TM User Manual
Copyright Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”), 2000. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the expressed, written permission of Promise. Trademarks All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Important data protection information You should back up all data before installing any drive controller or storage peripheral.
FastTrak100 User Manual Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 W HAT IS THE FASTTRAK100 RAID CARD?..........................................................1 KEYS FEATURES AND BENEFITS .........................................................................3 GETTING STARTED .......................................................................................6 UNPACKING YOUR FASTTRAK100 ................................
FastTrak100 User Manual DISK ARRAY TERMS ...................................................................................... 66 ABOUT RAID LEVELS....................................................................................67 TROUBLESHOOTING & TIPS .......................................................................71 MOTHERBOARD ISSUES ..................................................................................71 SYSTEM CMOS ISSUES.........................................................
FastTrak100 User Manual Introduction Thank you for your recent purchase.The PC which you are using either already contains a Promise Technology FastTrak100 RAID card installed by a third-party or you have acquired a FastTrak100 retail box for your existing PC and will be installing the card yourself. For PC owners wishing to install their Promise Technology FastTrak100, proceed to the Getting Started section (see page 6).
FastTrak100 User Manual FastTrak100's bootable BIOS supports individual drives larger than 8.4GB. With FAT32 and NTFS partitioning, the array can be addressed as one large single volume.
FastTrak100 User Manual Keys Features and Benefits The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak100. It is divided into two areas: Advanced Hardware Design, and Compatibility. Advanced Hardware Design Features Benefits Supports data striping (RAID 0), mirroring (RAID 1), and striping/mirroring combination (RAID 0+1) Provides dramatic increase in drive performance and/or fault tolerant options.
FastTrak100 User Manual Compatibility Features Benefits Complies with PCI v2.1 Local Bus standard Compliant with PCI IDE Bus Master standard. PCI IDE Bus Master support for Windows 98/95, Windows NT 3.5x, 4.0 Tested compatiblity to coexist with Mainboards that have integrated IDE controllers Compatible with Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/33, EIDE and Fast ATA-2 drives supporting multi-word DMA Provides highest level of hardware compatibility.
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FastTrak100 User Manual Getting Started This section is designed to get you started for installation of your FastTrak100.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing The Card Installing the FastTrak100 controller card in a system is a simple process. The card fits into any available 32-bit PCI slot on the system’s motherboard (see figure below). 1. 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 FastTrak100 controller card into the open slot (see Figure 1 below). 4.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing The Hard Drives WARNING: If you wish to include your current bootable drive using the Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating system as part of a bootable Mirrored (RAID 1) array on your FastTrak100, do NOT connect the hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller yet. You MUST install the Windows NT4 or 2000 driver software first (see page 34) to this drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller. For all other Operating Systems, proceed here.
FastTrak100 User Manual 4. Attach one Ultra ATA cable to each hard drive. Then attach one cable to each of the IDE connectors on the FastTrak100 controller card. The colored edge of the cable(s) indicates pin 1 (see below), and the blue cable connector must be attached to the FastTrak100 or Ultra100 ATA connector. NOTE: You must use an 80-wire, 40-pin cable when connecting an Ultra ATA/100 hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller card. The FastTrak100 package contains two 80-wire, 40-pin cables.
FastTrak100 User Manual Checking CMOS Settings No changes are necessary in the Mainboard CMOS Setup for resources or drive types. Since FastTrak100 is a PCI Plug-n-Play (PnP) device, the Interrupt and Port address resources are automatically assigned by the Mainboard’s PCI PnP BIOS. The FastTrak100 system resources including port address, interrupt, and BIOS address are automatically determined by the system PnP BIOS.
FastTrak100 User Manual 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, you can create a Security array using new hard drives (recommended), or you can create a Security array using an existing hard drive and a new hard drive. WARNING: If creating a Security array using an existing hard drive, backup any necessary data.
FastTrak100 User Manual NOTE: If you wish to customize certain settings at a later time, you may do so by manually creating your array (see page 15 Using FastBuild Configuration Utility).
