3-Drive/4-Drive RAID setup questions

I'm contemplating purchasing a new 8-core Mac Pro. I understand RAID but I'm not an expert. That said, I'm thinking of doing one of the following but I don't know if both are doable:
One setup is 1 hard drive for Mac OS X, and 3 RAID drives for the video capture (3TB total RAID 0 Seagate 7200rpm drives).
Or, my question, can I just RAID 0 all 4 drives together and then create a partition for Mac OS X? It seems like this would give A LOT faster bootable drive, plus the benefits of seperating the media storage from the operating system.
The reason I ask now is this makes a difference in my purchase decision. If I can RAID all 4 drives together, do they all have to be the same capacity for RAID 0? If not, I'll just get a standalone 320GB drive for the OS, and RAID the other three 1TB drives together.
Last question, would it help to use a dedicated RAID card like the CalDigit card (or Apple card) instead of software RAIDing within Mac OS X?
Thanks in advance.

First off - DO NOT put your system on your capture RAID. No no no. bad bad bad.
Yes you can RAID your other three drives into a RAID 0 configuration using Disk Utility. All drives should be the same size. Recognize two things with this setup --
1. If your system crashes, you loose the RAID partition as it is created and maintained through system software.
2. If you loose one of the three drives, you loose all the information on all three drives.
A more secure way to go is with a hardware RAID controller. Apple sells one with the MacPros and Caldigit has one as well.
With the Caldigit you can set up the 3 drives as a RAID 5 which will give you data security. I'm not sure what RAID configurations beyond 0 the Apple card supports.
Good luck.
x

Similar Messages

TS440 raid setup question

Hello all,
I installed an ssd with windows 8 into one of the sata ports in my mobo and the sata mode in bios is in ahci mode. i plugged one 4tb internal drive into one of the drive bays(drive bay 0). Everything is working fine. The 4tb shows up in my computer as does the ssd (boot)
The 440 comes with a pci raid card. i plugged in 3 1tb drives into the drive bays 5,6,7. I got into the raid configuration bios screen and set up my 3 1tb drives in raid 0 virtual drive. i initialized it and it seems okay. when i boot up everything is fine but the virtual drive doesn't show up.
Do i have to set the sata mode to raid in bios? Do i have to reinstall windows or could i just copy the current image to the ssd again? thanks

Phillip,
No, that's not how "mirroring" works. Really, there's no good way to do exactly what you want, although there are a few ways to go about "syncing" the files on multiple drives. Perhaps the best method would be to use the built-in command line utility "rsync," but even that will require some work on your part (it will never be as easy as you'd like).
Each computer really needs its own system, and with the rapid changes to Apple hardware that are currently the norm, these systems are likely to contain different drivers and OS build (my current MBP, for example, cannot be booted from a retail Leopard install disk, but an earlier one can). Your HOME folder, however, should be entirely "portable" between those installed systems.
That's what you would deal with if you used rsync; your HOME folder. It is a relatively easy task to sync the HOME folder on one computer with the that from the other, but it must be performed in the opposite direction at some later time (after you come home from traveling). Inevitably, you'll skip the syncing for some period of time after returning home and using the desktop. It is at this point that things can begin to "go south," and where it can get complicated. It's still not impossible with something as powerful as rsync, but the skill level required quickly goes up.
In the end, it might be much better to rely on MobileMe. After all, that's just what it is for. With MobileMe, the majority of your important things will be synced across multiple computers and devices automatically; things like email, bookmarks, contacts, calendars, etc., etc. (look at your MobileMe preferences to see the complete list of items you can sync). Everything else you can probably handle manually, without much trouble. In this regard, just storing a few types of data on an external hard drive would go a long way toward making the job easier.
Scott

[SOLVED] Possibly dead hard drive or bad raid setup...

