ForceWare Software MediaShield User’s Guide Version 4.
NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide Version 4.0 Published by NVIDIA Corporation 2701 San Tomas Expressway Santa Clara, CA 95050 Notice ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS, REFERENCE BOARDS, FILES, DRAWINGS, DIAGNOSTICS, LISTS, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS (TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY, “MATERIALS”) ARE BEING PROVIDED “AS IS.
NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide v4.0 Table of Contents 1.About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . Hardware Support . . . . . . . . Operating System Support . . . . RAID Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . RAID 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RAID 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RAID 0+1. . . . . . . . . . . . . RAID 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JBOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NVIDIA Applications MediaShield User’s Guide v4.0 Synchronizing a RAID Array. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 5.Using Disk Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 About Disk Alert . . . . . . . . . Disk Alert Examples . . . . . . . Example of All Good Drives . Example of a Degraded Array Example of a Failed Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C H A P T E R ABOUT NVIDIA® MEDIASHIELD™ NVIDIA brings Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology—which is used by the world’s leading businesses—to the common PC desktop. This technology uses multiple drives to either increase total disk space or to offer data protection. RAID techniques were first published in 1988 by a multivendor consortium—the RAID Advisory Board. RAID techniques were divided into different categories or levels.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ System Requirements Hardware Support NVIDIA MediaShield supports the following NVIDIA® nForce™ versions: • NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI • NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI • NVIDIA nForce 570 • NVIDIA nForce 550 • NVIDIA nForce 430 • NVIDIA nForce 410 • NVIDIA nForce4 • NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra • NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 • NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE Intel Edition • NVIDIA nForce4 Professonal IO-4 • NVIDIA nF
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ Operating System Support NVIDIA MediaShield supports the following operating systems: • Windows® XP Home Edition • Windows XP Professional Edition • Windows 2000 Professional • Windows Server 2003 NVIDIA Corporation 3
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID Arrays This section describes the following types of RAID arrays that MediaShield supports: • RAID 0 RAID 0 defines a disk striping scheme that improves the disk read and write times for many applications. • RAID 1 RAID 1 defines techniques for mirroring data. • RAID 0+1 RAID 0+1 combines the techniques used in RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays. • RAID 5 1 RAID 5 provides fault tolerance and better utilization of disk capacity.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 0 How RAID 0 Works In a RAID 0 array, the controller ʺstripesʺ data across multiple drives in the RAID subsystem. RAID 0 breaks up a large file into smaller blocks and then performs disk reads and writes across multiple drives in parallel. The size of each block is determined by the stripe size parameter, which you set during the creation of the RAID 0 set.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 1 How RAID 1 Works In a RAID 1 array, every read and write is carried out in parallel across two disk drives. The mirrored—or backup—copy of the data can reside on the same disk or on a second redundant drive in the array. RAID 1 provides a hot-standby copy of data if the active volume or drive is corrupted or becomes unavailable due to a hardware failure.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 0+1 How RAID 0+1 Works RAID 0 drives can be mirrored using RAID 1 techniques, resulting in a RAID 0+1 solution for improved performance plus resiliency. Figure 1.3 RAID 0+1 Array Diagram The controller combines the performance of data striping (RAID 0) and the fault tolerance of disk mirroring (RAID 1). Data is striped across multiple drives and duplicated on another set of drives.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ RAID 5 How RAID 5 Works RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives. It writes data and parity blocks across all the drives in the array. Fault tolerance is maintained by ensuring that the parity information for any given block of data is placed on a different drive from those used to store the data itself. Figure 1.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ JBOD How JBOD Works JBOD stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks”. Each drive is accessed as if it were on a standard SCSI host bus adapter. This is useful when a single drive configuration is needed, but it offers no speed improvement or fault tolerance. Figure 1.5 JBOD Array Diagram Summary of Features and Benefits • Benefits: JBOD provides the ability to combine odd size drives using all of the capacity of the drives.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ Summary of RAID Configurations Table 1.1 RAID Configuration Summary Advantages Drawbacks # Hard Disks Fault Tolerance RAID 0 Non-critical data High data throughput. No fault tolerance. multiple None RAID 1 100% data redundancy. Allows spare disks Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive. 2 Yes Requires two drives for the storage space of one drive—the same as RAID level 1. 4+ Yes Yes Combining odd size drives into one big drive.
