MediaShield User's Guide
Contents
1. MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 NVIDIA Corporation June 6 2007 NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 Published by NVIDIA Corporation 2701 San Tomas Expressway Santa Clara CA 95050 Notice ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS REFERENCE BOARDS FILES DRAWINGS DIAGNOSTICS LISTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY MATERIALS ARE BEING PROVIDED AS IS NVIDIA MAKES NO WARRANTIES EXPRESSED IMPLIED STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE MATERIALS AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable However NVIDIA Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties that may result from its use No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of NVIDIA Corporation Specifications mentioned in this publication are subject to change without notice This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation Trademarks NVIDIA the NVIDIA logo MediaShield 3DFX 3DFX INTERACTIVE the 3dfx Logo STB STB Systems and Design the STB L2. Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Using the MediaShield Software Accessing the Storage Page To access the NVIDIA Control Panel Storage page 1 Right click the desktop and then click NVIDIA Control Panel from the pop up menu The NVIDIA Control Panel Select a Category page appears E NVIDIA Control Panel O Back Q Advanced View v on Select a Category Contents Index Search Contact NVIDIA y Sy Recent Tasks gt View storage configuration Adjust clock speeds and timings Sto rage Manage profile rules Configure and monitor storage Performance tuning wizard devices on your nForce system For Help press F1 Other icons may be present such as Display 3D Settings and Video amp Television 2 Click Storage NVIDIA Corporation 27 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software The Storage page appears E NVIDIA Control Panel E SN Storage Help Y d g Contents Index Search Contact NVIDIA View storage configuration Recent Tasks View storage configuration Create array Delete array Performance tuning wizard Create array Rebuild array Using the Storage Page Control Panel Categories Delete array Synchronize array Migrate array Designate spare disk From the Storage page you can accomplish the following tasks e Create an Array e Delete an Array e Rebuild an Array e Synchronize an Array e Designate a Spare Dis
3. This allows you to install the operating system onto the RAID volume Migrating Migrating is the ability to convert from one RAID mode to another RAID mode This allows the user to upgrade their current disk or array for better performance higher security and increased capacity More importantly this is accomplished without having to go through multiple steps The migrating feature gives the user an upgradeable option to manage storage easily Features and Benefits Summary Features Benefits Spare Drive and Dedicated Drive Allows the user to dedicate a spare disk as a hot Support standby in the event of a array failure e Offers additional protection in case of a failure in a mirrored array Bootable RAID Supports the use of a RAID drive for loading the operating system at power up for optimal performance Migrating Allows the user to upgrade for more performance security and capacity Allows the user to change the current state of a disk array to another array with a one step process called migrating without losing any data during the configuration change Disk Failure Identification Notifies the user when a disk fails and indicates which one to replace NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield 8 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CONFIGURING THE BIOS This chapter provides instructions for two basic BIOS configuration tasks e Enabling RAID in the
4. 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Name Indicates the RAID array type and drive model information Status Indicates the process state of the array n For example Healthy Rebuilding Initializing Synchronizing or Upgrading Capacity Indicates the size of each hard drive For example 110 00 GB Channel Indicates the adapter and channel SATA port information for each hard drive For example 1 0 means the hard drive is attached to Adapter 1 Channel 0 Partitions Indicates any partitions created on the selected array 35 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software 36 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 USING DISK ALERT About Disk Alert The RAID manager application includes a disk alert feature that provides a graphical indication of the status of the hard disks in the system When the RAID manager application detects a failure condition of an attached drive a pop up box appears in the clock area of the Windows system tray Click the pop up box to view the manufacturer provided bitmap image of the system motherboard The image shows the hard drive connector ports and provides a visual indication of the location and status of the drives as follows e Red rectangle A red rectangle will flash around the port connector that is attached to the failed drive e Green rectangle Ports that have a drive attached and are in a healthy state are indicate
5. System BIOS This task is required to create a RAID array or to add disks to an existing array e Creating a RAID Array Using the RAID BIOS This task is required when you are creating a bootable RAID array but can also be used to create non bootable RAID arrays You perform these tasks in the process of creating arrays as described in the chapter Creating RAID Arrays on page 17 NVIDIA Corporation 7 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS Enabling RAID in the System BIOS 1 Start your computer then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility window appears Phoenix Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Integrated Peripherals Esc Quit F10 Save amp Exit Setup A Vv gt lt Select Item Figure 2 1 BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Window 2 Use the arrow keys to select Integrated Peripherals see BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Main Window then press Enter MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS The Integrated Peripherals window appears Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled Auto Auto Auto Auto Enabled PCI Slot V1 1 V2 0 Disabled Disabled Enabled Disabled Auto Figure 2 2 Integrated Peripherals Window 3 Use the arrow keys to select the RAID Config see Integrated Peripherals Window then press Enter The RAID Config window appears RAID Enabled RAID Enabled RAID Enabled RAID Enabled RAID Disabled