I have a 4 drive raid5 running. Just recently one of the drives kept removing itself from the array. I have re / formated / partitioned the drive multiple times, but either mdadm doesn't accept the drive, or it accepts, resyncs, and when i try to access the raid it fails again.
I eventually pulled the drive out and plugged it into my desktop machine. That machine recognized the partition fine. However after putting the drive back into the raid i receive these sort of errors on startup:
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.942913] ata3.00: failed command: READ DMA
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.942922] ata3.00: cmd c8/00:08:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.942924] res 51/40:00:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error)
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.942928] ata3.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.942931] ata3.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.979780] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133
Jun 8 17:04:41 localhost kernel: [ 213.979794] ata3: EH complete
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508311] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508316] ata3.00: BMDMA stat 0x24
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508321] ata3.00: failed command: READ DMA
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508330] ata3.00: cmd c8/00:08:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508332] res 51/40:00:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error)
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508336] ata3.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.508339] ata3.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.538146] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133
Jun 8 17:04:44 localhost kernel: [ 216.538160] ata3: EH complete
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073696] ata3.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073701] ata3.00: BMDMA stat 0x24
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073705] ata3.00: failed command: READ DMA
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073714] ata3.00: cmd c8/00:08:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 4096 in
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073716] res 51/40:00:40:10:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x9 (media error)
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073720] ata3.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
Jun 8 17:04:47 localhost kernel: [ 219.073723] ata3.00: error: { UNC }
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.093967] ata3.00: qc timeout (cmd 0x27)
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.093972] ata3.00: failed to read native max address (err_mask=0x4)
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.093976] ata3.00: HPA support seems broken, skipping HPA handling
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.093980] ata3.00: revalidation failed (errno=-5)
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.093989] ata3: hard resetting link
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.567030] ata3: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587154] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/133
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587174] sd 2:0:0:0: [sde] Unhandled sense code
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587177] sd 2:0:0:0: [sde] Result: hostbyte=0x00 driverbyte=0x08
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587182] sd 2:0:0:0: [sde] Sense Key : 0x3 [current] [descriptor]
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587187] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587190] 72 03 11 04 00 00 00 0c 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 00
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587202] 00 00 10 40
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587207] sd 2:0:0:0: [sde] ASC=0x11 ASCQ=0x4
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587212] sd 2:0:0:0: [sde] CDB: cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 00 00 10 40 00 00 08 00
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587223] end_request: I/O error, dev sde, sector 4160
Jun 8 17:04:52 localhost kernel: [ 224.587228] Buffer I/O error on device sde1, logical block 512
I have tried using SMART to test the drives, however all the drives seem to fail with some sort of error. I believe this is a false positive as I have read elsewhere that the 1TB Green Western Digitals (WD10EARS) seem to have problems with SMART.
Is this drive dead? Its only a year old... and unfortunately just out of warranty.
Last edited by passbe (2011-06-24 08:52:16)