CHAPTER 1 About NVIDIA® MediaShield™ having to go through multiple steps. The migrating feature gives the user an upgradeable option to manage storage easily. • Hot Plug Array A nice flexibility feature is the ability to move MediaShield RAID arrays from one nForce system to another. Since most nForce systems support SATA hot plug capability, you can add/remove a RAID array even while the system is running. This is done using the Hot Plug Array wizard.
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C H A P T E R SETTING UP YOUR RAID CONFIGURATION This chapter provides instructions for: • Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array • Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array Setting Up a Non-Bootable RAID Array RAID arrays can be created/deleted using both MediaShield RAID BIOS and the MediaShield RAID Manager from Windows. This section only covers basic BIOS setup required for non-bootable array. • See the section ʺSetting Up a Bootable RAID Array” for instructions on configuring the RAID array in BIOS.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility window appears. Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility Standard CMOS Features Load Fail-Safe Defaults Advanced BIOS Features Load Optimized Defaults Advanced Chipset Features Set Supervisor Password Integrated Peripherals Set User Password Power Management Setup Save & Exit Setup PnP / PCI Configurations Exit Without Saving Esc : Quit F10 : Save & Exit Setup : Select Item Onboard IO, IRQ, DMA Assignment ...
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The RAID Config window appears. Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility RAID Config RAID Enable [Enable] SATA 1 Primary SATA 1 Secondary SATA 2 Primary SATA 2 Secondary SATA 3 Primary SATA 3 Secondary RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Disabled] RAID [Disabled] Item Help Menu Level :Move Enter:Select +/-/PU/PD:Value F10:Save ESC:Exit F1:General Help F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Installing the NVIDIA MediaShield Software Under Windows This section describes how to run the setup application and install the RAID software1. 1 Start the nForce Setup program to open the NVIDIA Windows nForce Drivers page. Figure 2.4 nForce Driver Installation Window 2 Select the modules that you want to install. Make sure that the “NVIDIA IDE Driver” is selected. You must install the NVIDIA IDE driver in order to enable NVIDIA MediaShield.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Using RAID Arrays Under Windows After rebooting the PC, initialize the newly created array under Windows as follows: 1 Launch Computer Management by clicking Start Æ Settings Æ Control Panel then open the Administrative Tools folder and double click on Computer Management. 2 Click Disk Management (under the Storage section). The Initialize and Convert Disk Wizards appears. Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Click Next. The Select Disks to Initialize window appears. Figure 2.6 Select Disks to Initialize Page The disks listed depend on how many arrays you have configured 4 Click Next. The Select Disks to Convert window appears. Figure 2.7 18 Select Disks to Convert Page MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 5 Check the disk in the list if you want to make the array a dynamic disk, then click Next. The Completing the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard window appears. Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 6 Click Finish. The Computer Management window appears. Figure 2.9 Computer Management Window The actual disks listed will depend on your system. In Figure 2.9, there is a 111 GB unallocated partition (which is the total combined storage of two 60 GB HD). You must format the unallocated disk space in order to use it. 7 Format the unallocated disk space. • Right click “Unallocated space”, select “New Partition…” and follow the Wizard instructions.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Setting Up a Bootable RAID Array This section explains how to configure a bootable RAID array. Setting Up the BIOS 1 Start your computer, then press Delete to enter the BIOS setup. The BIOS CMOS Setup Utility screen appears.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The Integrated Peripherals screen (or a screen similar to it) appears.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The RAID Config screen appears. Phoenix - Award BIOS CMOS Setup Utility RAID Config RAID Enable [Enable] SATA 1 Primary SATA 1 Secondary SATA 2 Primary SATA 2 Secondary SATA 3 Primary SATA 3 Secondary RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Enabled] RAID [Disabled] RAID [Disabled] Item Help Menu Level :Move Enter:Select +/-/PU/PD:Value F10:Save ESC:Exit F1:General Help F5: Previous Values F6: Fail-Safe Defaults F7: Optimized Defaults Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS The NVIDIA RAID BIOS setup lets you choose the RAID type and which hard drives you want to make part of the array. Entering the RAID BIOS Setup: 1 Wait until you see the RAID software prompting you to press F10. The RAID prompt appears as part of the system POST and boot process prior to loading of the OS. You have a few seconds to press F10 before the screen disappears. 2 Press F10.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Understanding the Define a New Array Window Use the Define a New Array window to • Select the RAID Mode • Set up the Striping Block • Specify which disks to use for the RAID Array The SATA ports are called channels and they are associated with adapters. The first digit in the Location field defines the adapter that the port is associated with. The 2nd digit defines the channel. (The ʺMʺ field,which used to specify Master or Slave, is obsolete.) 1.0.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Assigning the Disks The disks that you enabled from the RAID Config BIOS setup page appear in the Free Disks block. These are the drives that are available for use as RAID array disks. To designate a free disk to be used as a RAID array disk, 1 Tab to the Free Disks section. The first disk in the list is selected 2 Move it from the Free Disks block to the Array Disks block by pressing the rightarrow key (Æ).
