External RAID 1 (mirrored) advice

Sorry if this question is in the wrong place.
I need an external RAID 1 (mirrored) for work.
We need more shared storage space on our G4 Mac server. I'm a graphic designer not an IT person but the job has fallen to me. Needs to be external RAID drive (with firewire 400, 800 or USB 2) as our internal hard drives that are also mirrored are in use and maxed out. Here are some products I was looking at and each has pros and cons. Need something that is more reliable than fast as well as easy to use. What do you think? Thanks for your insight. Chris
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10969
http://www.drobo.com/Products/drobo.html
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-SAFE.cfm
http://www.newertech.com/products/gmax.php
http://www.istarusa.com/storage/mini_trayless/v7age220uf.aspx

More info
We have 8 macs on ethernet and one g4 server. Looking for something in the 1TB plus range. Easy enough for the non IT person to manage.

Similar Messages

Advice needed installing XP Pro onto RAID Mirror with XP Home on IDE already

Hi Y'all,
I have the rig described below.
Currently, I'm running Win XP Home SP2 booting on the 80gig IDE drive, with another partition on it holding my files.
I want to clean install XP Professional SP2 (slipstreamed) onto the 120gig SATA Mirror RAID array and use that as the boot drive. This is empty but has been formatted and partitioned so the system recognises it as a drive.
Once that's done I want to wipe off XP Home and use the IDE drive as a pagefile and backup drive.
I had thought of doing it this way:
1. Prepare floppy with SATA RAID drivers v1.0.0.19 (Files: fasttx2k; txtsetup.oem; Fasttx2k.cat; fasttx2k.INF; fasttx2k.sys; README.TXT)
2. Erase all partitions on the RAID mirror but leave both physical drives installed
3. Remove the IDE drive
4. Boot from Win XP Pro SP2 CD ROM and install the SATA drivers at the F6 prompt
5. Continue WinXP install as normal onto the RAID drive
6. Reconnect the IDE drive after OS has installed
7. Select Win XP Pro as the OS to boot
8. After bootup erase Win XP Home partition
9. Partition the RAID drive to have 2 partitions, one (C:) for the OS, the other (D:) for my files
10. Use Files & Settings Transfer Wizard to repopulate the OS with my stuff (previously exported to a safe place).
11. Get on with life...
Can anyone please advise if they forsee any problems doing it this way.
Just to show that I am really confused, advice I've read in the Windows XP Forum says I should break the mirror before doing trying to install any OS to a RAID array and use just one of the physical 120gig SATA drives to install XP Pro onto. Once this has been done I should rebuild the mirror and the drives will automatically become mirrored once the data has been duplicated to the 2nd SATA.
Is this the only way to do this? Is this the best way to do this (does WinXP install badly to a mirror RAID that has already been created)?
Advice I've already read on the forum here has only confused me further because:
a) it assumes a level of knowledge that I don't seem to have
b) it doesn't deal with my exact circumstances.
All help gratefully received.

