CyberResearch CPEN GX-333-X - Manual (Page 82)

CPEx GX-333-X CyberResearch
®
CPU Cards
80 ©Copyright 2007 CyberResearch, Inc.
1.1.1 1. Introduction
The ALi M5283 is a highly integrated disk drive controller that is capable of managing Parallel-
ATA and Serial-ATA interface hard disk drives. The ALi controller supports PATA UDMA transfer
mode up to mode 6 and SATA 1.0 disk drives. The ALi M5283 also comes with cost-effective
RAID functionalities that can be used to increase data read/write speed and to provide protection
to data by distributing mirrored duplicates of data onto two disk drives (RAID1).
CAUTION!
You must properly configure the associated BIOS settings before the Ctlr+A
key combination can take effect. Please refer to Chapter 4 Award BIOS
Setup, the discussions of the associated configurations for more details.
SATA disk drive support must be initiated under the following two BIOS sub-
menus.
1. Boot -> Onboard SATA ROM
2. Chipset -> Southbridge Chipset Configuration
You will not be able to access the ALi configuration utility unless you have
properly initiated the SATA disk drive support in the Award BIOS
configuration utility.
CAUTION!
A configured RAID volume (which may consist of multiple hard drives)
appears to an operating system as a contiguous storage space. Your
operating system will not be able to distinguish the physical disk drives
contained in a RAID configuration.
1.1.2 Precautions:
1. One key benefit a RAID configuration brings you is that a single hard drive can fail
within a RAID array without damaging your data. With RAID1 array, you can
replace a failed drive and restore your RAID configuration.
However, if you replace the wrong drive when you are trying to remove a failed one,
irrecoverable data loss will occur! It is therefore strongly recommended to mark the
physical connections of all of your SATA disk drives. If a drive member of a RAID
array should fail, you will then be able to correctly locate a failed drive.