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Completing the RAID BIOS Setup 1 After assigning your RAID array disks, press F7. The Clear disk array prompt appears. MediaShield Utility - Define a New Array - Optimal RAID Mode: Mirroring Striping Block: Free Disks Loc Disk Model Name Array Disks Loc Disk Model Name Clear disk data? 1.0.M [->] Add 1.1.M [Y] YES [N] NO ST380023AS ST380023AS [ ] Del [F6] Back [F7] Finish [TAB] Navigate [ ] Select [ENTER] Popup Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration 3 Use the arrow keys to select the array that you want to set up, then press B to specify the array as bootable. 4 Press Enter to view and verify details. The Array Detail screen appears. Array 2 : NVIDIA MIRROR 74.56G - Array Detail RAID Mode: Mirroring Striping Width : 1 Adapt 1 1 Channel M/S 0 1 Master Master Striping Block 32K Index Disk Model Name Capacity 0 1 74.56GB 74.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Installing the RAID Drivers Your system may come with a Windows install CD that already includes NVIDIA RAID drivers. If so, then this section is not relevant. If that is not the case (or you are trying to install a new version of Windows), then you will need an NVIDIA RAID driver F6 install floppy. Check to see if one came with your system. If not, you can create one by downloading the appropriate driver package and following the steps in this section.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration The following Windows Setup screen appears: Windows Setup You have chosen to configure a SCSI Adapter for use with Windows, using a device support disk provided by an adapter manufacturer. Select the SCSI Adapter you want from the following list, or press ESC to resutrn to the previous screen. NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER (required) NVIDIA NForce Storage Controller (required) Enter=Select F3=Exit Figure 2.
CHAPTER 2 Setting Up Your RAID Configuration Be sure to leave the floppy disk inserted in the floppy drive until the blue screen portion of Windows XP installation is completed, then take out the floppy. 6 Follow the instructions on how to install Windows XP. After Windows XP is completely installed, it is recommended that you install the ForceWare software in order to access the MediaShield RAID Management tool.
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C H A P T E R USING THE NVIDIA MEDIASHIELD RAID MANAGEMENT UTILITY About the MediaShield RAID Management Utility The MediaShield RAID software ships with an application called MediaShield.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Viewing RAID Array Configurations To view your RAID configuration from Windows, launch the MediaShield RAID Management utility by double-clicking MediaShield. The RAID configuration information appears in the right-side pane, as shown in Figure 3.1. Figure 3.1 MediaShield RAID Management Utility Window The following are examples of the information displayed for the various RAID levels.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Striped RAID Array Figure 3.3 shows an example of a two hard drive striped array using identical 34.48 GB SATA hard drives (WD360GB), where one drive is configured as Primary and the other drive is configured as Secondary. The total disk space used is 68.95GB. Figure 3.3 MediaShield Striped Array Information Mirrored-Stripe RAID Array Figure 3.4 shows an example of a four hard drive mirrored-stripe array. The total disk space used is 68.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Mirrored RAID Array and Striped RAID Array Figure 3.6 shows an example of a two hard drive mirrored array as well as a two hard drive striped array. Figure 3.6 36 MediaShield Mirrored Array and Striped Array Information MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Setting Up a Spare RAID Disk You can designate a hard drive to be used as a spare drive for a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array2. The spare drive can take over for a failed disk.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Assigning a Free Disk To mark a disk as free, or not a part of any array, do the following: 1 Enter the system BIOS setup and make sure that the drive that you want to mark as free is RAID enabled. 2 Enter the RAID BIOS and make sure that the drive is not part of any array (if one exists). 3 Boot into Windows and run the MediaShield program. The drive appears under the Free Disk section. Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Assigning a Dedicated Disk To mark a disk as dedicated, or reserve it for use by a specific array, you must have at least one free disk and you must also have at least two RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 arrays created. In this example, there are two mirrored arrays and two free disks. Step 1: Mark the Disk as a Free Disk 1 Enter the system BIOS setup and make sure that the drive that you want to mark as free is RAID enabled.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 2 Select Designate Spare from the menu to launch the Spare Disk Allocation Wizard. Figure 3.9 Spare Disk Allocation Wizard 3 Click Next. The Free Disk Selection page appears. Figure 3.10 Free Disk Selection Page 40 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 From the Free Disk Selection page, select one of the two free disks available. This would be the disk that will be designated to the mirror array. Note: In Figure 3.10 there are two disks available. 5 Click Next. The Completing the NVIDIA Spare Disk Allocation page appears. Figure 3.11 Completing Spare Disk Allocation Wizard Page 6 Click Finish.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility As shown in Figure 3.12, the ST380011A drive is now a dedicated free disk in the mirrored array. Figure 3.12 Designated Spare Disk If a system crash occurs that causes any of the two WD360GD drives to fail, the ST380011A hard drive will take over and be used in the newly formed mirrored array. Removing a Dedicated Disk Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a particular array, it can be removed at any time.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating RAID Arrays This section covers use of the MediaShield Creation Wizard. This wizard will step through configuration of your available storage. There are three ways in which the MediaShield Create Wizard can be launched: • Using the balloon popup that appears when the system boots: This balloon indicates that MediaShield has discovered free disks in your system available for configuration.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Using the MediaShield Create Wizard The MediaShield Create Wizard walks you through the creation of your available storage resources. Figure 3.14 MediaShield Wizard Welcome Screen The welcome screen lists the disks that are available for configuration. 1 Click Next to go to the following screen: Figure 3.15 MediaShield Wizard–Select a Configuration Screen Note: You will only see this screen if you have less than 4 free disks in the system.