Asus TS300-E5 - Manual (Page 128)

6-2 Chapter 6: RAID configuration
6.1 Setting up RAID
For PA4 model, the Intel ® ICH7R Southbridge chip comes with the LSI Logic
Embedded SATA RAID Utility and the Intel ® Matrix Storage Manager. These utilities
support SATA hard disk drives and allow creation of RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and
RAID 10 configuration. For PX4 model, the ASUS SASsaby 1064E SAS RAID
controller card provides RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 1E configuration.
6.1.1 RAID definitions
RAID 0 (Data striping) optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write
data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same work as a
single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of a single disk alone,
thus improving data access and storage. Use of two new identical hard disk drives
is required for this setup.
RAID 1
(Data mirroring) copies and maintains an identical image of data from one
drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management software
directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of
the data in the other drive. This RAID configuration provides data protection and
increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or use an
existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive must be of the same
size or larger than the existing drive.
RAID 1E
(Enhanced RAID 1) has a striped layout with each stripe unit having a
secondary (or alternate) copy stored on a different disk. You can use three or more
hard disk drives for this configuration.
RAID 5
stripes both data and parity information across three or more hard
disk drives. Among the advantages of RAID 5 configuration include better
HDD performance, fault tolerance, and higher storage capacity. The RAID
5 configuration is best suited for transaction processing, relational database
applications, enterprise resource planning, and other business systems. Use a
minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.
RAID 10 is a striped configuration with RAID 1 segments whose segments are
RAID 1 arrays. This configuration has the same fault tolerance as RAID 1, and
has the same overhead for fault-tolerance as mirroring alone. RAID 10 achieves
high input/output rates by striping RAID 1 segments. In some instances, a RAID
10 configuration can sustain multiple simultaneous drive failure. A minimum of four
hard disk drives is required for this setup.
Intel
® Matrix Storage. The Intel ® Matrix Storage technology supported by the
ICHR chip allows you to create a RAID 0 and RAID 1 set using only two identical
hard disk drives. The Intel ® Matrix Storage technology creates two partitions on
each hard disk drive to create a virtual RAID 0 and RAID 1 sets. This technology
also allows you to change the hard disk drive partition size without losing any data.
If you want to boot the system from a hard disk drive included in a created RAID
set, copy first the RAID driver from the support CD to a floppy disk before you
install an operating system to the selected hard disk drive.