FastTrak100 User Manual Creating an Array for Performance NOTE: FastTrak100 allows users to create striped arrays with 1, 2, 3, or 4 drives. To create an array for best performance, follow these steps: 1. Using the Spacebar, choose “Performance” under the Optimize Array for section. 2. Select how you will use your PC most under the Typical Application usage section The choices are A/V Editing, Server, and Desktop (the default). 3. Press keys to Save and create the array. 4. Reboot your system. 5.
FastTrak100 User Manual Creating a Security Array With An Existing Data Drive NOTE: FastTrak100 permits only two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array in Auto Setup. If more drives are physically attached to the card, the Mirroring option will not be available. You would use this method if you wish to use a drive that already contains data and/or is the bootable system drive in your system. You will need another drive of identical or larger storage capacity.
FastTrak100 User Manual 4. Use the arrow keys to choose which drive contains the existing data to be copied. 5. Press [Ctrl-Y] keys to Save selection and start duplication. The following progress 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 complete, the following screen will appear confirming that your Security array has been created.
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FastTrak100 User Manual Using FastBuild™ Configuration Utility The FastBuildT M Configuration Utility offers several menu choices to create and manage the drive array on the Promise FastTrak100 adapter. 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.
FastTrak100 User Manual Navigating the FastBuild™ Setup Menu When using the menus, these are some of the basic navigation tips: Arrow keys highlights through choices; [Space] bar key allows to cycle through options; [Enter] key selects an option; [ESC] key is used to abort or exit the current menu. Using the Main Menu This is the first option screen when entering the FastBuildT M Setup. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc. [ Main Menu ] Auto Setup.............................
FastTrak100 User Manual 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, use Ctrl-Y to Save selections. FastBuild will automatically build the array. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak100 User Manual Defining Typical Application Usage Allows the user to choose the type of PC usage that will be performed in order to optimize how FastTrak100 handles data blocks to enhance performance. Your choice will determine the block size used. You may choose from: A/V Editing (for audio/video applications, or any similar application that requires large file transfers), Server (for numerous small file transfers), or Desktop (a combination of large and small file sizes).
FastTrak100 User Manual Viewing Drive Assignments The View Drive Assignments <2> option in the Main Menu displays whether drives are assigned to a disk arrays or are unassigned. Under the “Assignment” column, drives are labeled with their assigned disk array or shown as “Free” if unassigned. Such “Free” drives can be used for a future array or used as a spare drive when a drive fails in a mirrored array. Unassigned drives are not accessible by the OS.
FastTrak100 User Manual 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 FastTrak100. Users will commonly create one or two drive arrays with FastTrak100, though the card will support a maximum of four arrays 1. NOTE: For most installations, Promise recommends the <1> Auto Setup for easy disk array creation. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.
FastTrak100 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. Use the [Space] key to cycle through three array types: Performance (RAID 0 Striping), Security (RAID 1 Mirroring, RAID 0+1 Striping/Mirroring (for 4 drives ), or Capacity (Spanning). See page 65 about RAID levels. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc.
FastTrak100 User Manual a) If choosing a Striping, Spanning, or Mirroring/Striping array, the initial Define Array Menu screen will appear with the arrays defined. From there you may ESC to exit and return to the Main Menu of FastBuild. b) If you selected a Mirroring array for two drives, there is an additional window that appears as described in order to create the array. To do this you will use either two brand new drives, or one drive that contains existing data that you wish to mirror.
FastTrak100 User Manual 1. After assigning the drives to a Mirroring array, press keys to Save your selection. The window below will appear. Do you want the disk image to be duplicated to another? (Yes/No) Y - Create and Duplicate N - Create Only 2. 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.
FastTrak100 User Manual 7. Once mirroring is complete, the following screen will appear confirming that your Security array has been created. Press any key to reboot the system Array has been created. Making a FastTrak100 Disk Array Bootable WARNING: In order for you to boot from an array on the FastTrak100, your PC or server must be configured in the CMOS Setup to use the FastTrak100 as a bootable device (versus the onboard controller or another add-in card).
FastTrak100 User Manual How FastTrak100 Orders Arrays During startup, the disk arrays on the FastTrak100 are recognized in this order: 1) The array set to bootable in the FastBuildT M Setup, and 2) the Array number (i.e. Array 0, Array 1…). This would be involved in determining which drive letters will be assigned to each disk array. How FastTrak100 Saves Array Information All disk array data is saved into the reserved sector on each array member.
