Microsoft® Windows Vista® reserves approximately 1 GB on a hard drive for operating system functions, leaving the remaining space for other standard operations.
To determine how much space is available for standard operations, click Start®Computer. A list of drives and storage devices appears. The free space on drive C (the hard drive) is displayed.
To determine the amount of hard drive space used by Shadow Storage:
Click Start®All Programs®Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt.
Click Run as administrator.
If a window appears asking permission to continue, click Continue.
Type the following:
vssadmin list shadowstorage.
Press <Enter>.
The Command Prompt displays the amount of space used by Shadow Storage.
Reducing Hard Drive Space Used by Shadow Storage
Click Start®All Programs®Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt.
Click Run as administrator.
If a window appears asking permission to continue, click Continue.
Type the following:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /On=C: /Maxsize=[the maximum space you will allow for Shadow Storage]
Press <Enter>.
Click Start®Computer®Local Disk(C:) to confirm that less
drive space has been allocated to Shadow Storage.
NOTE: See Windows Help and Support for information on optimum and minimum sizes for this storage area.
Solid-State Drive (SSD)
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data. Solid-state is an electrical term that refers to electronic circuitry that is built entirely out of semiconductors whereas Hard Drives use a magnetic media.
Unlike flash-based memory cards, an SSD emulates a hard disk drive, thus easily replacing it in most applications. An SSD using SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) or DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), instead of a flash memory, is often called a RAM-drive.
Installing Drivers for Media Drives
A driver is a program that controls your media drive. You may need to install drivers if you:
Upgrade your operating system.
Reinstall your operating system.
Connect or install a new device.
HINT: You must be logged in with administrator privileges to perform the tasks mentioned in this section.
Determining Whether a Device Driver is the Source of a Device Problem
Click Start and right-click Computer.
Click Properties® Device Manager.
If a window appears asking permission to continue, click Continue.
Scroll down the list to see if any device has an exclamation point (a yellow
circle with a [!]) on the device icon.
If an exclamation point is next to the device name, you may need to reinstall or update the driver.
Replacing a Driver With a Previous Version of the Driver
If a problem occurs on your computer after you install or update a driver, use Windows Device Driver Rollback.
Click Start and right-click Computer.
Click Properties® Device Manager.
Right-click the device for which the new driver was installed, and click
Properties.
Click the Drivers tab® Roll Back Driver.
If Device Driver Rollback does not resolve the problem, use System Restore (see Using Microsoft® Windows® System Restore) to return your computer to the state that existed before you installed the new driver.
Using the Drivers and Utilities Media to Reinstall a Driver
With the Windows desktop displayed, insert the Drivers and Utilities
media.
If this is your first time to use the Drivers and Utilities media, go to step 2. If not, go to step 5.
When the Drivers and Utilities media installation program starts, follow
the prompts on the screen.
When the InstallShield Wizard Complete window appears, remove the
Drivers and Utilities media and click Finish to restart the computer.
When you see the Windows desktop, reinsert the Drivers and Utilities
media.
At the Welcome Dell System Owner screen, click Next.
A message appears, stating that the Drivers and Utilities media is detecting hardware in your computer.
The drivers used by your computer are automatically displayed in the My Drivers—The Drivers and Utilities media has identified these components in your system window.
HINT: The drivers for additionally installed devices may not be included on the Drivers and Utilities media. See the documentation that came with the device for information about the driver for that device.
Click the driver that you want to reinstall and follow the instructions on
the screen.
Manually Reinstalling a Driver
Download the driver for the device to your hard drive.
Click Start and right-click Computer.
Click Properties® Device Manager.
Double-click the type of device for which you are installing the driver (for
example, Audio or Video).
Double-click the name of the device for which you are installing the driver.
Click the Driver tab®Update Driver® Browse my computer for driver
software.
Click Browse, and browse to the location to which you previously copied
the driver files.
When the name of the appropriate driver appears, click the name of the
driver® OK® Next.
Click Finish and restart your computer.
HINT: The Dell Support website at support.dell.com and your Drivers and Utilities media provide approved drivers for Dell computers. If you install drivers obtained from other sources, your computer might not work correctly.
Drive Problems
CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the safety instructions that came with your computer.
Ensure that Microsoft Windows recognizes the drive —
Click Start®MyComputer. If the drive is not listed, contact Dell (see Contacting Dell).
Test the drive —
Insert another CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc® (BD) to eliminate the possibility that the original media is defective.
Insert a bootable disc and restart the computer.
