Promise Technology TX4000 - Manual

Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Keys Features and Benefits The following information offers an overview of the major features of your new Promise FastTrak TX4000 card... Advanced Hardware Design Features Benefits Supports 66MHz PCI bus motherboards (automatically backward compatible with 33MHz PCI slots) ...

5 Chapter 2: Quick Start When you receive the FastTrak TX4000 Series Controller Card, the package should contain the items listed below: • FastTrak TX4000 Ultra ATA/133 RAID Controller Card • Quick Start Guide • FastTrak TX4000 driver diskette • Two Y-cable power splitters. • Four internal 80-wire/4...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 6 Installing the FastTrak TX4000 Card The FastTrak TX4000 Controller card fits into any available 32-bit PCI slot (must be PCI 2.1 or 2.2 compliant). It also fits the 32-bit portion of a 64-bit PCI slot, on the system’s motherboard (see figure below). 1. Remove the cover ...

Chapter 2: Quick Start 7 Installing the Hard Drives Important If you wish to include your current bootable ATA drive using the Windows NT4.x, 2000, XP, Server 2003, ME or 98 operating system on your FastTrak TX4000 Controller card, do NOT connect the hard drive to the card yet. You MUST install the ...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 8 IDE 2 IDE 4 IDE 3 IDE 1 LED Pin 1 Figure 2. TX4000 card Important You must use an 80-wire, 40-pin cable when connecting your hard drives to the FastTrak TX4000 controller card. The FastTrak TX4000 package contains four 80-wire, 40-pin cables. Notes • The FastTrak TX4000...

Chapter 2: Quick Start 9 Creating Your Disk Array You will now use the onboard FastBuild BIOS utility to create your array using the attached drives. There are three different scenarios in creating this array. You can create an array for performance, you can create a Security array using new hard dr...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 10 FastBuild (tm) Utility 1.xx (c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. [Auto Setup Options Menu] Optimize Array for: Performance Typical Application usage: A/V Editing [ Auto Setup Configuration ] Mode ........................................................... Stripe Driv...

Chapter 2: Quick Start 11 Creating a Security Array with New Drives Notes Under the Security setting, FastTrak TX4000 permits two drives to be used for a single Mirrored array or four drives to be used for a Mirrored/Striped array in Auto Setup. When creating a Security array with new drives, a feat...

15 Chapter 3: Using FastBuild Configuration Utility The FastBuild Configuration Utility offers several menu choices to create and manage the drive array on the Promise FastTrak TX4000 adapter. For purposes of this manual, it is assumed you have already created an array in the previous chapter and no...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 16 Navigating the FastBuild Setup Menu When using the menus, these are some of the basic navigation tips: Arrow keys highlights through choices; the Space bar allows to cycle through options; Enter selects an option; Esc aborts or exits the current menu. Using the Main Me...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 17 Creating Arrays Automatically The Auto Setup (1) selection from the Main Menu can intuitively help create your disk array. It will assign all available drives appropriate for the disk array you are creating. After making all selections, press Ctrl-Y to S...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 18 Optimize Array for Select whether you want Performance (RAID 0), Security (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1) under the Optimize Array for setting. Performance RAID 0 (Striping) supports the high performance. The storage capacity equals the number of drives times the capacity of the ...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 19 Using a Hot Spare Drive If a third drive is attached and is not assigned to a mirrored two-drive disk array (one optimized for Security), it will be recognized as a spare drive. Such a drive is immediately used as a standby replacement. It is automatical...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 20 Viewing Drive Assignments The View Drive Assignments (2) option in the Main Menu displays whether drives are assigned to a disk array or are unassigned. Under the Assignment column, drives are labeled with their assigned disk array or shown as Free if unassigned. Such ...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 21 Manually Creating an Array The Define Array (3) option from the Main Menu allows users to begin the process of manually defining the drive elements and RAID levels for one or multiple disk arrays attached to FastTrak TX4000. Users will commonly create on...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 22 Selecting Array Type 1. Under the Definition section of this menu, highlight the Array # for which you want to assign a RAID level. 2. Press the Spacebar to cycle through three array types: • Performance (RAID 0 Striping) • Security (RAID 1 Mirroring • RAID 0+1 Stripin...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 23 Gigabyte Boundary The Gigabyte Boundary feature is designed for mirrored arrays (RAID 1 or RAID 0+1) in which a drive has failed and the user cannot replace the drive with the same capacity or larger. Instead, the Gigabyte Boundary feature permits the in...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 24 Creating a Mirrored Array Using New Drives As described in the Drive Assignments Option section above, if you selected a mirroring array and wish to use two new assigned drives, follow the directions here. 1. Assign new drives to a Mirroring array 2. Save the informati...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 25 Adding Fault Tolerance to an Existing Drive FastTrak TX4000 will create a mirrored array using an existing system drive with data. You must assign the existing drive and another drive of same or larger capacity to the Mirroring array. The BIOS will send ...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 27 Making a FastTrak TX4000 Disk Array Bootable Warning If you plan to boot from an array on the FastTrak TX4000, you must configure the system BIOS Setup to use the FastTrak TX4000 as a bootable device (rather than the onboard controller or another add-in ...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 28 Creating a Hot Spare Drive for Mirrored Arrays For automatic rebuilds of a mirrored array, attach a spare drive to the FastTrak TX4000. Drives that are not assigned to an array and are the same size or larger than the original will be used for the automatic rebuild. Th...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 29 Deleting an Array The Delete Array (4) Menu option allows for deletion of disk array assignments. This is not the same as deleting data from the drives themselves. Important If you delete an array by accident, immediately define a new array identical to ...

