Combining Multiple Hard Drives

If I have a lot of data that needs to be split between multiple hard drives, is there any way of installing the drives but having the OS treat them as a single drive? The idea being that my file system would be just as easy to manage but I could have a huge amount of extra storage.
I've read a bit about using a RAID 0 array in order to do this, but apparently this splits up individual files between the drives to make the system faster, so if one drive fails, you've lost everything.
Is there a way of setting up the drives so that one drive is filled to capacity, then the second is filled and the third and so on? So it's just treated as one big hard drive without any file separation taking place?
Any help appreciated,
Thanks,
Adam
Message was edited by: AdColvin

what drives & capacity do you have? are they the same - match with one another?
RAID 0 "stripes" your data between a pair of usually matched drives - capacity, brand, model. 1TB drive + 1TB drive = 2TB of total storage. This makes things go fast, but isn't safe.
RAID 1 "mirrors" the data between a pair of usually matched drives - capacity, brand, model. 1TB drive + 1TB drive = 1TB of total storage. This isn't fast but keeps data safe.
RAID 10 combines both qualities above. it takes at least 4 drives, all identical, & is half of total storage. 4 x 1TB = 2Tb of total storage.
SPAN is when you take a group of disks & "add" them together to make one big pool of storage. it's not safe nor fast. a drive falling out of the array can create data loss.

Similar Messages

Multiple hard drives question

Hi:
I have multiple hard drives on my Mac Pro and I also have an iMac. I currently have Photoshop CS5 loaded on both Macs using the Snow Leopard operating system. Does anyone know if I try to load Photoshop CS5 on another hard drive on my Mac Pro swith Lion as the operating system, will that be considered like another "computer" and go beyond the two computers normally allowed?
Herman R

Does anyone know if I try to load Photoshop CS5 on another hard drive on my Mac Pro swith Lion as the operating system, will that be considered like another "computer" and go beyond the two computers normally allowed?
To my knowledge the restriction for PS activation is per computer and not per drive or operating system. At least I was able to have an old and a new system on separate HD in my MacPro with both CS5 able to run while also installed a version on my MacBook. All using Snow Leopard but I have no reason to believe this has changed for Lion.
But you are always able to install PS on more then two computers, the only downside is that you first have to deactivate one of them and activate the version on another computer. And activating and deactivating is not much work, just select it in the Help menu

Hard drive is full, how to make iTunes span multiple hard drives?

My mp3 drive is full. How do I tell iTunes to use multiple hard drives? It seems to only want to deal with one.

Hi, Mister Beefy.
All you have to do is go to the iTunes Edit menu > Preferences > Advanced tab > General sub-tab and change the location of your iTunes Music folder.
New files added to your Library will go to the new location, old files will remain in the old location.

Automated deployments of Windows 7 on systems with multiple hard drives

Last week I helped a customer use MDT2010 to deploy Windows 7 to ThinkStation systems with multiple hard drives. The customer has multiple HDDs in the system and wants Windows to be installed to the HDD that is connected to SATA port 1. Unfortunately Windows does not always assign "Disk 0" to the HDD on SATA port 1 - in fact it is completely random what disk ID gets assigned to which SATA port. The bug is documented by Microsoft in KB937251:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937251
MDT2010 uses hard-coded disk IDs (0, 1, 2, etc) to specify where Windows gets installed. And because of the bug, sometimes Windows gets installed to the HDD on SATA port 1 and sometimes it gets installed to a different HDD.
The solution is to install Windows to the HDD identified by the "SELECT DISK SYSTEM" command of DISKPART. This will always return the disk that is connected to the lowest SATA port.
To configure this in MDT2010, use the following steps (refer to the attachment):
1. copy "FormatPartition.txt" and "SystemDisk.vbs" to your Scripts folder in the Deployment Share.
2. in your Task Sequence, disable the existing step called "Format and Partition Disk" (see TaskSequence.jpg)
3. create a new step at the same location called "Format and Partition Disk (custom)". The type is "General -> Run Command Line". The command line is " cmd.exe /c "diskpart /s %SCRIPTROOT%\FormatPartition.txt" "
4. on the main screen for Deployment Workbench, right-click on the Deployment Share and select "properties", then click on the "rules" tab
5. under section [Default], add the following entries (see Rules.jpg)
    - UserExit=SystemDisk.vbs
    - DestinationDisk=#DiskID#
    - DestinationPartition=1
Hopefully this info will help someone else!
Attachments:
MDT2010.zip ‏261 KB