FastTrak100 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. If you delete an array by accident (and before it has been used again), the array can normally be recovered by defining the array identically as the deleted array. WARNING: Deleting an existing disk array could result in its data loss.
FastTrak100 User Manual Press Ctrl-Y to Delete, others to Abort 4. After deleting the array, you should create a new array using Auto Setup or the Define Array menu from the FastBuild Main Menu.
FastTrak100 User Manual Rebuilding A Mirrored Array The Rebuild Array <5> Menu option is necessary to recover from an error in a mirrored disk array. You will receive an error message when booting your system from the FastTrak BIOS. NOTE: Drives MUST be replaced if they contain any physical errors. Follow these steps BEFORE using the Rebuild Array menu option: 1. On bootup, the FastTrak100 Startup BIOS will display an error message identifying which drive has failed. 2.
FastTrak100 User Manual FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc. [ Rebuild Array Menu ] Array No Array 2 RAID Mode Mirror Total Drv 2 Status Critical Stripe Block: Not Available [ Select Drive for Rebuild ] Channel:ID 1 : Slave Drive Model QUANTUM CR8.4A Capacity (MB) 8063 [ Keys Available ] [↑] Up [↓] Down [ESC] Exit [Enter] Select 11. Under [Select Drive for Rebuild], highlight the replacement drive. 12.
FastTrak100 User Manual Viewing Controller Settings The Controller Configuration <6> menu selection allows you to enable or disable the FastTrak100 BIOS from halting (the default) if it detects an error on boot up. You may also view the system resources (Interrupt and I/O port address) of FastTrak’s data channels. FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 1995-2000 Promise Technology, Inc.
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FastTrak100 User Manual Installing Drivers This section details the FastTrak100 driver installation when used with various operating systems. The software includes the driver necessary to identify FastTrak100 to the operating system. • • • • • For Windows 2000, see below. For Microsoft Millennium, see page 36. For Windows 95/98, see page 38. For Windows NT 4.0, see page 42 For Windows 3.1/DOS, see page 41. Windows 2000 Installing Driver During New Windows 2000 Installation 1a.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing Driver in Existing Windows 2000 System WARNING: If you will be moving the boot drive containing the existing Windows 2000 operating system to a mirrored RAID 1 array on the FastTrak100 card, the FastTrak100 driver MUST be loaded to the hard drive while it is still attached to your existing hard drive controller. Do not attach this drive or any other hard drive to the FastTrak100 controller card before completing this step.
FastTrak100 User Manual Microsoft Millennium Installing Drivers During Millennium Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak100 drivers while installing Microsoft’s Millennium (with the FastTrak100 controller card already in place). If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system with Millennium already installed, see “Installing Drivers with Existing Millennium System.” 1. Install Microsoft Millennium fully. 2. After installation, go the “Start” menu and choose “Settings.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing Drivers with Existing Millennium System The following section details the installation of FastTrak100 drivers on a system that has Millennium already installed and running. If you’re installing the FastTrak100T M drivers on a system during an installation of Millennium, see “Installing Drivers During Millennium Installation.” 1. After installing the FastTrak100 controller card and configuring the hard drives, power up the system and boot. 2.
FastTrak100 User Manual Windows 95/98 Installing Drivers During Windows 95/98 Installation The following three sections detail the installation of the FastTrak100 drivers while installing Windows 95/98 (with the FastTrak100 controller card already in place). If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system with Windows 95/98 already installed, see “Installing Drivers with Existing Windows 95/98” on page 40. Windows 98 1.
FastTrak100 User Manual 7. In the hierarchical display under “Other Devices” is a listing for “PCI Mass Storage Controller.” Choose it and then press the “Properties” button. 8. Choose the “Driver” tab in the “Properties” window, and then press the “Update Driver” button. 9. When asked if you want Windows to search for the driver, choose “Yes (recommended).” 10. Insert the “FastTrak100 Driver” diskette into the A: drive, then press “Next.” 11.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing Drivers with Existing Windows 95/98 The following three sections detail the installation of FastTrak100 drivers on a system that has Windows 95/98 already installed. If you’re installing the FastTrak100 drivers on a system during a Windows 95/98 installation, see “Installing Drivers During Windows 95/98 Installation” on page 38. Windows 98 1. After installing the FastTrak100 controller card and configuring the hard drives, power up the system and boot Windows. 2.
