how you will use your PC most under the Typical Application usage section The choices are A V Editing Server and Desktop the default Press the lt Ctrl Y gt keys to Save and create the array Reboot your system Once the array has been created you must FDISK and format the array as if it were a new single hard drive Install the appropriate driver Refer to the Installing Drivers section of this manual Creating a Security Array With New Drives NOTE In Auto Setup only two drives can be used for a single Mirrored array To create an array for data protection using new hard drives follow these steps 1 2 3 Using the Spacebar choose Security under t
22. d and transfer the system files to the boot drive If this does not work the Windows 98 registry may have become corrupted during the boot process and must be restored See the Windows documentation to perform this procedure Promise Windows driver did not appear in Device Manager Windows may have listed the controller under Other Devices instead of Hard Disk Controllers In Device Manager s Other Devices check for RAID Controller Highlight it and click the Properties button and then click the Driver tab Depending on the Windows version choose either Change Driver or Update Driver Then follow the on screen prompts to complete installing the driver If you want to test whether the device can be removed safely click Cancel Reboot the system to complete installing the driver The Inaccessible Boot Device Message Appears During Floppyless Install of Windows NT or 2000 The lt F6 gt key was not pressed at the appropriate time When in Windows NT4 reboot the system and press the lt F6 gt key when the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears When in Windows 2000 reboot the system and press the lt F6 gt key when the message Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears The No Hard Drives Found Message Appears During CD ROM Install of Windows NT or 2000 The lt F6 gt key was not pressed at the appr
23. drives IDE controllers Supports concurrent dual IDE controller Drive workload is distributed in parallel operation between members of the array Supports IDE bus master operation Allows multitasking during disk transfers thus increasing CPU efficiency The CPU is free to process tasks during IDE data transfers through the PCI Bus to or from the system memory Utilizes FastBuild auto menu from the Offers application preset specific settings BIOS that can be optimized for Desktop Server or A V Editing Has Auto Setup option for quick and easy array builds Displays status and error checking Notifies user of possible errors and allows messages during boot up for recovery of mirrored drive arrays directly from FastBuild Employs the latest Promise PCI Fully supports Ultra ATA 100 specifications Ultra ATA 100 ASIC technology with 100MB sec timing and CRC error checking at high speeds Mirroring supports automatic background Fault tolerance can be restored rebuild automatically without rebooting RAID User s Manual Compatibility Complies with PCI v2 1 Local Bus Provides highest level of hardware standard compatibility Compliant with PCI IDE Bus Master standard PCI IDE Bus Master supports Windows 98 95 and Windows NT 3 5x 4 0 Tested compatibility to coexist with the system board s integrated standard IDE controllers Compatible with Ultra ATA 100 Ultra ATA 66 Ultra ATA 33 and EIDE Fea
24. ected This is the only option that can be changed on this screen 22 RAID User s Manual Installing Drivers This section details driver installation for various operating systems It includes the driver necessary to identify the Promise controller to the operating system Windows 2000 Installing the Driver during Windows 2000 Installation 1 Boot from the CD ROM Press lt F6 gt after the message Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears When the Windows 2000 Setup window appears press lt S gt to Specify an Additional Device s Insert the floppy disk included in the system board package into a floppy drive Press lt O gt to select Other and press the lt Enter gt key The Windows 2000 Setup screen will appear showing Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices The list includes Win2000 Promise FastTrak100 Lite controller NOTE If you need to install additional devices do so at this time Once all devices are installed proceed to step 7 In the Windows 2000 Setup screen press the lt Enter gt key Setup will now load all device files and then continue with the Windows 2000 installation 23 RAID User s Manual Confirming the Windows 2000 Driver Installation 1 In Windows 2000 open the Control Panel from My Computer then double click the System icon Click the Hardware tab then click the Device Man
25. ector After you re done with the installation connect the drive to the RAID IDE connector For all other operating systems please proceed 1 Using the Spacebar choose Security under the Optimize Array for section 2 Press the lt Ctrl Y gt keys to Save The window below will appear Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another Yes No Y Create and Duplicate N Create Only 3 Press lt Y gt to select the Create and Duplicate option The window below will appear asking you to select the Source drive Source Disk Channel ID Drive Model Capacitv MB Target Disk Channel ID Drive Model Capacitv MB Please Select A Source Disk Channel ID Drive Model Capacitv MB 1 Master QUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 2 Master OUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Up ESC Exit Ctrl Y Save 4 Use the arrow keys to choose the drive that contains the existing data to be copied FastBuild will copy all data from the Source drive to the Target drive 5 Press the lt Ctrl Y gt keys to Save and start duplication The following progress screen will appear Start to duplicate the image Do you want to continue Yes No Y Continue N Abort 6 Select lt Y gt to continue If you choose lt N gt you will be returned to step 1 RAID User s Manual Once complete the following screen will appear confirming that your Security array has been created Array has been created lt Press Any Key to Reboot gt Press
