External Backup RAID drive Configuration

Hi Guys. I'm currently running my MacBook Pro with Final Cut Studio, Logic Studio and Aperture. I'm using a LaCie 4 TB 4Big Quadra RAID drive (via Express eSATA card) as a scratch disk and to store my projects on. I've just purchased a LaCie 4TB 2Big Quadra RAID drive to use as a backup drive for my projects. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding the best way to incorporate the backup drive into my setup? There are various options and i'm not sure which is the best solution. Any advice is much appreciated

Hi. Thanks for your input. This was the way i'd originally thought of doing it. However, in order to get maximum data transfer speeds (for HD video editing) from the 4Big quadra (via express eSATA), i'm now erring towards setting both drives to RAID 0 mode, and simply backing up projects (via firewire) between the drives using the Intego Backup Manager Pro software supplied with the drives.
This is my first multi drive setup and i'm not sure that this is the most logical solution. Any views are welcome. Thankyou

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Have a LaCie external 2big RAID drive; two 1T drives in RAID 0 configuration (striped). Drive works perfectly as one big 2T external disk but Mac Installer (Lion - App Store download

Have a LaCie external 2big RAID drive; two 1T drives in RAID 0 configuration (striped). Drive works perfectly as one big 2T external disk but Mac Installer (Lion - App Store download & Snow Leopard DVD) refuse to install OS X Lion or OS X Snow Leopard on RAID drive.
Previous RAID - two 500g's in RAID 0 had SnowLeopard/Lion installed and worked just fine as bootable drive.
Help!

Keep in mind a RAID 1 only protects you from hardware failure of one of the drives. It does not protect you if the hardware raid/chip set decides to take a vacation. Also, if FCP corrupts a file, it is written as corrupt to both drives.
I'm a big fan of separate but equal. Two drives. One goes to the site, the other remains at the hotel. At night, you back up the site disk to the the hotel disk. If something happens to the computer and the disk at the site the next day, you at least have the material back at the hotel.
eggs. baskets. that sort of thing.
good luck.
x

I have a Free Agent external backup hard drive connected to my iMac Intel desktop via USB. Why do I get an error message, from time to time, upon startup stating: "disk was disconnected improperly, always eject disk before disconnecting"?

I have a Free Agent external backup hard drive connected to my iMac Intel desktop via USB, I never unplug it. Why do I get an error message, from time to time, upon startup stating, "Disk was disconnected improperly. Always eject disk before disconnecting."?

I never unplug the external harddrive, and the error message comes up only occassionaly upon startup. Maybe the USB connection gets disrupted enough to cause the computer to see it as disconnected and then reconnected while the iMac is powered.

External backup hard drive recommendations

I'm ashamed to say, but all that I have for a backup is a pocket portable USB 500G drive. Now it does 'do the job', although very slowy. I'm looking for recommendations for a new hard drive. I currently have 1 PC desktop(ethernet) and two MBP (wireless) connected via network through an AEBS. All of the machines are physically in different rooms and currently between all three machines, I'm at about 300GB of data, This is strictly for home use. I hope I've given enough background information. So, should I go for a network backup drive? It seems the simplest choice, but having never used one, wasn't certain. How about brands/style, which RAID? I don't want to spend above $1000 and would prefer to keep it @ about $500-700.
Thanks for the input
Message was edited by: paulyman

Have you considered an Apple Time Capsule?? It will wirelessly backup any MACs you have on the network. PCs can also browse to it.
If not you need a good External hard disk drive with a USB interface so that you can connect it to the back of your AEBS and use it as a shared drive on the network. This is what I plan to do when I get my TC. This external drive must have hardware RAID built in so you never have to worry about losing data. You could keep it as a backup and storage area that all other clients can access.
I would recommend a My Book Studio Edition 2. This has RAID and will mirror one disk to the other automatically, so if a disk dies you can easily replace it (WD give a 5 year warranty as well!). It also has a FireWire800 port so if you want to connect it directly to a MBP, you can use the faster connection.
Here is a video I created of the drive...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbBdAuzxXk
Although I have the 4TB version, you can also get a 2TB version, which has 2x1TB discs inside.
If this is too much and you dont want the Firewire ports, you can also get this same drive in Black which is USB only - called the My Book Mirror Edition. Its also a bit cheaper since it doesnt have the other ports.

Backing up Itunes library to external backup hard drive

May have missed this... but I just bought an external hard drive for use as a backup. It didn't come with backup software. For now, I just copy and paste personal folders. What do I copy to backup my itunes library? Itunes internal backup apparently only backs up to CD or DVD. Can I not back up some weird voodoo protected version of my music to an external hard drive wthout having to copy to DVD? I mean, that would go through a lot of DVDs over a year wouldn it?
Mike

Hi, Mike.
Assuming you haven't changed any of iTunes' default settings, everything you need to back-up - the iTunes Music folder, the Album Artwork and the iTunes Library files - is found in the iTunes folder at C:\Documents and Settings\ user name \My Documents\My Music\iTunes .
So, again assuming you haven't changed the defaults, all you have to do is copy the iTunes folder to your external.
If you've changed the defaults, it can be a bit more complicated.