FastTrak100 User Manual Confirming Driver Installation in Windows 98/95 To confirm that the driver has been properly loaded in Win 95/98, perform the following steps: 1. Choose “Settings” from the “Start” menu. 2. Choose “Control Panel,” and then double-click on the “System” icon. 3. Choose the “Device Manager” tab, and then click the “+” in front of “SCSI & RAID controllers.” “Win95-98 Promise FastTrak100 (tm) controller” should appear DOS/Windows 3.
FastTrak100 User Manual Windows NT4.0 Installing Drivers During Windows NT 4.0 Installation 1. Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk: a) Floppy install: boot the system with the Windows NT installation diskettes. b) Floppyless install: boot from floppy and type “WINNT /B”. After files have been copied, the system will reboot. On the reboot, press the “F6” key when the message “Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware configuration…” appears.
FastTrak100 User Manual Installing Driver with Existing Windows NT 4.0 WARNING: If you plan to move your boot drive to a mirrored RAID 1 FastTrak array, hard drives should NOT be connected to the FastTrak100 controller card before performing the following procedure. The FastTrak100 drivers must be loaded on the system hard drive (running under the existing hard drive controller) before any hard drives are connected to the FastTrak100 controller card. 1. Choose “Settings” from the “Start” menu. 2.
FastTrak100 User Manual Using The FastCheck™ Monitoring Utility You can monitor the operating status of all arrays and drives configured on the FastTrak100 using the supplied FastCheck monitoring utility for Windows -based operating systems. FastCheck generates visual and audible messages alerting you of possible problems with the disk array or controller. FastCheck visually identifies the physical location of attached drives on the FastTrak100 by IDE channel (1 or 2) and setting (Master/Slave).
FastTrak100 User Manual Running FastCheck As described in the Installation section, the default option for FastCheck is to load during startup of Win95/98/NT/2000. It appears minimized on the taskbar under Win 95/98/NT4.0/2000/Millennium (see below). To start FastCheck, double-click on the FastCheck icon on the taskbar (above) or you may also use the Taskbar Start/Promise/FastTrak/FastCheck menus shown below.
FastTrak100 User Manual Using FastCheck Array Window Once FastCheck is selected, the FastCheck Monitoring Utility window will appear. The main pane has three information window tabs: Array, Controller, and Options. The user can switch screens by clicking on the tab. The Array Window is the active screen by default as shown below: The Array Window (see above) displays information about the arrays configured on your FastTrak100 through the FastBuild BIOS.
FastTrak100 User Manual Status: (Functional, Critical, Offline) Functional: Means the array is providing full functionality Critical: Used only in reference to a Mirroring array (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1). A problem has been detected in one of the drives of the array and the drive has been taken “offline.” However, a “critical” array will continue to save and retrieve data from the remaining working drive(s).
FastTrak100 User Manual Offline: Drives that are NOT identified as “bad” may be taken offline if part of a Striping or Spanning array containing a “bad” drive. These drives do NOT need to be replaced, however. S.M.A.R.T. Status: Indicates whether attached hard drive implements SelfMonitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology to predict drive failure Size: Indicates capacity of individual drive Location: Shows physical location of drive.
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FastTrak100 User Manual Synchronizing An Array Synchronization is a periodic maintenance procedure for Mirroring (RAID 1, RAID 0+1) arrays to maintain data consistency on all mirrored drives. In operation, array synchronization compares data on the mirrored drives for any differences. If there are differences detected, data from the primary drive(s) is automatically copied to the secondary drive(s). This assures that all mirrored drives will contain the exact information.
FastTrak100 User Manual 4. Once Synchronization is confirmed, the following information screen appears. Click OK button or close the window to proceed. NOTE: During Array Synchronization, users may continue to access the working array and perform normal PC functions. However, system performance will be slightly degraded and the process will take longer. 5.
