Intel Matrix Storage Manager 6.2.0.2002 WHQL

Intel Matrix Storage Technology provides new levels of protection, performance, and upgradeability in 2006 for desktop and mobile platforms. Whether using one or multiple hard drives, users can take advantage of enhanced performance and lower power consumption. When using more than one drive the user can have additional protection against data loss in the event of hard drive failure.

Valuable digital memories are protected against a hard drive failure when the system is configured for any one of three fault-tolerant RAID levels: RAID 1, 5 or 10. By seamlessly storing copies of data on one or more additional hard drives, any hard drive can fail without data loss or system downtime. When the failed drive is removed and a replacement hard drive is installed, data fault tolerance is easily restored. In this way, Intel Matrix Storage Technology provides the level of data protection necessary for today's digital compute platorms. In the digital office the increased redundancy reduces costly downtime and maintains employee productivity involving the PC.

Intel Matrix Storage Technology can also improve the performance of disk intensive retrieval applications such as editing home video. By combining from two to four drives in a RAID 0 configuration, data can be accessed on each drive simultaneously, speeding up response time on data-intensive applications. Also, due to drive load balancing, even systems with RAID 1 can take advantage of faster boot times and data reads. In the office there are more background tasks such as virus scans, data backup, e-mail, and data processing consuming storage resources. Implementing a basic RAID 1 configuration helps alleviate the bottleneck encountered by running these added tasks.

Intel Matrix Storage Technology provides benefits to users of a single drive as well. Storage performance is improved through Native Command Queuing (NCQ), harnessing the quad DMA controllers in the hardware, and optimized hardware & software tuning. For mobile systems, longer battery life is enabled through Link Power Management (LPM) which can reduce the power consumption of the chipset and SATA* hard drive. To warn of possible hard drive failures, SMART alerting is provided, notifying users when the drive detects potential oncoming failure. For those who wish to later upgrade to RAID capabilities, a system with Intel Matrix Storage Technology pre-installed allows a simplified upgrade to any supported RAID level without having to reinstall the operating system or incur any downtime.