26. he FastCheck icon on the taskbar above or use the Taskbar s Start Promise FastTrak FastCheck Monitoring Utility menus below Netscape Navigator Tei Pagemakerb 5 g Spinner Plus Bi visio AJ Windows Explorer Promise FastCheck Monitoring Utility Closing FastCheck Once you start FastCheck either automatically on startup or manually the monitoring utility remains running at the background even if the user closes the FastCheck window To completely shut down FastCheck perform the following steps 1 Right click the FastCheck icon on the Taskbar 2 Select Exit on the pop up window 3 FastCheck will stop monitoring the array 31 RAID User s Manual Using the FastCheck Array Window Once you start FastCheck the FastCheck Monitoring Utility window will appear The main pane has three window tabs Array Controller and Options The user can switch between windows by clicking on the tab The Array window is the active window by default below FastCheck Monitoring Utilitv Aray Controller Options RAID Mode MIRRORING Mapping 51 Ovis 255 Heads 63 Sectors 6 S18Gt Functional Right mouse click array to run synchronize or rebuild The Array window see above displays information about the arrays configured through the FastBuild utility From this window you can also perform data Synchronization of mirrored arrays or Rebuild data from one drive to a new replaced drive within a
27. he Optimize Array for section Press the lt Ctrl Y gt keys to Save The window below will appear Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another Yes No Y Create and Duplicate N Create Only Press N to select the Create Only option A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array has been created Array has been created lt Press Any Key to Reboot gt Press any key to reboot the system You must FDISK and format the array as if it were a new single hard drive Once the arrayed drives have been formatted install the appropriate driver Refer to the Installing Drivers section of this manual RAID User s Manual Creating a Security Array Using An Existing Hard Drive NOTE In Auto Setup only two drives can be used for a single Mirrored array Use this method if you wish to use a drive that already contains data and or is the bootable drive in your system You will need another drive of identical or larger storage capacity WARNING Backup all necessary data before proceeding Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss WARNING If you wish to use a Windows NT 4 x or Windows 2000 hard drive that will be configured in the Mirrored array as a boot drive do NOT connect the hard drive to the RAID IDE connector yet You must install the Windows NT 4 x or Windows 2000 operating system and driver with the hard drive connected to the standard IDE conn
28. heck Enable Write Cache allows you to enable disable write cache for hard drives that include this performance feature FastCheck automatically recognizes such drives and enables the feature as the default setting For drives that do not use write caching this option is automatically grayed out Enable S M A R T Check tells FastCheck to regularly monitor each drive to assure that drive failure prediction is functioning The default is unchecked meaning FastCheck will not monitor this function Setting Screen Preferences This section controls how the FastCheck utility screen is displayed and sets the security password to protect the administrative settings Preferences IV Start minimized T Always on top IT Enable password Change Start Minimized FastCheck will appear on the toolbar only on startup Click on the icon to see the FastCheck utility screen Always on Top FastCheck will appear above all programs until closed or minimized manually Enable Password turns on off the use of a Password every time the FastCheck Monitoring Utility icon is selected or when the program is running from the Start menu Disabling the use of a current password requires password entry see Creating Password on next page 46 RAID User s Manual Creating a Password 1 To create a password click Enable Password in the Preferences section The Set Password window will appear Set Password x New Password Cancel Co
29. however you see fit You can also format the array with whatever file system you wish Installation Issues Capacity Booting Q Why are some drives recognized by the Setup utilities as only partial capacity A Some hard drive models are shipped with a jumper that reduces the addressable capacity of the drive to prevent problems with older systems which won t support larger drives Consult the documentation accompanying the hard drive to set the jumper appropriately in order to utilize the full capacity of the drive 60 RAID User s Manual Q How can I change the system boot sequence in order to boot from the A array The boot sequence is controlled by the system BIOS As far as the system BIOS is concerned the Promise controller and defined arrays are categorized as a SCSI device even though the BIOS will not attempt to access the array as any type of SCSI device This allows you to set the boot sequence of the system BIOS CMOS setup utility to boot from SCSI first rather than IDE the standard onboard IDE or one which effectively replaces it Post Installation Memory Managers FDISK Q A 9 9 Why does my system reboot after the QEMM driver loads from CONFIG SYS The problem lies in the QEMM Stealth feature This feature places the drive information from the DOS System area into the upper reaches of RAM where Windows resides This causes the RAID controller to lose track of its d