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility As shown in Figure 3.15, there are three options: • Protection • Capacity • Custom Protection Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and with the criteria that if a drive fails you will not lose your data. The total capacity of the volume that will be created is displayed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Capacity Select this option and MediaShield will automatically configure the best RAID option based on the number of drives and the desire for maximum capacity. This array will NOT be fault-tolerant, so choose this option only if your data is non-critical or is being backed up. The total capacity of the volume that will be created is displayed. You can click on more information to see a detailed description of the volume that will be created.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Striped Array MediaShield can be used to create a striped array from one disk up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system. To create a two-disk Striped Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS. 2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard. 3 :Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select Striping, and leave the “Stripe Size” with its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.17 RAID Array Selection—Striping 5 Click Next, and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.18 Free Disk Selection Page 48 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the two disks that you want to include in the stripe set. In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.19. Figure 3.19 Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks To create a striped array with more disks, select additional disks from the list. 7 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Figure 3.21 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.22 Stripe RAID Array Created As you can see from the above screen shot a striped array with two SATA disks has been created, while the other two disks are allocated as Free Disks.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Mirrored Array The MediaShield application can be used to create a Mirrored Array. By definition, a mirrored array consists of two drives. Data is written to both drives, and if one drive fails then data can be recovered from the other drive. To create a Mirrored Array, do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS. 2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.24. Figure 3.24 Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks 5 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.25 Clearing System Data 52 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Figure 3.26 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 7 Click Finish. Figure 3.27 Mirrored RAID Array Created A mirrored array has been created, while the other two disks are set to free disks.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array MediaShield can be used to create a Stripe Mirroring array which requires at least four disks to start such an array. To create a Stripe Mirror Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS. 2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard. 3 Click Next and the following screen will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click on “RAID Mode:” and select “Stripe Mirroring” while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.29 RAID Array Selection—Stripe Mirroring 5 Click Next and the following screen will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the four drives that you want to use in the Stripe Mirroring array. In this example all of the drives are selected as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.31 Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks 7 Click Next and click Next again, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.32 Clearing System Data 56 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Figure 3.33 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.34 RAID Stripe Array Created A Stripe Mirroring array has been created.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a Spanning Array MediaShield can be used to create a Spanning Array which requires at least one disk to start such an array. To create a Spanning Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS. 2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard. 3 Click Next and the following screen will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select “Spanning” while leaving the Stripe Size set to its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.36 RAID Array Selection Page—Spanning 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the two drives that you want to use in the Spanned array. In this example the upper two disks were selected as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.38 Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks 7 Click Next and Next again, the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.39 Clearing System Data 60 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click on Next and the following will appear: Figure 3.40 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.41 RAID Spanned Array Created A Spanned Array has been created.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Creating a RAID 5 Array MediaShield can be used to create a RAID 5 array using at least 3 disks and up to the maximum supported number of disks in the system. To create a 3 disk RAID 5 Array do the following: 1 Make sure the drives that you want to use are RAID-enabled in the system BIOS. 2 Select the Custom option in the MediaShield Create Wizard. 3 :Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click the RAID Mode list arrow and select RAID 5, and leave the “Stripe Size” with its default value as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.43 RAID Array Selection—RAID 5 5 Click Next, and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Select the three disks that you want to include in the RAID 5 array. In this example the upper three disks were selected as shown in Figure 3.19. Figure 3.45 Free Disk Selection Page—Selecting Disks To create a RAID 5 array with more disks, select additional disks from the list. 7 Click Next and Next again, the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.46 Clearing System Data 64 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 To clear all system data from the drives click Next. Figure 3.47 Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard 9 Click Finish and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.48 RAID 5 Array Created As you can see from the above screen shot a RAID 5 array with 3 SATA disks has been created, while the other one disk is allocated as a Free Disk.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Deleting a RAID Array MediaShield can be used to delete an Array. To delete an Array do the following: 1 Launch the MediaShield application and right click on the RAID array that you want to delete (assuming that you have a RAID array already created) as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.49 Selecting “Delete Array” from the Pop Up Menu The above screen shot shows that there is a Mirrored array that will be deleted.