Creating RAID Sets

As previously discussed, the Silicon Image SATA host adapter supports RAID 0, 1, and 10 configurations. The selection of the RAID level to be used should be based upon factors including performance, data security, and number of drives available. It is best to carefully consider the long-term role of the system and plan the data storage strategy appropriately.

Silicon Image has made the creation of RAID sets very simple. They can be created either automatically or to allow the greatest flexibility, manually.

  1. Select "Create RAID Set."

  2. Choose a RAID 0 Striped, a RAID 1 Mirrored, or a RAID 10 combination set.

  3. Select Automatically or Manually configuration of the RAID Set.

  4. If manual configuration is selected, the chunk size of Striped Sets can be selected. For Mirrored Sets, the Source and Target drives can be selected.

  5. The message "Are You Sure?" will display before completing the configuration. Answer "N" to abort the creation of the new RAID set, or "Y" to proceed with the RAID set creation.

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The Create RAID set option is also used to allocate a spare drive to a RAID 1 set. This spare drive can be allocated to the set using the SATARaid GUI in the event of a failure of one of the drives in the set. To allocate a spare drive, follow the procedure outlined above, choosing "SPARE DRIVE" for the set type.