Guide to Intel Rapid Storage

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 .
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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
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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.

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