FASTTRAK S150 TX2PLUS USER MANUAL Version 1.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Copyright © 2003 Promise Technology, Inc. Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (Promise Technology). No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise Technology. Trademarks Promise, and the Promise logo are registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Contents Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................ 1 FastTrak S150 TX2plus ............................................................................... 1 Promise Array Management Utility (PAM).................................................... 2 Key Features and Benefits ........................................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Installation ................................................................
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Existing Windows ME Installation............................................................... 45 Confirming Windows ME Driver Installation ............................................... 45 New Windows NT4.0 Installation................................................................ 46 Existing Windows NT4.0 Installation .......................................................... 47 Removing Driver from Windows NT4.0 ......................................................
Chapter 1: Introduction Thank you for purchasing Promise Technology’s FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID controller card. The PC which you are using either already contains FastTrak S150 TX2plus installed by a third-party or you have acquired a FastTrak S150 TX2plus retail product for your existing PC and plan to install the card yourself. • For PC owners wishing to install their FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID controller card, go to Chapter 2: Installation on page 5.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual FastTrak S150 TX2plus bootable BIOS supports individual drives larger than 137 GB. With FAT32 and NTFS partitioning, the array can be addressed as one large single volume. Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze.
Chapter 1: Introduction Key Features and Benefits The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 plus. Advanced Hardware Design Features Benefits Supports 66MHz PCI bus motherboards (automatically backward compatible with 33MHz PCI slots) Allows maximum data transfers of up to 266MB per second (133 MB/s in 33 MHz slot) over the bus to dramatically reduce the time to save and retrieve large files.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Utilizes FastBuild™ automenu from the FastTrak S150 TX2plus onboard BIOS Has “Auto Setup” option for quick and easy array builds. Displays status and error checking messages during bootup Notifies user of possible errors and allows for recovery of mirrored drive arrays directly from FastBuild™. Employs the latest Promise PCI Serial ATA ASIC technology Fully supports Serial ATA specifications with 150 MB/sec timing and CRC error-checking at high speeds.
Chapter 2: Installation This section is designed to quickly get your FastTrak S150 TX2plus Serial ATA RAID controller card up and running using the default settings, which will be optimal for most users. If you wish to modify any of the default settings, please refer to Chapter 3, page 15, Using FastBuild™ Configuration Utility.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Installing the FastTrak Card The FastTrak TX2plus Serial ATA RAID card fits into any available PCI slot on your PC’s motherboard (see Figure 1, below): • • 1. 32-bit PCI slot (must be PCI 2.2 or 2.3 compliant) The 32-bit portion of a 64-bit PCI slot Remove the cover of your system. 2. Remove the inside slot cover of an available 32-bit PCI slot on the motherboard. 3. Install the FastTrak Serial ATA RAID card into the open slot (see Figure 1 below).
Chapter 2: Installation Installing the Hard Drives Important If you wish to include your current bootable Serial ATA drive using the Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak Serial ATA RAID card, do NOT connect the hard drive to the FastTrak yet. You MUST install the Windows NT4, 2000, or XP driver software first onto this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Port 2 (Serial) for future use FastTrak Port 3 (Parallel) Port 1 (Serial) Pin 1 TX2 plus 150 LED Pins Figure 2. FastTrak S150 TX2plus card 5. Attach the Y-cable power splitters to the Serial ATA hard drives. 6. Use existing power cables for the Parallel ATA hard drives. Note The FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID controller is a PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) device. No changes are necessary in the Motherboard CMOS Setup for resources or drive types in most applications.
Chapter 2: Installation Creating Your Disk Array You will now use the onboard FastBuild™ BIOS utility to create your array using the attached drives. There are three different scenarios in creating this array. You can create an array for: • • • • Performance Security, using new hard drives (recommended) Security, using an existing hard drive and a new one Security, using Quick Initialization The first three steps are the same for all three choices.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual FastBuild (tm) Utility 2.xx (c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. [Auto Setup Options Menu] Optimize Array for: Performance [ Auto Setup Configuration ] Mode ....................................................................... Stripe Spare Drive ............................................................. 0 Drives used in Array ................................................ 2 Array Disk Capacity.................................................
Chapter 2: Installation Creating a Security Array with New Drives Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual 5. A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system. Array has been created. 6. 7. Proceed with normal FDISK and format procedures as if you had just installed a new hard drive. Once the arrayed drives have been formatted, proceed to Chapter 4 of this Manual to install your operating system and/or FastTrak driver.
