User Guide

Chapter 7. Configuring RAID

This chapter provides information about storage drive requirements for Redundant Array of Independent

Disks (RAID) levels, and instructions on how to configure RAID for your computer.

An Introduction to RAID

RAID is a technology that provides increased storage functions and reliability through redundancy.

When a group of independent physical storage drives is set up to use RAID technology, they are in a RAID

array. This array distributes data across multiple storage drives, but the array appears to the host computer

as one single storage unit. Creating and using RAID arrays provides high performance, such as the expedited

I/O performance, because several drives can be accessed simultaneously.

RAID drive groups configured according to certain RAID levels also improve data storage reliability and fault

tolerance compared with single-drive storage systems. Data loss resulting from a drive failure can be

prevented by reconstructing missing data from the remaining drives.

Note: For RAID 0, the missing data resulting from a drive failure cannot be reconstructed.

Storage drive requirements for RAID levels

Your computer supports the following internal storage drives:

• 2.5-inch form factor, 7-mm (0.28-inch) height hard disk drive

• M.2 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) solid-state drive (available on some models)

Note: Ensure that your computer has two identical storage drives installed (two M.2 NVMe solid-state drives

with the same capacity) for supported RAID levels. If only one drive is installed, or two different types of

drives are installed, the following information does not apply.

Your computer supports the following RAID levels:

• RAID 0: striped disk array

– Consists of two identical storage drives

– Supported strip size: 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB, or 128 KB

– Better performance without fault tolerance

– Higher risk of data loss resulting from a member drive failure compared with non-RAID configuration

• RAID 1: mirrored disk array

– Consists of two identical storage drives

– Improved reading performance and 100% redundancy

Configuring RAID with the Intel RST configuration utility

This topic provides the following instructions to help you configure RAID with the Intel RST configuration

utility:

• How to enter the Intel RST configuration utility

• How to create RAID volumes

• How to delete RAID volumes