Ok so i zero filled /dev/sde, and re-added it back to the array. It synced (for 2 days), and then my RAID5 completely failed. I can't bring it back up at all now. My BIOS says one of the hard drives is dead (SMART error). Fair enough drive is dead. But now i cant get the 3 drives back up and running in the RAID.
I have attempted the following:
sudo mdadm --assemble -vv /dev/md127 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1
mdadm: looking for devices for /dev/md127
mdadm: cannot open device /dev/sdb1: Device or resource busy
mdadm: /dev/sdb1 has no superblock - assembly aborted
It complains that every device does not have a superblock?
A mdadm --examine on each drive:
/dev/sdb1
Magic : a92b4efc
Version : 1.2
Feature Map : 0x0
Array UUID : e3da6078:d4699e2d:c1da42cc:d58a42bf
Name : myhost:0
Creation Time : Sun Feb 27 09:27:39 2011
Raid Level : raid5
Raid Devices : 4
Avail Dev Size : 1953517954 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Array Size : 5860552704 (2794.53 GiB 3000.60 GB)
Used Dev Size : 1953517568 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Data Offset : 2048 sectors
Super Offset : 8 sectors
State : clean
Device UUID : 95618add:2d0b86be:d06cc198:1a5e101f
Update Time : Tue Jun 14 20:44:51 2011
Checksum : 51b4a80f - correct
Events : 4808
Layout : left-symmetric
Chunk Size : 512K
Device Role : Active device 0
Array State : A.A. ('A' == active, '.' == missing)
/dev/sdc1
Magic : a92b4efc
Version : 1.2
Feature Map : 0x0
Array UUID : e3da6078:d4699e2d:c1da42cc:d58a42bf
Name : myhost:0
Creation Time : Sun Feb 27 09:27:39 2011
Raid Level : raid5
Raid Devices : 4
Avail Dev Size : 1953517954 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Array Size : 5860552704 (2794.53 GiB 3000.60 GB)
Used Dev Size : 1953517568 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Data Offset : 2048 sectors
Super Offset : 8 sectors
State : clean
Device UUID : 3056502e:51e004d0:4380f027:fe2d9ebc
Update Time : Tue Jun 14 20:44:51 2011
Checksum : e0b65526 - correct
Events : 4808
Layout : left-symmetric
Chunk Size : 512K
Device Role : Active device 2
Array State : A.A. ('A' == active, '.' == missing)
/dev/sdd1
Magic : a92b4efc
Version : 1.2
Feature Map : 0x0
Array UUID : e3da6078:d4699e2d:c1da42cc:d58a42bf
Name : myhost:0
Creation Time : Sun Feb 27 09:27:39 2011
Raid Level : raid5
Raid Devices : 4
Avail Dev Size : 1953517954 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Array Size : 5860552704 (2794.53 GiB 3000.60 GB)
Used Dev Size : 1953517568 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Data Offset : 2048 sectors
Super Offset : 8 sectors
State : clean
Device UUID : 3b7ea2c8:9fd80575:94fbe3a0:cde69026
Update Time : Tue Jun 14 20:34:16 2011
Checksum : 2f1a716 - correct
Events : 4791
Layout : left-symmetric
Chunk Size : 512K
Device Role : Active device 1
Array State : AAAA ('A' == active, '.' == missing)
/dev/sde1 (This is the bad drive)
Magic : a92b4efc
Version : 1.2
Feature Map : 0x0
Array UUID : e3da6078:d4699e2d:c1da42cc:d58a42bf
Name : myhost:0
Creation Time : Sun Feb 27 09:27:39 2011
Raid Level : raid5
Raid Devices : 4
Avail Dev Size : 1953523057 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Array Size : 5860552704 (2794.53 GiB 3000.60 GB)
Used Dev Size : 1953517568 (931.51 GiB 1000.20 GB)
Data Offset : 2048 sectors
Super Offset : 8 sectors
State : clean
Device UUID : bad3c5fd:3e439065:957ca15a:412339dc
Update Time : Tue Jun 14 20:44:51 2011
Checksum : 98033b24 - correct
Events : 4808
Layout : left-symmetric
Chunk Size : 512K
Device Role : spare
Array State : A.A. ('A' == active, '.' == missing)
The only difference being that /dev/sdd1 thinks that the RAID has all four devices? Where do i go from here, I'm completely stuck and about to loose 50% of my data. Help!?!

Nominal configuration for boot drive and internal RAID setup

Hello, I'd appreciate some advice on the following please.
I'm planning the build of a Mac Pro to act mainly as a photo editing workstation.
Considering the following disc setup:
Bay 1. 500GB with two partitions - 150GB for OS X and remaining for applications
Bay 2. 250GB XP/Vista for occasional use. All Windows apps/data quarantined on this disk.
Bays 3 and 4. 2x 500GB RAID0 (backed up externally) for data and workspace.
WRT RAM, I've read that 4 matched DIMMs in the same riser is the optimal config, so looking at 4x 1GB.
I'd be grateful for any comments as to whether I'm on the right track here.
Thanks
Ben
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.10)

I set up a similar configuration for photo editing. First, partitions are not as useful as they were in the pre OS X era. Just load your OS and all applications on the same drive as there is no benefit, as far as I know, to separating them into partitions. Second, your 4 X 1GB RAM should be split between the two risers, not on the same riser. Put two DIMMs in the first two slots of each riser. 4 X 1GB hits a sweet spot in the cost/benefit analysis as long as you don't need more than 4GB. I use Lightroom extensively and 4GB is plenty.

Z97 MPOWER MAX AC RAID Setup Question

Apologies if this is in the wrong place; I wasn't sure if I should stick this here or in the Windows x86/x64 board.
Essentially, what I would like to do is this:
Set up a RAID 1 (disk mirroring) array using the integrated Intel raid controller on my Z97 MPOWER MAX AC motherboard using two 1TB WD Blue drives. After setting up the array in BIOS, I'm wanting to do a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate (OEM).
My question is this: If I wanted to set up a software recovery partition (like how OEMs ship most systems these days with an OS recovery partition), how would I go about setting up this partition in relation to setting up the RAID array and installing Windows? Is it even possible to do what I'm trying to accomplish, or am I giving the "department of redundancy department" a run for their money?
Many thanks.
EJ

isn't that you will still need the bios to be modified first so it will point to your OS recovery?