Last week I helped a customer use MDT2010 to deploy Windows 7 to ThinkStation systems with multiple hard drives. The customer has multiple HDDs in the system and wants Windows to be installed to the HDD that is connected to SATA port 1. Unfortunately Windows does not always assign "Disk 0" to the HDD on SATA port 1 - in fact it is completely random what disk ID gets assigned to which SATA port. The bug is documented by Microsoft in KB937251:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937251
MDT2010 uses hard-coded disk IDs (0, 1, 2, etc) to specify where Windows gets installed. And because of the bug, sometimes Windows gets installed to the HDD on SATA port 1 and sometimes it gets installed to a different HDD.
The solution is to install Windows to the HDD identified by the "SELECT DISK SYSTEM" command of DISKPART. This will always return the disk that is connected to the lowest SATA port.
To configure this in MDT2010, use the following steps (refer to the attachment):
1. copy "FormatPartition.txt" and "SystemDisk.vbs" to your Scripts folder in the Deployment Share.
2. in your Task Sequence, disable the existing step called "Format and Partition Disk" (see TaskSequence.jpg)
3. create a new step at the same location called "Format and Partition Disk (custom)". The type is "General -> Run Command Line". The command line is " cmd.exe /c "diskpart /s %SCRIPTROOT%\FormatPartition.txt" "
4. on the main screen for Deployment Workbench, right-click on the Deployment Share and select "properties", then click on the "rules" tab
5. under section [Default], add the following entries (see Rules.jpg)
    - UserExit=SystemDisk.vbs
    - DestinationDisk=#DiskID#
    - DestinationPartition=1
Hopefully this info will help someone else!
Attachments:
MDT2010.zip ‏261 KB

Is it possible to use multiple hard drives with iphoto?

I am pretty new to Mac's so bear with me, I used to use multiple hard drives on my pc with my photos seperated by catagory in different hard drives. Is it possible to run iphoto with multiple hard drives without the photos loading onto my Imac? If so, How do I set it up. I have tried importing to a external drive, but when I check the file path of the photos it shows my Imac hd in the address. I seriously dont know why I cant just add the external hard drive as a library and have Iphoto work, Help

There are instructions - and not the caveats - on how to do what you want below.
However, you'e not quite grasping iPhoto:
I used to use multiple hard drives on my pc with my photos seperated by catagory in different hard drives.
When you do this, you're using the Finder (or file manager) to categorise the photos. All well and good, but why? That's exactly iPhoto's job. iPhoto is a database designed to help you manage your pics - including categorising them.
Anyway:
*How to do it:*
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
*What Happens:*
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
*Some things to consider:*
1. Importing and deleting pics are more complex procedures. You have to to put the files where they will be stored before importing them. When you delete them you'll need to remove the files from the HD yourself.
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
4. *Because iPhoto has no tools for managing Referenced Files, if, for some reason, the path to the photos changes then you could find yourself resolving aliases for +each photo in the Library+ one by one.*
My own opinion:
I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers
If disk space is an issue, you can run an entire iPhoto Library from an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
If you're concerned about accessing the files, There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
If you really want to spread your photos across volumes like this, Aperture would be a better fit.
Regards
TD

Wiki: Using multiple hard drives, LVM & encryption

I have lately found myself with the issue of having multiple hard drives and wanting to do LVM stuff & encryption with while retaining maximum flexibility. After scanning through wikis, manpages and forum entries I came up with a solution for myself. The only thing I don't cover with it is mounting while booting as I don't need and can't test it.
I want to share the knowledge I gained and help other people find a solution faster and so I wrote a Wiki entry (first on my user page). I would now like to hear the opinion of the community regarding the following questions:
Do you see any security risks with my solution (especially the part on storing the unencrypted keyfile on a ramdisk)?
Do you think this text is worthy for a wiki entry or should I keep it in the forums?
Do you spot any errors (typing or else)?
Would you improve this article anywhere?
Of course, if you have further comments, I would like to here them as well. And now without further ado: Using multiple hard drives, LVM & encryption.
Regards,
javex
P.S.: As a small side question: Is my user page a good playground for article creation or would you recommend some other area where to do this (since here noone else could improve the article while in this early stage)?