6. separate hard disk that contains the OS and is not part of the RAID array See Creating a Non Bootable Array on page 20 for more information In a bootable RAID array the OS is installed on the RAID array disks See Creating a Bootable Array on page 17 for more information I just configured a RAID 1 array why is the array size one half the total cumulative size of the drives RAID 1 uses one half the total disk space for data redundancy See RAID 1 on page 4 for more information on RAID1 arrays What is the optimal hard drive configuration for RAID 1 mirror In a mirrored array a mirror is created using the maximum drive size of the smaller of the two drives Ideal configuration is achieved using drives of identical size How do I configure a multiple array system Up to eight different RAID arrays can be configured and active at the same time You need to configure each array separately in the RAID BIOS as well as initialize the arrays in Windows MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Why is the cumulative size of a RAID 0 Stripe or RAID 0 1 Stripe Mirror not equal to the sum of the drives The drive size is controlled by stripe blocks For RAID 0 Array size smallest drive size x number of disks in the array For RAID 0 1 Array size is smallest drive size x number of disks in the array 2 Why can I not get into Windows after addi
7. to the mirrored array to replace the failed disk Dedicated Disk A dedicated free disk is a disk that is assigned to a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array The dedicated disk is used by that array only when needed for example during a system crash where a RAID mirrored drive is broken The dedicated disk can be used only by the array that it is assigned to and not by any other array unlike a free disk which can be used by any available RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array To mark a disk as dedicated reserve it for use by a specific array you must have at least one free disk and you must also have at least two RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 arrays created 2 See Table 1 1 Supported nForce Platforms and RAID Arrays on page 2 for a matrix of supported RAID levels MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Requirements for Designating a Spare Disk The Designate Spare option on the Storage page appears only if all the following conditions are met e There must be at least two fault tolerant arrays already created Some OEMS allow a designated spare to be created when only one fault tolerant array exists e There must be at least one free disk with capacity equal to or greater than the smallest disk in the given fault tolerant array For example if a mirror array is created with disk capacities of 40 GB and 80 GB there should be at least one free disk available o
8. to the previous screen and then press F10 to exit the RAID setup NVIDIA Corporation 15 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS 16 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CREATING RAID ARRAYS This chapter provides instructions on creating bootable and non bootable RAID arrays e Creating a Bootable Array You can configure a RAID array and then install the operating system over it e Creating a Non Bootable Array This is the standard method of using non bootable disks in a RAID array Creating a Bootable Array Step 1 Enable RAID in the system BIOS See Enabling RAID in the System BIOS on page 8 for detailed instructions Step 2 Create a RAID array using the RAID BIOS See Creating a RAID Array Using the RAID BIOS on page 11 for detailed instructions Step 3 Install the RAID Drivers If your Windows installation CD includes NVIDIA RAID drivers then the drivers will be installed when you install Windows and you can skip this section If your Windows installation CD does not include RAID drivers or you are trying to install a new version of Windows then you will need an NVIDIA RAID driver F6 install floppy Check to see if one came with your system If not you can create one by downloading the appropriate driver package and following the steps in this section NVIDIA Corporation 17 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays 1 Create an F6 install floppy by using the x option then copy all files in IDEA WinXP sa
9. 44 MediaShield Application Questions 2 ee 45 NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 ABOUT NVIDIA MEDIASHIELD NVIDIA brings Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID technology which is used by the world s leading businesses to the common PC desktop This technology uses multiple drives to either increase total disk space or to offer data protection RAID techniques were first published in 1988 by a multivendor consortium the RAID Advisory Board RAID techniques were divided into different categories or levels Originally RAID levels focused on improving resiliency or data availability As additional RAID levels were defined one was introduced for improving performance For all levels RAID techniques optimize storage solutions by using multiple disks grouped together and treating them as a single storage resource This chapter describes NVIDIA MediaShield in the following sections e System Requirements on page 2 e RAID Arrays on page 4 describes the RAID levels supported by NVIDIA MediaShield e NVIDIA MediaShield Features on page 6 describes additional features offered by NVIDIA MediaShield NVIDIA Corporation 1 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield System Requirements Hardware Support Table 1 1 lists the NVIDIA nForce platforms supported by NVIDIA MediaShield and the RAID arrays supported on each platform Table 1 1 NVIDIA n