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After the “Delete Array...” has been selected, the following screen shot appear: Figure 3.50 Delete Array Wizard—Welcome Page 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Click Finish and the array will be deleted and the following screen shot will appear showing all the free disks: Figure 3.52 RAID Array Deleted A similar process can be applied to delete any array created by MediaShield RAID. 68 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating From One RAID Array to Another In a traditional RAID environment, when a user wants to change the current state of a disk or a current array to a new RAID configuration, the process of reconfiguring the new array involves multiple steps. The user must back up the data, delete the array, re-boot the PC, and then reconfigure the new array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Specific Migrating Requirements The following table lists the disk requirements for a new RAID array for various migrating combinations. Table 3.1 RAID Array Disk Requirements for Migrating From To New Array Disk Requirementsi RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 5 m>n Number of disks in the new array must be greater than the original array. m=2, n=1 RAID 1 array must include two disks, converted from a one disk RAID 0 array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating Instructions This sections includes specific instructions for the following RAID migrating combinations: • “Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0—Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set” on page 72 • “Migrating from RAID 0 (with One Disk) to RAID 1 (with Two Disks)” on page 77 • “Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0+1” on page 81 • “Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0” on page 86 • “Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0+1” on page 90 • “Migrating from RAID 0+1 to R
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0—Adding a Disk to a Stripe Set The following example shows you how to expand a RAID 0 array with two disks to include an additional disk. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Striped Array” on page 47 to create a two disk stripe array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Figure 3.54 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.56 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.57 Free Disk Selection Page 74 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select the disk (or disks) that you want to add to the existing striped array. In this example, we are adding one disk (which is the upper disk) to the existing twodisk striped array. So, select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk stripe array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 (with One Disk) to RAID 1 (with Two Disks) The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0 array with one disk to a RAID 1 array (with two disks) 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.62 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.63 RAID Mode Selection Page 78 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select Mirror as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.64 RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Mirroring 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish. Figure 3.66 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As soon as the new two disk mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a four disk RAID 0+1 array. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Striped Array” on page 47 to create a two-disk striped array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Figure 3.68 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.69 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 82 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.70 RAID Mode Selection Page 5 Change the “New RAID Mode:” to Stripe Mirroring as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.72 Free Disk Selection Page 7 Select the two disks that you want to add to the new stripe mirror array. In this example, we are adding two disks (which are both of the upper disks) to the existing two-disk mirrored array. So, select both disks and click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 8 Click Finish, then click the newly created four-disk stripe mirror array and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.74 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0 array with two disks. 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows and launch the MediaShield application then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 51 to create a two-disk mirror array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.76 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.78 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click on Stripe Mirroring and select Striping, then click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.79 Free Disk Selection Page 88 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next, then click Finish to complete the process. • If you want to convert the existing two-disk mirrored array into a three-disk (or more) striped array, then you need to select the number of disk(s) that you want to add to the newly created striped array and click Next. • In this example, there is no need to select any additional disks since we are simply converting the existing two-disk mirrored array into a two-disk striped array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 0+1 array with four disks. 1 Goto the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 51 to create a two-disk mirrored array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.82 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.84 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Stripe Mirroring” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.85 RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting Stripe Mirroring 92 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.86 Free Disk Selection Page 8 Select both of the disks and click Next, then click Finish. 9 Click on Strip Mirror and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk stripe mirror array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed. The time it takes to convert an array is dependent on several factors such as the speed of the CPU, the size and type of hard drive being used, the operating system, etc.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array” on page 54 to create a four-disk mirrored stripe array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.89 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.90 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 96 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.91 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” entry select “Striping” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Click Next, then click Finish. 8 Click on Striping and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.93 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As soon as the new four-disk striped array has been created, a pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0+1 array with six disks. Note: To migrate from a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 0+1 array with six disks, you must have at least six hard drives in the system. In this example, the system has six free RAID enabled disks.