American Megatrends X6DVA-EG - Manual (Page 87)

Appendix C: Software Installation Instructions
C-1
Appendix C
Installing Software Drivers and Windows
Operating System
After all the hardware has been installed, you must first configure the
Adaptec Embedded Serial ATA RAID Driver before you install the Windows
operating system. The necessary drivers are all included on the Supermicro
bootable CDs that came packaged with your motherboard. (*The following
section provides information on Adaptec's SATA RAID Driver based on the
Intel 6300 ESB Controller. For LSI's SCSI HostRAID, please refer to the
CDs that came with your motherboard.)
C-1 Introduction to the Adaptec Embedded Serial ATA
RAID Controller Driver
Serial ATA (SATA)
Serial ATA(SATA) is a physical storage interface. It uses a single cable with
a minimum of four wires to create a point-to-point connection between
devices. It is a serial link which supports SATA Transfer rates from
150MBps. Because the serial cables used in SATA are thinner than the
traditional cables used in Parallel ATA(PATA), SATA systems have better
airflow and can be installed in smaller chassis than Parallel ATA. In addition,
the cables used in PATA can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA
cables can extend up to one meter. Overall, Serial ATA provides better
functionality than Parallel ATA.
Introduction to the Intel 6300 ESB I/O Controller Hub
Located in the South Bridge of the Intel E7320 (Lindenhurst VS)Chipset, the
6300 ESB I/O Controller Hub provides the I/O subsystem with access to the
rest of the system. It supports 2-channel Ultra ATA/100 Bus Master IDE con-
troller (PATA) and two Serial ATA (SATA) Host Controllers, which support up
to two Serial ATA ports and up to two RAID drives. The 6300 ESB I/O
Controller Hub supports the following Parallel ATA (PATA) and Serial (SATA)
device configurations: