Intel SATA Hard Disks Installation and RAID Configuration Guide

About this manual

The document provides step‑by‑step instructions for installing Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives and setting up various RAID configurations on motherboards that use Intel southbridge chipsets. It describes the supported RAID levels, precautions, and the required BIOS and driver settings.

Key procedures include configuring the BIOS to enable RAID, creating driver diskettes, installing Windows with the appropriate RAID driver, and using Intel Matrix Storage Manager to create, migrate, or delete RAID volumes. The guide also outlines the minimum number of drives needed for each RAID level and warns about data‑loss risks for RAID 0.

What's inside

• Guide to SATA Hard Disks Installation
• Guide to RAID Configurations
• RAID Configuration Precautions
• Installing Windows with RAID Functions
• Setting the BIOS RAID Items
• Configuring the Intel RAID BIOS
• Deleting RAID Volume
• Intel Matrix Storage

Specifications

Frequently asked questions

How do I enable RAID mode in the BIOS?

Enter the BIOS Setup Utility, go to the Advanced screen, set “ATA/IDE Configuration” to Enhanced, and set “Configure SATA as” to RAID.

How many drives are required to create a RAID 10 array?

A RAID 10 configuration requires at least four hard disk drives.

What warning is given for using RAID 0?

RAID 0 improves performance but provides no fault tolerance; hot‑plugging any HDD in a RAID 0 array can cause data loss.

Can I migrate a single‑disk system to RAID 5?

Yes, by attaching an additional SATA drive of equal or greater capacity and using the Intel Storage Utility to create a RAID 5 volume.