Does FireWire 800 see individual drives in a four bay hard drive enclosure?

I am trying to find a four bay hard drive enclosure with FireWire 800 interface, AND through this one FW800 connection my OS can see the four hard drives individually (similar to USB interface or Port Multiplier on eSATA interface). Anyone knows whether such a product exists? Thanks.

I'm not sure you fully understand how the hardware/software RAID system functions. If you create a mirrored RAID with either then you have redundancy for drive failure. This would be the case for either hardware or software arrays. If you create a striped array with hardware or software then there is no redundancy regardless of which method you use.
An enclosure failure can occur whether you use software or hardware based arrays, so the failure risks are the same. There's no reason to believe that the failure risk of the enclosure would be greater than using software. In fact it's likely that the hardware would be more reliable. As for differences between eSATA and Firewire reliability I'm not sure why your would believe one is more reliable than the other unless you have data that supports such a conclusion.
If you are overly cautious about backups (which is a good thing) then I would look for an enclosure in which you could have two separate striped arrays. Then the two striped arrays are configured into a single mirrored array. That way you have two separate backups - a main one and the mirror. This gives both drive and data redundancy. The main risk is if one drive in each array fails simultaneously. The risk of this would be fairly low I would think. Even this risk can be removed if the box supports other types of arrays than just 0, 1, and 0-1. See the following:
RAID Basics
For basic definitions and discussion of what a RAID is and the different types of RAIDs see RAIDs. Additional discussions plus advantages and disadvantages of RAIDs and different RAID arrays see:
RAID Tutorial;
RAID Array and Server: Hardware and Service Comparison>.
Hardware or Software RAID?
RAID Hardware Vs RAID Software - What is your best option?
RAID is a method of combining multiple disk drives into a single entity in order to improve the overall performance and reliability of your system. The different options for combining the disks are referred to as RAID levels. There are several different levels of RAID available depending on the needs of your system. One of the options available to you is whether you should use a Hardware RAID solution or a Software RAID solution.
RAID Hardware is always a disk controller to which you can cable up the disk drives. RAID Software is a set of kernel modules coupled together with management utilities that implement RAID in Software and require no additional hardware.
Pros and cons
Software RAID is more flexible than Hardware RAID. Software RAID is also considerably less expensive. On the other hand, a Software RAID system requires more CPU cycles and power to run well than a comparable Hardware RAID System. Also, because Software RAID operates on a partition by partition basis where a number of individual disk partitions are grouped together as opposed to Hardware RAID systems which generally group together entire disk drives, Software RAID tends be slightly more complicated to run. This is because it has more available configurations and options. An added benefit to the slightly more expensive Hardware RAID solution is that many Hardware RAID systems incorporate features that are specialized for optimizing the performance of your system.
For more detailed information on the differences between Software RAID and Hardware RAID you may want to read: Hardware RAID vs. Software RAID: Which Implementation is Best for my Application?

Similar Messages

I currently have a MAC Mini, which has 1 Firewire 800 port. I have a 1TB external hard disk that runs at Firewire 400. Can I insert another external hard drive that runs at Firewire 800?