An update on the situation.....
I am trying to install Win XP Pro SP2 (slipstreamed) onto a RAID Mirror of 2 Hitachi Deskstar SATA drives on my MSI K7N2G-ILSR. This is the exact procedure I've followed:
1. Formatted (both SATA drives) as drive I: using Windows Disk Management tool in WinXP (The mirror is seen by the BIOS & Fastrak BIOS)
2. Started Win XP Pro install via CD in d:\
3. Pressed F6 when requested
4. Windows Setup loads normally
5. Options to install 3rd party drivers for mass storage devices & other things appear
6. Press S to start installing RAID drivers
7. Insert floppy into A:\ & press Enter
8. Select Promise Fastrak 376 Win XP driver
9. Get following error message:
File \WINXP\fasttx2k.sys caused an unexpected error (18) at line 2113 in d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\oemdisk.c.
10. Press Enter to continue
11. Setup doesn't recognise the SATA drive I: so it doesn't appear in the list of partitions on which to install XP Pro
I've tried it every which way.
The following with IDE1 HDD disconnected, i.e. no operating system installed:
1 SATA drive only (mirror broken)
1 SATA drive striped array
Both SATA drives (mirror functional)
The same with IDE1 HDD connected and starting Windows Setup from within XP Home...
The only difference is if I use the original Win XP Pro disc (without SP2 slipstreamed) when the error message changes to:
File \WINXP\fasttx2k.sys caused an unexpected error (18) at line 2108 in d:\xpsp1\base\boot\oemdisk.c.
In a thread here there is mention of an error in a file but it isn't directly related to my mobo, so I am reluctant to fiddle with the file unless someone can explain clearly what needs changing. I'm just trying to find the thread at the moment.....
This is the text contained within txtsetup.oem:
[Disks]
d1 = "Promise FastTrak 376 Driver Diskette", \fasttx2k, \
d2 = "Promise FastTrak 376 Driver Diskette", \fasttx2k, \nt4
d3 = "Promise FastTrak 376 Driver Diskette", \fasttx2k, \Win2000
d4 = "Promise FastTrak 376 Driver Diskette", \fasttx2k, \WinXP
[Defaults]
scsi = FastTrak_TX2K_xp
[scsi]
FastTrak_TX2K_xp = "WinXP Promise FastTrak 376 (tm) Controller", fasttx2k
FastTrak_TX2K_nt5 = "Win2000 Promise FastTrak 376 (tm) Controller", fasttx2k
FastTrak_TX2K_nt4 = "WinNT Promise FastTrak 376 (tm) Controller", fasttx2k
[Files.scsi.FastTrak_TX2K_xp]
driver = d4, fasttx2k.sys, fasttx2k
inf = d4, fasttx2k.inf
catalog= d4, fasttx2k.cat
[HardwareIds.scsi.FastTrak_TX2K_xp]
id="PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_3376", "fasttx2k"
[Files.scsi.FastTrak_TX2K_nt5]
driver = d3, fasttx2k.sys, fasttx2k
inf = d3, fasttx2k.inf
catalog= d3, fasttx2k.cat
[HardwareIds.scsi.FastTrak_TX2K_nt5]
id="PCI\VEN_105A&DEV_3376", "fasttx2k"
[Files.scsi.FastTrak_TX2K_nt4]
driver = d2, fasttx2k.sys, fasttx2k
inf = d2, fasttx2k.inf
[Config.fasttx2k]
value = "", Tag, REG_DWORD, 1
I've also tried the following:
Change Boot sequence to CD-ROM> SCSI> HDD-0
Delete txtsetup.oem from floppy - Setup then says it's missing
Copied original drivers from nVidia driver & utility disk
None of these things has made the slightest difference
Need further help please!

External RAID not recognized

I put together a 2x200 gb external RAID drive several months ago that has been working like a charm over FireWire to my Mac Mini. Galaxy Metal Gear enclosure with a pair of identical Western Digital 200gb drives, all of it brand new from newegg less than a year ago. I store my iTunes library and all my photos, plus documents and stuff like that -- basically the only thing I keep on the Mini's internal HD are applications and the system software (it's the boot disk, not the external).
I recently got a MacBook and wanted to put my iTunes library onto it so I could have some music on the road. The external drive was mounted on my Mini, so I tried to eject it but it wouldn't eject after several minutes. I had quit out of iTunes and anything else I could think of, but it still wouldn't eject. So (and here's where I'm an idiot) I just pulled the FireWire cable out of the back of the Mini.
Now all the drive does is spin and make random sounds, won't mount, won't get recognized in Disk Repair, won't get recognized by System Profiler, nada. I even downloaded Data Rescue II and ran it in the demo version just to see if it would work, but that won't recognize the drive either.
Any solutions? Is the drive dead? Can I disconnect one of the RAID drives and see if that will mount or would that hopelessly mess up my data?
any advice would be most welcome, thanks!

