IDE disk array installation and common troubleshooting

There are more and more people who choose IDE disk array card (IDE RAID card) to ensure data security. How to use IDE RAID card correctly is also a matter of learning. Let's take the Rocket100 RAID card with HT370A/372 control chip as an example to explain common faults and techniques.

Installation Tips

First find a free PCI slot to insert the card and connect the hard drive cable to the card. After installing the adapter card, During the startup of the computer, you will see that the adapter card has been successfully installed and recognized by the system. When the system is powered on, the BIOS of the controller will display the status of the hard disk. Press CTRL+H to enter the setup menu with very clear structure. Here you can set the disk array: two hard disks can select the strip mode ( RAID 0) and mirror mode (RAID 1), if you have three hard disks, you can only choose to span the expansion or stripe mode, and four blocks can choose span mode, strip mode or stripe combined mirror mode (RAID 0+1). When RAID 1 is selected, the hard disk must be synchronized.

Troubleshooting Common Installations

When the Rocket100 RAID card is recognized, the onboard BIOS starts detecting connected devices. Please pay attention to the devices appearing on the screen. If all the connected devices are properly scanned, the device is properly connected and recognized by the system. After installing the driver, you can use the RAID function. If some of the devices are not recognized, you can open the chassis, plug in the power cord of the connected device, and try a new power plug if necessary; the data cable of the connected device is properly connected and plugged in If necessary, change the data cable to try; if there are two devices connected to one data line, please confirm whether the master and slave jumpers of the two devices are set to conflict (two devices on one data line must be One master one from)

Hard disk capacity selection

Considering the operating performance of the system and disk utilization, we recommend that you make the same capacity hard disk. But if you must use different capacity disks, you need to be aware that the capacity of the entire array is determined by the smallest capacity of the array. For example, in a RAID 0 array consisting of 3 disks, the total capacity is equal to the capacity of the smallest disk. 3 times. In a RAID 1 array, the capacity of the target disk cannot be less than the capacity of the source disk. The total capacity of the array is equal to the capacity of the smallest disk. But JBOD is an exception. Two or more hard disks of different capacities can be combined to form a logical single disk.

BIOS Setup Notes

IDE RAID cards are plug-and-play devices, so you don't have to change the system CMOS. The system will automatically indicate the address of the interrupt and port. When all devices are in the none or unstalled state in the CMOS settings, the IDE RAID card can be set as the boot card; or the SCSI device can be set to the first bit of the boot sequence, or the RAID card can be set as the boot card.

What to do if RAID is corrupted

If a RAID level is corrupted, you can check it by turning off the power of the computer, checking the connection of the hard disk, and whether the data cable is connected to the hard disk. Connect to the RAID controller card and reboot again. If the above operation still does not solve the problem, it may be a problem with the hard disk. For RAID 1 and RAID 0+1, you can use a new hard disk to back up the data on the damaged hard disk. All data will not be lost. For RAID 0 and JBOD, you must first delete the original RAID level and then create the RAID. However, be aware that this action will cause all data on the hard disk to be lost. Therefore, for RAID 0 and JBOD, be sure to back up the data frequently.