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3ware® User Guide > First-Time RAID Configuration Using 3BM > Basic Steps for Creating a Unit

Basic Steps for Creating a Unit
The process of configuring your RAID units includes these main steps, which are detailed in the step-by-step example:
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Note: If the capacity of the unit you create will exceed 2TB and you are using Windows 2000, Windows XP (32-bit), Windows 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit without SP1) or Linux 2.4, or FreeBSD 4.x, you will need to enable auto-carving. Before creating your unit, follow the instructions under Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support.
To launch 3BM
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While the system is starting, watch for a screen similar to the one below.
Show 3ware BIOS Screen
 
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Press Alt-3 immediately to bring up the 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM).
Normally your 3ware configuration remains on-screen for just a few seconds. However, if a unit has degraded, the screen indicates the problem and remains on your screen longer.
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If you plan to make changes to your configuration and need to backup data before continuing, press ESC and do so now. Otherwise, press any key to continue.
Show Warning Message When you Start 3BM
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If you have more than one 9000-series controller in your system, a screen lists the available boards. In this case, highlight the board with which you want to work and press Enter.
If you have more than 4 boards, you will only see four at first (only four can be processed at a time). After you exit from 3BM, you will have an opportunity to access the BIOS again, to access the next boards.
Show 3ware Controller Board Selection Screen
You will see a screen similar to the one below, warning you that changing your disk array configuration may overwrite data on the disks.
 
To select the drives and create a unit
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Select the drives to be included by highlighting each one and pressing Enter to select it, or select all at once by selecting the heading above them.
When you select a drive, an asterisk appears next to it in the left-most column as in the screenshot below.
You may include from one to thirty-two drives in the unit, depending on the number available.
Show Asterisks Next to Selected Drives
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After all drives for the unit are selected, use the Tab to move to the Create Unit button and press Enter.
The Create Disk Array screen appears.
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Show Create Disk Array Display
To name the unit and select the desired RAID configuration
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(Optional) Press Enter in the Array Name field and type a name for the unit. Then press Enter again to accept the name.
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Use the arrow keys or press Tab to move to the RAID Configuration field and press Enter to display the available RAID levels for the number of drives you selected.
Show List of Configuration Choices for Four Drives
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Use the arrow keys to highlight the desired RAID configuration and press Enter.
For information about the different RAID levels and when to use each, see Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels.
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Use the arrow keys or press Tab to move to the field Stripe Size and select the desired stripe size (16KB, 64KB, or 256KB).
 
In general, use smaller stripe sizes for sequential access (such as video access) and larger stripe sizes for random access (such as a database).
Show Stripe Sizes for a RAID 5
To set other policies for the unit
While creating a unit through 3BM, you can set the following unit policies: Write Cache, Drive Queuing Mode, Continue on Error When Rebuild (ECC Overwrite), Initialization Method, and Auto Verify. You can also select a StorSave profile and configure Rapid RAID Recovery.
Each of these policies is already set to a default value, so you do not have to change them.
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Use the arrow keys or press Tab to move to the field you want to change.
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Press Enter to see the available options.
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Use the arrow keys to select the option you want and press Enter to choose it.
For details about these parameters, see:
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To create a boot unit of a particular size
You can specify a portion of the unit you create to be used as a boot volume, if desired. This is useful if you will be installing your operating system onto the unit and want to have a designated volume for the OS. The remainder of the unit will be created as a separate volume.
 
Note: Setting a Boot Volume Size is optional. In addition, if you specify a boot volume, you do not have to install your operating system onto it. For more information about creating a boot volume, see Boot volume size. If the size of your array is 2TB or greater, you may also want to review the information about carving the unit into multiple volumes. For details, see Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support.
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Use the arrow keys or press Tab to move to the Boot Volume Size field.
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Press Enter to display a text box.
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Press Enter again to accept the size.
To confirm unit configuration
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Press Tab to select the OK button and press Enter to confirm creation of the unit.
Or, if you want to cancel the creation of the unit, tab to Cancel and press Enter.
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If you leave the Unit Write Cache field enabled and do not have a BBU installed, 3BM will ask you to confirm that you want to enable write cache.
The unit is not actually created and no data is overwritten until you have finished making all your changes and press F8.
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Multiple volumes will be created if you entered a Boot Volume Size of greater than zero (0), or if auto-carving is enabled and the combined size of the drives in your unit is large enough to divide it into multiple volumes. For more information about auto-carving, see Using Auto-Carving for Multi LUN Support.
Show Summary of Volumes to be Created
To finish up and save your changes
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If you have additional drives, you can go ahead and configure an additional RAID unit or designate a hot spare. Then continue on with these steps. (For details about hot spares, see page 31.)
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If you configured more than one unit, and you plan to install the operating system on one of them, make that unit be the first unit (Unit 0) in the list of Exportable Units.
To move a unit up in the list, highlight it and press the Page Up key.
You will also want to make sure that the controller is the boot device for your computer. After finalizing the configuration below, be sure to follow the steps under Checking the Motherboard Boot Sequence.
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When you are finished configuring units, press F8 to save the changes and exit 3BM.
A warning message asks you to confirm that all existing data on the drives will be deleted.
Show Confirmation Message when Saving and Exiting
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Type Y to continue, delete any existing data on the drives, and create the unit.
If you chose foreground initialization, then, depending on the RAID configuration you are creating, initialization of the unit may begin immediately and delay your ability to use your unit for several hours. (RAID 6 units and some RAID 5 and RAID 50 units begin immediate initialization.).
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If you want to immediately use a RAID configuration which has started foreground initializing, you can press Esc to cancel the progress box. (Before doing this, be sure to read “Trade-offs to cancelling initialization,” below.)
You can then exit 3BM and boot to the operating system before the process of writing zeroes to the drives is complete. Once you have booted to the operating system, background initialization of the unit will begin after a delay of up to ten minutes.
 
It will take longer to complete initialization, since background initialization takes longer than foreground initialization.
For complete information about initialization of RAID units, see About Initialization.
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