Hi Mark Ankcorn-
It sounds like one of the drives in the RAID is bad. Don't overlook the obvious and be sure to try a new USB or firewire cable.
The problem with a 2 drive RAID is when one drive goes bad there goes the RAID. Your data is already hopelessly messed up.
Luck-
-DP

RAID mirror with software utility caused kernel panic every time

Using disc utility to make a mirror of 2 drives, click create and i get kernel panic and have to power off machine. if i try to start the machine with either of the two disks in it (together or individually) i get same kernel panic and have to power off.
The disks are in an external storage array (sonnet d500). I have a second storage array with raided disks in and i have raided disk inside the mac too. these all work fine..
originally 2 weeks ago i had the 2 disks working in a group of 4 disks set as a mirror of 2 striped disks. One disk in this setup failed and with this config you can never 'recover'or rebuild it - you get a degraded mirror and you can backup the data, but you must completely rebuild the raid again as the mirror of stripes never lets you add a new disk in again.period. not good.
I replaced the failed disk and rebuilt the mirror of stripes. this lasted a day until a second disk failed (all 4 were bought at same time so i was kind of expecting that to happen once one failed).
i replaced the second faulty hdd and thought about my disk usage and decided i would not make another mirror of stripes and i would make 2 mirrors instead for safe-ish storage and then transfer data to a striped raid set for editing from instead of direct from the mirror of stripes volume.
i tried to delete the raid but got a kernel panic
if i started the machine with any of the 4 disks i would get a kernel panic.
i moved the disks one by one into an older G5 running Tiger and managed to erase the raid info on 2 of them. The two new ones had some strange raid info and the Tiger machien thought there was an extra disk in the machine and would not erase or partition or allow me to destroy the raid whatever i tried.
I will be moving these now into an old XP PC to try to erase the boot records etc and erase them to be able to use them again in either mac pro or G5. painful..
so.. i ended up with 2 erased drives and have 2 new drives with dodgy raid info that causes kernel panics on the leopard machine and wont go in the Tiger machine.
The two erased drives are what ive now been trying to use in the mac pro to create a mirror - this now caused kernel panics when creating the mirror to start with and when installed in the machine at all. so i will be erasing them again in the tiger machine soon (its busy erasing with zeros another new disk that i added to the Tiger machine 2 weeks ago which seems to have some fault when raided!!! but thats another story).
so.. is anyone else having problems with creating basic mirror in 10.5.4 or is it just me??
i have a sonnet tempo e4p card with 2 external sata disk enclosures, latest firmware for the e4p card. all other previously existing raid volumes are working fine. i have one set of 2 striped disks, one set of 3 striped disks and one set of 2 stripes which are mirrored - all happy and working fine. but i cant make a new mirror of 2 disks...
I phoned Apple support and they said all raid info was kept on the disk itself and nothing on the actual machine and suggested i take the machine to an apple care centre for some tlc (although its disk i am having a problem with). since all my other disk arrays work fine i don't really want to rebuild the whole machine from scratch if i can avoid it.
Any suggestions of what i can try ??

