Creating RAID 0. What is a RAID array and why is it needed for? Why it happened in general

RAID Array (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) - Connecting multiple devices, to increase productivity and / or reliability of data storage, translated is an overweight array of independent disks.

According to the Moore law, the current productivity increases every year (namely, the number of transistors on the chip doubles every 2 years). This can be seen in almost every industry of equipment for computers. Processors increase the number of nuclei and transistors, reducing the process at the same time, rAM Increases frequency and bandwidth, memory solid-state drives Increases wear resistance and read speed.

But simple hard drives (HDD) were not particularly advanced over the past 10 years. As was the standard speed of 7200 rpm, it remained (without taking into account the server HDD with turns of 10,000 or more). On laptops there are still slow 5400 rpm. For most users, to improve the performance of your computer will be more convenient to buy an SDD, but the price for 1 gigabyte of such a carrier is much larger than that of a simple HDD. "How to increase the performance of drives without a strong loss of money and volume? How to save your data or improve the safety of your data saving? " These questions have an answer - RAID array.

Views RAID Massives

On the this moment The following types of RAID arrays exist:

RAID 0 or "alternation" - an array of two or more disks to increase overall performance. The volume of the raid will be common (HDD 1 + HDD 2 \u003d total volume), the reading speed \\ record will be higher (by splitting the recording by 2 devices), but suffers from the reliability of the information preservation. If one of the devices fail, then all the information of the array will be lost.

RAID 1 or "Mirror" - How many disks of copying each other to increase reliability. The speed of the recording remains at the same level, the read speed increases, reliability increases many times (even if one device fails, the second will work), but the cost of 1 gigabyte information increases by 2 times (if you make an array of two HDDs).

RAID 2 is an array built on the operation of discs for storing information and error correction discs. The calculation of the amount of HDD to store information is performed according to the formula "2 ^ n-n-1", where N is the amount of HDD correction. This type is used with a large amount of HDD, a minimum acceptable number - 7, where 4 for storing information, and 3 for storing errors. The advantage of this type will be increased performance, compared with one disc.

RAID 3 - consists of "N-1" disks, where N is a dial of storage of parity blocks, other devices for storing information. The information is divided into pieces less than the volume of the sector (divided by bytes), well suited for working with large files, the speed of reading small volume files is very small. It is characterized by high productivity, but low reliability and narrow specialization.

RAID 4 - similar to the 3rd type, but the separation occurs on the blocks, and not bytes. This decision it turned out to correct the low speed reading files of the small volume, but the recording speed remained low.

RAID 5 and 6 - instead separate disk For the correlation of errors, both in past versions, blocks are uniformly distributed over all devices. In this case, the speed of reading \\ information recording is raised by parallelizing the recording. Minus this type is a long-term recovery of information in case of failure of one of the disks. During recovery, there is a very high load on other devices, which lowers reliability and increases the output of another device, and the loss of all the data of the array. Type 6 increases overall reliability, but lowers performance.

Combined types of RAID arrays:

RAID 01 (0 + 1) - Two raid 0 are combined into a raid 1.

RAID 10 (1 + 0) - RAID 1 disk arrays, which are used in type 0 architecture. It is considered the most reliable storage option, combining high reliability and performance.

You can also create an array. of SSD drives . According to 3DNews testing, such combination does not give a significant increase. Better to purchase a drive with a more productive PCI or ESATA interface

Raid Array: how to create

Created by connecting through a special RAID controller. At the moment there are 3 types of controllers:

  1. Software - software An array is emulated, all calculations are made at the expense of the CPU.
  2. Integrated - mainly distributed on motherboards (non-server segment). A small chip on the mat. The board responsible for the emulation of the array, the calculations are made through the CPU.
  3. Hardware - extension board (for stationary computers), usually with a PCI interface, has its own memory and computing processor.

RAID HDD array: how to make 2 disks via IRST


Data recovery

Some data recovery options:

  1. In the event of a failure of the raid 0 or 5, the RAID Reconstructor utility can help, which will assemble the available information of the drives and will restart another device or carrier as an image of the past array. This option It will help if the disks are good and the program error.
  2. For Linux Systems MDADM recovery is used (utility for managing software raid arrays).
  3. Hardware recovery should be performed through specialized services, because without knowledge of the methods of the controller, you can lose all data and return them very difficult or not at all.