Chapter 2: Installation Creating a Security Array with an Existing Data Drive Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another or do quick initialize or create only? Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only I - Create and Quick Initialize 3. Press Y for the Create and Duplicate option. The window below will appear asking you to select the Source drive to use. FastBuild will copy all data from the Source drive to the Target drive.
Chapter 2: Installation Array has been created. 8. Once the arrayed drives have been formatted, proceed to Chapter 4 of this Manual to install your operating system and/or FastTrak driver.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Creating a Security Array with Quick Initialization Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze.
Chapter 2: Installation 3. The window below will appear. Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another or do quick initialize or create only? Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only I - Create and Quick Initialize 4. Press I for the Create and Quick Initialize 5. A window will appear almost immediately confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system. Array has been created. 6.
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Chapter 3: Using FastBuild Configuration Utility The FastBuild Configuration Utility offers several menu choices to create and manage the drive array on the Promise FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID Controller card. For purposes of this manual, it is assumed you have already created an array in the previous chapter and now wish to make a change to the array or view other options.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Critical – Degraded array condition due to a failed or removed disk drive. Applies to mirrored arrays (RAID 1 and 0+1) only. Fault tolerance is lost but the data is still accessible. Triggers automatic rebuilding. Offline – Striped arrays (RAID 0): Degraded array condition due to one failed or removed disk drive. The data is not accessible. Mirrored arrays (RAID 1 and 0+1): Degraded array condition due to two failed or removed disk drives. Fault tolerance is lost.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Notes After you install the FastTrak S150 TX2plus card and configure an array using FastBuild, use FDISK to format the arrayed drive(s) if you are using new, blank drives Creating Arrays Automatically The Auto Setup (1) selection from the Main Menu can intuitively help create your disk array. It will assign all available drives appropriate for the disk array you are creating. After making all selections, press Ctrl-Y to Save the selections.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Note FastTrak S150 TX2plus permits striped arrays using 1, 2, 3, or 4 drives attached in Auto Setup mode. Under the Security setting, FastTrak S150 TX2plus permits two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array or four drives to be used for a Mirrored/Striped array in Auto Setup. Security (RAID 1 Mirroring, or RAID 0+1 Striping/ Mirroring) creates a mirrored (or fault tolerant) array for data security.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Using a Hot Spare Drive Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Creating Multiple Arrays If you plan to create multiple arrays, 1. Attach only the drives necessary to create the first disk array and complete the Auto Setup (1). 2. Install the additional drives needed for the second array and again use the Auto Setup (1). Note If you wish to customize the settings of individual disk arrays (such as block size), you must manually create disk arrays with the Define Array (3) option from the Main Menu.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Manually Creating an Array The Define Array (3) option from the Main Menu allows users to begin the process of manually defining the drive elements and RAID levels for one or multiple disk arrays attached to FastTrak S150 TX2plus. Users will commonly create one or two drive arrays with FastTrak S150 TX2plus, though the card will support a maximum of four arrays. You may use a single drive in striping mode with FastTrak S150 TX2plus.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Selecting Array Type 1. Under the Definition section of this menu, highlight the Array # for which you want to assign a RAID level. 2. Press the Spacebar to cycle through three array types: • • • Performance (RAID 0 Striping) Security (RAID 1 Mirroring) RAID 0+1 Striping/Mirroring (for 4 drives) See page 45 for more information about RAID levels. FastBuild (tm) Utility 2.xx (c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Gigabyte Boundary The Gigabyte Boundary feature is designed for mirrored arrays (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1) in which a drive has failed and the user cannot replace the drive with the same capacity or larger. Instead, the Gigabyte Boundary feature permits the installation of a replacement drive that is slightly smaller (within 1 gigabyte) than the remaining working drive (for example, an 80.5 GB drive would be rounded down to 80 GB).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Assigning Drive(s) to Array 1. Under the Drive Assignments section, highlight a drive by pressing the ↑ and ↓ keys. 2. Press the Spacebar to change the Assignable option to Y to add the drive to the disk array. 3. Press Ctrl-Y to save the disk array information. Depending on the array type selected, the following scenarios will take place: • If choosing a Striping or Mirroring/Striping array, the initial Define Array Menu screen will appear with the arrays defined.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Creating a Mirrored Array Using New Drives Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Adding Fault Tolerance to an Existing Drive Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
Chapter 2: Getting Started 2. Press Ctrl-Y to Save your selection. The window below will appear. Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another or do quick initialize or create only? Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only I - Create and Quick Initiate Note Gigabyte Boundary is automatically disabled when creating a mirrored array (RAID 1) from an existing drive (versus using two brand new drives). This protects the existing drive’s partition table in order to maintain data integrity. 3.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual 5. Press Ctrl-Y to Save selection and start duplication. The following confirmation screen will appear. Start to duplicate the image . . . Do you want to continue? (Yes/No) Y – Continue N – Abort 6. Select Y to continue. If you choose N, you will be returned to step 1. 7. Once you select Y, the following progress screen will appear. The process will take a few minutes.
