Promise Technology FASTTRAK SX4300 User Manual

FASTTRAK SX4300, SX8300USER MANUALVersion 1.1

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual4

5Chapter 2: Installation• Package lists, below• Installing the FastTrak Card (page 6)• Installing the Disk Drives (page 7)• Create a Logical Drive (pa

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual6 Installing the FastTrak CardThe FastTrak RAID Controller card fits into any available 3.3-volt PCI-X slot. Yo

Chapter 2: Installation73. Install the FastTrak card into the open slot (above). 4. Fasten the FastTrak card bracket to the system case (above).5. Att

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual8 2. Attach one Serial ATA data cable to each disk drive. Then attach the other ends of the cables to the connecto

Chapter 2: Installation93. Attach the Y-cable power splitters to each of the disk drives.Create a Logical DriveYou will now use the onboard FastBuild

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual103. Press 2 on the Main Menu screen to display the Define LD Menu (below).4. Press the arrow keys to highlight an

Chapter 2: Installation116. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize logica

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13 Chapter 3: FastBuild™ UtilityFastTrak BIOSThis section explains the information that you can obtain from the FastTrak BIOS.When the FastTrak BIOS l

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User ManualiiCopyright© 2006 Promise Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.Copyright by Promise Technology, Inc. (Promise Techn

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual14hot spare drive, the logical drive will rebuild automatically. You must identify and replace the failed disk driv

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility15View Drive AssignmentsFrom the Main Menu screen, press 1 to see the View Drive Assignments screen (below). This screen

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual16Create a Logical Drive1. From the Main Menu screen, press 2 to display the Define LD Menu (below).2. Press the ar

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility174. Press the arrow keys to move to the next option. Option choices depend on the RAID Level you selected. • Initialize

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual18Two Logical DrivesContinued from Create Logical Drive step 7, above.1. Press Ctrl-Y to allocate a portion of the

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility194. Choose the RAID level and options for the second logical drive.Note that the disk drives in Channels 1, 2 and 3 refl

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual20View Drive Assignments, Split Disk DrivesAfter you create two logical drives from the same set of disk drives, pr

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility21Delete Logical DriveTo delete a logical drive:1. From the Main Menu screen, press 3 to display the Delete LD Menu (belo

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual223. Press Ctrl-Y to confirm and complete logical drive deletion. The screen returns to the Delete LD Menu. Press E

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility23Halt On ErrorThe Halt On Error function causes the FastTrak controller to stop the boot process at the FastTrak BIOS sc

NoticesiiiRadio Frequency Interference StatementThis equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursu

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual24When you boot your system, the FastTrak BIOS screen informs you if there is a critical or offline logical drive.

Chapter 3: FastBuild™ Utility25 In the Define LD Menu screen, compare the number of drives assigned to the logical drive (Total Drv) with the disk dri

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27Chapter 4: Installing Software DriversFollowing are driver installation procedures for the FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 RAID Controller cards. Downloa

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual28Windows Server 2003 Install Driver During New OS Installation 1. Start the installation: Boot from the CD-ROM. Pr

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers294. Under Select the device driver you want to install, click Have Disk... 5. Under Install from Disk, type A:\

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual30Note: If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed, do so at this time. Once all devices are spe

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers313. Click on the System icon. 4. Choose the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button. 5. Click th

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual322. Insert the Promise FastTrak Driver diskette in the A: drive. 3. Under Install Hardware Device Drivers, select

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers337. Scroll down to the Promise FastTrak SX4300/8300 (tm) Controller and click OK. 8. When the Installer display

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FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual343. When the boot: prompt appears on the bottom of the screen, type acpi=oldboot into the lower input box. 4. Pres

35Chapter 5: Concepts• About FastTrak, below• Introduction to RAID, below• Choosing a RAID Level (page 41)• Other Logical Drive Features (page 43)Abou

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual36RAID 0 – StripeWhen a logical drive is striped, the read and write blocks of data are interleaved between the sec

Chapter 5: Concepts37RAID 1 – MirrorWhen a logical drive is mirrored, identical data is written to a pair of disk drives, while reads are performed in

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual38RAID 5 – Block Striping with Distributed ParityRAID level 5 organizes data across the disk drives of the logical

Chapter 5: Concepts39RAID 10 – Mirror / StripeMirror/Stripe combines both of the RAID 0 and RAID 1 logical drive types. It can increase performance by

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual40• A/B indicates which striped pair the drive belongs to. • 1/2 indicates which part of stripe data.Under RAID 10,

Chapter 5: Concepts41Choosing a RAID LevelThere are several issues to consider when choosing the RAID Level for your FastTrak logical drive. The follo

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual42RAID 5Recommended Applications for RAID 5• File and Application servers• WWW, E-mail, and News servers• Intranet

Chapter 5: Concepts43Other Logical Drive FeaturesStripe Block SizeThe choices are 32K, 64K and 128K. 64K is the default. This selection will directly

vContentsChapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1About This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . .

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual44Spare Drives are automatically added to an array once a disk member of the array has been detected as failed. To

Chapter 5: Concepts45RAID Level MigrationTo migrate a logical drive is to do one or both of the following:• Change its RAID level• Increase the number

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual46 Ranges of Disk Array ExpansionThere are limitations to how large you can expand a logical drive, depending on th

Chapter 5: Concepts47As a result, there are range limits imposed upon logical drive expansion as shown in the table above. For example:• You can expan

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49Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & TipsThis section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 installation proble

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual50System locks up during boot up or when Windows startsThere may be a possible IRQ conflict with an ISA card. Ident

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips51Powering the system off and on once to reset the drive. Also confirm that cables are properly attached and the

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual52For Windows 2000, XP and 2003 Server, Promise recommends a clean install of the Operating System. This action res

53Chapter 7: Support• Frequently Asked Questions, below• Contact Technical Support, page 57• Limited Warranty, page 59• Return Product for Repair, pag

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User ManualviChapter 4: Installing Software Drivers, continuedWindows 2000 Install Driver During New OS Installation . . . .

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual54How can I change the resources that the FastTrak uses? The FastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are fully PnP. This means a

Chapter 7: Support55I already have an array on an older FastTrak controller. Can I move that array to my new FastTrak SX4300 or SX8300 controller? Ye

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual56How do I partition/format my FastTrak SX Series RAID logical drive? The FastTrak Controller represents the logica

Chapter 7: Support57Contact Technical SupportPromise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and up

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual58GermanyItalyTaiwan E-mail Support [email protected] Technical Support +49 (0) 2 31 56 76 48 - 29Attn

Chapter 7: Support59China Limited WarrantyPromise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for three (3) years from the time of the delivery of the

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual60Except as expressly set forth above, Promise DISCLAIMS any warranties, expressed or implied, by statute or otherw

Chapter 7: Support61Return Product For RepairIf you suspect a product is not working properly, or if you have any questions about your product, contac

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual62You are responsible for the cost of insurance and shipment of the product to Promise. Note that damage incurred d

1Chapter 1: Introduction• About This Manual, below• Product Overview (page 2)• WebPAM Management Software (page 3)Thank you for purchasing one of Prom

FastTrak SX4300, SX8300 User Manual2Product OverviewFastTrak SX4300 and SX8300 are Serial ATA RAID controllers. When used with WebPAM software, the Fa

Chapter 1: Introduction3WebPAM Management Softwarehe Web-Based Promise Array Management (WebPAM) software offers local and remote management and monit