10. Force Platform Supported nForce Platforms and RAID Arrays RAID RAID RAID RAID 0 1 JBOD NVIDIA nForce 630a gt gt NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI NVIDIA NFP 3600 NVIDIA NFP 3400 NVIDIA NFP 3050 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra NVIDIA nForce 570 NVIDIA nForce 560 NVIDIA nForce 550 NVIDIA nForce 520 NVIDIA nForce 430 P P lt PS PS PS PS PS PST P lt PT OX P P lt PS P lt P lt PS PS PS P lt PS PS CD P P lt PS P lt P lt PS P lt PS PS P lt Pd NVIDIA nForce 430 NVIDIA Business Platform NVIDIA nForce 410 NVIDIA nForce 405 NVIDIA nForce 400 NVIDIA nForce4 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Intel Edition NVIDIA nForce4 SLI NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE Intel Edition NVIDIA nForce4 Professional 10 4 NVIDIA nForce4 Professional Pro NVIDIA nForce4 Professional Pro SLI NVIDIA nForce3 Pro250 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra NVIDIA nForce3 250 PX P lt P lt PS PST PST PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PST PST PST P lt P lt P lt PS PS PS P lt PST DST OD PS P lt P lt PS S P P lt PS PS PS PS P lt PS P lt PS PST PS PST PS PNT PS PST PS PST P lt PST DX PS P lt PS P lt PS PST PS PS m MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 1 About NV
11. IDIA MediaShield Table 1 1 Supported nForce Platforms and RAID Arrays RAID RAID RAID RAID NVIDIA nForce Platform 0 1 0 1 5 JBOD NVIDIA nForce3 150 X X NVIDIA nForce2 MCP2S X X NVIDIA Corporation 3 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield Operating System Support NVIDIA MediaShield supports the following operating systems e Windows Vista both 32 bit and 64 bit editions Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Enterprise Edition Windows Vista Ultimate e Windows XP Home Edition e Windows XP Professional Edition e Windows Server 2003 Software This document describes MediaShield accessible through the NVIDIA Control Panel Storage interface available with NVIDIA ForceWare Release 100 drivers 4 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Arrays RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 0 1 NVIDIA Corporation This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that MediaShield supports Note Not all nForce platforms provide support for all the RAID levels listed See Table 1 1 Supported nForce Platforms and RAID Arrays on page 2 for a matrix of supported RAID levels In a RAID 0 array the controller stripes data across multiple drives in the RAID subsystem RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads and writes across multiple drives in parallel The size of each b
12. RAID Disabled Figure 2 3 RAID Config Window NVIDIA Corporation 9 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS 4 From the RAID Config window globally enable RAID then enable the SATA ports with disks that you want to use for RAID If RAID is enabled globally but not enabled on the individual SATA port disks on that port can only be used for non RAID applications In the example in RAID Config Window four SATA ports are enabled so the non bootable RAID array can include up to four SATA disks If there is a disk connected to SATA 3 Primary or SATA 3 Secondary it can not be used for RAID 5 Press F10 to save the configuration and exit The PC reboots 10 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS Creating a RAID Array Using the RAID BIOS The NVIDIA RAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID type and which hard drives you want to make part of the array Entering the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After rebooting the system wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10 The RAID prompt appears as part of the system POST and boot process prior to loading of the OS You have a few seconds to press F10 before the screen disappears 2 Press F10 The NVIDIA MediaShield Utility Define a New Array screen appears Figure 2 4 Media Shield Utility Define a New Array ALTEA Mirroring J Striping Block Optimal Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Disk Model Name F6 Ba
13. System Tools Partition Basic FAT Healthy 2 00GB 448 MB 21 No Event Viewer D E Partition Basic FAT Healthy 2 00GB 1 97 GB 98 No z Shared Folders 3 F Partition Basic Healthy 1 85GB 185GB 100 No Local Users and Groups 9m5 DOS_6 C Partition Basic FAT Healthy System 1 99GB 32MB 1 No a Performance Logs and Alerts Device Manager E orage Removable Storage Disk Defragmenter Disk Management Ea Services and Applications ZBDisk 0 A Basic MS DOS_6 i D3 F 28 63 GB 1 99 GB FAT 2 00GBFAT 2 00 GB FAT 1 85 GB 20 79 GB Online Healthy Syste Healthy Healthy Healthy Unallocated EBDisk 1 A Basic 111 80 GB 111 80 GB Online Unallocated gt Hf Unallocated MY Primary partition PY Extended partition PY Logical drive Figure 3 8 Computer Management Window The actual disks listed will depend on your system In the Computer Management Window example there is a 111 GB unallocated partition which is the total combined storage of two 60 GB HD 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 instructions After the drive has been formatted it is ready for use See Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software on page 25 for instructions on performing other storage management tasks NVIDIA Corporation 23 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays 24 Me
14. age 17 and selecting RAID Mode striping and then adding just your single boot disk Then install the OS using the F6 install mechanism as described in Step 3 Install the RAID Drivers Later when you want to migrate the single disk into a multi disk RAID array follow the instructions in Migrate an Array on page 32 Can I delete an array while it is being migrated Yes but doing so will erase all the data stored on the soon to be migrated array Can I migrate a bootable RAID array Yes you can migrate to and from any supported RAID configuration 44 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions MediaShield Application Questions What functions can be performed using the MediaShield application The following tasks can be performed View information about RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 0 1 RAID 5 and JBOD as well as any supported configuration if you have more than one RAID array active View Free Disks Assign a dedicated disk to RAID 1 RAID 0 1 and RAID 5 Remove a dedicated disk from a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array Rebuild a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array View the status of the rebuilding process Create a RAID Array Delete a RAID Array Migrate a RAID Array Synchronize an Array Note Not all nForce platforms provide di for all the RAID levels listed See Table NVIDIA Corporation 1 1 Supported nForce Platforms an RAID Arrays on page 2 for a