well it turns out the new disk i bought just werent any good. my g5 powermac raid mirror issue was related to one new disk with lots of bad blocks (speed tools showed that up) so i have learnt my lesson on cheap non raid disks for raid..
am waiting on a couple of new ultrastar enterprise disks to tuen up so i can go back to the macpro and try to add a mirror again.
i am still stuck wih several new disks that i cannot format now in the macpro on leopard or on the g5 powermac with tiger.
ive tried softraid and that cant do it, speedtools pcformat util cant do it, disk utility crashes when i try to eras them and diskutil from termianl starts then doenst get anywhere and my pc sata card doesnt work so my last resort pc option still doesnt help me clear the partition map on these drives - ones that diskutility on leopard made for me - and drives which still cause kernel panics on the macpro if i put them in it..
here is what diskutil says on my g5:
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUIDpartitionscheme *465.8 GB disk0
1: EFI 200.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_RAID 465.4 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot 128.0 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: type name size identifier
0: Applepartitionscheme *233.8 GB disk1
1: Applepartitionmap 31.5 KB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 233.6 GB disk1s3
/dev/disk2
#: type name size identifier
0: *465.4 GB disk2
/dev/disk3
#: type name size identifier
0: Applepartitionscheme *931.5 GB disk3
1: Applepartitionmap 31.5 KB disk3s1
2: Apple_HFS backup1T 931.4 GB disk3s3
/dev/disk4
#: type name size identifier
0: Applepartitionscheme *931.5 GB disk4
1: Applepartitionmap 31.5 KB disk4s1
2: Apple_HFS tempi 931.4 GB disk4s3
disk0 is the one with the bad partition info.
it thinks it has a double raid as the console shows on startup:
(both store45 and cache it thinks are on this disk - cache was my old mirror of stripes set on other machine, store45 was new name for my mirror, so seems like it hadnt deleted the original raid partition info before making new info which now kernel panics)
Jul 18 18:48:05 localhost kernel[0]: AppleRAID::degradeSet - starting the set "STORE45" (B9C48619-6B2C-4547-A01E-4864754EA7E2).
Jul 18 18:48:35 localhost kernel[0]: AppleRAID::degradeSet - starting the set "CACHE" (64F914A5-5556-4A44-AEE2-DC437868766B).
Jul 18 18:48:35 localhost kernel[0]: AppleRAID::completeRAIDRequest - error 0xe00002c2 detected for set "STORE45" (C0E139A4-2A6D-49C6-8F77-202AF7F9285D), member 50207BE5-E487-410E-8E8E-C4C4DCD2687B, set byte offset = 999527018496.
Jul 18 18:48:35 localhost kernel[0]: AppleRAID::completeRAIDRequest - error 0xe00002c2 detected for set "CACHE" (64F914A5-5556-4A44-AEE2-DC437868766B), member C0E139A4-2A6D-49C6-8F77-202AF7F9285D, set byte offset = 999527018496.
so currently i have 2 new 500gb disks which cant be partitioned back to anything at all on either machine. looks like i will have to buy a new pc to reformat them..
any suggestions of how to clear the partition map info and get them back to freespace ??

Got new miniMac servers with 2x750GB drives. How to setup and confirm RAID mirror?

Literally just got shiny new miniMac Server with the dual 70GB internakky hard drives/disks with
OS X 10.7.$ LION pre-installed. What a nice machine in a super cool box!
Seemed to bootup and run fine!
Now my issue (there will be more for this MAC newbie):
A. How to setup AND more importantly (item B below) CONFIRM that a RAID MIRROR is working?
Want nothing fancier than 2-nd drive is exact duplicate of 1-st drive at all times.
That is, an 'active and full up-to -the second" backup of the main 1-st drive.
I have done nothing to 1-st drive as it came from APPLE.
When I try to setup RAID set using DISK Utility, I get message about system(1-st drive) can't be used in a RAID or such.
yet I can add 2-nd drive to what I tink is a RAID set and then 'Enable' it.
It seems to add another entry to thr left-side of drves list panel but not sure that 1-st and 2-nd drives are BOTH in the new
"RAID SET' or that the set just consists of the "single" 2-nd disk?
B. I don't think that 1-st drive data is actually being duplicated to 2-nd drive.
For instance, how do I know that it was 'caught up' to match 1-st drive AND then is
staying caught up?
C. A 'RAID UTILITY' Icon brings up a not-available message, but I think that is because I don't
have HARDWARE RAID controller, just software RAID, correct?
D. What is 'Time Machine' and how does it play into this? I do assume that somehow/someway I need to
have off-machine backups also to be truly protected? How would a 2-nd identical miniMAC server be best
deployed to back each other up, in addition to their own internal RAID-ed disks that items above address?
My whole point of buying 2x750GB disks was to have mirror RAID set and
(foolishly) assumed that factory would set it up that way.
Please help me get setup right so when the inevitable crash happens,
I have some chance of recovering from it.
Regards,
Paul T
emai: [email protected]
Apple ID: N3UD
Phone: 610-613-0610

A. What are you adding to the RAID: a partition or a hard drive? You can only add hard drives to a RAID. RAID Utility should confirm that your RAID is working
B. No, I don't think so
C. It's because you haven't got RAID hardware.
D. Time Machine is a backup system in external drives. If you want, you can do backups in a external hard drive.