30. iming directly related to burst speed based on the type of drive and cable used Using the Array Pull down Menu The bottom of the window indicates that you must right mouse click the array to run synchronization or rebuild operations Right clicking displays the pull down menu 5 FastCheck Monitoring Utility OF x Array Controller Options ee RAID Mode MIRRORING Always on top l Minimi Mapping 523 Cyls ika 128 Heads 7 63 Sectors Synchronize Rebuild S 2 010 GB 2059 MB About Functional Exit pen Festsheck Right mouse click array to run synchronize or rebuild From this menu you may choose to let the window appear Always on Top of the application Minimize the window Synchronize mirrored drives Rebuild a mirrored array use About to check FastCheck version or Exit the onscreen window 34 RAID User s Manual Synchronizing An Array Synchronization is a periodic maintenance procedure for Mirrored RAID 1 RAID 0 1 arrays to maintain data consistency on all mirrored drives During operation array synchronization compares data differences on mirrored drives If there are differences detected data from the primary drive s is automatically copied to the secondary drive s This assures that all mirrored drives contain the exact information NOTE You may schedule array synchronization automatically under the Options tab rather than manually initiating synchronization To synchronize choo
31. list includes Win NT Promise FastTrak100 Lite tm controller NOTE If you need to install additional devices do so at this time Once all devices are installed proceed to step 7 In the Windows NT Setup screen press the lt Enter gt key Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows NT installation After installing the driver successfully the SCSI Adapter Setup box will show that the Win NT Promise FastTrak100 Lite tm Controller driver has been installed 28 RAID User s Manual Removing the Driver from Windows NT 4 x 1 Inthe Start menu click Settings 2 Inthe Settings menu click Control Panel 3 In Control Panel click SCSI Adapter and then click Drivers 4 Click Remove 5 After successfully removing it the SCSI Adapter Setup box will show that Win NT FastTrak100 Lite RAID Controller has been removed 29 RAID User s Manual Using The FastCheck Monitoring Utility You can monitor the operating status of all configured arrays and drives using the provided FastCheck monitoring utility designed for Windows based operating systems FastCheck generates visual and audible messages alerting you of possible problems with the disk array or controller FastCheck visually identifies the physical location of the drives attached to the RAID IDE channel 1 or 2 and setting Master Slave Cable Select It also di
32. mpleted If you choose to continue using the PC during rebuild system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer 6 Once Array Rebuild starts you will return to the FastCheck Monitoring window A progress bar showing the rebuild progress in percentage will appear at the bottom of the FastCheck Monitoring window S a 38 RAID User s Manual NOTE When a spare unassigned drive is present a rebuild will automatically be performed from the remaining working drive 39 RAID User s Manual Using Controller Window Clicking the Controller tab will reveal the Controller window This displays physical information about the data channels and the attached drives Viewing IDE Channel Information Left clicking on a given Channel icon or in the left pane will show the Base IO addresses of the channel in the right pane used for troubleshooting Viewing Drive Information Left clicking on a given drive icon or ID in the left pane will show similar information as the Array Window Drive Information in the right pane Status Functional Critical Offline also shown under the Array Window It could be Functional Critical or Offline The drive is working normally A problem has been detected in the drive and the drive has been taken offline as part of a mirroring array Mirrored arrays will continue to function without the drive Fix replace the drive that has failed then
33. n Errors offers four radio buttons for the user to select the procedure they would like to perform if an Error is detected during automatic manual Rebuilds or manual Synchronization There are three types of errors that can be detected a data mismatch between the primary and secondary drives a physical media error on the source or target drive or a total disk failure The options for handling Errors are as follows Abort Stops any Synchronization or Rebuild process if an error is encountered Fix In most cases the system will automatically correct errors The method of correction varies depending on the type of error Ignore The system will log the event error and continue the rebuild or synchronization process Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of 42 RAID User s Manual errors but do not want to fix these errors yet The user may then decide what to do about the error s detected WARNING This may result in mismatched drives under RAID 1 or 0 1 Interactive By checking this option a window will appear each time an error is detected asking whether you want to Abort Fix or Ignore the error see Troubleshooting section Dismiss Error Dialogs designates the length of time in seconds that a Message box or Error Dialog box appears on the screen Scheduling Array Synchronization This section of the Options window allows a user to schedule when and how often the system will perform synchronization main
34. nfirm New Password 2 Type the password you want to use Press the lt Tab gt key or click to retype the same password in the Confirm New Password section Click the lt OK gt button NOTE Remember to record the password in a secure place in case you forget it 3 A confirmation screen will appear showing that Password Checking is Enabled Click the lt OK gt button 4 Once the password feature is enabled the following window will appear every time you try to open the FastCheck window Password Required EN Password Cancel Changing Password 1 Input the original password you first created to gain access to FastCheck 2 Click the Options tab then click the Change button in the Password section The Set Password screen will appear 3 Type the password you want to use Press the lt Tab gt key or click to retype the same password in the Confirm New Password section 4 Click lt OK gt Disabling Password 1 Input the original password you first created to gain access to FastCheck 2 Click the Options tab 3 Uncheck the Enable Password checkbox Click the Apply button 47 RAID User s Manual Understanding Disk Array Concepts About the BIOS The Promise BIOS code extends the standard disk service routine provided through Int13 The BIOS is bootable for DOS and other operating systems that rely on the system BIOS for drive operation It can support drives and