15. are disks fault tolerance RAID Critical data requiring Optimized for both Requires two drives for the storage 4 Yes 0 1 high performance 100 data redundancy space of one drive the same as and performance RAID level 1 Allows spare disks RAID 5 Critical data and Fault tolerance and Decreased write performance due to 3 Yes reasonable level of better utilization of parity calculations performance disk space Requires at least three drives JBOD Combining odd size Combines and uses the Decreases performance because ofthe multiple No drives into one big capacity of odd size difficulty in using drives concurrently drive drives or to optimize drives for different uses 1 RAID 5 is supported on select boards only Please check with your motherboard manufacturer to deter mine whether RAID 5 is supported for the type and model of your motherboard 6 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield NVIDIA MediaShield Features Additional RAID Features NVIDIA MediaShield offers the following additional features Free Disk and Dedicated Spare Disk A Free Disk or Dedicated Disk can be automatically used in case one drive of a fault tolerant array fails NVIDIA MediaShield defines a fault tolerant array as either RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 A free disk can be used by any available fault tolerant array while a dedicated disk can be used only by the array to which it is assigned Bootable RAID
16. ck F7 Finish TAB Navigate hy Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 4 NVIDIA MediaShield Utility By default RAID Mode is set to Mirroring and Striping Block is set to Optimal NVIDIA Corporation 11 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS Understanding the Define a New Array Window Use the Define a New Array window to e Select the RAID Mode e Set up the Striping Block e Specify which disks to use for the RAID Array The SATA ports are called channels and they are associated with adapters The first digit in the Location field defines the adapter that the port is associated with The 2nd digit defines the channel The M field which used to specify Master or Slave is obsolete 1 0 M Obsolete Channel Adapter Figure 2 5 Loc Column Information In Loc Column Information 1 0 means the hard drive is attached to Adapter 1 Channel 0 The location disk model and capacity fields should allow you to identify disks It may be useful to try attaching a SATA hard drive to the ports provided with your platform and determine which location IDs are associated with SATA ports on your motherboard Using the Define a New Array Screen 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 Mirror
17. d with a green rectangle around the port connector e Yellow rectangle Ports that have a drive attached are members of a failed RAID array but are not the cause of the failure have a yellow rectangle around the port connector Unconnected ports have no visual indication NVIDIA Corporation 37 CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Disk Alert Examples Figure 5 1 through Figure 5 3 illustrate how the Disk Alert feature is implemented on an NVIDIA reference board The actual picture in your system will depend on the motherboard Example of All Good Drives Figure 5 1 shows four green connections indicating four active SATA ports all SATA ports are OK A NVIDIA MediaShield x PRE DE 4 Figure 5 1 Disk Alert Example All SATA Drive Connections OK 38 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Example of a Degraded Array Figure 5 2 shows a yellow SATA port indicating that an array has been degraded as well as a single black SATA port indicating that there is no longer a SATA hard drive connected to that port ANVIDIA MediaShield x SATA drive connected to this port is part of a degraded array No SATA drive connected to this port PRE DE 4 Figure 5 2 Disk Alert Example Degraded and Missing SATA Connection NVIDIA Corporation 39 CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Example of a Failed Drive Figure 5 3 shows a red SATA port indicating that a drive failure o
18. diaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 INSTALLING AND USING THE NVIDIA MEDIASHIELD SOFTWARE The MediaShield RAID software ships with an application called MediaShield which you access from the NVIDIA Control Panel This chapter describes the MediaShield software in the following sections e Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows on page 26 e Using the MediaShield Software on page 27 NVIDIA Corporation 25 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software 1 Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers Select Features NVIDIA SMBus Driver NVIDIA Ethemet Driver NVIDIA IDE Driver NVIDIA Audio Driver Figure 4 1 nForce Driver Installation Window 2 Select the modules that you want to install Make sure that the NVIDIA IDE Driver is selected 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 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 as described in the next section 26 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 4
19. ep 3 Install the RAID DiiVers riire ot eee OE ee a EWS OEE a a NE 17 Creating a Non Bootable Array 2 e ea ee 20 Step 1 Enable RAID inthe system BIOS 2 2 02 20 reprit terrre kint E RO Ee EERE SEES 20 Step 2 Create the RAID Atfay e e c cc on eee eRe RR ae eR ee ee ee 20 slep o Initialize the RAID AMAY risas 640000 22 8 DG beead bee hee EY Hak EH wD es 20 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows 0 00002 eee ee eee 26 Using the MediaShield Software ss ce 6464846 24600 88 bee Oe Meee we bee ee eee eee A 27 Accessing the Storage Pages s a ea coe be a Go RGR RSE GY Reh ee eG 27 Using the storage Page sidad REA A A EYE RE SE GES 28 5 Using Disk Alert About Disk Alet ocre ERA RELY tig A a a Se RRR EES 37 Disk Alen Examples 2 20008 24 neau A ADA b E A a 38 Example of All Good DIVES 0622 aAa a da rd a p i aa a 38 Example of a Degraded Array 22 ocuoran tenaga RHEE EER EES REE e REE EE 39 Example ofa Failed Drive osos be 044 S48 bbe be ee bo e wee eee we 40 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Basic RAID QUESTIONS e Ge SEE he EDSE Em Hh EEO OL ed dee we Ree ee SR ee 42 RAID ROM Setup Questions 2222 ei eke PARE RE RRR ERO eee wee eee Ee 43 Rebuilding Arrays QUESOS s srd re rripi SAG e PRES ESS e 43 Dedicated DISK QUESIIONS 2 0 2 ae a o OE Re Ba ea ee Bale Ee oe A 44 Array Migrating QuesiOnS s s oie b Pe Se eed eee PEG EA betes A a