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on Stripe Mirroring and select “Convert Array...” as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.95 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.96 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 100 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.97 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 From the “New RAID Mode:” make sure that “Stripe Mirroring” is selected, then click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select the disks that you want to migrate (in increments of two), then click Next and Finish. 8 Click on Stripe Mirroring and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.99 Array Migrating Started When migrating from one RAID 0+1 array to another RAID 0+1 array, be sure to have a total of at least six available disks in the system, otherwise you will not be able to complete the operation.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to migrate from a RAID 0 array with two disks to a RAID 5 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Striped Array” on page 47 to create a two disk stripe array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 3 Right click on the newly created striped array (or existing striped array) and a select “Convert Array...” as shown from the following screen shot: Figure 3.101 Selecting “Convert Array” from the Pop Up Menu 4 After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.102 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 104 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.103 RAID Mode Selection Page 6 Click on Striping and select RAID 5 then click on Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.104 Free Disk Selection Page 7 Select the disk (or disks) that you want to add to migrate to the RAID 5 array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility In this example, we are adding one disk (which is the upper disk) to the new three disk RAID 5 array. So, select the first disk and click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.105 Completing the NVIDIA Convert Array Wizard Screen 8 Click Finish then click on the newly created three disk striped array and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 5 array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 1 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 1 array with two disks to a RAID 5 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Mirrored Array” on page 51.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.109 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 For the “New RAID Mode:” entry select RAID 5 as shown in the following screen shot: Figure 3.111 RAID Mode Selection Page—Selecting RAID 5 6 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.112 Free Disk Selection Page 110 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 7 Select one of the disks and click Next, then Finish.. Figure 3.113 New RAID Array Note: As you can see from the above screen shot, only 2/3 of the disk space is actually used by RAID 5 since 1/3 of the disk space is used for to store parity information. The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 5 array has been created and the migrating process has begun.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 0+1 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 0+1 array with four disks to a RAID 5 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a Stripe Mirroring Array” on page 54.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.116 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.117 RAID Mode Selection Page 5 Make sure RAID 5 is selected.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 6 Click Next, then Finish and the following screen shot will appear showing the four disk RAID 5 array. Figure 3.118 New RAID Array Note: As you can see from the above screen shot, only 3/4 of the disk space is actually used by RAID 5 since 1/4 of the disk space is used for to store parity information.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 0 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a RAID 0 array with three disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a RAID 5 Array” on page 62.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.121 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next, then select Striping and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.122 Free Disk Selection Page 116 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Click Next, then Finish. In this example, the WD360GD was chosen as shown in Figure 3.66. Figure 3.123 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a three disk RAID 0 array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 0+1 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a 0+1 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a RAID 5 Array” on page 62.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.126 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next, then select Stripe Mirroring and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish. Figure 3.128 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 0+1 array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Migrating from RAID 5 to RAID 5 The following example shows you how to convert a RAID 5 array with three disks to a RAID 5 array with four disks. 1 Go to the system BIOS and make sure that the drives that you want to use are RAID enabled. 2 Boot to Windows, launch the MediaShield application, then follow the steps outlined in “Creating a RAID 5 Array” on page 62.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility After selecting “Convert Array...” the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.131 Convert Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 4 Click Next, then select RAID 5 and click on Next, then the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.132 Free Disk Selection Page 122 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 5 Select a Free Disk, then Click Next, then Finish. Figure 3.133 New RAID Array The Migrating Process As you can see from the screen shot above, a four disk RAID 5 array has been created and the migrating process has begun. A pop up window similar to the following will appear: followed by the following pop up window: It will take some time before the entire process is completed.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility Hot Plug Array NVIDIA MediaShield arrays can be moved from one NVIDIA-based system to another. There are two scenarios for doing this. • System has been properly shut down See Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown. • System is running See Hot Plug Array with System Running. Hot Plug Array with System Shutdown When the system is properly shutdown, the Hot Plug Array Wizard is not required.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 1 Launch MediaShield and click on “Hot Plug Array” and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.134 NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 2 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.135 Hard Disk Insertion Screen 3 Connect the RAID disk that you want to use with any given RAID array.