35. ode U UDMA P PIO D DMA 14 RAID User s Manual Viewing an Array View Array lt 3 gt in the Main Menu displays each array s RAID mode the number of drives used its capacity and status FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc View Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Dn Capacitv MB Status Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional Array 2 Arrav 3 Array 4 Keys Available Note Bootable Array Up Down ESC Exit Enter Select Space Change Boot Drive For more information on a particular array use the Up or Down arrow keys to select the array then press lt Enter gt The screen below will appear showing the channel ID drive model and capacity of the drives that are in the array FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc View Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity MB Status Array 1 Stripe 2 16126 Functional Stripe Block 64 KB Drive Assignments Channel ID Drive Model Capacity MB Assignment 1 Master OUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Y 1 Slave OUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 N 2 Master OUANTUMCR8 4A 8063 Y Keys Available Up Down ESC Exit Space Select Ctrl Y Save 15 RAID User s Manual 16 RAID User s Manual Deleting An Array Delete Array lt 4 gt menu allows you to delete disk array assignments This is not the same as deleting data from the drives themselves
36. ons Menu Optimize Array for Performance Typical Application usage A V Editing Auto Setup Configuration Stripe Block Size Drive used in Array Array Disk Capacity Keys Available Up Down Space Change Option ESC Exit Ctrl Y Save 58 RAID User s Manual Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre installation drive issues installation and post installation Pre Installation Speed Device Types Capacity Cabling Q A 9 What kind of hard drives can l use for creating an array You can use any IDE EIDE hard drive s to create arrays You should use matching drives for multiple drive arrays to maximize capacity usage as well as performance Ultra ATA 100 drives are recommended for highest performance Can use ATAPI devices on the array No There is no driver layer that will support ATAPI packet messages How does the Promise controller provide storage and or data protection with their arrays The controller implements three different types of RAID levels as follows RAID 0 stripe For capacity The array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array times the number of HDDs that are in the array Any larger HDDs will simply be truncated The truncated space on the bigger HDDs will then be unusable For sustained data transfers A RAID 0 array consisting of two HDDs will transfer at about twice the speed of the slowest HDD
37. opriate time When in Windows NT4 reboot the system and press the lt F6 gt key when the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears When in Windows 2000 reboot the system and press the lt F6 gt key when the message Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears Performance Tips Here are some tips that may optimize performance in a RAID 0 striped array If you are using an audio video editing card we also recommend that you review your card s documentation for additional information 57 RAID User s Manual Use Drives Attached to RAID IDE as D or other non bootable drive in a Striped Array For A V editing keep the original system boot drive that is attached to the standard IDE controller as C drive Partitioning software such as FDISK will see the array as one physical drive D drive or later This will prevent file fragmentation and provide better accessibility to the array Optimize Array for Performance The FastBuild BIOS Utility auto setup menu allows optimizing the array for A V Editing The default Performance setting Striping selects a Stripe Block size of 64 Larger block size is recommended for data streaming requirements of A V editing You may select an even larger block size in manual mode FastTrak tm FastTrak100 Lite tm BIOS Version 1 xx Build xxxx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc All Rights Reserved Auto Setup Opti
38. p screen see below there is a drive in the array that has failed or is not responding The system will identify the failed drive by channel number and Master Slave designation if 2 drives exist on the same cable The mirrored array has lost its fault tolerance but will still perform normal drive reads and writes Operation aborted because FastBuild encountered an error as follows Location Channel 2 Master Drive Array Status Critical Please retry using FastCheck utility to recover all data Reboot the system by pressing the ENTER key Try powering the system off and on to reset the drive Also confirm that cables are properly attached and the drive is receiving power If the drive still appears to have failed proceed to FastCheck s Rebuild Array option Drive cannot be formed into an array Drives must support Ultra DMA or Multi word DMA and be free of media defects before adding it into an array We recommend using new identical drives for each array Re secure data and power cabling while checking for proper alignment Typically pin 1 of the drive is closest to the power connector Possible Master Slave problems Master slave problems may exist between two ATA or IDE drives of different brands attached to a single cable For both compatibility and better performance choose drives of the same model brand and install them on separate cables System CMOS displays C or D drive failure during Startup Do not
