ASRock ION 330HT RAID Installation Guide - Page 8

2. NVIDIA Windows RAID Installation Guide NVIDIA Windows RAID Installation Guide is an instruction for you to configure RAID functions under Windows environment. Please read this guide carefully and follow the instructions below to configure and manage RAID functions. This motherboard supports RAID / AHCI function under Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / VistaTM / VistaTM 64-bit only. If you install Windows® XP / XP 64-bit, RAID / AHCI function is not available. 2.1 Introduction to RAID The term "RAID" stands for "Redundant Array of Independent Disks", which is a method combining two or more hard disk drives into one logical unit. For optimal performance, please install identical drives of the same model and capacity when creating a RAID set. RAID 0 (Data Striping) RAID 0 is called data striping that optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved stacks. It will improve data access and storage since it will double the data transfer rate of a single disk alone while the two hard disks perform the same work as a single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate. Although RAID 0 function can improve the access performance, it does not provide any fault tolerance. Hot-Plug any HDDs of the RAID 0 Disk will cause data damage or data loss. RAID 1 (Data Mirroring) RAID 1 is called data mirroring that copies and maintains an identical image of data from one drive to a second drive. It provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system since the disk array management software will direct all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of the data in the other drive if one drive fails. 8