Error says my External backup hard drive is read only

I have a WD External drive that I use for my Time Machine backup. I turned on the computer today and it says it cannot backup because the drive is read only. It appears on the desktop and in the Finder window. When I open Time Machine preferences, it's identified as the backup disk. But when I choose "backup now", I get that message (it's read only).
Do I have to partition this again using Disk Utility or is there a simpler solution? Thank you,

See #C6 in [Time Machine - Troubleshooting|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Troubleshooting.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Maintenance on External Backup/TM Drive

Just partitioned an external 320GB drive 240/80 for my 2006 Mac mini - 240 for Time Machine, and 80 for a SuperDuper bootable backup.
Is there any "maintenance" routine(s) that I should conduct on such a drive? Ever run Permissions Repair on a backup/TM device?
Clint Bradford
Mira Loma CA US

Before either backup you first should do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
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, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Or download and install AppleJack - CNet Downloads or MacUpdate. Read the instructions carefully before using.

External backup hard drive recommendations/advice?

I've been backing up files one CD-R at a time and it's getting ridiculous. I'd like to buy an external drive which I would update monthly and then disconnect & put on a shelf. I don't need a ridiculous amount of space -- just at least double-digit gigs.
Any insights into the most reliable, easiest to use, most compact/lightweight and best-priced drives would be greatly appreciated.
He who laughs last has a backup disk,
--Christine

I Have been using a LaCie 160GB drive for the last couple of years. I use it in conjunction with SuperDuper!, which has made a clone of my system, and then it performs regularly scheduled incremental backups, so I am always up-to-date.
It's easy and painless, save your CDs for better things,
Miriam

Recommendations for external backup hard drive...mirrored

My external hard drive that I used with Time Machine to backup my MacBook has bit the dust.
Ideally, I would like to get one that has hardware mirroring. At least 1gb. and Firewire 400 compatible.
It's the mirroring feature that I'm having trouble finding. Anyone have a drive they are happy with? Or can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks

My favorite mirroring or cloning application is SuperDuper! which can be downloaded [Here|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html].
As far as an external drive is concerned, I've had tremendous success with Western Digital drives. I've used several desktop models but recently purchased a portable (2.5") 750Gb Passport Essential SE because of it's size and portability. After formatting it for Mac, I remember that I needed assistance from the Internet for instructions to remove the pesky windows only WD backup software from the disk. It was simple to remove but it involved an update in order to get rid of it.

External SCSI RAID drives not mounting

I have an ATTO UL3D RAID that was working fine and I updated to the recommended 10.3.9 Apple update and now my drives are not mounting on the desktop. They show up in Disk Utility and I can initialize them, but I have some important data that I want to rescue. I followed all of the suggestions from ATTO but nothing. Can anyone please help? Thanks.
G5 Dual 1.8 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Mine take a very very long time to mount then they will not sleep even when unmounted. The firewire driver in Mavericks needs some work. If at all possible, I would use USB until the driver get's resolved.

Using the SATA internal connection for an external SATA RAID drive

DP2G G5
THis RAID case:
http://wiebetech.com/products/rt5.php
has an SATA interface on it. Can I snake the internal cable outside somehow & plug it into this case? I can't spare a PCI slot for an SATA card. If not I'll just use the FW800, but it'd be cool to have SATA speeds.
DP2G G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

THis RAID case:
http://wiebetech.com/products/rt5.php
has an SATA interface on it. Can I snake the
internal cable outside somehow & plug it into this
case? I can't spare a PCI slot for an SATA card.
If
not I'll just use the FW800, but it'd be cool to
have
SATA speeds.
DP2G G5
Mac OS X (10.4.5)
Why would you want to spend $1700 on a SATA enclosure
and then be "cheap" on the SATA host adapter to run
it? This expensive 5 bay uses FW800 or SATA. Why not
use FW800 if you don't have a SATA host adapter.
I'm not trying to be cheap here. As I said, I have no PCI slots available. I use Pro Tools HD3 & all my slots are full. I will use FW800 if needed, but speed of SATA would be great.
WiebeTech has a $59 SATA card with one port or
FirmTek has a two port for $99 or a 4 port for
$139.95. Get a external SATA host adapter with direct
connect capability for this enclosure. Or if that is
too much get a 5 bay Fusion 500P for $500 and a
separate card. If you have a new PowerMac G5 made
after Oct 2005 then no PCI slots are available and
you will need the Sonnet PCIe Tempo E4P:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/article
s/sonnet/e4p/
Have fun!
DP2G G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

External Backup Hard Drive Help

Hello all,
I bought a Western Digital 320gb External Hard Drive for my Power Mac G3 and it is both 2.0 usb and firewire. I was thinking of using firewire instead of usb. A coworker told me that the WD HD is not good and several people told him that they crash alot. I have an 80 gb internal Western Digital hard drive and I've had no problems w/it. I have 3 questions, 1. is it true what they've said about the WD external HD? 2. If I use firewire, do I need 2 add/install anything along w/the HD? 3. I understand Seagate is really good, should I return the WD E HD (it's unopened) and get the Seagate instead?
Thank u all 4 your help.