Chapter 2: Getting Started Creating a Hot Spare Drive for Mirrored Arrays Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Deleting an Array The Delete Array (4) Menu option allows for deletion of disk array assignments. This is not the same as deleting data from the drives themselves. Important If you delete an array by accident, immediately define a new array identical to one you deleted. This action normally recovers the deleted array. Warning Deleting an existing disk array could result in its data loss.
Chapter 2: Getting Started FastBuild (tm) Utility 2.xx (c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Rebuilding a Mirrored Array The Rebuild Array (5) Menu option can be used to recover from an error in a mirrored disk array. You will receive an error message when booting your system from the FastTrak BIOS. Important Drives MUST be replaced if they contain any physical errors. Follow these steps before using the Rebuild Array menu option: 1. On bootup, the FastTrak S150 TX2plus Startup BIOS will display an error message identifying which drive has failed. 2.
Chapter 2: Getting Started FastBuild (tm) Utility 2.xx (c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. [ Rebuild Array Menu ] Array No Array 2 RAID Mode Mirror Total Drv 2 Status Critical Stripe Block: Not Available Gigabyte Boundary: ON [ Select Drive for Rebuild ] Channel:ID 1: Drive Model SEAGATE S380023AS Capacity (MB) 80024 [ Keys Available ] [↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Enter] Select 11. Under Select Drive for Rebuild, highlight the replacement drive. 12.
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Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Following are driver installation procedures for the Windows operating systems that support the FastTrak S150 TX2plus Controller. The FastTrak TX2plus software drivers for Windows are included on the driver diskette. Drivers and installation instructions for other Operating Systems are downloadable from the Promise website at www.promise.com. Important If you wish to include your current bootable ATA drive using the Windows NT4.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Windows XP Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX2plus drivers while installing Windows XP. 1. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows XP installation diskettes. • 2. CD-ROM Install: Boot from the CD-ROM. Press F6 after the message “Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver” appears. When the Windows XP Setup window is generated, press S to specify an Additional Device(s). 3.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Existing Windows XP Installation After installing the FastTrak S150 TX2plus card and rebooting your system, Windows XP setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. Under Windows XP, “Mass Storage Controller” will be displayed. 1. Insert the FastTrak TX2plus driver diskette into the A:\ drive. 2. Choose Install the software automatically and press the Enter key. 3.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual New Windows 2000 Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX2plus drivers while installing Windows 2000. 1. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows 2000 installation diskettes. • 2. CD-ROM Install: Boot from the CD-ROM. Press F6 after the message “Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver” appears.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Existing Windows 2000 Installation After installing the FastTrak S150 TX2plus card and rebooting your system, Windows 2000 setup will show a “New Hardware Found” dialog box. Under Windows 2000, “PCI Mass Storage Controller” will be displayed. 1. Choose Add New Hardware Wizard from the list, and then press Enter. 2. Choose Add/Troubleshoot a device and click Next. The new hardware wizard will show device list 3. Choose Mass Storage controller and click Next.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual New Windows ME Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX2plus drivers while installing Windows ME. 1. Install the FastTrak TX2plus controller card into your system. 2. Install Windows ME fully. 3. After installation, go to the Start menu and choose Settings. 4. From the Settings menu, choose Control Panel. 5. In the Control Panel window, double-click the System icon. 6. In the System window, choose the Device Manager tab. 7.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Existing Windows ME Installation The following section details the installation of FastTrak TX2plus drivers on a system that has Windows ME already installed and running. 1. After installing the FastTrak S150 TX2plus controller card and configuring the hard drives, power up the system and boot. 2. The Add New Hardware Wizard will appear, informing you that it has found a PCI Mass Storage Controller. 3.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual New Windows NT4.0 Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX2plus drivers while installing Windows NT4.0. 1. Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk: • Floppy install: boot the system with the Windows NT installation diskettes. • 2. CD-ROM disk install: boot from the CD-ROM disk and press F6 when the message “Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware configuration…” appears.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Existing Windows NT4.0 Installation The following section details the installation of FastTrak TX2plus drivers on a system that has Windows NT4.0 already installed and running. NOTE: Do not attach the boot drive or any other hard drive to the FastTrak TX2plus controller card before completing this step. 1. From the Start menu, choose Settings. 2. From the Settings menu, choose Control Panel. 3. Double-click the SCSI Adapters icon.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual New Windows 98 Installation The following section details the installation of the FastTrak TX2plus drivers while installing Windows 98. 1. Install the FastTrak S150 TX2plus controller card and configure the hard drive(s), partition and format your hard drive(s), if necessary. 2. Install Windows 98 normally. 3. After installation, go the Start menu and choose Settings. 4. From the Settings menu, choose Control Panel. 5.
Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Existing Windows 98 Installation The following section details the installation of FastTrak TX2plus drivers on a system that has Windows 98 already installed and running. 1. After installing the FastTrak S150 TX2plus controller card and configuring the hard drives, power up the system and boot Windows. 2. The “Add New Hardware Wizard” will appear, informing you that it has found a “PCI Mass Storage Controller.” 3. Click Next.
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Chapter 5: Disk Array Concepts About FastTrak S150 TX2plus FastTrak S150 TX2plus is a high performance Serial ATA/Ultra ATA RAID controller card that features concurrent data channel operation and onboard BIOS. The channels on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus support concurrent operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multi-tasking operating systems and sharing the workload between multiple drives.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Disk Array Terms Disk Array Description A disk array is formed from a group of two or more disk drives that appear to the system as a single drive. The advantage of an array is to provide better throughput performance and/or data fault tolerance. Better performance is accomplished by sharing the workload among multiple physical drives.
Chapter 5: Disk Array Concepts About RAID Levels Striping (RAID 0) Reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between multiple drives. When any disk member fails, it affects the entire array. Performance is better than a single drive since the workload is balanced between the array members. This array type is for high performance systems. Identical drives are recommended for performance as well as data storage efficiency.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Mirroring (RAID 1) Writes duplicate data on to a pair of drives while reads are performed in parallel. ATA RAID 1 is fault tolerant because each drive of a mirrored pair is installed on separate IDE channels. If one of the mirrored drives suffers a mechanical failure (for example, spindle failure) or does not respond, the remaining drive will continue to function. This is called Fault Tolerance.
Chapter 5: Disk Array Concepts Caution With some models of hard drives, if the Master hard drive fails, it may cause the Slave hard drive to be unrecognized by the computer's operating system. Where a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array exists on the Master/Slave pair, this condition may cause the operating system to freeze. Do NOT create a RAID 1 (Mirroring) array with two Parallel ATA hard drives using the Master/Slave arrangement on Channel 3 (the Parallel ATA port).
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Striping / Mirroring (RAID 0+1) A combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays. It can increase performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication. A minimum of four drives are required. With a four-drive disk array, two pairs of drives are striped. Each pair mirrors the data on the other pair of striped drives. The data capacity is similar to a standard Mirroring array with half of total capacity dedicated for redundancy.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak S150 TX2plus installation problems. Also refer to the README.TXT file on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline services listed in Appendix B. The section is divided into the following categories: Motherboard Issues, System CMOS Issues, Drive Errors, Operating System Errors, and Audio/Video Editing Tips.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual System CMOS Issues Set Motherboard CMOS Boot sequence to boot to FastTrak S150 TX2plus On some Motherboard BIOS, it is necessary to set the Boot sequence to SCSI, A:, C: since the Promise card is identified as a SCSI card. Motherboard CMOS displays C: or D: drive failure during startup See the Drive-Related Errors section.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips Drive-Related Errors Critical Array Status Error Reported during Boot If a critical status error message appears on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus BIOS startup screen for a mirrored array (see below), there is a drive in the array that has failed or is not responding. FastTrak S150 TX2plus will identify the failed drive by channel number. The mirrored array has lost its fault tolerance, but will still perform normal drive reads and writes.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Unable to Partition or Format Array This condition may occur when the Reserve Sector of one of the drives has become corrupt or bad. Removing the Reserve Sector will remedy any issue related directly to a Bad Reserve Sector. Warning Before removing the Reserve Sector of the drive(s), backup any existing data. Removal of the reserve sector of any drive permanently deletes all existing data on the hard drive.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips Array Constantly Goes Into Critical or Offline Mode During Reboot See Unable to Partition or Format array, above. Cannot Rebuild Mirrored (RAID 1) Array See Unable to Partition or Format array, above. Fatal Errors or Data Corruption Are Constantly Reported When Reading or Writing to Drive Array See Unable to Partition or Format array, above.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Operating System-Related Issues Different drive lettering under Windows NT This may happen when using a SCSI card in addition to the Promise card. Windows NT does not necessarily load the driver for the boot device controller first. This results in a drive that in MS-DOS is the C: drive being the D:, or E:, etc. in Windows NT. Use the Windows NT Disk Administrator utility to reassign the letters that NT has improperly assigned to the drives.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips “No Hard Drives Found” Message Appears During CD-ROM Install of Windows NT, 2000, or XP The F6 key was not pressed at the appropriate time. Reboot the system, and press the F6 key when the message “Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware configuration…” appears in Windows NT4 or the message “Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver” appears in Windows 2000 and XP.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Performance Tips Here are some tips that may optimize performance in a RAID 0 striped array. If you are using an audio/video-editing card, we also recommend reviewing your card’s documentation for additional information. Use FastTrak S150 TX2plus as D: or other non-bootable drive in a Striped Array For Audio/Video editing, keep the original system boot drive on the standard IDE controller as C: drive.
