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December 12th, 2004 18:00
RAID MATRIX SETUP
I would like to share instructions for configuring a Dimension 8400 having dual drives into RAID-0 and RAID-1 "MATRIX". It took me many weeks and nearly 20 phonecalls to Dell Tech Support to finally set my 8400 correctly. All D-8400s are shipped in RAID -1 config, so these instructions are essential. My experience with Dell on this was AGONIZING & FRUSTRATIING But I persisted - Maybe this info will help you Too.
BUT.... once I have completed all the steps below - I was left Hanging about "Now What" ! Dell whas absolutely NO HELP!
I had to call Intel who reluctantly (they are not authorized to support "OEM" systems) provided me with the final steps on Populating the RAID Drives. This is done in - Ctrl Panel/Admin Tools/ computer mgmnt/Disk Mgmnt. Right clik ea drive and set up to your needs, then simply drag & drop your selected APPLICATIONS into RAID-0 and your DATA FILES into RAID-1. VOILA!!
HERE IS THE CONFIGURATION INFO RECEIVED FROM DELL:
"I understand that you would like to setup Matrix RAID configuration. I
apologize for the inconvenience caused due to this issue. RAID Matrix is
a new feature of Intel's ICH6R I/O Controller Hub. This feature allows
both striping and mirroring using two drives. RAID Matrix may also be
referred to as RAID 0+1.
The Dimension 8400 chipset allows you to specify a volume size and use
two volumes on the same RAID drive set.
Ideally the first volume or volume 0 should be a RAID-0 or striped
volume set. The second volume or volume 1 should be a RAID-1 or mirrored
volume set.
To set your computer to RAID-Enabled Mode, please use the following
steps:
1. Enter system setup (Your customer can find more information on system
setup o page 114 of the owners manual).
2. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Drives, and press
.
3. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Drive Controller, and
press .
4. Use the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight RAID On, press
, and then press .
5. Use the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight Save/Exit, and press
to exit system setup and resume the boot process.
To create a RAID level 0 Array, please use the following steps:
1. Set your computer to RAID-enabled mode.
2. Press
when you are prompted to enter the Intel(R) RAID
Option ROM utility.
3. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Create RAID Volume, and
press .
4. Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default, and press .
5. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select RAID0(Stripe), and press
.
6. If there are more than two hard disks available, use the up- and
down-arrow keys and space bar to select the two disks you want to use to
make up your array, and then press .
NOTE: Select the strip size closest to the size of the average file you
want to store on the RAID volume. If you do not know the average file
size, choose 128 as your strip size.
7. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to change the strip size, and press
.
8. Select the desired capacity for the volume, and press . The default
value is the maximum available size.
9. Press to create the volume.
10. Press to confirm that you want to create the RAID volume.
11. Confirm that the correct volume configuration is displayed on the
main Intel Option ROM screen.
12. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select Exit, and press .
13. Install the operating system
I sincerely hope that the above information would be helpful. If the
above troubleshooting does not resolve the issue, please write back to
me so that we could go ahead in resolving the issue.
Respectfully,
Dhruva
DT D44853
Dell Technical Support"
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