# Creating logical drives > advanced settings

Note: Not all options are available for all RAID levels.

Use the Advanced settings in the Configuration wizard to tune your logical drive configuration for optimal performance. You can set the following options:

- Write cache - Determines how data is stored in the controller's cache memory. You can choose from two available settings: write-through and write-back.
- stripe-unit size - Determines the amount of data, in kilobytes (KB), written to one segment of a logical drive before the next segment is used for subsequent data. Depending on the controller, you can choose a stripe-unit size from 16 KB to 1024 KB.
  Notes:
  1. The default stripe size usually provides the best performance for typical applications.
  2. To change the stripe size of an existing logical drive, you must expand or migrate the logical drive.
  3. For RAID Level-6 and Level-60 logical drives, the number of choices for stripe-unit size decreases as the number of disks in the logical drive increases.
- Read cache - Enables and disables read caching. When read-caching is enabled, the controller monitors read access to the logical drive. If it detects a pattern, it pre-loads the cache with the data that seems most likely to be read next. The default is Enabled.
- Initialize method - Determines the method used to initialize the logical drive. You can choose from three available methods:
  - Auto-synchronization - For RAID Level-1 logical drives, copies the data from the primary drive to the mirror drive. For RAID Level-5 logical drives, computes and writes the correct parity for the entire logical drive.
    Note: Auto-synchronization can be a lengthy operation. The ServeRAID Manager performs this task in the background. However, you cannot use the logical drive until the task is complete.
  - Clear - removes pre-existing data by overwriting every block in the logical drive. This method is faster than auto-synchronization but the logical drive is not available immediately.
    For HostRAID controllers, the ServeRAID Manager supports the Clear initialization method only.
  - Quick - makes the logical drive available immediately. It is the fastest method but should be used only for new physical disks.
- Initialize priority - Adjusts the priority of the initialization task. The default is High: initialize the logical drive as fast as possible.

When you are ready to continue, click Next. The "Configuration summary" window opens.

## More information

- Understanding stripe-unit size
- Understanding write-cache mode for logical drives
- Understanding logical-drive synchronization

Glossary | Contents

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