mwmmartin wrote:
I have a 1 TB hard drive; but I have a 500GB and 250GB usb external hard drives.
Wouldn't it be cool if I could make the two external hard drives a RAID drive and use Time Machine to use all the 750GB of external memory to do my backups???
You can, but I would +*strongly recommend against+* it. See +Concatenated RAID+ in the Help for Disk Utility.
There are several potential problems:
Depending on how much data is on your 1 TB drive, 750 GB may not be enough to back it up. See #1 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
To set up a +Concatenated RAID+ set, both drives will be erased.
When (not if) either drive fails, you'll lose all the data on both.
Both drives must be connected any time you do a backup or want to browse your backups.
Especially with USB, if one drive wakes from sleep, or spins up, quickly enough, but the other one doesn't, the backup may fail and/or your backups may be corrupted.
For now, it looks like my only solution is to go buy a bigger external hard drive and spend more money,,,
That's your best solution +*by far.+* Anything else is taking a large risk with your backups.

What is the Best way to consolidate projects from multiple hard drives?

I am working on my first tv show. My team and I have been editing various clips on multiple hard drives. What is the best way to put all these different projects into one timeline while still maintaining the ability to edit individual "tracks"?
xmls?
omfs?
Please help

In project library > right click on project > consolidate media
Also
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12706?viewlocale=en_US

Image Selection Rule Properties - Multiple Hard Drives

How can I specify machines with multiple hard drives? I only see options for Hard drive size.

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:46:01 GMT, jayen wrote:
> How can I specify machines with multiple hard drives? I only see
> options for Hard drive size.
only in the script I would say..
Marcus Breiden
If you are asked to email me information please remove the - in my e-mail
address.
The content of this mail is my private and personal opinion.
http://www.didas.de

Multiple Hard Drive Failures on my Macbook Pro - Entourage reminders?

Over the past 2 months I've had three hard drives fail on three different macbook pro computers.
I've retraced my steps, searched many forums, and spoken with multiple Mac Geniuses but still can't figure out what's happening. The IT guy at work is about to kill me and I really want to figure out what's going wrong so I can fix it (or change my current behaviors).
Computer #1 - Out of the box, 2-3 weeks old. I took the computer home to do some work over the weekend. I didn't turn the it off before transporting it, but I did wait for it to go to sleep completely (I've since read that it takes a few moments while things in RAM switch over to the Hard Drive to save incase of power failure). I worked on it a bit at home, mostly just internet searches and a few word documents. When I returned to work my computer was running slowly and suddenly all of the programs locked. Since I've had this problem before with my personal computer (a G4 Powerbook), I tried the force quit options to no avail so I just held down the power key to power off. When I rebooted I got the dreaded "no" symbol.
Computer 2: IT gave me a used macbook pro that they repurposed for me. I made sure to shut down before transporting this computer. A few days later, before I even got to transfer all of my files, the computer started running slowly, programs locked. I eventually got the computer to shut itself down (as IT didn't want me to do a forced reboot) but upon restarting I got an even more dreaded screen, the folder with a question mark in it.
Computer 3: It was a fairly new computer, though a bit more ram, and probably only a few months old (used by a freelancer). It worked great. I took it home several times, transfered all of my files. Set up everything perfectly. Three weeks in, after working at my desk for about 4 hours, everything began to slow down. I called IT immediately and remotely sent a force shut down message. Nothing happened for about 15 minutes so I left for a meeting. I came back a few hours later and my computer was off. When it restarted, nothing appeared. There wasn't a "no" symbol or folder with a question mark in it, just a blank screen.
I've read and thought about all of the options.
- Large Magnet somewhere - It would have affected my personal computer (if at home) or my colleagues (if at work) or everyone else in nyc (while on the subway)
- Too hot - Possible I suppose, but how does running iTunes, powerpoint, and entourage do this?
- Downloaded something/Virus - We don't have administrative privileges. I can only update some software and send/receive folders. Plus, can any single file cause this much damage?
- Moved before asleep - This might have happened on the first computer, but I doubt it could happen to three. I always shut it down now before transporting, and I was sitting at my desk for hours before I had any trouble last time.
The one common factor that I haven't mentioned.
We use Entourage as a mail client here.
Each time the computer froze, the first things to freeze were the Entourage calendar reminders. Entourage seems to run strangely with the airport, but not with our LAN. When my computer froze last time, I had the aiport on but was working off the LAN. Could Entourage cause this much trouble? Has anyone else had trouble with entourage calendar reminders or failing hard drives?
Oh, and it also always happens on a Monday. I've taken the computers home multiple times though, so I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing during the transport or not, but the computer is always off now when I move it. I also cary my personal computer with me often, same routes and bags, so I'm not sure why it's not affected.
Thanks