There are many nuances that need to be taken into account when creating a raid on your computer. Most of the options are mainly used in the server segment, where the stability and the safety of data is important. If you have questions or additions, you can leave them in the comments.

Excellent day!

Now let's see what kind of types are and what they differ.

University of California in Berkeley will prefer the RAID specification levels, which were adopted as a de facto standard:

  • RAID 0. - disk array increased productivity with alternation, without failover;
  • - mirror disk array;
  • RAID 2. reserved for arrays that use the chemming code;
  • RAID 3 and 4 - disk arrays with alternation and dedicated disking;
  • - disk array with alternation and "unsecined disk of readiness";
  • - disk array with alternation using two checksums calculated by two independent methods;
  • - RAID 0 array, built from RAID 1 arrays;
  • - RAID 0 array, built from RAID 5 arrays;
  • - RAID 0 array, built from RAID 6 arrays.

The hardware RAID controller can support several different RAID arrays at the same time, the total number of hard drives of which does not exceed the number of connectors for them. At the same time, the controller built into the motherboard, in bIOS settings It has only two states (enabled or disabled), so a new hard disk connected to an unused controller connector when activated mode RAID may be ignored by the system until it is associated as another JBOD type RAID (spanned), consisting of one disk.

RAID 0. (striping - "Alternation")

The mode when using the maximum performance is achieved. Data is evenly distributed across the disks of the array, discs in one, which can be marked for several. Distributed read and write operations allow you to significantly increase the speed of work, since several disks are simultaneously read / write data. The user is available entire volume of disks, but it reduces the reliability of data storage, since if one of the disks fails, the array is usually destroyed and the data is almost impossible to restore. Scope - Applications requiring high discharge speeds with disk, such as video clip, video editing. It is recommended to use with highly reliable discs.

(mirroring - "Mirroring")

an array of two disks that are full copies of each other. It should not be confused with RAID 1 + 0, RAID 0 + 1 and RAID 10 arrays, which use more two disks and more complex mirroring mechanisms.

Provides acceptable recording speed and winning speed when paralleling requests.

It has high reliability - it works until at least one disk is functioning in the array. The probability of failure of two disks immediately is equal to the product of the probabilities of the failure of each disk, i.e. Significantly below the probability failure of a separate disk. In practice, when one of the disks, one of the disks should urgently take measures to restore redundancy. To do this, with any level of RAID (except zero), it is recommended to use the hot reserve discs.

Similar to the RAID10 distribution of data on disks allowing the use of an odd number of disks (minimum number - 3)

RAID 2, 3, 4

various options for distributed storage of data with discs dedicated to parity codes and various sizes Block. Currently, it is practically not used due to low performance and the need to allocate a lot of disk capacity for storing ECS \u200b\u200band / or parity codes.

The main disadvantage of RAID levels from the 2nd to 4th is the inability to produce parallel record operations, as a separate control disk is used to store information about readiness. RAID 5 does not have this shortage. Data blocks and checksums are cyclically recorded on all the disks of the array, there is no asymmetric disk configuration. The control sums implies the result of an XOR operation (excluding or). Xor. possesses a feature that makes it possible to replace any operand result, and, applying the algorithm xor., get a result of the missing operand. For example: a XOR B \u003d C (Where a., b., c. - three disks of the raid array), if a. refuses, we can get it, putting in his place c. And spent xor. between c. and b.: c Xor B \u003d a. This applies regardless of the number of operands: a XOR B XOR C XOR D \u003d E. If refusing c. then e. gets up in his place and spending xor. As a result, we get c.: a XOR B XOR E XOR D \u003d C. This method is essentially providing fault tolerance of the 5 version. To store the result, XOR requires only 1 disk, the size of which is the size of any other disk in the RAID.