Chapter 3: FastBuild Configuration Utility 31 Rebuilding a Mirrored Array The Rebuild Array (5) Menu option can be used to recover from an error in a mirrored disk array. You will receive an error message when booting your system from the FastTrak BIOS. Important Drives MUST be replaced if they cont...

33 Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers Following are driver installation procedures for the Windows operating systems that support the FastTrak TX4000 Controller. The FastTrak TX4000 software drivers for Windows are included on the driver diskette. Drivers and installation instructions for Linux ...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 34 New Windows Server 2003 Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows Server 2003. 1. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows Server 2003 installation diskettes. • CD-ROM...

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 35 Existing Windows Server 2003 Installation After installing the FastTrak TX4000 card and rebooting your system, Windows Server 2003 setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. 1. Insert the FastTrak TX4000 driver diskette into the A:\ drive. 2. Choose ...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 36 New Windows XP Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows XP. 1. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows XP installation diskettes. • CD-ROM Install: Boot from the CD-...

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 37 Existing Windows XP Installation After installing the FastTrak TX4000 card and rebooting your system, Windows XP setup will show a “Found New Hardware” dialog box. Under Windows XP, “Mass Storage Controller” will be displayed. 1. Insert the FastTrak TX4000 d...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 38 New Windows 2000 Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows 2000. 1. Start the installation: • Floppy Install: Boot the computer with the Windows 2000 installation diskettes. • CD-ROM Install: Boot from t...

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 39 Existing Windows 2000 After installing the FastTrak TX4000 card and rebooting your system, Windows 2000 setup will show a “New Hardware Found” dialog box. Under Windows 2000, “PCI Mass Storage Controller” will be displayed. 1. Choose Add New Hardware Wizard ...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 40 New Windows ME Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows ME. 1. Install the FastTrak TX4000 controller card into your system. 2. Install Windows ME fully. 3. After installation, go to the Start menu and ...

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 41 Existing Windows ME Installation The following section details the installation of FastTrak TX4000 drivers on a system that has Windows ME already installed and running. 1. After installing the FastTrak TX4000 controller card and configuring the hard drives,...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 42 New Windows NT4.x Installation The following details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows NT4.x. 1. Start the system installation by booting from the Windows NT disk: • Floppy install: boot the system with the Windows NT installation...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 44 New Windows 98 Installation The following section details the installation of the FastTrak TX4000 drivers while installing Windows 98. 1. Install the FastTrak TX4000 controller card and configure the hard drive(s), partition and format your hard drive(s), if necessary....