K8n Neo Platinum non-booting SATA RAID setup question

I've spent several hours searching an reading trying to find out how to setup a non-bootable SATA RAID. All I can seem to find are posts about bootable installs using F6 and the drivers on a floppy.
I have setup the disks in the bios an defined the array an everything checks out. But when I boot back to WindowsXP it only sees 2 drives that it cannot find drivers for even if I point it to the correct Nvidia directory. I attempted to just reinstall the drivers but that caused a Bluescreen from a corrupt driver file that I then had to go into the repair console to copy from a floppy.
The manual an a couple of posts here say that I should go into Admin Tools-> Disk Management an it will then popup a wizard. But I'm not getting that far.
I currently have the disks on SATA 1 and 2 but will move them tonite because I've read its better for them to be on 3 and 4.
This is on a K8N Neo Platinum 7030 on Windows XP SP2. If anyone could help or just point me to where I can find help it would be greatly appreciated.

When the raid controller is enabled in bios and you start windows you can install the nvidia raid driver
from within windows .
Use the add hardware wizard from control panel .
Start the add-hw wizard .
Yes i have connected the hw - next .
Add a new hw device (bottom of the list ) -next .
Install the hw that i select manually from a list - next .
Select scsi/raid controller - next .
Choose have disk .
Then browse for the location of the nvraid.inf file

MSI Z87-G45 Super Raid setup questions

I have a MSI Z87-G45 board and two SSD's. I have never setup raids before but plan to do so. I saw there is a app to install for Super Raid. I thought I had to setup raid before installing windows? Seeing the app is something I can download from the MSI Live Update app it makes me think I can setup this up after windows has been installed. Is this correct?
If not how do I go about setting up Raid? I don't mind reinstalling windows if I need to. I did not see raid options in the Bios.
Thank you

I bet that mSATA is controlled By that same controller and so you cant use some of your SATA port same time as you use those mSATA cards, SSDs,...
To need to get in BIOS and change to RAID makes it kinda HW RAID and so that "Best Solution" is kinda wrong. As you can format it in current Windows, but you need to reg edit before or you get Blue Screen and so cant get in OS.
You have had allways chanse to use diffrent drives like HDD's and SSD's in mix When they have same data cable like SATA. The speed and size, go like allways higer rules.
I need to read more in to this Super RAID. But i ges you arent in useing mSATA, so use it like normal HW RAID and get real intel drives for it (in USB stick) before os install and install them on screen you choose your drive. That way you dont need to update them after install
Have great Hollydays! Cheers Mummy

GS60 RAID Setup Question

Hey I recently grabbed a GS60-PC and I was interested in setting up the 2 m.2 ssd drives in RAID 0 but I cannot find any documentation around it. I did a search through the forum and quite a bit came up around RAIDs but nothing directly related to this notebook or the MS-16H2 board.
Some help or clarification would be helpful I have another RBU-SNS8100S3128GD1 on the way and I'd like to know what my options are.
Thanks

Quote from: jbober14 on 13-March-15, 17:33:08
Hey I recently grabbed a GS60-PC and I was interested in setting up the 2 m.2 ssd drives in RAID 0 but I cannot find any documentation around it. I did a search through the forum and quite a bit came up around RAIDs but nothing directly related to this notebook or the MS-16H2 board.
Some help or clarification would be helpful I have another RBU-SNS8100S3128GD1 on the way and I'd like to know what my options are.
Thanks
Hi,
See this:

Z87-GD65 Raid setup question

I have a Z87-GD65. I have a Samsung 250GB SSD as my main C: drive. I also have 2 1TB WD hard drives that I like to put into a Raid1 config. Can I just create the raid array with the 2 WD drives and leave the OS drive alone? In the BIOS, should I be setting the SATA mode to Raid? Will that mess with the Windows install on the SSD since it was AHCI? I'm a little confused here on how to proceed.

Ok, I got it working per your instructions. Thanks for the info. Under the iaStorA and iaStorAV section in the registry, there is a sub-section under each called "Startup Parameters" and had a key of "zero" with a setting of "3". I changed those to "0" and rebooted, went into the BIOS, changed to Raid from ACHI, and I was able to Boot the OS on the SSD without problems. I rebooted again, went into the Raid BIOS, created the Raid 1 with the 2 drives and got into Windows. Went into the Intel Storage manager, initialized the Raid volume which took about 3 hours.
Thanks for the info. Everything worked great.