FastTrak100 User Manual Rebuilding An Array This command effectively copies or overwrites data from an existing data drive in the array on to a blank drive. The operation will be typically used when a failed drive has been replaced with a new drive as part of a mirrored array. 1. To perform a Rebuild, choose the Array Tab View. 2. Right click the array number and choose Rebuild from the context menu. 3. Once Rebuild is selected, you will be asked to “Initialize Rebuild process on Array #” by clicking OK.
FastTrak100 User Manual 4. Rebuild Wizard Step 2 confirms the Target or “Rebuild” disk by Array # and drive ID. 5. Click Finish button to initiate physical Rebuild, Back button to review Step 2, or Cancel button to Stop. A final confirmation window appears as below: 6. Click “Yes” to initiate Rebuild. To cancel this option, click the No button. WARNING: Once initiated, Array Rebuild can NOT be halted in order to prevent data errors.
FastTrak100 User Manual 6. Once Array Rebuild has begun, users are returned to the FastCheck Monitoring window. A progress bar showing the rebuild progress in percentage will appear at the bottom of the FastCheck Monitoring window. NOTE: When a “spare” unassigned drive is present on the FastTrak100, a rebuild will automatically be performed from the remaining working drive.
FastTrak100 User Manual Using Controller Window Clicking on the Controller tab, will reveal the Controller Window. This displays physical information about the location of FastTrak100, data channels on the card, and the attached drives.
FastTrak100 User Manual Viewing IDE Channel Information Left-clicking on a given Channel icon or # in the left pane, will show the Base IO addresses of the channel in the right pane (used for troubleshooting).
FastTrak100 User Manual Viewing Drive Information Left-clicking on a given Drive icon or ID in the left pane, will show similar information categories as the Array Window Drive Information in the right pane. Status (also shown under the Array Window) can be Functional, Critical, or Offline. The meanings are shown below. Functional: Means the drive is working normally Critical: A problem has been detected in the drive and the drive taken offline as part of a mirroring array.
FastTrak100 User Manual Timing: Shows selection of drive timing (directly related to burst speed) based on type of drive and cable used. Using Options Window Clicking on the Options tab reveals the Options Window. Array administrators can customize the FastCheck Monitoring Utility in four major areas: Notification, Array Synchronization Scheduling, setting Password, Desktop Appearance. Most options relate to Mirroring arrays (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1).
FastTrak100 User Manual Selecting Notification Options This section of the Options windows allows users to select how they are notified of a system event. A System Event includes driver-initiated Rebuilds (automatic rebuild using a “hot” spare standby drive), user-initiated manual Rebuilds or manual Synchronization, and Error-Handling reporting for these processes.
FastTrak100 User Manual Fix: in most cases, FastTrak100 automatically can correct errors. The method of correction varies depending on the type of error. Ignore: FastTrak100 will log the event error and continue the rebuild or synchronization process. Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors, but do not want to fix these errors at the time. The user may then decide what to do about the error(s) detected. WARNING: This may result in mismatched drives under RAID 1 or 0+1.
FastTrak100 User Manual Ignore: FastTrak100 will log the event error and continue the synchronization process. (Warning: this may result in mismatched drives under RAID 1 or 0+1). Use this setting if you want to detect the presence of errors, but do not want to fix these errors at the time. The user may then decide what to do about the error(s) detected.
FastTrak100 User Manual Setting PCI Bus Utilization Option NOTE: In most cases, a user does not need to change this setting since FastTrak100’s data handling rarely conflicts with another PCI device. However, certain brands of video capture cards can produce a “glitch” on play back of A/V files that may require adjusting the default setting devices (see Tips for Audio/Video Editing for more information).
FastTrak100 User Manual Setting Screen Preferences This section controls how the FastCheck utility screen is displayed and sets the security password to protect the administrative settings. Start Minimized checkbox allows user to have FastCheck appear on the toolbar only on startup. Click on the icon to see the FastCheck utility screen. Always on Top checkbox tells the Utility to appear above all programs until closed or minimized manually.