Here's the deal. Currently running SL 10.6.8 on a MAC Mini. Planning for eventual upgrade to ML. Have a 1TB external hard drive partitioned into two volumes, one volume for Time Machine and one volume for SL which I periodically update using Superduper. Thus I always have a point-in-time bootable backup on the external hard drive.
The MAC Mini supports Firewire 800. However, booting from my current external hard disk is pretty slow, since it only supports Firewire 400. I am considering buying an Iomega MiniMax which supports Firewire 800. Then, I would use the MiniMax as my bootable backup volume, and relegate the older hard drive to Time Machine.
So, question #1 is, can I daisychain the new MiniMax between the MAC Mini and my existing external hard drive? My expectation is that the new Mini Max would run using Firewire 800 and that the existing hard drive would run at Firewire 400 speed as it does today. If it doesn't (e.g., daisychaining in the Firewire 400 external disk with the MiniMax Firewire 800 external disk ends up running the whole leg at 400), my resolution will be to run the existing hard disk off an available USB port and have just the MiniMax running at Firewire 800.
Why am I going to all this trouble? That's question #2. I don't trust upgrades; they always break something. When I upgraded from 10.5.x to 10.6.x, the web directories got renamed, and all of my web apps 403'd until I figured out what happened. Plus, I have accounts for other family members, and in order to ensure their ability to use the computer during my upgrade process, I need to have the ability to fall-back quickly to a known-stable version of OSX. So what I'm trying to do is insulate myself from problems by partitioning the MiniMax into two volumes, taking a Superduper image of my current installation on the Mac Mini to MiniMax external drive volume 1, then upgrading to ML on the MAC Mini, and take a SuperDuper image of that to MiniMax external drive volume 2. Then, if the upgrade results in problems I can't resolve immediately, I can simply reimage the MAC Mini from MiniMax volume 1. BUT ...
... I've read that the ML installation creates a "service and support" partition that is different than the startup disk. I'm concerned that I won't be able to reimage the hard disk in the MAC Mini once I upgrade it to ML because of the partitioning changes it introduces on the startup disk. Theoretically, I +should+ be able to use the disk utility on my SL system to repartition the disk in the MAC Mini prior to reimaging it from my backup, but I'm considering the possibility that the new partition may be of a type that the SL disk utility cannot identify, and might therefore be unable to delete or even detect. So I'm hoping someone else has been down this road and can advise me. Even at Firewire 800 speeds, booting from an external disk is still going to be slow, so I want to be able to restore my SL image to the MAC Mini hard disk.
A little background on me. I work for a major disaster recovery provider. I used to have a Mac PRO G5, which I got used, and the first thing I did with it was install a second hard disk, SuperDupe an image from the first disk to the second, and made sure I could boot from the second. THEN I started using and customizing the MAC. I really feel vulnerable with the MAC Mini, since it only has the single internal hard drive - sort of like going out in public dressed only in a long T-shirt. So my whole thing is, I ABSOLUTELY MUST BE ABLE TO PUT THINGS BACK THE WAY THEY WERE before I do the migration to ML.
Obsessive-cumpulsive? Yep. Anal? You got it. That's why I'm in the DR business.

You may have overloaded the port, following the instructions below it should reset:
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Disconnect all devices and all other cables, except the keyboard and mouse cable(s).+
+3. Disconnect the computer from the power outlet and wait for 3 to 5 minutes.+
+4. Plug the computer back in and turn it on.+
+5. Reconnect the device(s) (one at a time if there is more than one) and test. Test with each port if you have more than one.+
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1317?viewlocale=en_US

Why does firefox's internet files take so much space on hard drive?

Why does firefox's internet files take so much space on hard drive?For example, I have 9,80GD on disk and after looked 2 video on youtube(2-3 min each) it's become 9,60GB. It's 200MB gone!

Diane Wordsmith wrote:
If you did not see the dialog box asking if you wanted to delete from the hard drive, I think this may be one of those options where you can say "Don't ask again," meaning until you trash your iTunes prefs, it will cease asking the question.
you can bring those dialogs back. iTunes > preferences > advanced > reset all dialog warnings
JGG

HT204414 does the system library need to be on the primary hard drive or can it be on my external hard drive and still be able to use the cloud?

does the system library need to be on the primary hard drive or can it be on my external hard drive and still be able to use the cloud?

I have the system Library on a second internal drive and it is syncing with iCloud with no problems. Also the Media Browser it seeing it there.
Only make sure, your external drive is directly connected and correctly formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled).

I am running out of memory on my hard drive and need to delete files. How can I see all the files/applications on my hard drive so I can see what is taking up a lot of room?

I am running out of memory on my hard drive and need to delete files. How can I see all the files/applications on my hard drive so I can see what is taking up a lot of room?
Thanks!
David

Either of these should help.
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
http://www.whatsizemac.com/
Or search 'disk size' in the App Store.
Be carefull with what you delete & have a backup BEFORE you start, you may also want to reboot to try to free any memory that may have been written to disk.