39. r Rebuild Channel ID Drive Model Capacitv MB 1 Slave QUANTUMCRB8 4A 8063 Keys Available 19 RAID User s Manual Up Down ESC Exit Enter Select 20 11 12 13 RAID User s Manual Under Select Drive for Rebuild highlight the new drive Press lt Enter gt to confirm that the data will be copied to the selected new drive All data will be copied with mirrored information from the array drive to the new drive A progress bar will appear as below Please Wait While Duplicating The Image Complete Once the rebuild process is complete the user will be asked to reboot the system 21 RAID User s Manual Viewing Controller Settings Controller Configuration lt 6 gt menu allows you to enable or disable the BIOS from halting if it detected an error on boot up You may also view the system resources Interrupt and I O port address of the data channels FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Adapter Configuration Options Halt On Error Enable System Resources Configuration Channel 1 IDE1 Interrupt A VO Port FFFO Channel 2 IDE2 Interrupt A O Port FFA8 Keys Available D Space Change Option ESC Exit Halting the Promise BIOS On Boot up Errors Adapter Configuration Options allows you to enable or disable the Promise BIOS so as to halt operation at the BIOS startup screen should an error be det
40. r in an array in the left pane the right pane will show the information of that drive FastCheck Monitoring Utility Arey Controller Options Status e SMART Awtor 8700048 Status xtor 670006 Size Location Controller Channel 4 Right mouse click are to run synchronize or rebuild Status also shown under the Array Window can be Functional Critical or Offline Functional Means the drive is working normally Critical Offline A problem has been detected on the drive and the drive has been taken offline Mirrored arrays will continue to function without the drive Fix replace the drive that has failed then restore data from a backup source Drives that are NOT identified as bad may be taken offline if part of a Striping or Spanning array contains a bad drive These drives do NOT need to be replaced however S M A R T Status Indicates whether the attached hard drive implements Self Monitoring Analysis amp Reporting Technology to predict drive failure 33 RAID User s Manual Size Indicates capacity of individual drive Location Shows the physical location of the drive Indicates the IDE channel 1 or 2 and whether the drive on the cable is Master or Slave This allows the user to identify drives for removal replacement Mapping Indicates the physical parameters of the drive cylinders heads sectors Timing Shows selection of the drive t
41. rayed data To remove the Reserve Sector follow these steps When the system boots press lt Crtl F gt to enter FastBuild Press lt 2 gt to View Drive Assignments Using the arrow keys highlight the drive you wish the reserve sector removed Press lt Alt F1 gt The highlighted drive will start blinking on the screen Press lt Ctrl Tab gt A message will appear informing you that the reserved sector which is where array information is kept on the disk will be wiped Press lt Y gt to confirm For mirrored arrays hit the lt Esc gt key twice to reboot and skip to step 10 8 For striped arrays repeat this process for each member of the particular array that is having a problem Once you re done hit the lt Esc gt key twice to reboot 10 After rebooting use FastBuild to re create the array For mirrored arrays rebuild the mirrored array For striped arrays use FDISK and FORMAT after setting up the array Or PS OLN Array Constantly Goes Into Critical or Offline Mode During Reboot Refer to Unable to Partition or Format array above Cannot Rebuild Mirrored RAID 1 Array Refer to Unable to Partition or Format array above Fatal Errors or Data Corruption Are Constantly Reported When Reading or Writing to Drive Array Refer to Unable to Partition or Format array above ECC Error Reported on Rebuild The following screen will appear if a data error is detected on either the source or
42. reference C or D for drives attached to the RAID IDE connectors Only enter these drive information in the Standard CMOS Features for drives attached to the standard IDE hard drive add in card or the onboard standard IDE connectors 53 RAID User s Manual FDISK reports a much lower drive capacity if a single physical drive or a striped array exceeds 64GB Due to a limitation with FDISK the utility reports only the storage capacity that exceeds 64GB This is a cosmetic not actual limitation Simply create a single DOS drive partition reboot then format the partition The Format command will recognize the total capacity of the partition accurately Windows NT 2000 98 will now recognize the total capacity of your array Unable to partition or format array The Reserve Sector of one of the drives has become corrupted or bad Removing the Reserve Sector will remedy any issue related directly to a Bad Reserve Sector WARNING Before removing the Reserve Sector of any drive s backup all existing data Removing the reserve sector of a drive permanently delete all existing data from the hard drive For Mirrored arrays RAID 1 you should remove the Reserve Sector from the mirrored drive first this will appear during Step 3 below then rebuild the mirrored array Remove the sector from the Master Drive only as a last resort For Striped arrays RAID 0 removing the Reserve Sector from any of the drives that are striped will destroy the ar
