Connecting multiple hard drives - best method?

I have 4 external hard drives and I was wondering what was a better connection strategy for connecting them to my imac:
1. Connect them all via usb to a usb hub and then the hub connected directly to one usb port on my imac. OR
2. Connect one of the hard drives to a firewire 800 port on my imac and the rest of the hard drives daisy chained to that drive one after another.
I've read that method 2 is best for speed but I've found that the drives will unmount a lot when I've don e it this way and the USB connection seems more stable. I'll be storing heavily accessed media on the external drives - music, video and photos, and the drives range in size from 750 GB to 400 GB.
Thanks!!!

I wonder why my hardrives keep un-mounting. It seems the cables are real fussy - meaning if I wiggle them a slight amount they unmount and then I can sometimes wiggle them around and they re-mount. Sometimes I can't get them to remount until I reboot a few times and yank in and out the cable. I'm wondering if it's the cables or the actual physical ports. The funny thing is that this un-mounting happens to all the drives sort of randomly - but more often to the third and fourth in the chain. They are all Weibetech hard drive enclosures with Seagate drives. Perhaps I have a bad FW800 port on my computer itself? IS there any way to test any of this?
Back to the first question - is method two the best solution from a speed and data transfer perspective or from a stability perspective?
Thanks!

Similar Messages

Best way of connecting multiple hard-drives to imac?

Hi - can anyone suggest the best way/alternative way to connecting 2 LACIE d2 extreme hard-drives to my imac G5.
Dilema - I don't have enough native firewire ports to have both drives direct to the imac. I don't have any firewire 800 sockets on the imac and I don't have enough native usb ports (although I don't really want to use USB anyway!).
Although I have both USB and Firewire hubs - I am not keen at putting harddrives through hubs.
However, what I was thinking (and this is the question really - has anybody done this?) - is it ok/stable to connect one drive to the other with firewire 800 cable and take the output of these two via firewire 400 to the imac? Is this an exceptable solution or are there any obvious alternatives I am missing?
Has anybody done this? Does it work fine/fast enough for video/audio projects?

I was disappointed at the lack of a second Firewire 400 port for chaining Fire wire devices on the LACIE drive when I got it, not that its a huge deal I guess.
So basically you want to try
[Drive 2] <<FW 800--Cable--FW 800>> [Drive 1] <<FW 800--cable--FW 400 >> [iMac FW 400 port]
or
[Drive 2] <<FW 800--Cable--FW 800>> [Drive 1] <<FW 400--cable--FW 400 >>[iMac FW 400 port]
I have no idea if this would work or not, cant wait to see if you can pull it off or not. For the first example it would depend on whether the FW 800 bus in the drive fell back to 400 speeds properly.
For the second example it would depend on whether the FW 800 and FW 400 connections in the drive were bridged or not if not then it would only see the first drive.
Hopefully someone has some first hand info out there. Good luck
--Spire

Connecting multiple hard drives to WRT160NL via usb hub

I have a regular usb hub with 3 hard drives connected. Will i be able to just plug the hub right into the
WRT160NL, and therefor have all 3 hard drives connected wirelessly to the network? Thanks!
-Jim

Who has correctly answered this question?
http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&message.id=146291#M...

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

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.

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

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.

How can i connect a hard drive attached to my router?

hello;
i have a zyxel vmg3312 dsl router and the router have a usb host and i attached my usb hard drive to the port. i can access all files from my PC but i cannot connect with my mac. the problem is when i try to connect to hard drive with smb connection like this.
my mac asks me to enter a user name and password like bellow and i don't have any. in PC i dont need any user name and password. the guest option is not letting me connect.
here is my question how can i connect my external hard drive attached to my router ?

You need to connect as a Registered User Create a USERNAME and a PASSWORD it has to be something you will remember not something you will forget in a week. Click to Remember this Password in my Keychain. After you are finished restart your computer and then connect.

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

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.

How to connect a hard drive on Airport Extreme (second edition)

how to connect a hard drive on Airport Extreme (second edition)? Does it need a special format? It is now fromat on FAT32, but i don't see it ??

The USB port your Mac is high powered. The port on the AirPort Extreme is not.
So, it tends to be borderline as far as its ability to supply sufficient power to a hard drive...even if the hard drive has its own power supply.
Often, users...including me....need to use a powered USB hub when they attach any drive to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme.
You might want to give that a try. Double check to make sure that the drive is formatted in FAT32 as well, since Windows NTFS or exFAT will not work with the AirPort Extreme.
Powering down and restarting the entire network.....modem first, then router, etc.....is something that you would always want to do after any change or addition to a network.

I'll explain. I downloaded the trial version of ps for 30 days. I connect my hard drive to compuuter

I'll explain. I downloaded the trial version of ps for 30 days.
I connect my hard drive to compuuter, I open raw files in bridge load a file into ps, after which I would like to elaborate the new hard drive to save it, but it opens a window that says'' can not save the file because it was not granted write access.'' sorry for the inconvenience and thank you

Means the folder you are trying to save to is read only. This is an OS thing about permissions.

After connecting the Hard Drive to the airport extreme, where can I find the file location in Windows 7

After connecting the Hard Drive to the airport extreme, where can I find the File Location (to access my files from my Hard drive)

Hi,
Try this select to check backup history:
Select
r1.database_name,
r1.name,
(case r1.[type] when 'D' then 'Full database backup' when 'I' then 'Differential database' when 'L' then 'Transaction Log Backup' else r1.[type] end) as BackupType,
r3.physical_device_name,
r1.backup_start_date,
r1.backup_finish_date,
r1.backup_size,
r1.compressed_backup_size,
r2.is_compressed,
r1.server_name,
r1.first_lsn,
r1.last_lsn
from msdb.dbo.backupset r1
inner join [msdb].[dbo].[backupmediaset] r2
on r1.media_set_id = r2.media_set_id
inner join [msdb].[dbo].[backupmediafamily] r3
on r1.media_set_id = r3.media_set_id

Can not get my Envy 15 3040nr to recognise my USB connected external hard drive

Hi All,
Have recently upgraded my HP Envy 15 3040 nr to Windows 8. All good except it wont recognise my USB connected external hard drive. At first I thought my USB port(s) might be faulty as it did recognise the drive a few weeks back but now it wont. Tried connecting other USB devices and they worked no problem.
I have also recently upgraded the BIOS on my laptop and wonderd if this might be the root cause. All in all somewhat perplexed.
Any ideas, suggestions greatly appreciated.

Hi
In order to resolve the issue that I think that you should uninstall the Universal Serial Bus controller in Device manger by uninstalling all options under the USB controller.
Then restart the laptop and uninstall driver will be installed automatically.
Tell me all findings that external harddrive is detected or not.

Connecting multiple hard drives - best method?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for