CHAPTER 3 Using the NVIDIA MediaShield RAID Management Utility 4 Click Next and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 3.136 Completing the NVIDIA Hot Plug Array Wizard Page 5 Click Finish. 126 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
C H A P T E R INITIALIZING, REBUILDING, AND SYNCHRONIZING RAID ARRAYS This chapter describes the following MediaShield tasks: • Initializing a RAID Array • Erase the data on the array by writing all zeros to the sectors of each hard disk.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Initializing a RAID Array Initializing a RAID array erases all the data that is stored on that array, and writes all zeros to the disks. Initialization of newly configured RAID arrays is recommended to ensure consistency and reliable performance on any supported fault tolerant array such as RAID 5, RAID 0, and RAID 0+1. Use this feature only if you are absolutely sure that you want to wipe out all the data on that array.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays 6 Click Next again and the following screen shot will appear: Figure 4.2 Clearing System Data Screen 7 Check “Intialize Array” and then click Next. The Initialization Warning dialog appears. Figure 4.3 Initialization Warning 8 Click OK. The Clearing System Data screen appears again with the Initialize Array check box checked as shown in Figure 4.4.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Figure 4.4 Clearing System Data and Initialize Array 9 Click Next, then click Finish at the Completing the NVIDIA Create Array Wizard screen. The MediaShield window shows the created RAID array as shown in Figure 4.5. Figure 4.5 130 Mirrored RAID Array Initializing MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays The Initialization Process As you can see from the screen shot above, the initialization process has started and it will be completed in a short period of time.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Rebuilding a RAID Array Rebuilding is the process of restoring data to a hard drive from other drives in the array. This applies only to fault tolerant arrays such as RAID 1, RAID 0+1, as well as a RAID 5. For example, assuming you have a three disk RAID 5 array, and one of the drives fail, then you need to replace the failed drive with a new one, and rebuild the array to regenerate the lost data on the newly added drive.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays 2 Right-click on Mirroring. The popup menu appears. Figure 4.7 Array Pop-up Menu 3 From the popup menu, click Rebuild Array. The NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard appears. Figure 4.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays 4 Click Next. The Disk Selection page appears. Figure 4.9 Disk Selection Page 5 Select the drive that you want to rebuild by clicking it from the list, then click Next. The Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array page appears. Figure 4.10 Completing the NVIDIA Rebuild Array Wizard Page 134 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays 6 Click Finish. The array rebuilding starts after a few seconds, and a small pop-up message appears towards the bottom right corner of the screen as shown in Figure 4.11. Figure 4.11 Rebuild Bubble Message When the rebuilding process is finished you will see the pop up box shown inFigure 4.12. Figure 4.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays More About Rebuilding Arrays • Rebuilding Occurs in the Background The rebuilding process takes some time to complete, and occurs in the background so as not to affect the performance of the system. • Rebuilding Applies Only to RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 Arrays Rebuilding an array works only when using RAID 1 , RAID 0+1, or RAID 5. Rebuilding does not apply to RAID 0 and JBOD arrays.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Synchronizing a RAID Array Synchronizing an array will force a rebuild of redundancy or parity. The operation is applicable to any fault tolerant array such as RAID 1, 0+1 and RAID 5.
CHAPTER 4 Initializing, Rebuilding, and Synchronizing RAID Arrays Figure 4.16 Synchronize Array Wizard—Welcome Screen 2 Click on Next and then click Finish at the Wizard Completion screen. The MediaShield window indicates that the array is synchronizing, as shown in Figure 4.17. Figure 4.17 Mirrored Array Synchronizing As you can see from the screen shot above, the synchronization process has started and it will be completed in a short period of time. 138 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
C H A P T E R USING DISK ALERT About Disk Alert The RAID manager application includes a disk alert feature that provides a graphical indication of the status of the hard disks in the system. When the RAID manager application detects a failure condition of an attached drive, a pop-up box appears in the clock area of the Windows system tray. Click the pop-up box to view the manufacturer-provided bitmap image of the system motherboard.
CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Disk Alert Examples Figure 5.1 through Figure 5.3 illustrate how the Disk Alert feature is implemented on an NVIDIA reference board. The actual picture in your system will depend on the motherboard. Example of All Good Drives Figure 5.1 shows four green connections indicating four active SATA ports—all SATA ports are OK. Figure 5.1 140 Disk Alert Example—All SATA Drive Connections OK MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Example of a Degraded Array Figure 5.2 shows a yellow SATA port indicating that an array has been degraded as well as a single black SATA port indicating that there is no longer a SATA hard drive connected to that port. SATA drive connected to this port is part of a degraded array. No SATA drive connected to this port. Figure 5.
