Micro Star Computer MS- 9130 v1.x - Manual (Page 64)

A-2
MS-9130 Workstation Mainboard
Introduction
This section gives a brief introduction on the RAID-related background
knowledge and a brief introduction on VIA SATA RAID Host Controller. For
users wishing to install their VIA SATA RAID driver and RAID software,
proceed to Driver and RAID Software Installation section.
RAID Basics
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a method of combining
two or more hard disk drives into one logical unit. The advantage of an Array
is to provide better performance or data fault tolerance. Fault tolerance is
achieved through data redundant operation, where if one drives fails, a mirrored
copy of the data can be found on another drive. This can prevent data loss if
the operating system fails or hangs. The individual disk drives in an array are
called “members”. The configuration information of each member is recorded
in the “reserved sector” that identifies the drive as a member. All disk members
in a formed disk array are recognized as a single physical drive to the operating
system.
Hard disk drives can be combined together through a few different
methods. The different methods are referred to as different RAID levels.
Different RAID levels represent different performance levels, security levels
and implementation costs. The RAID levels which the VIA VT8237 SATA
RAID Host Controller supports are RAID 0 and RAID 1. The table below
briefly introduced these RAID levels.
RAID Level No. of Drives Capacity Benefits
RAID 0
(Striping)
2 Number drives * 2 Highest performance without data
protection
RAID 1
(Mirroring)
2 Smallest size Data protection