columbus new boy wrote:
How crap is that?
It's not crap at all.
It's not that simple. For example, I've 3500 songs on my MacBook but don't want them all on my phone, so I have to manually select each song again???
There has to be a solution.
Why not simply make a playlist with the songs you want on the iPhone?
and maintain a current backup of your computer.

How to set up One iTunes Library with Multiple Hard Drives

Hello,
I have a question about setting up a daisy chain of external storage hard drives for my itunes library and need some advice. I have run out of room on my 4TB external storage. I have an additional 4TB and a 2TB external storage (all are MyBooks) and trying to figure out how to separate out my itunes folder: I would like to put the TV on one 4TB and the Movies and the other 4TB and the Music/Apps/etc on the 2TB. Here are my questions
1.) How to I point my iTunes to where I have moved them? Just make and alias of the folder and put that back in the original folder?
2.) How do I get the new iTunes downloads to go the correct folder to download so it does not set up a new library for downloading? Can I set more that one location in my preference? If so- how?
I have looked in the forums and all the information is older and does not address this exact issue.
Set up:
Mac mini hooked up to Vizio TV running Lion 10.7.2
      Processor 2.26 GHZ Intel Core Duo 2
     Memory 4GB ( do not really store anything on this one)
MY Books
     1 2TB   Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
     2 4TB   Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
     1 1TB   Mac OS Extended (Journaled)- this is for documents, etc
All these are daisy chain with 800 Firewire to the Macmini and hooked to TV with HDMI.
Any suggestions would be helpful. I can not download anything else from iTunes until I get this resolved and it is a real bummer.
Sara

Here are three different methods >
How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
This article > iOS: How to transfer or sync content to your computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296
suggests using contacts groups.
When syncing contacts, you can choose to sync all of your contacts or only selected groups.
You can select a group of contacts to which all new contacts created on your iOS device will be added.
You can set up groups in the Address Book application.
If you are all going to use the same iTunes apps library, turn off "Automatically sync new apps" in the apps tab just below the list of apps. Then you won't get new apps on your device unless you select them.

Any way to span a single iTunes Library over multiple hard drives?

I have a hard drive that is almost full and the only thing on it is my iTunes library. It is not feasible for me to get a larger hard drive as this one is already a 1TB hard drive. Now, I have seen I can create multiple libraries, with each library on a different hard drive if I wish. However, not only is most of the media in the library podcasts, using multiple libraries for a single iPod Touch would be a pain.
So, is there a way for the iTunes Library to span over more than one hard drive, but yet be a single library? It would make it easier to sync my iPod Touch.
Thanks in advance!

I'm assuming that I would have to "import" my old drive into the library
You don't import anything since your library is the same as it was. All those items are still in iTunes in the same location. The ONLY thing different is iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Or am I wrong and it will have my previous media folder still in the library, and anything new would be put in the new media folder?
Yes & yes. Everything in iTunes will still be in iTunes, stay in the same location it is now and iTunes will use it from there.
Anything new added to iTunes will go to the location you set in iTunes prefs -> Advanced.

Getting data from multiple hard drives onto one drive

So here's the problem: I have a Quicksilver 867 I want to upgrade, it came with no HD so I want a new one, I put my old strawberry imac's HD into it because I still have a use for all the programs on it (i.e. photoshop) and I wanted to take advantage of the QS' hardware (superdrive), also I know my department is getting rid of their old G4 and that computer has some programs I would rather see being used than being erased, so is there a way to copy all the information from those two drives onto a new drive and still have those programs working good? I've read about HD copying software but am still hazy on how it will handle individual programs? If I have to copy the whole drive, would there be a problem with multiple system folders being on the new HD? I don't have much experience with this sort of thing, so I hope I'm describing the situation well enough.
I plan to buy Tiger and install it on the new HD and the old drives are running os 9.1 and 9.2 just to let you all know. If anyone can give me some advice I would be most grateful.
thanks,
nick

Having multiple system folders on the same volume is a problem waiting to happen. The safest way to have trouble-free programs is to use the original installer CDs to load the software, so that all components (both visible and invisible) are written to their designated locations on the hard drive. Copying programs from another hard drive without ownership of the media is software piracy. If your employer doesn't use the programs on the soon-to-be discarded G4, why not ask if you can have or purchase the installer CDs?