I move folders from my internal hard drive twice to an external hard drive. Now I believe Lr does not know how to find my photos. What can I do to get this cleared up.

I move folders from my internal hard drive twice to an external hard drive. Now I believe Lr does not know how to find my photos. What can I do to get this cleared up.

Jim has a very good suggestion. There are many factors at work here:
1) How are you connecting the external drive to the computer?
2) How big are files (329 x 1MB is not the same as 329 x 25MB)?
3) What is your computer specification?
4) Do you have any power saving settings on (in particular something that would send the computer/hard drives to sleep)?

HT1751 My win8 pc hard drive failed. After the hard drive was replaced, I copied iTunes Media backupfiles from external hard drive (Karen's Replicator was used). ITunes does not recognize the back up files - help! (it does show cloud & recently burned m

My win8 pc hard drive failed. After the hard drive was replaced, I copied iTunes Media backupfiles from external hard drive (Karen's Replicator backup software was used). ITunes does not recognize these back up files even though the location is the same as cloud & recently burned music that does show- help! The backup files consist of 34,000+ songs; almost all burned from my own CD collection. I do have most of the songs on an ipod classic but hesitate to try to restore from that. Can someone tell me how to get these 34,000 songs to show up in iTunes? Thanks!!

This diagram shows how a typical iTunes library ought to be set out (click on it to enlarge)
The red outline highlights the media folder and its contents, the various subfolders are only created if that kind of content is in your library. The right-hand side shows the files that should be found in the iTunes library folder; sentinel is normally hidden so may not be visible. The core of your iTunes library is the file iTunes Library.itl, you need to restore this, the other library files and the Album Artwork folder, as well as the media folder, to restore your library.
tt2

I backed up my itunes folder to an external drive, then deleted it from the hard drive, then restored to the hard drive, but now can't see the files, playlists

I backed up my itunes folder to an external drive, then deleted it from the hard drive, then restored to the hard drive, but now can't see the files, playlists

Was the entire folder copied including the iTunesLibrary.itl file?

How to move the photos from my boot drive to a newly installed hard drive?

- regarding iPhoto's storage, etc.... Where is the iPhoto library located anyway? And - how to transfer it to the brand new hard drive?
I want to add a ned hard drive just to keep the media there, so I would like to transfer all the GBs worth of photos (the whole iPhoto library or - what folder, really?).
What do I need to do in order to accomplish this task?, and assuming that there is no problem moving all the photos (as I understand it would mean Originals, Modified & Data) - can I then just delete the original iPhoto Library (but from where?) somewhere on my boot drive?
Basically - I want to move all the photos from my boot drive to the newly installed hard drive, and after a successful move, I'd like to delete all the same photos from its original location (the boot drive).

One addition to Larry's steps: make sure the external drive is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and have it set to ignore ownership as seen here:
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

G-Tech G-DRIVE Q 500GB Quad Interface Hard Drive or LaCie d2 Quadra 500GB?

Hi,
Okay I was all set to get the Lacie d2 Quadra 500 GB drive for $296.00 Canadian as I'd heard from people on this site and others it was a good one to buy.
Then I was on apple.ca yesterday and saw the G-Tech G-DRIVE Q 500GB Quad Interface Hard Drive for $319.00 Canadian and I get Macworld and that is always on the Top Product list. Should I get the G-Tech one instead for only $23.00 more?
Thoughts? Does one have more features then the other? I see the Lacie has a one button backup option but not sure about G-Tech.
S.
Message was edited by: spiralgirl
Message was edited by: spiralgirl

spiralgirl wrote:
Thanks for the tips. I don't really know what I'm doing as far as cases are concerned.
Yep, I understand, hardware geekdom can be very confusing.
Amazon.com has a good prices on LaCie -- 500 GB D2 HD Quadra @ USD $183
that's price-competitive with any of my home-grown specials.
http://www.amazon.com/500GB-Lacie-Quadra-7200RPM-16MB/dp/B000MEX7CC/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1196222936&sr=8-1
...favorable customer reviews, too,
Looby

Cannot Prevent Drives From Sleeping - Yes Put Hard Drives 2 Sleep UNCHECKED

Sorry to post a tired old subject, but all threads seem to discuss putting the drives to sleep. I need the opposite. I edit with Final Cut Pro and my external striped drives are "driving" me crazy because they keep going to sleep every few minutes.
Yes, I have unchecked the box in Energy Saver. No luck. Any help or re direct to threads covering this will be appreciated!