Dignity

RAID5 got widespread, first of all, due to its economy. The volume of the RAID5 disk array is calculated by the formula (N-1) * HDDSIZE, where N is the number of disks in the array, and the HDDSIZE is the size of the smallest disk. For example, for an array of four disks of 80 gigabytes, the total volume will be (4 - 1) * 80 \u003d 240 gigabytes. Additional resources are spent on the information on the RAID 5 information and the performance drops, since additional calculations and recording operations are required, but when reading (compared to a separate hard drive), there is a winnings, because data streams from multiple disks array can be processed in parallel.

disadvantages

The performance of RAID 5 is noticeably lower, especially on Random Write Operations, in which performance drops by 10-25% of RAID 0 (or RAID 10) performance, as it requires more operations with disks (each operation Entries, with the exception of the so-called Full-Stripe Write, the server is replaced with a RAID controller for four - two read operations and two record operations). The disadvantages of RAID 5 are manifested by way out of one of the disks - the whole volume goes into the critical mode (degrade), all write and read operations are accompanied by additional manipulations, performance drops sharply. At the same time, the reliability level is reduced to the reliability of RAID-0 with the corresponding number of disks (that is, in n times lower than the reliability of a single disk). If it fails to fully restore the array, or an uncommonning read error will occur at least another on another disk, then the array is destroyed, and the data on it is not subject to restoration of conventional methods. It should also be taken into account that the RAID Reconstruction process (RAID data recovery due to redundancy) After going out of the disk, it causes an intensive reading load from disks for many hours to continuously, which can trigger the output of any of the remaining disks in this nearest Protected period of operation RAID, as well as identify previously detected readings in Cold Data arrays (data to which they do not apply during normal operation of the array, archival and lowactive data), which increases the risk of failure during data recovery.

The minimum number of drives used is three.

RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5, but has a higher degree of reliability - the capacitance of 2 disks is distinguished for checksums, 2 amounts of different algorithms are calculated. Requires a more powerful RAID controller. Provides performance after the simultaneous failure of two disks - protection against multiple failure. For the organization of the array requires a minimum of 4 disks. Usually, the use of RAID-6 causes an approximately 10-15% drop in the performance of the disk group, relative to RAID 5, which is caused by a large processing volume for the controller (the need to count the second control sum, as well as read and overwrite more disk blocks when recording each block).

RAID 0 + 1

Under RAID 0 + 1 can be implied mainly two options:

  • two RAID 0 are combined into RAID 1;
  • the array combines three or more disk, and each data block is written to two disks. of this massif; Thus, with this approach, as in the "pure" RAID 1, useful volume The array is half of the total volume of all disks (if these are the disks of the same capacity).

RAID 10 (1 + 0)

RAID 10 is a mirrored array, data in which is recorded sequentially into multiple disks, as aid 0. This architecture is an array of type RAID 0, the segments of which instead of individual disks are arrays of RAID 1. Accordingly, the array of this level must contain at least 4 disks ( And always aware). RAID 10 combines high fault tolerance and performance.

The assertion that RAID 10 is the most reliable option for storing the data is quite justified by the fact that the array will be disabled after the failure of all drives in the same array. With one storage failed, the chance of failure of the second in the same array is 1/3 * 100 \u003d 33%. RAID 0 + 1 fails at two drives failed in different arrays. The catering chance of the drive in the nearby array is 2/3 * 100 \u003d 66%, however, as the drive in the array with the drive already failed is no longer used, then the chance that the next drive will fail the entire array of 1/2 * 100 \u003d 100%

an array similar to RAID5, however, in addition to the distributed storage of parity codes, the distribution of backup areas is used - actually involved hDDwhich can be added to the RAID5 array as a spare (such arrays are called 5+ or 5 + SPARE). RAID 5 array backup disk idle as long as one of the main hard disksWhile in the RAID 5EE array, this disk is used in conjunction with the rest of the HDD all the time, which has a positive effect on the productivity of the array. For example, an RAID5EE array out of 5 HDD will be able to perform 25% more input / output operations per second than the RAID5 array of 4 main and one backup HDD. The minimum number of disks for such an array - 4.

combining two (or more, but it is extremely rarely applied) RAID5 arrays in Fire, i.e. Combination RAID5 and RAID0, partially correcting chief flaw RAID5 - low speed Data entries due to parallel use of several such arrays. The total capacity of the array decreases to the container of two disks, but, unlike RAID6, this array will carry out such an array to the failure of only one disk, and the minimum required number of disks to create an RAID50 array is 6. Along with the RAID10, this is the most recommended RAID level for use In applications where high performance is required combined with acceptable reliability.

combining two RAID6 arrays in full. The recording speed rises by about twice, relative to the recording speed in RAID6. The minimum number of disks to create such an array - 8. Information is not lost in the failure of two disks from each RAID 6 massif

RAID 00.