I've never used a WD HD, so I can't comment on the reliability. I have 2 Maxtor HDs.
However, on your choice of Firewire or USB. Do you have a USB 2.0 PCI card in your Mac? If you plan on using the built-in USB port which is USB 1.1, data transfer will be r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w.
USB 2.0 has approximately the same top rated speed as Firewire. However, in reality, The Firewire speed is the sustained speed while USB 2.0 speed is the maximum & you will get probably half that. USB 1.1 is much, much slower. You don't have to install anything to use Firewire. See USB: Transfer Speed Compared to Other Technologies
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=24531
 Cheers, Tom

External backup hard drive???

I need an external drive to back up photos. I noticed some models eg WD passport have 2 versions of the same drive. The one "for Mac" more expensive for the same model and space.Do I have to buy for Mac??

I would not recommend WD.
They offer proprietery software on their Mac version. You don't need it.
First thing to do if you get the WD is reformat it, and get rid of all their back up software anyway.

Repair disk permissions for an external RAID drive?

Hello,
We are able to repair disk permissions on the hard drive, but can it be done on an external SCCI RAID drive? Is there software that is recommended that will repair and fix issues such as if the RAID drive was improperly removed without ejecting the drive? Or is that not needed?
Thanks,
Jordan

DiskWarrior repairs your directory, throws in some limited optimization (iPhoto's open in half the time is about all really), so if your "directory is out of order" it's not that big a deal really.
It's good to have on the shelf if you have a lot of Mac's, but ever since Tiger rolled around it seemed a lot of directory problems have disappeared on single user machines. It's pretty expensive for it's limited options.
With a RAID O (stripe) setup you should Disk Utility Erase w/Zero before setting up the RAID and laying data down. (in fact this is wise for all new drives at least once)
RAID O's should always be cloned (in the case of a boot RAID O) or backed up quite often because if one drive goes the whole set with data is lost.
Mirroring (RAID 1) is only necessary for extremely valuable one time data captures where a hard drive failure would be awlful. It doesn't make a good backup because any corruption, mistakes etc get immediatly written to the second drive.
Using automated cloning and backup software is better like (search Apple) DeJaVu. Auto clone the whole boot drive once a week and auto backup certain folders of files nightly.
Since cloning I haven't really too much need for drive maintainance software, if my RAID goes down for a data reason, (hasn't yet in 2 years of 24/7 operation) I simply option boot off the clone and repair/recover/reverse clone. I'm done in a hour, I even go out to eat or something while it's reverse cloning.
A good piece of software to have is (search Apple) OnyX, it's automation section will do a lot of cleanup and fixing certain things. Good to run it about once a month.
To find out more about cloning, visit Carbon Copy Cloner forums, they have donationware software too.

External (Backup) Drive No Longer Recognized After Mavericks

Since installing Mavericks on my iMac (was running Snow Leopard) I can only see partial information from my WD My Book Live external backup drive. Finder lets me see the two partitions but only some of the files on that drive. However, the Disk Utility does not see the external drive at all. This is mostly impacting Time Machine which also does not seem to recognize the external drive at all. I cannot enter Time Machine to access my old backups and cannot create new ones.
I would prefer not to re-format the external drive since it has other files on it that I don't want to lose.
All helpful suggestions appreciated!

lettertosteve
PROBLEM SOLVED! It was as simple as going to the WD (Western Digital) site and downloading a few updates for the My Book Live.
You need to NOT connect any WD MyBook right now under Mavericks, you have a high likelihood of severe data corruption
WD is telling its customers to REMOVE WD SOFTWARE especially on WD MyBook
keep your WD MY BOOK unconnected right now until a resolution unless you have a backup of ALL DATA on your MyBook stored elsewhere
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac
Bill_S
Community Manager
External Drives for Mac Experiencing Data Loss with Maverick OS (10/30/13)
There are reports of Western Digital and other external HDD products experiencing data loss when updating to Apple's OS X Mavericks (10.9). Western Digital is urgently investigating these reports and the possible connection to the WD Drive Manager, WD Raid Manager and WD SmartWare software applications.
Until the issue is understood and the cause identified, WD strongly urges our customers to uninstall these software applications on their systems before updating to OS X Mavericks (10.9), or delay upgrading. If you have already upgraded to Mavericks, WD recommends that you remove these applications and restart your computer. WD has removed these software applications from our web site solely as a precaution as we investigate this issue.

External Backup RAID drive Configuration

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