Using Disk Utility for RAID setup?

I just purchased 2 1TB Seagate Hard Drives 32mb cache 7200prm that I want to setup a RAID 0 (striping I believe) for Final Cut Pro for rendering. Well I also have a 3rd drive that is identical, question is does more drives in that RAID setup mean faster performance? 2 drives vs 3 or 4, etc.? Also what do you think that actual difference in reading and writing would be approximately?

You can find the max sustained, the average I/O, and minimum. From reviews and Seagate product spec details. There is some overhead for each drive as you seek and assemble the parts of a file.
The burst rate of the drive is likely around 135MB and average of the outer half a solid 100MB/sec.
The bandwidth in the Mac Pro totals 1GB for all drives, even though each is supposed to have 3Gbps.
SSDs are fast catching on for speed and fast system drives, even in stripe raid.
Don't mix 7200.12 with .11s or even different model/series/firmware. And Seagate has had its hands full with firmware issues for years, going back to the intro of SATA actually.
If you want one large volume and if having 200MB/sec matters or helps, you might want to RAID, even partition each drive first to 3/4 level and stripe that 3/4 together to guarantee 200MB/sec range.
But experiment for a couple weeks first.

Unable to create partition after RAID setup failure

SL - Tried to create RAID 1 with two external 250G drives. The RAID setup failed indicating improper format pair. So....I attempted to re-create the partition on one of the drives with proper settings.
It will not partition at all. It returns a POSIX error: unable to allocate memory.
I've tried the following:
Using startup disk
Partitioning using WindowsXP (which worked....only for Windows)
Tried erasing
Tried to partition with each partition type.
Nothing works! However, when I restart SL, it pops open a window indicating the drive needs to be 'initialized'. I click 'initialize' button, but that doesn't help.

Do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Are you trying to create a RAID using partitions on hard drives or using the entire drive?

Reformatting external drive to Mac OS Extended but maintaining RAID setup

Hi again,
I am considering taking the leap finance-wise and purchasing [this external drive|http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WDH2Q20000N-Studio-Interface/dp/B00 16P7H3Q/ref=cmcr_pr_producttop]. It comes pre-formatted to HFS+ or something, so I guess I will need to reformat it to Mac OS Extended to use it with FCE.
So here are the questions:
*1. Would it make more sense to use it in RAID 0 mode for faster speed, or RAID 1 mode to keep a safer backup of my files?*
*2. Would reformatting it to Mac OS Extended for use with FCE still allow it to use normal RAID abilities?*
I realize this is not the right forum for posting this, but I thought someone here might be knowledgable about backup in general and how to best format an external drive for use with FCE, while maintaining the ability to have a "mirrored" RAID setup. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Sasha
Message was edited by: skalicki`

So just one more question because I'm pretty new to this whole RAID thing:
Say I formatted the drive to RAID 1 so in theory I have 1TB of space that is "mirrored" over to the other external drive.
*When I ingest my footage, will copies be stored to both drives, so if one fails, I will still have my media?*
I gathered this was the idea but didn't know how it works with FCE.

Mac Pro Hard Drive Setup Question

Mr. FedEx brought me my Mac Pro today and I'm getting ready to set it up. I'm migrating from a PowerBook G4 17 inch and got the Mac Pro 3.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, and four 500 GB hard drives. I figure I should do a freash install of Aperture instead of using the Migration Wizard. The question for the night is, how should I handle the four hard drives? Out of the box I see four seperate hard drives labled Macintosh HD. For Aperture, should I use software raid across all four drives or only three leaving the OS drive by itselft for applications?
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Sure you can... I got a Raid 0 on two 300Gb drives on my boot drive... They host the OS and my apps.
The trick is that its got to be a fresh install. You boot with your hardware giag disk and in the menu you have the disk utility. Create the RAID setup and then quit. You can now boot the disk with the OS install and it will recognize it as such.
Now - a few things to consider. Next version of OS X has Time Machine that that expects a volume (a disk, the whole disk) for it to work. So it would be cool if you find out about it and sort of prepare for it.
Having said that I would Raid0 two pairs and Raid1 the two. This is called Raid 1+0 or Raid 10. Its a good compromise but if drive 1 AND 3 fail then there is no backup. I would also get an external firewire disk (say 300Gb or 500Gb) and use it as a vault. But that is because I can't think of running the machine with a full backup of what I got, still not a perfect solution.
The way I got it is using Raid 0 on my OS and Apps (600Gb) with an external Firewire disk for backup. (no Raid 0 - so there is no statistical odds to beat)
Apeture has two drives. Two Firewire 800 (1Tb) drives, one the library and the other is the vault. The vault also stores the deleted images, so you will have to clean every now and then or it will grow faster than your library.
http://www.terraoptica.com