FastTrak100 User Manual Creating Password 1. To create a password, check the Enable Password checkbox in the Preferences section.The “Set Password” window will appear. 2. Type the password you want to use. Press the Tab key or click to retype the same password in the “Confirm New Password” section. Click the OK button. NOTE: Remember to record the password you use in a secure place in case you forget it. 3. A confirmation screen will appear saying that “Password Checking is Enabled”. Click the OK button.
FastTrak100 User Manual Understanding Disk Array Concepts About FastTrak100 Disk Array Adapter FastTrak100 is a high performance Ultra ATA/EIDE RAID controller card that features parallel data channel operation and an onboard BIOS. The two channels on the FastTrak100 support parallel operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multi-tasking operating systems and sharing the workload between multiple drives.
FastTrak100 User Manual Disk Array Terms Disk Array Description A “disk array” is formed from a group of 2 or more disk drives which 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 in parallel among multiple physical drives.
FastTrak100 User Manual 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.
FastTrak100 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 (e.g. spindle failure) or does not respond, the remaining drive will continue to function. This is called Fault Tolerance. If one drive has a physical sector error, the mirrored drive will continue to function.
FastTrak100 User Manual Striping/Mirror (RAID 0+1) A combination of both above array types. It can increase performance by reading and writing data in parallel while protecting data with duplication. A minimum of four drives needs to be installed. 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.
FastTrak100 User Manual Under RAID 0+1, the array maintains data integrity if any 1, 2 combination survives.
FastTrak100 User Manual Troubleshooting & Tips This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak100 installation problems. Also refer to the “README.TXT” file on the FastTrak100 driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline T M services listed in Appendix A. The section is divided into the following categories: Motherboard Issues, System CMOS Issues, Drive Errors, Operating System Errors, and Audio/Video Editing Tips.
FastTrak100 User Manual Intermittent data problems Do not exceed the 100Mhz PCI Bus speed. Pentiums set to higher than default settings or AMD K6 and Cyrix CPUs can exceed these limitations and cause intermittent boot and data problems. System CMOS Issues Set Mainboard CMOS Boot sequence to boot to FastTrak100 On some Mainboard BIOS, it is necessary to set the Boot sequence to “SCSI, A:, C:” since the Promise card is identified as a SCSI card.
FastTrak100 User Manual Possible Master/Slave problems Master/slave problems may exist between two ATA or IDE drives of different brands attached to a single cable. For both compatibility and better performance, choose drives of the same model/brand and install them on separate cables. Refer to the Drive Setup by Connector chart (see page 7) for more recommended drive placements.
FastTrak100 User Manual 10. After rebooting, use FastBuild to re-create the array. For mirrored arrays, rebuild the mirrored array. For striped arrays, use FDISK and FORMAT after setting up the array.
FastTrak100 User Manual errors, but do not want to fix these errors at the time. You may then decide what to do about the error(s) detected. ECC Error Reported on Synchronize The following screen will appear if a data error is detected on either source or target drive during Synchronize if you have set the On Errors setting to “Interactive” within FastCheck’s Options Window for Scheduled Synchronization (see page 60) or for Manual Synchronization under Notification options (see page 59).
FastTrak100 User Manual Operating System-Related Errors 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 Windows NT’s Disk Administrator utility to reassign the letters which NT has assigned to the drives.
FastTrak100 User Manual “No Hard Drives Found” Message Appears During CD-ROM Install of Windows NT or Windows 2000 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 NT4.0 or the message "Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver" appears in Windows 2000.
FastTrak100 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 to review your card’s documentation for additional information. Use FastTrak100 as D: or other non-bootable drive in a Striped Array For A/V editing, keep the original system boot drive on the standard IDE controller as C: drive. Partitioning software such as FDISK will see the array as one physical drive, D: drive (or later).
FastTrak100 User Manual 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 FastTrak100 occupies on the PCI bus and frees that time for use by other PCI devices and will remove the “glitch” dropout effect on playback. Once a bus setting has been selected, click the Apply button to implement changes immediately. No reboot is required.
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FastTrak100 User Manual 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 FastTrak100 array? A: You can use any IDE/EIDE hard drive(s) to create arrays on the FastTrak100. You should use matching drives for multiple-drive arrays to maximize capacity usage as well as performance.