RAID 00 meets very rarely, I met him on LSI controllers. RAID 00 disc group is a composite disc group that creates an alternating set from the series
RAID 0 disk arrays 0. RAID 00 does not provide data redundancybut along with RAID 0, offers better performance Any RAID level. RAID 00 breaks data to smaller segments, and then alternate data segments on each disk in Storaj group. The size of each data segment is determined by the size of the strip. RAID 00 offers high bandwidth. The RAID 00 level is not a fault tolerant. If the disc in the RAID 0 disc group fails, the whole
Virtual disk (all discs associated with virtual disk) fails. Breaking big file For smaller segments, the RAID controller can use both SAS
Controller for reading or writing a file faster. RAID 00 does not imply parity calculations complicate recording operations. It makes RAID 00 ideal for
applications that require high bandwidthBut do not require fault tolerance. May consist of 2 to 256 discs.

What faster RAID 0 or RAID 00?


I spent my testing described in the article about optimizing the speed of solid-state disks on LSI controllers and received here such numbers on arrays from 6 SSD

Greetings to all, dear blog readers Website. I think many of you have ever met on the Internet, such an interesting expression is "RAID array". What it means and for which it may need an ordinary user, that this will be discussed today. The well-known fact is the highest component in the PC, and is inferior, the processor and.

To compensate for "congenital" slowness where it is not at all to the place ( we are talking First of all, the servers and high-performance PC) came up with the use of the so-called disk array RAID - some "bundle" from several identical hard drives operating in parallel. Such a solution can significantly raise the speed of work with reliability.

First of all, the RAID array allows you to provide high fault tolerance for hard drives (HDD) of your computer, by combining multiple hard drives into one logical element. Accordingly, to implement this technology, you will need at least two hard disk . In addition, RAID is simply convenient, because all the information that had previously had to be copied to backup sources (, external hard drives), now you can leave "as is", for the risk of its full loss is minimal and strive for zero, but not always, about it slightly lower.

RAID translates approximately: a secure set of inexpensive disks. The name has come from those times when the surround hard drives were very expensive and cheaper to collect one common array of disks, smaller volume. The essence has not changed since then, in general, as well as the name, only now you can do from several HDDs of a large volume just a giant storage, or make that one disk will duplicate another. And you can also combine both functions, thereby get the advantages of one and the second.

All these arrays are under their numbers, most likely you heard about them - raid 0, 1 ... 10, that is, arrays of different levels.

Varieties RAID

Speed \u200b\u200braid 0.

Raid 0 has nothing similar to reliability, because it only increases speed. You need at least 2 hard drives and in this case the data will be "cut" as it were and recorded on both disk at the same time. That is, you will be available completely volume of these disks and theoretically, it means that you get 2 times higher reading / write speed.

But, let's imagine that one of these discs broke - in this case the loss of all your data is inevitable. In other words, you still have to regularly make backups to be able to restore the information. Here is usually used from 2 to 4 disks.

Raid 1 or "Mirror"

The reliability is not reduced. You get a disk space and performance of only one hard drive, but you have double reliability. One disk breaks - the information will be preserved on the other.

The RAID 1 level array does not affect the speed, but the volume is only half of the total disk space, which, by the word, can be 2, 4, etc., that is, even quantity. In general, the main "chip" of the first level raid is reliability.

Raid 10.

Combines all the best of previous species. I propose to disassemble - how it works on the example of four HDDs. So, the information is written in parallel to two disks, and another two other disks are duplicated.

As a result - an increase in the speed of access 2 times, but also the volume is only two of the four disks of the array. But if any two disks break - data loss will not happen.

Raid 5.