What RAID Setup do you use for your Macbook Pro Scratch Drive?

Is there any benefit to using an Express-ESata Raid Enclosure vs a single esata drive as the scratch drive?
If so, is there any benefit to using a 4 drive Raid 0 vs a 2 drive raid 0?
What Raid setups are any of you all using with your MacBook Pro's? Is there a significant performance difference between using a E-Sata drive and a FW800 drive. Is RAID the right way to go?
Sorry I'm not making a lot of sense right now, but I've searched through 20 or so pages of the forum and didn't see that anyone had addressed this question yet.

OK, just to give you a frame of reference, I just performed the following tests -
I hooked up my Sony AVCHD camera to my Mac Book Pro 2.4 ghz with 4 GB ram - (pretty close configuration to yours) - and imported a 26 second clip into FCP 7 with the following drive configurations:
Capture to internal Mac Drive, no externals: 26 Second clip takes 44 seconds
Capture to external WD USB2 drive: 26 Second clip takes 44 Seconds
Capture to external CalDigit 2 Sata Drive Array, Raid 0, via Firewire 800: 26 Second clip takes 42 seconds
OK, so now I move the camera over to my Mac Pro 8-Core, 2 x 3.2 Ghz Quad Core Xeon with 14 gigs of ram, and capture *to the same external CalDigit 2 Sata Drive Array,* Raid 0, via Firewire 800: 26 Second clip takes 11 seconds
My conclusion would be the drives and drive throughput is not as consequential as the CPU horsepower in doing the conversion from AVCHD to Pro Res. However, there are many very knowledgeable people who look at these threads, and I would be interested to hear what they have to say.
Hope this helps.
Message was edited by: Meg The Dog to correct typo

915P-Combo drive setup question

Great forum – I’m glad that I found it (just wish I found it before putting my system together). I just constructed my first pc based on a 915P-Combo motherboard and everything has gone well. I only made one mistake – I ordered two SATA 160G drives thinking I could do a SATA RAID 0. Oops...
There are two reasons why I thought that I could – one is on the motherboard box it says “SATA and IDE RAID compatible”. Ok, that can be read two ways – I know. Well, then I actually downloaded the user manual and it describes how to set up a SATA RAID array (in Chapter 5). So I was a little surprised that it can’t do SATA RAID. So now I’ve got my two SATA drives set as two separate drives. No big deal, and for the price the motherboard is a great value anyway.
So my question is that I need to build a second machine that will basically be a clone of the first and I wanted opinions about the hard drive options. Since I will be playing games and doing some home theatre stuff (watching and recording movies) I would like at least 300G with good read/write specs. I also want the simplicity of a single drive so it looks like my options are:
1) A single large SATA drive (300G or so)
2) Two IDE (150G or so) drives in a RAID 0 array
And I just wanted to know what the opinions of the forum are. Will the performance of the IDE RAID 0 be that much better than the 150Mbps (that I understand SATA can do) to justify it?
Also to do the IDE RAID 0 my understanding is that I would hook one drive to IDE2 and one to IDE3 (with them both set to master) – is that correct? I would have my DVD-R/W on IDE1 as it is now.
I appreciate any opinions you have on this. Thanks for your help.

I recommend 2 x 160GB IDE HDDs, RAID 0 + 1 x 250GB/300GB SATA HDD + Dual Channel 512MB DDR 533MHz RAMs + Enermax 475watts / Antec 480watts PSU + P540 - 3.4GHz CPU.
The 150MBps on SATA is just the theory only, the actual transfer rates is still dependent on the system overall performance so don't rely on it too much as you'll never get to even hit 100MBps on any system in the real world enviroment. This applies to IDE as well.
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