Having a library on multiple hard drives

So in the past year I became a mac convert and I use my mac mini for just about everything I can. I’m thinking of buying a new ibook when they come out in march/april and have a question about itunes for anyone who can answer.
I currently have about 80 gb of music on an external hard drive that I plug into my mac mini. Obviously I wouldn’t be copying all this music to an ibook hard drive because then I would have verry little space left for applications… But I wouldn’t mind being able to copy some music onto it for when I’m on the road, and having the rest on my external for when I’m home. However when exploring itunes there doesn’t seem to be away to have multiple libraries on different drives.
Does anybody know a way to do this, or if there’s third party software that will assist with it?
ibook Mac OS X (10.4.4)

I believe if you just uncheck: "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to Library" under the advaced settings, that should work fine. I used to do this in the past before I moved everything to a file server. It worked for me, just be aware that if you try to play or synch something to your iPod that is not attached, it will complain.

Backing Up to Multiple Hard Drives

Is there a way to set up more than one set of "Time Machine" preference at a time?
I have three internal hard drives; a 500 Gb, a 120 Gb, and an 80 Gb. Currently, I have about 110 Gb used (total) on the 500 Gb drive which is my primary drive (I just recently installed it as my previous main 120 Gb drive was about maxed out). Prior to the installation of the 500 Gb drive, I used the 80 Gb drive as a Time Machine back up drive, but had to exclude many system files due to its limited size. At present, I can back up the current data on the 500 Gb drive to the 120 Gb drive, but I will soon max that drive out. I set up Time Machine to back up all my User data to the 120 Gb drive, and all other files (System, Library, Applications, etc) on the 80 Gb drive. However, I can find no way to set up Time Machine to back up to both of my back-up drives (all of the data on my 500 Gb drive) without going back into Time Machine and changing the preferences between the 120 Gb & 80 Gb drives each time (it only seems to have the capability to remember one set of preferences).
Several other back-up utilities have the capability to do this. Is there something I'm missing, or am I stuck with having to change my Time Machine preferences in order to ensure a complete system back-up?
Thanks in advance,
Bill

Time Machine is designed to have a very straightforward interface for users - it's on or it's off. Anything much more complex than that will require user thought and too many users won't use it.
As a result there isn't any way to do what you desire - there is a single Time Machine target that you get to work with and it won't backup to multiple destinations.
For that you will need some other backup software and will need to determine the backup rules for what to backup and to where, which comes back to the first point I made.
There are numerous third-party backup programs that you can use. They vary in their complexity and scale, so you'll need to determine which one suits you best.

Using Itunes with multiple hard drives

I'm a new mac user and have a 250GB external hard drive with two FAT partitions. They appear as two individual drives to my MAC. Each partition has a lot of music. Its more that one of the partitions can hold. I can access and play songs in itunes by accesing them through the file system on the hard drives.
I saw the option to point itunes to an external hard drive in the advanced general preferences tab, but it seems to have a limitation of one location/folder. I can't seem to find a way to make itunes aware of multiple folders which could exist on multiple disk. I'm using Itunes 7.02, on MAC 10.4.8. Is there a way to do this, or is it a limitaiton of itunes?
Joe

Jeveland,
Welcome to Discussions,
Although iTunes only has one 'iTunes Music folder location', the music can be stored at any location and added to the library.
The 'iTunes Music folder location' is the location where iTunes stores ripped CDs and purchased music. It does not tell iTunes where your music is stored.
The locations of your songs are stored in the 'iTunes Library' file.
Read more about the library files here.
Uncheck 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to the library' in Preferences>Advanced>General. Then add your music to the library.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner Mac OS X (10.4.8) iTunes 7.0.2

Combining Multiple Hard Drives

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