20. erformance the process can take some time and the time it takes depends on the size of the drive system performance and other factors See Rebuild an Array on page 29 for more information 43 CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Dedicated Disk Questions e Can I assign a dedicated disk to a striped array BOD or use a free disk with striped array JBOD No free disks and dedicated disks can be only used with a mirrored array striped mirror array or a RAID 5 array Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array can I remove it Yes a dedicated disk can be removed from a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or a RAID 5 array Array Migrating Questions e Is it possible to migrate a single bootable drive to a two disk stripe array That is if I have a single drive in the system that is not RAID enabled then decide to add a second drive to the system will I then be able to migrate the single bootable drive to a two disk stripe array If RAID Enable in the BIOS RAID Config screen is not enabled when the OS is installed it is not possible to convert the SATA boot drive into a multi disk bootable RAID array Therefore if you want to retain the capability to migrate a single SATA boot drive into a multi disk RAID array at a future time you must perform the OS install onto a single disk stripe array You can do this by following the instructions in Creating a Bootable Array on p
21. f capacity equal to or greater than 40GB to be used as a spare disk for that array Instructions Click Designate spare to start the Designate Spare Wizard and then follow instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions Remove a Spare The Remove spare option appears only if you have a a RAID array with a spare disk allocated to it Click Remove spare to start the Remove Spare Wizard and then follow the instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions NVIDIA Corporation 31 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Migrate an Array 32 In a traditional RAID environment when a user wants to change the current state of a disk or a current array to a new RAID configuration the process of reconfiguring the new array involves multiple steps The user must back up the data delete the array re boot the PC and then reconfigure the new array MediaShield RAID allows the end user to change the current state of the disk or array to another with a one step process called Migrating This section describes the NVIDIA Migrating process and explains how to use Migrating to convert from one RAID array type to another General Migrating Requirements e The new array capacity must be equal to or greater than the previous array For example it is possible to migrate f
22. ge click Create array to start the Create Array Wizard then follow the instructions You can press F1 to access online help that walks you through the array creation process Step 3 Initialize the RAID Array After creating the array reboot the PC and then initialize the newly created array under Windows as follows 1 Launch Computer Management by clicking Start gt Control Panel then open the Administrative Tools folder and double click on Computer Management 2 Click Disk Management under the Storage section 20 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizards appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Welcome to the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard This wizard helps you to initialize new disks and to convert empty basic disks to dynamic disks You can use dynamic disks to create software based RAID volumes that can be mirrored or they can be striped or spanned across multiple disks You can also expand single disk and spanned volumes without having to restart the computer After you convert a disk to dynamic you can only use Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows on any volume of that disk To continue click Next Figure 3 4 Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard 3 Click Next The Select Disks to Initialize window appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Select Disks to Initialize You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it Select
23. ght 2004 2007 by NVIDIA Corporation All rights reserved Drivers for Windows MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield System REQUIFEMENIS ssr uretra ed ade dh BBE DI Se Ee A 2 Hardware Suppor 26 28 va AE sade eet Re dad A PEE Ee ee AA ered 2 Operating System SUPPO ce ea a Bee ek Re anh DER SRS HRA ER SS ER a a A 3 SOWIE gt sara nee ehh A eee bee SER ESOS EES eS AA 3 RAIDAHNaYS 02 tea fae O e IE OE Se wee ob eS tm ee oe RIAS Bae de gh A 4 RAIDO n ica HORE SE Ps deed BESS eee eee ee Pek ee we SES eee A E 4 PAID Wise E a es hoe Ae Bt Bh ok ee eis Gh ke SA a da ces pc ee 4 A 2 2 edb 4 oy 6d oa 3 2 be eb bee ee EES BO hee oS aed deh 4 RAID Os aora a OS ee oe we ae AS E N S 5 JBOD gt eaa ees earch aes Sane eee Geter o o o a E o ads o a 5 Summary of RAID Configurations cia tedar ma d koaa cdd tad aio 5 NVIDIA MediaShield Features e 4454844060 A aa a RA 6 Additional RAID Feawres 2 2 0d ea A E e Bebe A 6 Features and Benefits Summary 2 2 46 45544 28 Bee ra a eee ee 6 2 Configuring the BIOS Enabling RAID inthe System BIOS 22254446842 rek ee PEAS e DEGREE A SES EER 8 Creating a RAID Array Using the RAID BIOS 2 0 a 11 3 Creating RAID Arrays Creating Bootable Arrays a ocs g s r 3622 2S eee BPS Dee Sed BEDE SE EE HS EEG S 17 Step 1 Enable RAID in the system BIOS 2 0 o e 17 Step 2 Create a RAID array using the RAID BIOS aaah aaa a 17 St
24. ing Striping Spanning Stripe Mirroring or RAID 5 Note Not all RAID levels are supported on all platforms e 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 64KB but the values can be between 4 KB and 128 KB 4 8 16 32 64 and 128 KB 12 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS 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 Tab to the Free Disks section The first disk in the list is selected Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the right arrow key gt The first disk in the list is moved and the next disk in the listis selected and ready to be moved Continue pressing the right arrow key gt until all the disks that you want to use as RAID array disks appear in the Array Disks block MediaShield Utility Array Disks Assigned illustrates the Define a New Array screen after two disks have been assigned as RAID1 array disks MediaShield Utility Define aNew Array ES Mirroring Striping Block Optimal Free Disks Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Loc piel E Model Name F6 Back F7 Finish TAB Navigate