43. rive If the autorun screen appears click Exit 4 Click Browse then select CD ROM drivejARAID IDE Win9x me which is where the driver is located Click Next 5 Click Next then click Next again 6 Click Finish then click Yes to restart your computer 26 RAID User s Manual Confirming the Windows 98 95 Driver Installation To confirm that the driver has been properly installed in Windows 95 98 perform the following steps 1 Click Settings from the Start menu 2 Click Control Panel and then double click the System icon 3 Click the Device Manager tab and then click that is next to SCSI 8 RAID controllers Win95 98 Promise FastTrak100 Lite controller will appear 27 RAID User s Manual Windows NT 4 0 Installing the Driver During Windows NT 4 0 Installation 1 Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk Press the lt F6 gt key when the message Setup is inspecting your computer s hardware configuration appears When the Windows NT Setup window appears press lt S gt to Specify an Additional Device s Insert the floppy disk included in the system board package into a floppy drive Press lt O gt to select Other and press the lt Enter gt key The Windows NT Setup screen will appear showing Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices The
44. rives when asked to execute the next line in the CONFIG SYS file This forces the reboot that you see Disable QEMM s stealth feature to correct this problem Why can t I see the drives on the RAID IDE connectors under FDISK The RAID controller is dedicated to RAID array management and does not provide any means of addressing individual hard drives through the Int 13h interface used by FDISK In order to access drives on the RAID IDE connectors from MSDOS you must first create a RAID array Is the S3 or S4 function supported Drives that are attached to the RAID IDE connectors only support S3 S4 is not supported 61
45. s click Exit 12 Click Browse then select CD ROM drivejiRAID IDE Win9x me which is where the driver is located Click OK 13 Click Next then click Next again 14 Click Finish then click Yes to restart your computer Windows 95 1 After installing and configuring the hard drive s partition and format them if necessary 2 Follow the standard procedure of installing Windows 95 3 After installation go to the Start menu and click Settings 4 From the Settings menu click Control Panel 5 Inthe Control Panel window double click on the System 6 Inthe System window click the Device Manager tab 7 In the hierarchical display under Other Devices click PCI Mass Storage Controller then click the Properties button 8 Click the Driver tab and then click the Update Driver button 25 10 11 12 13 14 RAID User s Manual When asked if you want Windows to search for the driver click Yes recommended When Windows informs you that it was unable to find the drivers click Other Locations Insert the CD included in the system board package into a CD ROM drive If the autorun screen appears click Exit Click Browse then select CD ROM drive RAID IDE Win9x me which is where the driver is located Click OK Click Next then click Next
46. s data storage efficiency The disk array data capacity is equal to the number of drive members times the smallest member capacity For example one 1GB and three 1 2GB drives will form a 4GB 4 x 1GB disk array Stripe Size a value can be set from 1KB to 1024KB sector size The size can directly affect performance In the FastBuild BIOS the Desktop default is 8KB while Server and A V Editing are 64KB Data Blocks RAID 0 Striping HIRR Maaa 50 RAID User s Manual Mirroring RAID 1 Writes duplicate data on to a pair of drives while reads are performed in parallel ATA RAID 1 is fault tolerant because each drive of a mirrored pair is installed on separate IDE channels If one of the mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure e g spindle failure or does not respond the remaining drive will continue to function This is called Fault Tolerance lf one drive has a physical sector error the mirrored drive will continue to function p R ei RAID 1 Mirroring On the next reboot the FastBuild utility will display an error in the array and recommend replacement of the failed drive You may choose to continue using your PC however we recommend replacing the failed drive as soon as possible Due to redundancy the drive capacity of the array is half the total drive capacity For example two 1GB drives that have a combined capacity of 2GB would have 1GB of usable storage With drives of
47. se the Array tab see figure on previous page 2 Right click on the array you wish to synchronize and choose Synchronize from the context menu 3 Click Yes to initiate Synchronization see below To cancel this option click the No button FastTrak Once the Synchronize Process is initiated it cannot be stopped from FastCheck Are you sure you wish to Synchronize Array 17 WARNING Once initiated synchronization CANNOT be halted This is to prevent data errors 35 RAID User s Manual 4 Once Synchronization is confirmed the following screen appears Click OK or close the window to proceed RAID Mode MIRRORING Mapping ou NOTE During Array Synchronization users may continue to access the working array and perform normal PC operations However system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer 5 A progress bar will appear at the bottom of the FastCheck Monitoring window showing that synchronization is in progress and the percentage has been completed 36 RAID User s Manual Rebuilding An Array This command effectively copies or overwrites data from an existing data drive in the array on to a blank drive The operation will be typically used when a failed drive has been replaced with a new drive in the mirrored array 1 To perform a Rebuild click the Array tab 2 Right click the array number and choose Rebuild from the context