Ooooh!! Gotcha. When I read your response, my mind went immediately to software. It's a Western Digital drive (actually, there are ten 2TB drives connected and four 1TB internal drives).
What I did not mention originally (maybe should have) is that I did not have this problem with the same configuration before. All drives stayed awake all the time. But recently permission and drive lock conditions forced me to blow everything completely out and re install OS from scratch (really sucked!)
Now, the uncheck doesn't work. The only thing different in set up I'm doing is I allow the monitor to power down after 15 minutes. I'm going to turn that setting off and see if MAYBE the OS is somehow interpreting that and associating the sleep function with it. Although, the drives still go to sleep right when I'm sitting here working even when the monitor doesn't.
I don't know.

How do I copy an iPhoto library, which is on an external hard drive, onto a new external hard drive?

I'm running out of space on my external hard drive, so I was advised to buy one with triple the amount of space. So, I need to copy my current iphoto library, which is on an external hard drive, onto a new external hard drive. I thought I could just drag and drop it in, but that doesn't seem to be working.

Make sure the external drive is formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled) and then drag the iPhoto Library to that drive using the Finder.
Then double click the library in its new location to open it in iPhoto. Test it thoroughly, if it is working, before deleting the original library on the internal drive.
To check the format of the drive, see (it says Aperture, but the same applies to iPhoto): Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture
iPhoto: Issues with FAT32-formatted drives

Optical bay hard drive ide to sata for tecra a2-s336

hello guys, i have a question, i buy a optical bay hard drive for mi laptop but in the screen i got a error "ide1=error" but my computer does not recognize the disk you buy 160GB sata in windows if it recognizes the adapter but not the hard drive any suggestions

http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/589654-guide-replacing-optical-drive-bay-portege-r835-p56x-h...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/toshiba/591240-another-guide-install-ssd-replace-odd-hdd-portege-r83...

I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? One I back everthing up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC?

I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??

Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??
TC was designed to backup your Mac. The TC literature is pretty clear about this:
If your Mac's hard drive has a problem....it will sooner or later....you can use your backup on the TC to rebuild your Mac.
But.....if you move all of your data to the TC from your Mac....you only have one version of that data now, and it is on the TC.
Have you thought about what will happen when....not if....the TC has a problem? Since the only version of your important data was on the TC, and the TC has failed......you lose all of your data.....because you have no backup.
A much better plan would be to add a USB or FireWire hard drive and connect it directly to your Mac. Move the data on your Mac over to the hard drive.
Then, the TC will backup both your Mac and the hard drive. So, you have original data on on one drive and backups on another drive.
That would be a minimum backup plan. Most of us have more than one set of backups.

MacBook hard drive transform into an external hard drive problem

My macbook pro early 2008 just died. The mother circuit fried and well its not usuable anymore and the repair for it are like 900$. Having alot of data in my macbook hard drive , i ask the guy that work at the genius bar to take out of macbook hard drive.
then i install the hard drive in a enclosure kit to transform it into a portable external hard drive. My problem is:
It only read the Window partition info and doesnt even give the choice to view my Mac partition.
i divided my Macbook HD with bootcamp and i divided the window partition to only have 30 G and the rest (280g) to leave it for my Mac exploitation.
The HD cant seen to find my Mac partition and only shows the data i got on my Window partition, i was wondering wat can i do to get my HD to see the data of my MAC partition
Thx in advance for the answers

There are third party programs for Windows to read HFS+, and I won't promise anything, but a Linux LiveCD may work as well. I don't have any names off the top of my head for those third party programs, but google something like "Windows HFS+" and you should be able to come up with a few leads.
But in general, yes, you'll need a Mac to read a Mac partition.

Does FireWire 800 see individual drives in a four bay hard drive enclosure?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for