25. k e Remove a Spare e Migrate an Array e View Storage Information 28 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Create an Array This option is available only if there are free disks that are RAID enabled Click Create array to start the Create Array Wizard and then follow the instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions Delete an Array This option is available only if RAID arrays have been created Click Delete array to start the Delete Array Wizard and then follow instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions Rebuild an Array About Rebuilding Rebuilding is the process of restoring data to a hard drive from other drives in the array For example if you have a three disk RAID 5 array and one of the drives fails you will need to replace the failed drive with a new one and rebuild the array to re generate the lost data on the newly added drive Rebuilding applies only to fault tolerant arrays such as RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 Arrays Instructions Click Rebuild array to start the Rebuild Create Array Wizard and then follow the instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions The rebuilding process takes some time to comple
26. lock is determined by the stripe size parameter which you set during the creation of the RAID 0 set Performance of applications running with a RAID 0 can vary greatly depending on the stripe size configured when creating the array The default stripe size is 64K but 32K or 16K may be more efficient if the application issues many smaller I O operations Some amount of trial and error may be appropriate to find the optimum stripe size RAID 0 is ideal for applications that require high bandwidth but do not require fault tolerance RAID 0 has the best performance and capacity of any RAID level but the lowest availability no fault tolerance If one drive fails the entire array fails because part of the data is missing with no way to recover it other than restoring from a backup Ina RAID 1 array every read and write is carried out in parallel across two disk drives The mirrored or backup copy of the data can reside on the same disk or on a second redundant drive in the array RAID 1 provides a hot standby copy of data if the active volume or drive is corrupted or becomes unavailable due to a hardware failure RAID 1 techniques can be applied for high availability solutions or as a form of automatic backup that eliminates tedious manual backups to more expensive and less reliable media RAID 1 provides complete data redundancy but at the cost of doubling the required data storage capacity resulting in 50 capacity utilization Performance i
27. matrix of sappetied RAID levels 45 CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions 46 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4
28. nclude two disks converted from a one disk RAID 0 array RAID 0 1 m gt 2xn Number of RAID 0 1 disks must be equal to or greater than twice the number of RAID 0 disks RAID 5 m gt n 1 RAID 1 RAID O No additional restrictions RAID 1 Not a valid combination RAID O 1 No additional restrictions RAID 5 m gt 3 RAID RAID O m gt n 0 1 Number of RAID 0 disks must be equal to or greater than the number of RAID 0 1 disks RAID 1 Not a valid combination RAID 0 1 m gt n 2 where m must be an even number of disks The new array must include at least two more disks than the original array and can include any even number of disks beyond that RAID 5 m gt n RAID 5 RAID O m gt n RAID 1 Not a valid combination RAID 0 1 m gt 2x n 1 where m is an even number of disks RAID 5 m gt n i m quantity of disks in the new array n quantity of disks in the original array Instructions Click Migrate array to start the Migrate Array Wizard and then follow instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions NVIDIA Corporation 33 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software View Storage Information e You can use the Storage page to view the following storage information about the hard drives in your system e Which RAID arrays are set up The process state of each array Which drives are configured for each RAID array in yo
29. ng a non bootable array Possible cause would be adding the boot drive to the array and then clearing the array RAID ROM Setup Questions Why can I not get into the RAID ROM Setup You must enable RAID functionality in the system BIOS as explained in Enabling RAID in the System BIOS on page 8 Why do my hard drives not appear in the RAID ROM Setup From the RAID Config window you must enable RAID and then enable the disks that you want to use as RAID disks See Enabling RAID in the System BIOS on page 8 for more information What is the Optimal Striping Block Size in the RAID ROM Setup The default optimal striping block size is 64KB NVIDIA recommends using the optimal block size What does BBS stand for in the RAID ROM F10 setup BBS stands for BIOS Boot Specification This indicates that the boot device is defined in the BIOS What does Clear Disk mean in the RAID ROM Setup Clear Disk clears the MBR Master Boot Record This is needed to prevent invalid data from appearing in the MBR space on any of the drives included in the array Not doing so could render the system unstable Rebuilding Arrays Questions NVIDIA Corporation How long does the RAID rebuilding process take In the rebuilding process all data is copied from one hard drive to another and then the data is synchronized between the two hard drives Because the rebuilding process occurs in the background in a way that does not affect system p
