Ove r vie w I nt el Rapid St orage Technology provides new levels of prot ect ion, perform ance, and expandabilit y for deskt op and m obile plat form s. Whet her using one or m ult iple hard drives, users can t ake advant age of enhanced perform ance and lower power consum pt ion. When using m ore t han one drive, t he user can have addit ional prot ect ion against dat a loss in t he event of a hard drive failure.
St art ing wit h version 9.5, a brand new user int erface m akes creat ing and m anaging your st orage sim ple and int uit ive. Com bined wit h I nt el Rapid Recover Technology, set t ing up dat a prot ect ion can be accom plished easily wit h an ext ernal drive.
Valuable digit al m em ories are prot ect ed against a hard drive failure when t he syst em is configured for any one of t hree fault- t olerant RAI D levels: RAI D 1, RAI D 5, and RAI D 10. By seam lessly st oring copies of dat a on one or m ore addit ional hard drives, any hard drive can fail wit hout dat a loss or syst em downt im e. When t he failed drive is rem oved and a replacem ent hard drive is inst alled, dat a fault t olerance is easily rest ored.
I nt el Rapid St orage Technology can also im prove t he perform ance of disk int ensive ret rieval applicat ions such as edit ing hom e video. By com bining from t wo t o six drives in a RAI D 0 configurat ion, dat a can be accessed on each drive sim ult aneously, speeding up response t im e on dat a- int ensive applicat ions. Also, due t o drive load balancing, even syst em s wit h RAI D 1 can t ake advant age of fast er boot t im es and dat a reads.
I nt el Rapid St orage Technology provides benefit s t o users of a single drive as well.
Through AHCI , st orage perform ance is im proved t hrough Nat ive Com m and Queuing ( NCQ) . AHCI also delivers longer bat t ery life wit h Link Power Managem ent ( LPM) , which can reduce t he power consum pt ion of t he chipset and Serial ATA ( SATA) hard drive.
I n st a lla t ion I n st r u ct ion s
1. Download t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology soft ware from I nt el websit e. Save t he file t o a known locat ion on your com put er's hard drive. 2. Locat e t he file on your hard drive and double- click it . 3. Click Con t in u e ( if needed) t o launch t he inst allat ion program . 4. Click N e x t at t he Welcom e screen.
5. Click N e x t .
6. Read t he license agreem ent and click Ye s t o accept t he t erm s and cont inue.
7. Click N e x t . The applicat ion files will now be inst alled.
8. Click N e x t .
9. Click Ye s t o t he rest art opt ion and t hen click Fin ish t o rest art your com put er.
10. Rest art your syst em . You will find t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology icon on t he Windows t ask bar.
Cr e a t e a RAI D Ar r a y 1. Double- click I nt el Rapid St orage Technology icon, t hen below m ain screen appears.
2. Click t he Creat e icon t o creat e a RAI D array. Here we t ake RAI D 1 for exam ple.
3. I n Select Volum e Type , click Real- t im e dat a prot ect ion ( RAI D 1) . Click Next .
4. I n Configure Volum e , you need t o key- in t he Volum e Nam e wit h 1- 16
let t ers, select t he RAI D disks, and t hen specify t he volum e size. Click Next .
5. I n Confirm Volum e Creat ion , you m ay review t he select ed configurat ion.
Then click Creat e Volum e .
6. The volum e is creat ed successfully. But you st ill need t o part it ion your new volum e by using Windows Desk Managem ent before adding any dat a. Click OK .
7. You will see t he current st at us.
8. I n Windows Desk Managem ent , you need t o init ialize a disk before Logical Disk Managem ent can access it . Click OK .
9. Right - click on Disk 0, click New Sim ple Volum e .
10. Then follow t he inst ruct ions on t he New Sim ple Volum e Wizard.
11. Finally you can st art t o use RAI D 1 funct ion.
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D e le t e a RAI D Ar r a y You can also use t his ut ilit y t o delet e t he RAI D array or configure ot her RAI D funct ions.