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips Change Setting of PCI Bus Utilization Certain brands of video capture cards can produce a glitch on play back of .AVI files. A setting of Less for PCI Bus utilization reduces the time which FastTrak S150 TX2plus occupies on the PCI bus and frees that time for use by other PCI devices and will eliminate the glitch dropout effect on playback. in Tree View to display its Options in 1. In PAM, click on the Controller icon Information View. 2.
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Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre-installation, drive issues, installation, and post-installation. Pre-Installation (Speed, Device Types, Capacity, Cabling) Q: What kind of hard drives can I use for a FastTrak S150 TX2plus array? A: You can use any Serial ATA or any IDE/EIDE hard drive(s) to create arrays on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus. You should use matching drives for multipledrive arrays to maximize capacity usage as well as performance.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Q: How does the FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID controller provide storage and/or data protection with their arrays? A: FastTrak S150 TX2plus implements three different types of RAID levels as follows: RAID 0 (Stripe) For capacity – The FastTrak S150 TX2plus array will be as big as the smallest HDD in the array times however many HDDs are in the array. Any larger HDDs will simply be truncated. The truncated space on the bigger HDDs will then be unusable.
Appendix A: FAQs Drive Issues Q: Can I add a drive to a FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID array via hot-swap and dynamically adjust the array size/configuration? A: No. The FastTrak S150 TX2plus system does not support dynamically adjustable RAID size/configurations. Q: Do the HDDs on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus have to be the same size? A: The HDDs that you use with the FastTrak S150 TX2plus do not have to be the same size.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Q: What system BIOS setup settings do I use for the drives on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus controller? A: None. The drives on the FastTrak S150 TX2plus controller are supported by the FastTrak S150 TX2plus BIOS and/or OS drivers, not by your system BIOS. Q: How do I partition/format my FastTrak S150 TX2plus RAID array? A: The FastTrak S150 TX2plus represents the array as a single HDD to your system.
Appendix A: FAQs Installation Issues (Capacity, Booting) Q: Why are some drives recognized by the FastTrak S150 TX2plus Array Setup utilities with only partial capacity? A: Some hard drives ship with a jumper that reduces the addressable capacity of the drive to prevent problems with older systems that don’t support larger drives. Consult your hard drive documentation to set the jumper so that you can use the full capacity of the drive.
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Appendix B: Technical Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates. We encourage you to use one of our electronic services, which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual Pacific Rim Sales Office E-mail Support support@promise.com.tw Fax Technical Support +886-3-578-2390 Attention: Technical Support Phone Technical Support +886-3-578-2395 (Ext. 8870) 9:00-6:00pm Taiwan Time If you wish to write us for support: Promise Technology, Inc. Attn: Technical Support 2F, No. 30, Industry E. Rd. IX Science-based Industrial Park Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C. China Office E-mail Support support-china@promise.
Appendix B: Technical Support Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for Three (3) years from the time of the delivery of the product to the original end user: a) the product will conform to Promise’s specifications; b) the product will be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service.
FastTrak S150 TX2plus User Manual No other document, statement or representation may be relied on to vary the terms of this limited warranty. Promise’s sole responsibility with respect to any product is to do one of the following at its own discretion: a) replace the product with a conforming unit of the same or superior product; b) repair the product; c) recover the product and refund the purchase price for the product.
Appendix B: Technical Support Returning Product for Repair If you suspect a product is not working properly, or if you have any questions about your product, contact our Technical Support Staff through one of our Technical Services, making sure to provide the following information: • Product model and serial number (required); • Return shipping address; • Daytime phone number; • Description of the problem; • Copy of the original purchase invoice.
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