This type of array is very similar to RAID 1 in its intended purpose, only now it is already necessary to minimize 3 disks, one of them will store the information necessary for recovery. For example, if 6 HDD is located in such an array, then only 5 of them will be used to record information.

Due to the fact that the data is written immediately into several hard drives - the read speed is obtained high, which is perfect for keeping there a large amount of data. But, without a expensive raid controller, the speed will be not very high. God forbid one of the disks break - the recovery of information will take a bunch of time.

Raid 6.

This array can survive the breakdown of two hard drives at once. And this means that to create such an array you will need at least four disks, with everything that the recording speed will be even lower than Raid 5.

Please note that without a productive raid controller, such an array (6) is unlikely to be able to assemble. If you have only 4 hard drives at your disposal, it is better to collect RAID 1.

How to create and configure RAID array

RAID controller

Raid array can be done by connecting multiple HDD to a computer motherboard supporting this technology. This means that motherboard There is an integrated controller, which is usually embedded in. But the controller may be an external that connects via PCI or PCI-E connector. Each controller, as a rule, has its software to configure.

The raid can be organized both at the hardware level and on the program, the last option is the most common among home PCs. Embedded in the motherboard controller users do not like bad reliability. In addition, in the event of damage to the motherboard, the data will be very problematic. On the programmatic level The role of the controller plays, in which case, it can be quietly transferred to your raid array to another PC.

Hardware

How to make RAID array? For this you need:

  1. Get somewhere with the support of the raid (in the case of hardware RAID);
  2. Buy minimum two identical hard drives. It is better that they are identical not only by characteristics, but also one manufacturer and models, and connected to the mat. Board with one.
  3. Transfer all data from your HDD to other media, otherwise in the process of creating a raid they are destroyed.
  4. Further, in the BIOS, you will need to enable RAID support, how to do this in the case of your computer - I can not tell me because there are all different bios. Usually this parameter is called something like this: "SATA Configuration or Configure SATA AS RAID".
  5. Then restart the PC and the table will appear with more thin settings raid. You may have to press the key combination "Ctrl + I" during the "POST procedure" to appear this table. For those who have an external controller will most likely need to click "F2". In the table itself, click "Create Massive" and choose the required level of the array.

After creating a RAID array in the BIOS, you need to go to "Disk Management" in OS -10 and format the not marked area - this is our array.

Program

To create a software RAID, you do not have anything to turn on or off in BIOS. You, in fact, do not even need a raid support motherboard. As mentioned above, the technology is implemented due to central processor PC and means of the windows itself. Yeah, you don't even need to put any third-party software. True, in this way, you can create perhaps the RAID of the first type, which "mirror".

Zhmem. right-click By "My Computer" -punk "Management" - "Disk Management". Then click on any of the hard intended for the raid (disc1 or disc2) and select "Create a Mirror Tom". In the next window, select a disk that will be a mirror of another hard drive, then assign the letter and format the final partition.

In this utility, the mirror volumes are highlighted in one color (red) and designated by one letter. At the same time, the files are copied to both volumes, once per volume, and the same file is copied to the second volume. It is noteworthy that in the "My Computer" window, our array will be displayed as one section, the second section is hidden, so as not to "call" the eyes, because there are the same duplicate files there.

If some kind of hard drive fails, an "refused redundancy" error will appear, while on the second section everything will remain in preservation.

Suitable

RAID 5 is needed for a limited circle of tasks, when much more (than 4 disks) The amount of HDD is collected in huge arrays. For most users raid 1 - the best option. For example, if there are four terabyte disks each - in RAID 1 in this case, 6 terabytes of volume are available. RAID 5 in this case will give more space, however, the speed of access will fall greatly. RAID 6 will give all the same 6 terabytes, but even less access speed, and even will require an expensive controller from you.

Add more RAID discs and you will see how everything will change. For example, take eight disks all the same tank (3 terabytes). In RAID 1, only 12 terabytes of space will be available for recording, half the volume will be closed! RAID 5 In this example, you will give 21 terabytes of disk space + it will be possible to get data from any one damaged hard drive. RAID 6 will give 18 terabytes and data can be reached from any two disks.