Chapter 4: Installing Software Drivers 45 Existing Windows 98 Installation The following section details the installation of FastTrak TX4000 drivers on a system that has Windows 98 already installed and running. 1. After installing the FastTrak TX4000 controller card and configuring the hard drives,...

47 Chapter 5: Disk Array Concepts About FastTrak TX4000 FastTrak TX4000 is a high performance Ultra ATA RAID controller card that features concurrent data channel operation and onboard BIOS. The channels on the FastTrak TX4000 support concurrent operation that allows for overlapped I/O under multi-t...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 48 Disk Array Terms Disk Array Description A disk array is formed from a group of two or more disk drives that appear to the system as a single drive. The advantage of an array is to provide better throughput performance and/or data fault tolerance. Better performance is ...

Chapter 5: Disk Array Concepts 49 About RAID Levels Striping (RAID 0) Reads and writes sectors of data interleaved between multiple drives. When any disk member fails, it affects the entire array. Performance is better than a single drive since the workload is balanced between the array members. Thi...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 52 About Dual Data Redundancy One unique (though rarely occurring) feature of RAID 0+1 is dual fault tolerance. In some cases, two drives can fail simultaneously and still maintain the integrity of data. There are six combinations in which two drives can fail. FastTrak TX...

53 Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips This section is used to assist with troubleshooting conflicts and FastTrak TX4000 installation problems. Also refer to the README.TXT file on the FastTrak TX4000 driver and utility diskette for more recent information as well as the PromiseOnline services lis...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 54 Miscellaneous problems such as: • FastTrak TX4000 BIOS does not appear during boot • FastTrak TX4000 driver does not load • Slow data transfer rates Move the FastTrak TX4000 card to a different PCI slot. Intermittent data problems Overclocking the PCI bus may cause the...

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting & Tips 55 Drive-Related Errors Critical Array Status Error Reported during Boot If a critical status error message appears on the FastTrak TX4000 BIOS startup screen for a mirrored array (see below), there is a drive in the array that has failed or is not responding. F...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 58 Operating System-Related Issues Different drive lettering under Windows NT This may happen when using a SCSI card in addition to the Promise card. Windows NT does not necessarily load the driver for the boot device controller first. This results in a drive that in MS-D...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 60 Performance Tips Here are some tips that may optimize performance in a RAID 0 striped array. If you are using an audio/video-editing card, we also recommend reviewing your card’s documentation for additional information. Use FastTrak TX4000 as D: or other non-bootable ...

63 Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions This section lists frequently asked questions involving pre-installation, drive issues, installation, and post-installation. Pre-Installation (Speed, Device Types, Capacity, Cabling) Q: What kind of hard drives can I use for a FastTrak TX4000 array? A: You c...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 64 Q: How does the FastTrak TX4000 RAID controller provide storage and/or data protection with their arrays? A: FastTrak TX4000 implements three different RAID levels as follows: RAID 0 (Stripe) For capacity – The FastTrak TX4000 array will be as big as the smallest HDD i...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 66 Installation Issues (Capacity, Booting) Q: Why are some drives recognized by the FastTrak TX4000 Array Setup utilities with only partial capacity? A: Some hard drives ship with a jumper that reduces the addressable capacity of the drive to prevent problems with older s...

67 Appendix B: Technical Support Promise Technical Support provides several support options for Promise users to access information and updates. We encourage you to use one of our electronic services, which provide product information updates for the most efficient service and support. If you decide...

Appendix B: Technical Support 69 Limited Warranty Promise Technology, Inc. (“Promise”) warrants that for Three (3) years from the time of the delivery of the product to the original end user: a) the product will conform to Promise’s specifications; b) the product will be free from defects in materia...

FastTrak TX4000 User Manual 70 No other document, statement or representation may be relied on to vary the terms of this limited warranty. Promise’s sole responsibility with respect to any product is to do one of the following: a) replace the product with a conforming unit of the same or superior pr...

Appendix B: Technical Support 71 Returning Product for Repair If you suspect a product is not working properly, or if you have any questions about your product, contact our Technical Support Staff through one of our Technical Services, making sure to provide the following information: • Product mode...