Configuring a RAID Set (Intel® 800 Series)

RAID Levels....................................................................................................................... 2

Preparing the Hard Drives and BIOS Settings................................................................... 2

A. Installing hard drives................................................................................................................2
B. Configuring the BIOS settings.................................................................................................3
C. Configuring a RAID Array........................................................................................................3

Installing the RAID Driver and Operating System.............................................................. 7

Rebuilding an Array........................................................................................................... 8

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RAID Levels
RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 10
Minimum
Number of Hard ≥2 2 ≥3 4
Drives
Number of hard Size of the smallest (Number of hard (Number of hard
Array Capacity drives * Size of the drive drives -1) * Size of drives/2) * Size of the
smallest drive the smallest drive smallest drive
Fault Tolerance No Yes Yes Yes

To create a RAID set, follow the steps below:

A. Install SATA hard drive(s) or SSDs in your computer.
B. Configure the system BIOS.
C. Create RAID configurations.
D. Install the RAID driver and operating system.

Before you begin, please prepare the following items:

•• At least two SATA hard drives or SSDs (Note 1) (to ensure optimal performance, it is recommended that you
use two hard drives with identical model and capacity). (Note 2)
•• A Windows setup disc.
•• An Internet connected computer.
•• A USB thumb drive.

Preparing the Hard Drives and BIOS Settings

A. Installing hard drives

Install the hard drives/SSDs in the Intel® Chipset controlled connectors on the motherboard. Then connect
the power connectors from your power supply to the hard drives.

The Intel® B860/H810 Chipset doesn't include RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 support
for NVMe SSD storage devices.

(Note 1) An M.2 PCIe SSD cannot be used to set up a RAID set either with an M.2 SATA SSD or a SATA hard
drive.
(Note 2) Refer to the "Internal Connectors" section of the user's manuals for the installation notices for the M.2
and SATA connectors.

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B. Configuring the BIOS settings
Step:
Turn on your computer and press <Delete> to enter BIOS Setup during the POST (Power-On Self-Test).
Go to Settings\IO Ports\SATA Configuration, make sure SATA Controller(s) is enabled. To create RAID
configurations, go to Settings\IO Ports\VMD setup menu, set Enable VMD controller to Enabled and set
Enable VMD Global Mapping to Disabled. Then depending on the SATA/M.2 connector you use, set the
corresponding Map this Root Port under VMD item to Enabled.

Figure 1

C. Configuring a RAID Array

Step 1:
After the system reboot, enter BIOS Setup again. Then enter the Settings\IO Ports\Intel(R) Rapid Storage
Technology sub-menu (Figure 2).

Figure 2

The BIOS Setup menus described in this section may differ from the exact settings for your motherboard.
The actual BIOS Setup menu options you will see shall depend on the motherboard you have and
the BIOS version.

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Step 2:
On the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology menu, press <Enter> on Create RAID Volume to enter the Create
RAID Volume screen. Enter a volume name with 1~16 letters (letters cannot be special characters) under the
Name item and press <Enter>. Then, select a RAID level (Figure 3). RAID levels supported include RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 10, and RAID 5 (the selections available depend on the number of the hard drives being installed).
Next, use the down arrow key to move to Select Disks.

Figure 3

Step 3:
Under Select Disks item, select the hard drives to be included in the RAID array. Press the <Space> key on
the hard drives to be selected (selected hard drives are marked with "X"). Then set the stripe block size (Figure
4). The stripe block size can be set from 4 KB to 128 KB. Once you have selected the stripe block size, set
the volume capacity.

Figure 4

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Step 4:
After setting the capacity, move to Create Volume and press <Enter> to begin. (Figure 5)

Figure 5

After completing, you'll be brought back to the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology screen. Under RAID Volumes
you can see the new RAID volume. To see more detailed information, press <Enter> on the volume to check for
information on RAID level, stripe block size, array name, and array capacity, etc. (Figure 6)

Figure 6

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Delete RAID Volume
To delete a RAID array, press <Enter> on the volume to be deleted on the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology
screen. After entering the RAID VOLUME INFO screen, press <Enter> on Delete to enter the Delete screen.
Press <Enter> on Yes (Figure 7).

Figure 7

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Installing the RAID Driver and Operating System
With the correct BIOS settings, you are ready to install the operating system.

If you want to install an operating system on an M.2 PCIe SSD or a RAID volume, you need to install the Intel®
RST VMD Controller driver first during the OS installation process. Refer to the steps below:

Step 1:
Go to GIGABYTE's website, browse to the motherboard model's web page, download the Intel SATA Preinstall
driver file on the Support\Download\SATA RAID/AHCI page, unzip the file and copy the files to your USB
thumb drive.

Step 2:
Boot from the Windows setup disc and perform standard OS installation steps. When the screen requesting you
to load the driver appears, select Browse.

Step 3:
Insert the USB thumb drive and then browse to the location of the driver. When a screen as shown below
appears, select Intel RST VMD Controller and click Next to load the driver and continue the OS installation.

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Rebuilding an Array
Rebuilding is the process of restoring data to a hard drive from other drives in the array. Rebuilding applies only
to fault-tolerant arrays such as RAID 1, RAID 5 or RAID 10 arrays. The procedures below assume a new drive
is added to replace a failed drive to rebuild a RAID 1 array. (Note: The new drive must have equal or greater
capacity than the old one.)

Turn off your computer and replace the failed hard drive with a new one. Restart your computer.

While in the operating system, launch the Intel® Optane™ Memory and Storage Management utility from the
Start menu.

Step 1: Step 2:
Go to the Manage menu and click Rebuild to another Select a new drive to rebuild the RAID and click
disk in Manage Volume. Rebuild.

The Status item on the right of the screen displays the

rebuild progress. After the RAID 1 volume rebuilding,
the Status will display as Normal.

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