In general, RAID is not cheaper, but I personally would like to have a RAID at its disposal of the first level from 3-terabayt discs. There are even more sophisticated methods, like RAID 6 0, or "Raid from the raid of arrays", but it makes sense with a large number of HDD, at least 8, 16 or 30 - agree, this is already far from the framework of the usual "household" use and enjoys in demand for the most part in the servers.

Something like that, leave comments, add a site to bookmarks (for convenience), there will be many more interesting and useful, and fast meetings on the blog pages!

At the end of last week I bought components for the computer and ran into a number of problems when setting up the equipment. New computer Designed to store databases in the office of one company, therefore I needed a RAID array. The budget was about 20,000 rubles, therefore collected on the AMD platform. The M4A88TD-M motherboard and two identical WD 500 GB hard disk. To configure the RAID, the HDD array connected to SATA0 and SATA1 connectors. Created an array RAID 1, combining hard drives with increased reliability and fault tolerance. When hard drives are mirrors each other. Recommendations described below are suitable for configuring RAID0, increasing the speed of discs.

The first, went to the BIOS. For my motherboard, pressing the DEL button when loading, for the boards of other firms can be F2. The SATA configuration settings switched IDE mode to RAID. I pressed the F10 to save the settings and rebooted the computer.

Second, you need to turn on theraid array. This is the first moment on which he fell into a stupor. In the instructions for the Asus motherboard, there is no word about this. During the download of the computer, I clicked Ctrl + f. Opened Option Rom Utility menu. Here I chose the second point by pressing 2.

In this menu, I clicked Ctrl + C to create RAID. Walking on items included the RAID MODE functions to the RAID1 position, opposite the drives of Y. Then twice pressed Ctrl + Y, entered the name of the RAID array and saved the set parameters. Released and rebooted the computer.

Now when the computer is loaded, it can be seen that the RAID1 array is connected in the system.

The third, determined the priority of the download queue with different devices. To do this, I had to enter the BIOS again. DVD drive, for him my RAID, and the last connected device, i.e. flash drives.

On the RAID array installed Windows 7. In principle, further tips are suitable for installing Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008 and Windows 8 to the RAID array. Before the installation started, I went from another computer to the ASUS website and downloaded AMD RAID DRIVER. RAID driver downloaded to a flash drive, it is not necessary to insert a connector to the USB to select partitions. hard disk. Image of Windows. Was on DVD. After that, it moved to the installation of the OS.

Fourth, used the driver from the flash drive when it reached the selection of the section. Inserted the USB flash drive, pressed the download and review.

In the pop-up menu, selected the driver directory, operating system and bit. In my case Windows 7 64bit.

Windows installer detected driver AMD. AHCI COMPATIC RAID CONTROLLER. It was enough to see the hard disk section. Hug a flash drive from USB port.

Here I was waiting for the second snag, when Windows 7 is not installed. I chose the standard way to create, the entire volume of the disk installer defined as the main one. Click further and got a mistake. The installation program failed to create a new one or find an existing system section. Additional information and so on. When windosw is not installed due to the section, the solution is to make the disk breakdown on the partitions. Removed all sections. Pressed SHIFT + F10.

Fifth, pressing SHIFT + F10, called the command line. SHIFT + ALT returns english The keyboard layouts in the Russian distribution. Entered the diskpart, the call command to call the disk work utility. Next List Disk command. I saw two disks in the system: disc 0 - flash drive, disk 1 - RAID array. Selected disk 1. command select. DISK 1. Next entered the Create Partition Primary Size \u003d 131072, created a system partition of 128 GB. The Create Partition Primary team is responsible for it. Size command to determine the size of the disk.

The second part of the disk defined the Create Partition Extended command section. I did not use Size to enable all the remaining space into the second disk. That in the future will create a logical disk.

Selected the first section Select Partition command 1. And the Active command is marked as active. After that closed the window command line. Click the update button.

After updating the list of sections, I saw two disks of 128 GB and 337 GB. Selected the first section and pressed the Next button.

Hot expected inscription Installing Windows.... Windows installation passed as usual.