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H ow t o in st a ll a n ope r a t ing syst e m on t o a RAI D volum e ( F6 in st a ll
m e t hod) I n order t o inst all an operat ing syst em ont o a RAI D volum e, t he RAI D opt ion m ust be enabled in t he syst em BI OS, a RAI D volum e m ust be creat ed, and t he F6 inst allat ion m et hod m ust be used t o load t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology driver during operat ing syst em set up.
N ot e
The F6 inst allat ion m et hod is not required for Microsoft Windows 7 or Microsoft Windows 8.
En a ble RAI D in Syst e m BI OS
Use t he inst ruct ions included wit h your m ot herboard t o enable RAI D in t he syst em BI OS. 1. Click F2 or D e le t e t o ent er t he BI OS Set up program aft er t he Power- On- Self- Test ( POST) m em ory t est begins. 2. Enet r t he Adva nce d m enu. 3. Click t he St or a ge Con figu r a t ion m enu. 4. Swit ch t he SATA Ope r a t ion M ode opt ion t o RAI D. 5. Click F1 0 t o save t he BI OS set t ings and exit t he BI OS Set up program .
Cr e a t e a RAI D Volum e Use t he following st eps t o creat e a RAI D volum e. 1. When t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology opt ion ROM st at us screen appears during POST, press Ct r l and i at t he sam e t im e t o ent er t he opt ion ROM user int erface. 2. Select 1 : Cr e a t e RAI D Volu m e and press En t e r . 3. Use t he up or down arrow keys t o select t he RAI D level and press Ent e r . 4. Unless you have select ed RAI D 1, use t he up or down arrow keys t o select t he st rip size and press En t e r . 5. Press En t e r t o select t he physical disks. 6. Select t he appropriat e num ber of hard drives by using t he up or down arrow keys t o scroll t hrough t he list of hard drives and press Spa ce t o select t he drive. When finished press En t e r . 12
7. Select t he volum e size and press En t e r .
8. Press En t e r t o creat e t he volum e. 9. At t he prom pt press Y t o confirm volum e creat ion. 10. Select 4 : Ex it and press En t e r . 11. Press Y t o confirm your exit .
I n st a ll t h e RAI D D r ive r Usin g t h e F6 I n st a lla t ion M e t h od
Perform t he following st eps t o inst all t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology driver during operat ing syst em set up: 1. Press F6 when you see a m essage in t he st at us line t hat says, Press F6 if you need t o inst all a t hird part y SCSI or RAI D driver. This m essage appears at t he beginning of Windows set up ( during t ext - m ode phase) .
Not hing will happen im m ediat ely aft er pressing F6. Set up will N ot e
t em porarily cont inue loading drivers. You will t hen be prom pt ed
wit h a screen asking you t o load support for m ass st orage device( s) .
2. Press S t o Spe cify Addit iona l D e vice .
3. When you see a prom pt t hat says, Please insert t he disk labeled Manufact urer- supplied hardware support disk int o Drive A: , insert ; a floppy disk cont aining t he following files: I AAHCI .I NF, I AAHCI .CAT, I ASTOR.I NF, I ASTOR.CAT, I ASTOR.SYS, and TXTSETUP.OEM.
N ot e
Use t he Floppy Configurat ion Ut ilit y t o creat e a floppy disk wit h t he
necessary files.
4. Press En t e r . 5. Select your cont roller from t he list of available SCSI adapt ers. Use t he up and down arrow keys t o scroll t hrough t he list as all cont rollers m ay not be visible. 6. Press En t e r t o confirm your cont roller and cont inue. At t his point , you have successfully inst alled t he driver and Windows set up should cont inue. Leave 13
t he floppy disk in t he floppy drive unt il t he syst em reboot s. Windows set up
will need t o copy t he files again from t he floppy t o t he Windows inst allat ion folders. Once Windows set up has copied t hese files again, rem ove t he floppy disk so t hat Windows set up can reboot as needed. 7. During Windows set up, creat e a part it ion and file syst em on t he RAI D volum e as you would on any physical disk.