Clean the drive or disk —
See the user documentation that came with your computer.
For drives with spindles and/or trays, ensure that the media is snapped onto the spindle
For drives that use slot-loading, ensure that the media is completely in the slot
NOTE: High-speed optical drive vibration is normal and may cause noise, which does not indicate a defect in the drive or the media.
NOTE: Because of different regions worldwide and different disc formats, not all DVDs work in all DVD drives.
Problems writing to a media drive
Close other programs
Change the write speed to a slower rate —
See the help files for your CD, DVD, or BD software.
The drive tray cannot eject (for drives that are not slot-loading)
Ensure that the computer is shut down.
Straighten a paper clip and insert one end into the eject hole at the front
of the drive, and then push firmly until the tray is partially ejected.
Gently pull out the tray until it stops.
The drive makes a scraping or grinding sound
Ensure that the sound is not caused by a program.
Ensure that the disc is inserted properly.
Hard Drive Problems
Allow the computer to cool before turning it on —
A hot hard drive may prevent the operating system from starting. Try allowing the computer to return to room temperature before turning it on.
Run Check Disk —
Windows Vista®
Click Start®Computer.
For Windows® XP:
Click Start®MyComputer.
Right-click Local Disk (C:).
Click Properties® Tools®Check Now.
NOTE: The User Account Control window may appear. If you are an administrator on the computer, click Continue; otherwise, contact your administrator to continue the desired action.
Click to check Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, and then
clickStart.
Working with RAID
A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) is a disk storage configuration that increases performance or data redundancy. There are four basic RAID levels discussed in this section.
NOTE: RAID requires multiple hard drives. The number of hard drives required varies depending on the RAID configuration.
RAID level 0 is recommended for higher performance (faster throughput).
RAID level 1 is recommended for users who need a high level of data integrity.
RAID level 0+1 is recommended for higher performance and data integrity
RAID level 5 is recommended for higher performance and fault tolerance.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Your computer may support other RAID levels (5, 10, 50). For information about these levels, see support.dell.com.
RAID Level 0
NOTICE: RAID level 0 provides no redundancy. Therefore, a failure of one drive results in the loss of all data. Perform regular backups to protect your data.
RAID level 0 uses data striping to provide a high data access rate. Data striping writes consecutive segments, or stripes, of data sequentially across the physical drive(s) to create a large virtual drive. This allows one of the drives to read data while the other drive is searching for and reading the next block.
RAID 0 uses the full storage capacities of both drives. For example, two 120-GB hard drives combine to provide 240 GB of hard drive space on which to store data.
NOTE: In a RAID 0 configuration, the size of the configuration is equal to the size of the smallest drive multiplied by the number of drives in the configuration.
RAID Level 1
RAID level 1 uses data mirroring to enhance data integrity. When data is written to the primary drive, the data is also duplicated, or mirrored, on the second drive in the configuration. RAID 1 sacrifices high data-access rates for data redundancy.
If a drive failure occurs, read and write operations are directed to the remaining drive. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the remaining drive.
NOTE: In a RAID 1 configuration, the size of the configuration is equal to the size of the smallest drive in the configuration.
RAID Level 0+1 Configuration
A RAID 0+1 array combines the high data access rate of a RAID level 0 array and the data protection (redundancy) of a RAID level 1 mirror by striping data across two drives and mirroring that striped data on a second set of two drives.
If a drive failure occurs, subsequent read and write operations are directed to the other surviving drives. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the surviving drives. Also, because data is duplicated on the primary and additional drives, four 120-GB RAID level 1 drives collectively have a maximum of 240-GB on which to store data.
RAID Level 5 Configuration
RAID level 5 uses data parity. RAID level 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more drives. It provides data striping at the byte level and also stripe error correction information (rotating parity array). This results in excellent performance and good fault tolerance.
If a drive failure occurs, subsequent read and write operations are directed to the other surviving drives. A replacement drive can then be rebuilt using the data from the surviving drives. Also, because data is duplicated on the primary and additional drives, four 120-GB RAID level 1 drives collectively have a maximum of 360-GB on which to store data.
Setting Your Computer to RAID-Enabled Mode
Before creating a RAID configuration, you must set your computer to RAID-enabled mode.
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Drives, and then press
<Enter>.
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight the applicable hard drive,
and then press <Enter>.
Press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight RAID On, and then press
<Enter>.
Repeat the process, as needed, for each hard drive.
NOTE: Hard drives in a RAID configuration should be of equal size to avoid unallocated space.
Press <Esc>, press the left- and right-arrow keys to highlight Save/Exit,
and then press <Enter> to exit the system setup program and resume the
boot process.
Configuring RAID
Your computer can be configured for RAID, even if you did not select a RAID configuration when the computer was purchased. This can be done before or after the operating system is installed.
Press <Ctrl><n> when prompted to enter the RAID BIOS.
The Define a New Array window appears.
NOTE: If the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the Microsoft Windows desktop, and then shut down your computer and try again.
Press <Tab> to navigate to the RAID Mode field.
To create a RAID 0 configuration, use the arrow keys to select Striping.
To create a RAID 1 configuration, use the arrow keys to select Mirroring.
Press <Tab> to navigate to the Free Disks field.
Use the up- and down-arrow keys to select a hard drive to include in the
RAID array and then use the right-arrow key to move the selected drive
from the Free Disks field to the Array Disks field. Repeat these steps for
each disk you want to include in the RAID array.
NOTE: The number of drives supported in each RAID array varies, depending on what computer you have.
After assigning the hard drives to an array, press <F9>.
The Clear disk data prompt appears.
NOTICE: You lose all data on the selected drives in the next step. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing.
Press <y> to clear all data from the selected drives.
The Array List window appears.
To review the details of the array that you set up, use the arrow keys to
highlight the array in the Array Detail window and press <Enter>.
The Array Detail window appears.
NOTE: To delete an array, use the arrow keys to select the array and press <d>.
Press <Enter> to return to the previous screen.
Press <Ctrl><x> to exit the RAID BIOS.
Assigning New Drives to a RAID Array With the Operating System Installed
Use Nvidia MediaShield to create a RAID configuration only when you are adding one or more new hard drives to an existing (non-RAID) single-drive computer, and you want to configure the new drive(s) into a RAID array.
NOTICE: The following procedure deletes all data on your hard drive(s). Back up any data you want to keep before continuing.
After restarting your computer, launch Nvidia MediaShield.
Click Create under System Tasks.
The NVIDIA Create Array Wizard screen appears and lists the disks that are available for configuration.
Click Next®Custom®Next.
Use the drop-down box to select Striping (RAID 0) or Mirroring
(RAID 1).
Click Next.
The Free Disk Selection window appears.
NOTE: Only RAID-enabled hard drives are listed as free disks.
Click to select the drives that will make up the RAID configuration, click
Next, and then click Next again.
NOTE: The number of drives supported in each RAID array varies, depending on what computer you have.
The Clearing System Data window appears.
NOTICE: The Clear System Data option deletes all data on the selected drive. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing.
Click Next®Finish to create the RAID configuration.
The MediaShield RAID management utility window appears and lists the array along with any other installed hard drives.
Deleting a RAID Array
Deleting a RAID 1 volume splits the volume into two non-RAID hard drives with a partition, and leaves any existing data intact.
NOTICE: Deleting a RAID 0 volume destroys all data on the volume. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing.
NOTICE: If your computer currently boots to RAID and you delete the RAID volume, your computer will not boot.
Launch Nvidia MediaShield.
Click to select the array you want to delete.
Click Delete Array in the System Tasks pane.
The NVIDIADelete Array Wizard screenappears.
Click Next.
A confirmation screen appears with the name and size of the array that you have marked for deletion.
Click Finish to delete the RAID configuration.
The MediaShield RAID management utility window appears and lists any remaining arrays along with any other installed hard drives.
Converting From One RAID Configuration to Another RAID Configuration
You can change the current state of a disk or array — from striped to mirrored, for example — without losing any data. Also, you can add hard drives to an existing array.
The time to convert an array depends on several factors, such as the speed of the processor, the type and size of the hard drive being used, and the operating system.
NOTICE: Additional hard drives to be used in the array must be no smaller than any of the drives in the current configuration.
Under RAID Mode Selection, select Mirroring or Striping from the drop-
down menu.
Click Next.
NOTICE: You lose all data on the drives selected in the next step. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing.
Under Free Disk Selection, click the check box next to the hard drive(s)
you want to include in the array.
Click Finish.
The MediaShield RAID management utility window appears and displays the status of the upgrade/migration process along with any other installed hard drives.
Rebuilding a RAID Configuration (RAID 1 only)
If one of the hard drives in a RAID 1 array fails, you can rebuild the array by restoring the data to a replacement drive.
Launch Nvidia MediaShield.
Click to select your RAID configuration (Mirroring) in the management
utility window.
Select Rebuild Array in the System Tasks pane.
The NVIDIARebuild Array Wizard screen appears.
Click Next.
Select the hard drive you want to rebuild by clicking the check box beside
it.
Click Next®Finish.
The MediaShield RAID management utility window appears and displays the status of the rebuild.
NOTE: You can use your computer while the computer is rebuilding the array.
Using the Intel® RAID Utilities
If installed on your system, see the following sections for information about using the Intel utilities.
Configuring a RAID 0 or RAID 1 Array Before Installing the Operating System
NOTICE: You lose any data on your hard drives when you create a RAID configuration using the following procedure. Back up data that you want to keep before continuing.
NOTICE: Use the following procedure only if you are reinstalling your operating system. Do not use the following procedure to migrate an existing storage configuration to RAID level 0 configuration.
Press <Ctrl><i> when you are prompted to enter the Intel RAID Option
ROM utility.
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Create RAID Volume, and
press <Enter>.
Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default, and press <Enter>.
For RAID 0
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to select RAID0 (Stripe).
NOTE: Select the stripe size closest to the size of the average file that you want to store on the RAID volume. If you do not know the average file size, choose 128 KB as your stripe size.
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to change the stripe size and press
<Enter>.
For RAID 1
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to select RAID1 (Mirror).
Select the desired capacity for the volume and press <Enter>.
The default value is the maximum available size.
Press <Enter> to create the volume.
Press <y> to confirm that you want to create the RAID volume.
Confirm that the correct volume configuration is displayed on the main
Intel RAID Option ROM utility screen.
Press the up- and down-arrow keys to select Exit and press <Enter>.
NOTE: If you do not see an Actions menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode.
On the Actions menu, select Create RAID Volume to launch the Create
RAID Volume Wizard, and then click Next.
On the Select Volume Location screen, select the first hard drive you want
to include in your RAID level 0 volume, and then click the right arrow.
Select a second hard drive to include in your RAID level 0 volume, and
then click the right arrow. The selected hard drives appear in the Selected
window. Click Next.
NOTE: To add a third hard drive in your RAID level 0 volume, follow the above step after selecting the third hard drive.
In the Specify Volume Size window, click the Volume Size desired, and
then click Next.
Click Finish to create the volume, or click Back to make changes.
Creating a RAID Level 1 Configuration With the Operating System Installed
NOTE: When you perform this operation, all data on the RAID drives is lost.
NOTE: If you do not see an Actions menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode.
On the Actions menu, select Create RAID Volume From Existing Hard
Drive tolaunch the Migration Wizard.
Click Next on the MigrationWizard screen.
Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default.
From the drop-down box, select RAID 0 as the RAID level.
Select the appropriate stripe size from the drop-down box, and then click
Next.
The stripe size should be closest to the size of the average file you want to store on the RAID volume. If you do not know the average file size, choose 128 KB as your stripe size.
On the Select Source Hard Drive screen, double-click the hard drive from
which you want to migrate, and click Next.
This drive should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume.
On the Select Member Hard Drive screen, double-click the hard drive(s)
to select the member drive(s) to span the stripe array, and click Next.
On the Specify Volume Size screen, select the Volume Size you want, and
click Next.
NOTICE: In the following step, all data contained on the member drive is removed.
Click Finish to start migrating, or click Back to make changes.
NOTE: You can use your computer normally during the migration process.
Click Start®All Programs® Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager® Intel
Matrix Storage Console to launch the Intel Storage Utility.
NOTE: If you do not see an Actions menu option, you have not yet set your computer to RAID-enabled mode.
On the Actions menu, click Create RAID Volume From Existing Hard
Drive to launch the Migration Wizard.
Click Next on the first Migration Wizard screen.
Enter a RAID volume name or accept the default.
From the drop-down box, select RAID 1 as the RAID level.
NOTE: Select the hard drive that you want to use as your source hard drive (it should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume).
On the Select Source Hard Drive screen, double-click the hard drive from
which you want to migrate, and click Next.
This drive should be the hard drive containing the data or operating system files that you want to keep on the RAID volume.
On the Select Member Hard Drive screen, double-click the hard drive to
select the member drive that you want to act as the mirror in the
configuration, and click Next.
On the Specify Volume Size screen, select the volume size you want, and
click Next.
NOTICE: In the following step, all data contained on the member drive is removed.
Click Finish to start migrating, or click Back to make changes.
NOTE: You can use your computer normally during migration process.
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