FastTrak100 User Manual Q: How does the FastTrak100 RAID controller provide storage and/or data protection with their arrays? A: FastTrak100 implements three different types of RAID levels as follows: RAID 0 (stripe) For capacity -- The FastTrak100 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.
FastTrak100 User Manual Drive Issues Q: Can I add a drive to a FastTrak100 RAID array via hot-swap and dynamically adjust the array size/configuration? A: No. The FastTrak100 system does not support dynamically adjustable RAID size/configurations. Q: Do the HDDs on the FastTrak100 have to be the same size? A: The HDDs that you use with the FastTrak100 do not have to be the same size. If the sizes differ, the FastTrak100 will “adjust” the HDDs so that they are compatible.
FastTrak100 User Manual Q: What system BIOS CMOS settings do I use for the drives on the FastTrak100 controller? A: None. The drives on the FastTrak100 controller are supported by the FastTrak100 BIOS and/or an O/S drivers, not by your system BIOS. Q: How do I partition/format my FastTrak100 RAID array? A: The FastTrak100 “fools” the system into thinking that it’s dealing with a single HDD. Therefore, anything that you can do to a single HDD can also be done to a FastTrak100 array.
FastTrak100 User Manual on the PCI slots so that the boot device is in the highest priority slot number (see previous question). If you do not require the FastTrak100 BIOS to boot from an array and it is only to be used through a driver under the O/S. The FastTrak100 BIOS cannot be disabled. Post-Installation (Memory Managers, FDISK) Q: Why does my system reboot after the QEMM driver loads from CONFIG.SYS? A: The problem lies in the QEMM “Stealth” feature.
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Appendix A Contacting Promise 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.
Appendix A European Tech Support E-mail Support Fax Technical Support Phone Technical Support If you wish to write us for support: support@promise.nl +31 (0) 40 256 94 63 Attention: Technical Support +31 (0) 40 256 94 61 8:30 -5:00pm The Netherlands Time Promise Technology Europe B.V. Attn: Technical Support 1European Buisness Centre, Unit 1.
Appendix B Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for two(2) 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.
Appendix B Promise shall not be liable for the cost of procuring substitute goods, services, lost profits, unrealized savings, equipment damage, costs of recovering, reprogramming, or reproducing of programs or data stored in or used with the products, or for any other general, special, consequential, indirect, incidental, or punitive damages, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise, notwithstanding the failure of the essential purpose of the foregoing remedy and regardless of whether Promise has been advi
Appendix C 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.
Appendix C Your Responsibilities You are responsible for determining whether the product is appropriate for your use and will interface with your equipment without malfunction or damage. You are also responsible for backing up your data before installing any product and for regularly backing up your data after installing the product. Promise is not liable for any damage to equipment or data loss resulting from the use of any product.
INDEX A Alarms Setting, 54, 55 APM Usage, 77 Arrays "Hot" Spare, 64 Concepts, 61 Creating multiple, 18 Critical, 15, 43 Defining, 20 Definitions, 62 Deleting, 26 Drive members, 62 Drive status, 44 Dual Redundancy, 65 Functional, 15, 43 Mirroring, 63 Creating w/ existing drive, 22 Creating w/ new drives, 22 Monitoring, 41 Offline, 15, 43 Rebuilding, 26, 45, 48 Spare Drives, 18 Striping, 63 Striping/Mirroring, 65 Synchronization, 45, 46 Scheduling, 56 Types, 62, 78 Viewing assigned drives, 18 ATAPI devices,
INDEX P PCI Bus speed, 77 Q QEMM Stealth, 81 R Reserved Sectors, 61 S System resources, 77 T Troubleshooting Can't form array, 67 CMOS Booting, 67 Co-exist with IDE, 67 Critical error on boot, 68 Drive failure, 67 Intermittent data problems, 68 IRQ resources, 67 Master/Slave issues, 67 No appearance of driver in Win95/98, 68 PCI IRQ resources, 67 System lockup, 68 Win NT drive lettering, 68
INDEX P/N: C6101F100000000-1