48. sk array The drives matched performance allows the array to function better as a single drive Disk Array Member The individual disk drives in an array are called members Each member of a specific disk array is coded in their reserved sector with configuration information that identifies the drive as a member All disk members in a formed disk array are recognized as a single physical drive to the system Disk Array Types For most installations Auto Setup lt 1 gt in the FastBuild utility will configure your system There are two disk array types in three categories that can be installed on the system board Striping is in the Performance category while Mirroring is in the Fault Tolerance category Spanning JBOD is in the Capacity category Disk arrays within the Performance and Fault Tolerance categories conform with the Redundant Array of Independent Disks technology or RAID The RAID levels supported are 0 and 1 of RAID 0 Striping Highest Drives x Smallest Size RAID 1 Mirroring Normal 50 min 49 RAID User s Manual About RAID Levels Striping RAID 0 Reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between multiple drives When any disk member fails it affects the entire array Performance is better than a single drive since the workload is balanced between the array members This array type is for high performance systems Identical drives are recommended for performance as well a
49. splays the drives that are included in an individual array Administrators can customize FastCheck to maintain operating logs and event notification set Password access to the utility and schedule maintenance on Mirrored RAID 1 or Striped Mirrored RAID 0 1 arrays Installing FastCheck 1 From the Start button of the Windows Taskbar click Run 2 Insert the CD included in the system board package into a CD ROM drive 3 Inthe Run dialog box type in the CD ROM drive where you inserted the CD then click OK or select the Promise FastCheck Utility in the autorun screen Run 2 x resource and Windows will open it for you Open jas D Cancel Browse 4 Follow the directions of the setup program WM Type the name of a program folder document or Internet 5 During the installation process click Yes if you wish to run the utility every time you startup If you select No FastCheck will not initialize during startup You may manually execute the utility via the Start button NOTE We recommend that FastCheck be loaded during Startup This insures you that it will be ready to post alerts on errors 30 RAID User s Manual Running FastCheck As described in the Installation section the default is to load the utility during the Windows 95 98 NT 2000 startup It appears minimized on the taskbar under Windows 95 98 NT4 2000 Millennium see below To start FastCheck double click t
50. target drive during Rebuild that is if you have set the On Errors setting to Interactive in FastCheck s Options window 54 RAID User s Manual ECC Error on Rebuild EN FastTrak Driver has stopped Rebuild on 5713136204 Channel 1 Master due to ECC Error at LBA Dx42380 What action would you like to take Abort Break ECC on Target Drive Skip the Error Block Cancel Your choices are as follows Abort Break ECC on Target Drive Skip the Error Block Halts the rebuild process You may select to retry at a later date If the error is detected on the source drive FastTrak will copy the bad data sector on to the target drive to assure that both drives are identical If the error is detected on the target drive FastCheck will again copy the data contained in the good sector of the source drive to the target drive The system will log the event error and continue the rebuild process Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors but do not want to fix these errors yet You may then decide what to do about the error s detected ECC Error Reported on Synchronize The following screen will appear if a data error is detected on either source or target drive during Synchronization that is if you have set the On Errors setting to Interactive in FastCheck s Options window for Scheduled Synchronization or for Manual Synchronization under Notification options 5
51. te a new array in Auto Setup or View Array menu 18 RAID User s Manual Rebuilding A Mirrored Array Rebuild Array lt 5 gt menu is necessary to recover from an error in the mirrored disk array An error message will appear when booting your system from the boot array NOTE Drives MUST be replaced if they contain any physical errors 1 On boot up the BIOS will display an error message identifying the drive that has failed Press the lt Ctrl F gt keys to enter the FastBuild Main Menu Select View Array lt 3 gt Select the failed array and identify the channel and ID of the failed drive Power off and physically remove the failed drive Replace the drive with an identical model Reboot the system and enter the FastBuild Main Menu oN OAR o bh Select the Rebuild Array lt 5 gt menu The following screen will appear FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Rebuild Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Capacity MB Status Array 1 Mirror 2 16126 Critical Array 2 Array 3 Array 4 Keys Available Up Down ESC Exit Enter Select 9 Highlight the array with the Critical status 10 Press lt Enter gt The following screen will appear FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Rebuild Array Menu Array No RAID Mode Total Drv Status Array 2 Mirror 2 Critical Stripe Block Not Available Select Drive fo
52. tenance of a mirrored array Array Synchronization Schedule I Disabled On Errors C Abort Fix C Ignore Interactive Schedule event Once every specified minutes DI Every 30 minutes Disable the default Click to turn off automated scheduling of synchronization When unchecked the Scheduling section will be highlighted see above On Errors offers four radio buttons for the user to select the procedure they would like to perform if an error is detected during a scheduled Synchronization There are three types of errors that can be detected a data mismatch between the primary and secondary drives a physical media error on the source or target drive or a total disk failure The options for handling Errors are as follows Abort Stops the Synchronization process if an error is encountered Fix In most cases the system will automatically correct errors The method of correction varies depending on the type of error see Appendix under Error Correction Methodology Ignore The system will log the event error and continue the synchronization process Warning this may result in mismatched drives under RAID 1 or 0 1 Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors but do not want to fix these errors yet The user may then decide what to do about the error s detected Interactive By selecting this option a window will appear each time an error is detected asking whether you want to Abort