30. ogo the StarBox Logo NVIDIA nForce GeForce NVIDIA Quadro NVDVD NVIDIA Personal Cinema NVIDIA Soundstorm Vanta TNT2 TNT RIVA RIVA TNT VOODOO VOODOO GRAPHICS WAVEBAY Accuview Antialiasing the Audio amp Nth Superscript Design Logo CineFX the Communications amp Nth Superscript Design Logo Detonator Digital Vibrance Control DualNet FlowFX ForceWare GIGADUDE Glide GOFORCE the Graphics amp Nth Superscript Design Logo Intellisample M BUFFER nfiniteFX NV NVChess nView NVKeystone NVOptimizer NVPinball NVRotate NVSensor NVSync the Platform amp Nth Superscript Design Logo PowerMizer Quincunx Antialiasing Sceneshare See What You ve Been Missing StreamThru SuperStability T BUFFER The Way It s Meant to be Played Logo TwinBank TwinView and the Video amp Nth Superscript Design Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and or other countries Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated Intel Indeo and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation Microsoft Windows Windows NT Direct3D DirectDraw and DirectX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated Copyri
31. one or more disks to initialize Disks lt Back Next gt Cancel Figure 3 5 Select Disks to Initialize Page The disks listed depend on how many arrays you have configured 4 Click Next NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays 21 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays The Select Disks to Convert window appears Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Select Disks to Convert The disks you select will be converted to dynamic disks Select one or more disks to convert Disks lt Back Next gt Cancel Figure 3 6 Select Disks to Convert Page 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 Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard You have successfully completed the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard You selected the following settings Initialize Disk 1 Convert None To close this wizard click Finish Figure 3 7 Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard Page 22 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays 6 Click Finish The Computer Management window appears g Computer Management a File Action View Window Help ces Am 2 Aes m Computer Management Local BOE Layout Type File System Status Capacity Free Space Free Fault Tolerance le
32. py Select ENTER Popup Figure 2 6 MediaShield Utility Array Disks Assigned NVIDIA Corporation 13 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS Completing the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After assigning your RAID array disks press F7 The Clear disk array prompt appears Mirroring Optimal Clear disk data Y YES N NO Figure 2 7 Clear Disk Data Prompt 2 Press Y to clear the disk data The Array List screen appears where you can review the RAID arrays that you have set up Yes 2 Healthy NVIDIA MIRROR 74 53G Figure 2 8 Array List Window 14 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 2 Configuring the BIOS 3 Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up then press B to specify the array as bootable 4 Press Enter to view and verify details The Array Detail screen appears Array 2 NVIDIA MIRROR 74 56G Array Detail RAID Mode Mirroring Striping Width 1 Striping Block 32K Adapt Channel M S Capacity ST380023AS 74 56GB ST380023AS 74 56GB R Rebuild D Delete C Clear Disk Enter Return Figure 2 9 Array Detail Screen The Array Detail screen shows various information about the array that you selected such as Striping Block used RAID Mode Striping Width Disk Model Name and disk capacity 5 If you want to mark this disk as empty and wipe out all its contents press C 6 At the prompt press Y to wipe out all the data otherwise press N 7 Press Enter again to go back
33. r a RAID error has occurred SA NVIDIA MediaShield x Failed SATA drive connected to this port PRE DE Figure 5 3 Disk Alert Example Failed SATA Drive 40 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 MEDIASHIELD RAID FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS The FAQ in this chapter are organized by the following categories Basic RAID Questions RAID ROM Setup Questions Rebuilding Arrays Questions Dedicated Disk Questions Array Migrating Questions MediaShield Application Questions NVIDIA Corporation 41 CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Basic RAID Questions 42 What is RAID RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and refers to the grouping of 2 or more disk drives that the system views as a single drive Different groupings have difference advantages that include better performance and data fault tolerance See About NVIDIA MediaShield on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays What type of RAID array is right for me In general for better throughput of non critical data use RAID 0 for fault tolerance use RAID1 or RAID 5 and for better throughput as well as fault tolerance use RAID 0 1 See About NVIDIA MediaShield on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays What is the difference between a bootable and a non bootable RAID array A system with a non bootable RAID array includes a
34. rom a RAID 1 array to a RAID 0 array as long as the RAID 0 array is the same size as or larger than the RAID 1 array e The number of disks in the new array cannot be less than the number of disks in the original array e You cannot migrate To or from a JBOD Spanning array From RAID 1 to RAID 1 From RAID 0 1 to RAID 1 From RAID 5 to 1 Migrating to an Array Larger Than 2 TB Your disks must be partitioned using the GUID partition table GPT if you plan to migrate to an array with greater than 2 TB storage If your original array is not a GPT disk and you expand your array s capacity using the migration feature to over 2 TB you will not be able to access the additional storage above 2 TB in the new array To use the additional storage in this situation back up your data repartition the array using GPT then restore your data to the new volume Note Be sure to make the volume dynamic if you plan to have more than four partitions MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Specific Migrating Requirements The following table lists the disk requirements for a new RAID array for various migrating combinations Table 4 1 RAID Array Disk Requirements for Migrating From To New Array Disk Requirements RAID O RAID O m gt n Number of disks in the new array must be greater than the original array RAID 1 m 2 n 1 RAID 1 array must i