I f you wish t o use t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology user int erface in
N ot e
Windows, you will need t o inst all I nt el Rapid St orage Technology by
running t he Set up.exe process aft er t hese st eps have been com plet ed and t he operat ing syst em has been successfully inst alled.
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W h a t if I w a n t t o u se RAI D but m y OS is a lr e a dy inst a lle d?
I f your operat ing syst em is already inst alled, you can st ill use RAI D as long as t he following condit ions are m et :
Your syst em has a RAI D I / O cont roller hub ( I CH) .
N ot e
I f your syst em does not have a RAI D I CH, you will not be able t o use RAI D wit hout inst alling a t hird- part y RAI D cont roller card.
Your RAI D cont roller is enabled.
I f your RAI D cont roller is not enabled, enabling t he RAI D cont roller is not recom m ended or support ed when a SATA hard drive is t he boot W a r ning drive. Enabling t he RAI D cont roller m ay cause an im m ediat e blue screen wit h an 0x0000007b error code, followed by a reboot . I f you wish t o enable it , you will need t o reinst all t he operat ing syst em .
I f bot h of t he above condit ions are m et , use t he following st eps t o creat e a RAI D volum e. 1. I nst all I nt el Rapid St orage Technology. 2. Turn off t he syst em and inst all one or m ore addit ional hard drives. 3. Turn on t he syst em . 4. Use t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology user int erface t o creat e a RAI D volum e. You can m igrat e t he dat a from a single hard drive on your syst em t o a RAI D volum e t hat includes t hat hard drive plus t he newly added hard drive( s) . You can also creat e a new RAI D volum e using t he newly added hard drives.
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H ow t o loa d t h e dr ive r du r ing OS in st a lla t ion u sin g F6 w h e n in
AH CI / RAI D m ode I n order t o inst all an operat ing syst em ont o a single Serial ATA hard drive when t he syst em is in RAI D m ode or AHCI m ode, t he F6 inst allat ion m et hod m ust be used t o load t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology driver during operat ing syst em inst allat ion.
You do not need t o use t he F6 inst allat ion m et hod t o inst all a RAI D N ot e
driver on Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows 8 because
I nt el provided a RAI D driver as part of t he final package.
Use t he following st eps t o inst all t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology driver using t he F6 inst allat ion m et hod. 1. Press F6 when you see a m essage in t he st at us line t hat says, Press F6 if you need t o inst all a t hird part y SCSI or RAI D driver. This m essage appears at t he beginning of Windows set up ( during t ext - m ode phase) .
Not hing will happen im m ediat ely aft er pressing F6. Set up will N ot e
t em porarily cont inue loading drivers. You will t hen be prom pt ed wit h a screen asking you t o load support for m ass st orage device( s) .
2. Press S t o Spe cify Addit iona l D e vice .
3. When you see a prom pt t hat says, Please insert t he disk labeled Manufact urer- supplied hardware support disk int o Drive A: , insert a floppy disk cont aining t he following files: I AAHCI .I NF, I AAHCI .CAT, I ASTOR.I NF, I ASTOR.CAT, I ASTOR.SYS, and TXTSETUP.OEM.
You can use t he Floppy Configurat ion Ut ilit y t o creat e a floppy disk wit h t he necessary files. N ot e I f you do not have a floppy drive on your syst em , you can use a USB floppy drive or creat e a slipst ream version of t he operat ing syst em .
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4. Press En t e r . 5. Select your cont roller from t he list of available SCSI adapt ers. Use t he up and down arrow keys t o scroll t hrough t he list as all cont rollers m ay not be visible. 6. Press En t e r t o confirm your cont roller and cont inue. At t his point , you have successfully inst alled t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology driver and Windows set up should cont inue. Leave t he floppy disk in t he floppy drive unt il t he syst em reboot s. Windows set up will need t o copy t he files again from t he floppy t o t he Windows inst allat ion folders. Once Windows set up has copied t hese files again, rem ove t he floppy disk so t hat Windows set up can reboot as needed.
N ot e
I f you wish t o use t he I nt el Rapid St orage Technology user int erface
wit hin Windows, you will need t o run Set up.exe from wit hin Windows.
