The document provides step‑by‑step instructions for installing Serial ATA (SATA) hard disks on a motherboard that uses the Intel Z77 chipset and for setting up various RAID levels. It covers BIOS configuration, driver preparation, and operating‑system installation with RAID support.
Detailed procedures include creating RAID volumes, selecting stripe sizes, and managing RAID partitions, as well as precautions such as using identical drives and backing up data before configuring RAID.
| Supported RAID levels | RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage |
|---|---|
| Number of SATA channels | Four independent SATA channels |
| Minimum drives for RAID 5 | Three identical hard disks |
| Minimum drives for RAID 10 | Four hard disk drives |
| RAID 0 stripe size options | 8 KB to 128 KB (default 128 KB) |
Enter the BIOS setup utility, go to Advanced → Storage Configuration, and set “SATA Mode Selection” to [RAID].
You can select stripe sizes from 8 KB up to 128 KB, with 128 KB as the default.
A RAID 5 array requires at least three identical hard disk drives.
No, the BIOS only allows one RAID partition to be created at a time; additional partitions must be created in Windows.