35. s roughly the same as for a single drive although in some instances the dual write may be somewhat slower RAID 0 drives can be mirrored using RAID 1 techniques resulting in a RAID 0 1 solution for improved performance plus resiliency The controller combines the performance of data striping RAID 0 and the fault tolerance of disk mirroring RAID 1 Data is striped across multiple drives and duplicated on another set of drives CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA MediaShield RAID 5 JBOD RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives It writes data and parity blocks across all the drives in the array Fault tolerance is maintained by ensuring that the parity information for any given block of data is placed on a different drive from those used to store the data itself JBOD stands for Just a Bunch of Disks Each drive is accessed as if it were on a standard SCSI host bus adapter This is useful when a single drive configuration is needed but it offers no speed improvement or fault tolerance Summary of RAID Configurations Table 1 2 RAID Configuration Summary 4 Hard Fault Array Uses Advantages Drawbacks Disks Tolerance RAID 0 Non critical data High data throughput No fault tolerance multiple None requiring high performance RAID 1 Small databases orany 100 data Requires two drives for the storage 2 Yes other small capacity redundancy space of one drive environment requiring Allows sp
36. taraid to a floppy disk 2 After you complete the RAID BIOS setup boot from the Windows CD The Windows Setup program starts 3 Press F6 and wait a few moments for the Windows Setup screen to appear S Specify Additional Devices ENTER Continue F3 Exit Figure 3 1 Windows Setup Specify Devices 4 Specify the NVIDIA drivers a Insert the floppy that has the RAID driver press S then press Enter The following Windows Setup screen appears Enter Select F3 Exit Figure 3 2 Windows Setup Select SCSI Adapter 18 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays b Select NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER required and then press Enter c Press S again at the Specify Devices screen then press Enter d Select NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller required and then press Enter The following Windows Setup screen appears listing both drivers Windows Setup Setup will load support for the following mass storage device NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller To specify additional SCSI adapters CD ROM drives or special disk controllers for use with Windows including those for which you have a device support disk from a mass storage device manufacturer press S If you do not have any device support disks from a mass storage device manufacturer or do not want to specify additional mass storage devices for use with Windows press ENTER S Specify Additional Devices ENTER Contin
37. te and occurs in the background so as not to affect the performance of the system 1 See Table 1 1 Supported nForce Platforms and RAID Arrays on page 2 for a matrix of supported RAID levels NVIDIA Corporation 29 CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Synchronize an Array Synchronizing an array will force a rebuild of redundancy or parity The operation applies to any fault tolerant array such as RAID 1 0 1 and RAID 5 Click Synchronize array to start the Synchronize Array Wizard and then follow instructions You can press F1 to access the online help that walks you through the Wizard with step by step instructions Designate a Spare Disk 30 About Spare Disks You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array The spare drive can take over for a failed disk MediaShield RAID supports two types of spare drives Free Disk A free disk is a disk that is not part of any RAID array but can be used by any available RAID 1 RAID 0 1 or RAID 5 array that requires another disk when one of its disks crashes or becomes unusable The process is automatic and requires no user interaction Example A system may have four hard disks where one disk is used to boot the OS two hard drives are set up ina mirrored array and a fourth hard disk is set up as a free disk If one of the mirrored array drives fails the free disk will be assigned automatically
38. ue F3 Exit Figure 3 3 Windows Setup NVIDIA drivers listed 5 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 6 Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP After Windows XP is completely installed it is recommended that you install the ForceWare software in order to access the MediaShield Storage interface See Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows on page 26 Note 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 NVIDIA Corporation 19 CHAPTER 3 Creating RAID Arrays Creating a Non Bootable Array Step 1 Enable RAID in the system BIOS See Enabling RAID in the System BIOS on page 8 for detailed instructions Step 2 Create the RAID Array There are two methods you can use to create a RAID array Using the RAID BIOS Follow the instructions under Creating a RAID Array Using the RAID BIOS on page 11 Using the MediaShield software 1 Install the NVIDIA RAID drivers See Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows on page 26 for instructions 2 Open the NVIDIA Control Panel then from the Select a Category page click Storage 3 From the Storage pa
39. ur system Which drives are designated as free disks Information about each drive such as size and model e You can also launch various Wizards such as the Create Array Wizard Delete Array and Migrate Array Wizard from the list of links in the Related tasks section of the side menu Instructions Click View Storage Configuration to open the associated page File Edit View Help Q Back OQ LA Standard View H View Storage Configuration Control Panel Categories Storage Help This page shows the configuration of your storage devices Use this page to view the status and capacity of store disks on your nForce system Contents Index Search Contact NVIDIA View the details of your storage devices Recent Tasks Devices on this system L view storage configuration Name Status Capacity Channel Diagnose system performance E Striping Healthy 74 53 GB 5738081745 Healthy 74 53GB SATA1 0 Related Tasks Healthy Delete array Migrate array Rebuild array HD5722525VLSA80 Healthy 23289GB SATA 2 0 5738001345 Healthy 74 53GB SATA 21 Synchronize array Free Disk 5738002345 Healthy 74 53GB SATA1 1 Partitions ex lilt gt Figure 4 2 View Storage Configuration Page The View Storage Configuration page provides the following information 34 MediaShield User s Guide Version 5 4 NVIDIA Corporation CHAPTER
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