53. to another server A Yes All controllers read arrays the same way Once the drives are all connected you must restart the system for it to recognize the newly inserted array configuration Q If have a problem with one of the drives how can I low level format it to correct the problem A Do NOT do this Low level formatting IDE drives is unnecessary and generally does not correct problems Errors such as bad sectors or ECC CRC failure are best remedied by completely replacing the drive For this reason drives attached should NOT be low level formatted Q Do have to install disk management software on my array in order to access the full storage capacity of drives A No Disk management software would only complicate things The array should be fully addressable by your O S as it is Remember that some operating systems have varying limits on the sizes of partitions and logical drives that can be defined Consult your O S documentation about partitioning larger drives Q What system BIOS CMOS settings do use for the drives on the RAID IDE connectors A None The drives are supported by the FastBuild BIOS and or an O S driver not by your system BIOS O How dol partition format a RAID array A The system sees an array as a single HDD Therefore anything that you can do to a single HDD can also be done to an array You can and should use the FDISK and FORMAT utilities to partition format the array You can partition the array
54. tures LBA and Extended Interrupt13 drive translation in controller onboard BIOS Provides 32 bit I O IDE Bus Master and Ultra ATA performance for optimal system performance Improves system performance of new and existing installations Works with the newest and most current IDE drive specifications Verification test has been performed with major drive manufacturers and development partners Breaks capacity barriers for support of drives greater than 8 4GB in capacity Offers flexible storage options for space demanding applications RAID User s Manual Getting Started This section will help you get started with the hard drive installation WARNING Before installing the driver into an existing system backup any necessary data Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss Installing the Hard Drives WARNING If you wish to use a Windows NT 4 x or Windows 2000 hard drive that will be configured in the Mirrored array as a boot drive do NOT connect the hard drive to the RAID IDE connector yet You must install the Windows NT 4 x or Windows 2000 operating system and driver with the hard drive connected to the standard IDE connector After you re done with the installation connect the drive to the RAID IDE connector The First Boot Device field in Advanced BIOS Features of the Award BIOS setup utility must be set to SCSI Hard drives must be Ultra ATA 100 Ultra ATA 66 Ultra ATA 33 EI
55. w controller settings refer to the Viewing Controller Settings section NOTE After configuring an array using FastBuild you must FDISK and format the arrayed drive s if you are using new blank drives depending on the type of array you are using 12 RAID User s Manual Creating Arrays Automatically Auto Setup lt 1 gt in the Main Menu can automatically help create a disk array It will assign all available drives appropriate for the disk array you are creating After making all selections use lt Ctrl Y gt to Save FastBuild will automatically build the array FastBuild tm Utility 1 xx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc Auto Setup Options Menu Optimize Array for Performance Typical Application usage A V Editing Auto Setup Configuration Spare Drive Count Drives used in Array Array Disk Capacity Keys Available Up Down Space Change Option ESC Exit Ctrl Y Save Optimize Array For Select Performance RAID 0 or Security RAID 1 under the Optimize Array for setting Performance RAID 0 Striping This option provides maximum performance The storage capacity equals the number of drives times the capacity of the smallest drive in the disk array NOTE Striped arrays can use 1 or 2 drives that were created in Auto Setup Security RAID 1 Mirroring This option creates a mirrored or fault tolerant array for data security NOTE Under the Security setting
56. you want the system to boot from a drive that is connected to the RAID IDE connector or SCSI add in card you must first select SCSI in the First Boot Device field Advanced BIOS Features of the Award BIOS setup utility If there are drives connected to both the RAID IDE connector and SCSI add in card you must then select which drive you want to boot from in the RAID Chip Boot Device field Refer to the system board user s manual for more information RAID User s Manual Creating A Disk Array Use the FastBuild BIOS utility to create arrays using the attached drives There are three different scenarios in creating an array You can 1 create an array for performance 2 create a Security array using new hard drives recommended or 3 create a Security array using an existing hard drive and a new hard drive WARNING If you wish to create a Security array using an existing hard drive backup all necessary data Failure to follow this accepted PC practice could result in data loss 1 Boot your system If this is the first time you are booting with the drives installed the BIOS will display the following screen FastTrak100 Lite tm BIOS Version 1 xx Build xxxx c 1995 2000 Promise Technology Inc All Rights Reserved No array defined Press lt Ctrl F gt to enter FastBuild tm Utility Or press lt ESC gt key to continue booting the system 2 Press the lt Ctrl F gt keys to display the FastBuil

RAID User`s Manual

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents