================================================================= RAIDCore BC4000 Series WINDOWS README.TXT Copyright (c) 2006. Broadcom Corporation. All rights reserved. ================================================================= Welcome to the RAIDCore BC4000 Series RAID Controller. This document provides important release information that should be read before using the RAIDCore product on a Windows-based system. CONTENTS -------- * ABOUT THIS RELEASE * SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS * DRIVERS * DOCUMENTATION * KNOWN ISSUES * CONTACT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RELEASE ------------------ This is the version 2.1 release of the BC4000 Series RAID Controller product, supporting the Windows operating systems. The following new features are supported. 1. A new Scan Array feature performs a background scan of an array while no other I/O is pending. New features added in version 2.0 of the BC4000 Series RAID Controller product include the following: 1. Copy command; this creates a new array containing an exact copy of the data on a source array. The copy is linked to the source array, so changes to the source are also made on the copy. Unlinking can be done automatically or manually. 2. Task control, so that array tasks can be paused/resumed or canceled. Full task control can be used on create, copy, consistency check and bitmap check tasks. On transforms and on restores for distributed spares, task control can only pause/resume tasks. 3. Reading of Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) disk information and the ability to read threshold levels. On v2.0.1 and later (including v2.1) SMART is disabled by default and the user must enable it if they wish to take advantage of it. See "Reading SMART Information from Disks" on page 118 of the RAIDCore BC4000 Series User Manual for more information. 4. The ability to update the BC4000 series firmware directly from RAIDConsole and bcadm. 5. A Zero Create option has been added to the Create command to write zeros across a new array. 6. Remote management capability 7. Enhanced RAIDConsole GUI application that now runs under Windows and Linux 8. Windows 64-bit support 9. Windows support for arrays greater than 2 TeraBytes 10. Windows stand-by and hibernate functionality for systems with an HT-1000 on the motherboard. (One controller only, not supported in Windows 2000) SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS --------------------------- * Windows 2000 versions, service pack 4 or later * Windows XP versions * Windows 2003 versions, service pack 2 NOTE: Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 or later is required for all Windows installations. DRIVERS ------- CAUTION! You must install the same level of driver as the XelCore(TM) application. This means that version 1.x drivers will not work with version 2.x of the software, and vice-versa. DOCUMENTATION ------------- For information on how to install and use our product, launch the web-based help system from docs\welcome.htm. You can also view or print the PDF file of the same content from docs\User_Manual.pdf. KNOWN ISSUES ------------ **** IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WITH AN RC4000 SERIES **** **** RAID CONTROLLER, PLEASE CONTACT support@raidcore.com **** 1. An installation failure with a blue screen can be encountered if you are installing Windows XP-64 or Windows Server 2003-64 edition on a system that has more than one BC4XXX controller. If this occurs, install the operating system to one controller, then shut down the system, add another controller, and then finish the installation. If the boot array needs to span across more than one controller, first install the operating system to an array that resides only in one controller and it can then be spanned to disks on other controllers using the transform command. 2. Multiple Bootable Devices May Be Incompatible If there is more than one BIOS installed in the system, you may not be able to boot. On motherboards with embedded controllers, or when using the BC4000 Series RAID Controller with other bootable I/O storage controllers, Broadcom recommends disabling INT13 support on all controllers except the boot controller. 3. Disk drives previously used with 3Ware controller may not work If you have disk drives that were previously connected to a 3Ware controller with arrays, they may be left password protected against reads and writes by non-3Ware controllers. If this occurs, plug the disk drives back into the 3Ware controller and delete all the arrays on the drives (which will also delete all the data), then set all of the drives to be accessible as JBODs. This will clear the password protection so that the drive can be used with any controller. 4. BC4000 Controllers (except for HT-1000) Do Not Support Standby and Hibernate. The BC4000 Series (non-HT-1000) RAID Controllers do not support Windows Standby or Hibernate modes. HT-1000 controllers do support Standby and Hibernate. 5. Inconsistent Array and Disk Numbers Array and disk numbers in the BIOS may not match those shown in applications running in the operating system. 6. No System Crash Dumps If you are booting from the BC4000 Series RAID Controller, you will not receive Windows system crash dumps. 7. The feature level of the BC4810 and BC4410 Controllers does not allow: RAID5 RAID50 RAID1n RAID10n Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) Online Array Level Migration (ORLM) Controller Spanning Mirror Splitting If you are interested in these features, send e-mail to support@raidcore.com. CONTACT INFORMATION ------------------- sales@raidcore.com support@raidcore.com www.broadcom.com/storage Product Version: 2.1-0 Product Build: RC-210-2006044.3