I did several times in three evenings. Some attempts were with errors, which increased the time. If you need questions, write in the comments. For example, you need to restart the computer after breaking the disk to new partitions if the flash drive was inserted before installing Windows. All the above described was repeated at a time to make sure of the algorithm of five points. Installing Windows 7 on RAID works, checked!

See also:

Didn't wait? Handonography or how to shoot under water on the phone Overview e-book PocketBook Touch Advocam FD4 GPS Video Research Review

As promised, today I will write an article on how to make a RAID array of two disks. Who did not read about the reference. So, these arrays are capable of solving the most important problems in the system. As an example, you can give, that with the help of arrays, we can protect important data in the event of a failure of one of the hard drives and increase the speed of the system. In the previous article about RAID arrays, I said that this technology is used mainly on servers in various companies, but nothing prevents us from using it at home computers, especially since it is not necessary for this much (motherboard that supports Arrays and two are identical on the characteristics of the disk).

So, let's start creating RAID arrays. Immediately I will say that you need to transfer all the most important data to another medium, because, in the process of creating disks will be cleaned.

How to create a RAID array using a built-in controller?

If yours motherboard Supports the creation of RAIDs, then read this instruction. We will work on the basis of ASUS fees with support, but the principle of creating almost everywhere is the same. Go.

To begin with, we need, in maternal asus boards Typically press the key Del.. Now you need to go to the section where the parameters for the SATA controller are located.


Usually, the position is switched on Achi.but you have to translate it to position RAID. As I spoke in the previous article, the discs should be completely identical to you, absolutely in all respects. Now, as we usually save the settings and reboot the computer.

During the reboot of the computer, that is, before the system is loaded, you need to press a combination Ctrl-I. or Ctrl-F.Sometimes it is not required.

In our experiment with ASUS-Plat, we see the following window, in which the following parameters are prescribed:

  1. View DRIVE Assignments - The parameter allows you to see the discs that we can use in creating a RAID array.
  2. LD View / LD Define Menu - This parameter shows already created arrays.
  3. Delete LD Menu. - Here I think it is clear. Removal of created arrays.
  4. Controller Configratio.n - various settings.

In our case, we select item 2. Press 2 key on the keyboard and get into the next window.


Here, as already mentioned, there are already created RAIDs. To view the settings, just press the key ENTER. Combination Ctrl + V. Allows you to see discs outside arrays. Using keys Ctrl + C. We can create new arrays. We need to create an array, so we click Ctrl + C..

In the next window, we will see the menu in which the raids will be created, it is at the top. Disks that are not yet used as raids are below. Parameters We can switch to a space, and the items of these parameters arrows on the keyboard.


Reminder! If you do not remember, then RAID 1. It is responsible for duplicating disks, that is, if one fails, then all the information will remain on the second. This creates data security. RAID 0. Responsible for an increase in system performance, because whether the discs work simultaneously, which creates the maximum speed of reading and writing.

In the screenshot, which is slightly higher than the parameters for creating RAID 1.But there was nothing particularly set there, since the parameters mostly stood by default, just selected the type of raid and discs.

Once all the necessary parameters are set by clicking Ctrl + Y..


Then, you can press any key, then the raid name will be set by default, or press Ctrl + Y again and specify your name. The second option looks like this:

After that, a warning will appear, which says that all data from the disks will be destroyed. If you are confident that all the necessary data has retained, then we click again Ctrl + Y..


Next, a window will appear where you need to choose the size for the array, or it will take all the space on the disks. You can choose all the space, nothing terrible in it will not be. To do this, press any key.

That's all, we created a RAID array, now reboot the computer.


Now you need to distribute the platform on the raid and initialization. You can do this in the disk management wizard, which is on the way: Control PanelAdministrationComputer ManagementDisc management.


You need to create sections and distribute places, but here I think the problems will not arise. Just click on the wrong section of the right mouse button and choose "Create a simple volume".



It is desirable to still install the drivers for RAID. They may not stand with you, so we take a disk from the motherboard, or we are looking for the driver on the official website of the mat. fees.

Actually, the article, though it turned out volumetric, but I painted quite briefly. Therefore, ask questions in the comments if it is not clear. I will write more articles about RAID arrays, therefore, follow the updates of the site.