CHAPTER 5 Using Disk Alert Example of a Failed Drive Figure 5.3 shows a red SATA port indicating that a drive failure (or a RAID error) has occured. Failed SATA drive connected to this port. Figure 5.3 142 Disk Alert Example—Failed SATA Drive MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
C H A P T E R MEDIASHIELD RAID FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS The FAQ in this chapter are organized by the following categories: • “Basic RAID Questions” on page 144 • “RAID ROM Setup Questions” on page 145 • “Rebuilding Arrays Questions” on page 145 • “Dedicated Disk Questions” on page 146 • “Array Migrating Questions” on page 146 • “Windows RAID Application” on page 146 NVIDIA Corporation 143
CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Basic RAID Questions • What is RAID? RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and refers to the grouping of 2 or more disk drives that the system views as a single drive. Different groupings have difference advantages that include better performance and data fault tolerance. See “About NVIDIA® MediaShield™” on page 1 for detailed descriptions of the different types of RAID arrays.
CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions • Why is the cumulative size of a RAID 0 (Stripe) or RAID 0+1 (Stripe-Mirror) not equal to the sum of the drives? The drive size is controlled by stripe blocks.
CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions Dedicated Disk Questions • Can I assign a dedicated disk to a striped array/JBOD or use a free disk with striped array/JBOD? No, free disks and dedicated disks can be only used with a mirrored array or a stripedmirrored array. • Once a dedicated disk has been assigned to a RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or RAID 5 array, can I remove it? Yes, a dedicated disk can be removed from a RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or a RAID 5 array.
CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions • Assign a dedicated disk to RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5 • Remove a dedicated disk from a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array • View Free Disks • Rebuild a RAID 1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 5 array • View the status of the rebuilding process • Create a RAID Array • Delete a RAID Array • Migrate a RAID Array • Hot Plug Array • Initialize Array • Synchronize Array NVIDIA Corporation 147
CHAPTER 6 MediaShield RAID Frequently Asked Questions 148 MediaShield User’s Guide – Version 4.
C H A P T E R MEDIASHIELD APPLICATION NOTES This chapter includes several application notes that address specific issues that may be encountered when trying to install the NVIDIA MediaShield software or other software required to run NVIDIA RAID. • “Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID” on page 150 describes how to create a bootable RAID volume with Windows 2000 via the migrating method.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes Windows 2000 Limitation with Bootable RAID Problem In Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or previous versions), the end user cannot install this operating system to a bootable RAID volume. Solution The user must create a combination installation CD that includes Windows 2000 and SP3 or SP4 fixes integrated in. To create the combination installation CD, refer to the following website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp4/HFdeploy.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes Using GHOST with NVIDIA RAID Problem GHOST can interface with hard disk controllers by accessing the appropriate memory and hardware locations directly. However, in doing so, this can bypass the RAID enhancements that are provided by the system BIOS. The system BIOS understands the underlying disk and RAID array structures and formats.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes How to Build a Slipstream XP-SP2 CD Problem Create a CD that will install XP-SP2 onto a bootable RAID array. Solution Create a slipstream CD that includes MediaShield RAID drivers using the following steps Initial Setup There are a number of options on how to setup the directory structures. This is just an example and is not meant to suggest other methods are incorrect.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes Add NVIDIA Drivers 1 Extract the NVIDIA driver files from the nForce package using ‘-x’ option. 2 Copy all *.sys, *.dll, *.inf and *.cat files from “…\IDE\WinXP\sataraid” to “c:\ slipstream\XP\i386”. 3 Edit “c:\slipstream\XP\i386\txtsetup.sif” and add the following a Under [WinntDirectories] section add: 300 = nvidia\nvraid This will add a directory to hold the storage driver files. b Directly under header [SourceDisksFiles] add the following lines: nvraidco.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes GenNvRaidDisk = "nvraid" *_NVRAIDBUS = "nvraid" *NVRAIDBUS = "nvraid" Note: Your platform will likely have different device IDs, so you should modify your entries accordingly. d Add NVIDIA storage drivers to the SCSI preload section. [SCSI.Load] nvatabus = NvAtaBus.sys,4 nvraid = nvraid.sys,4 e Add the message that will get displayed during text setup driver load.
CHAPTER 7 MediaShield Application Notes • XP Professional OEM enter WXPOEM_EN • XP Home OEM enter WXHOEM_EN • Select everything from c:\slipstreap\XP for burning onto CD NVIDIA Corporation 155