RAID Mirror using partitions

Hi all,
I've got 3 Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB drives in my MacPro. One is dedicated entirely to Time Machine backup. The other two I would like to split into two equal partitions and then setup RAID (mirror) arrays using Disk Utility like this:
RAID 1 = Disk1,Partition1 + Disk2,Parition1
RAID 2 = Disk1,Partiton2 + Disk2,Partition2
The first RAID gets created without a hitch... but then the second RAID fails and won't create/mount.
Is this even possible on OS X 10.5.8? If so... I'd really appreciate any help, as it seems like this SHOULD work, but it just WON'T.
Thanks!
- John

Kappy,
Thanks for the additional info. I've got scads of backup going on... I regularly (like, hourly) use Chronosync to synchronize all of my important files between my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro so there's one... I also user SuperDuper to maintain bootable backups on separate external drives for both computers... AND I've got two separate external backups of my important client files (backed up into a secure sparse disk image on two different external drives).
So... I came up with the scheme of having the RAID on the boot disk while I was trying to re-allocate some new drives from my MacPro and external drive enclosures. I realized that the original, 320GB drive that came in the MacPro was a dog and was significantly hampering performance (the MacBook Pro is actually faster at performing disk-related tasks!). So... I had a Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB drive that I was planning to put into an OWC FW800/400/USB2.0/eSATA drive enclosure to use as part of my external backup scheme that I thought would serve me better as my boot disk. But, since I've only got about 200GB of the 320GB filled on the current drive, I figured I had a lot of space on the 1TB drive that would go to waste.
Hence... I hatched the "brilliant scheme" of partitioning 2 of the 1TB drives in the MacPro equally and then creating a RAID... figuring that would provide at least some reason for having the overly-large drive for my boot disk. RAID mirroring would give me a level of protection against disk failure and would reduce the "clutter" of having too many drives/partitions showing up on the desktop and in Finder.
But... all of your comments are excellent ones. So, I'm sticking with the interim solution I posted earlier. No RAID on the boot disk partition, but a RAID on the important client files partition to provide drive-failure protection above-and-beyond my existing backup schemes.
Thanks, again, for all of your input.
Regards,
- John

External RAID-1 storage providers?

I'm looking for suggestions and providers of RAID-1 (mirroring) storage solutions. I work in-house for a corporate video company and we think that an external RAID-1 storage would be best. I'm also very open to hear what other people think would work for us as i'd rate my technical knowledge at intermediate.
All our work is currently DV25. We may switch to HDV in 2 years or so. Currently we're working off various single drive Firewire or USB 2.0-based hard drives. Thus, I don't believe read speed is a concern for our needs. Also, I read alot about the drive speeds of technology like SATA III, so maybe read speed is a null issue?
We like RAID-1 for it's simplicity, it's very easy to understand how it works . It also feels like the right 'place' we'd like to be on the backup spectrum. We could be more intense with the backups (e.g. multiple backup drives at off-shore locations) or less intense (simply burn project files to DVD), so RAID-1 feels like a nice balance.
Cost is almost a null issue. But we're looking for a solution that provides for some portability. So we're not looking for some intense multi-server rack solution, but more something like a typical LaCie drive that we can put into our backpack and move to a different location. We definietly don't mind paying extra for the 'backup' drive as it pays off for us in piece of mind and ease of use.
How we're basically looking to do this is that when we're done a project and the RAID-1 is near full, we would simply catalogue it (whole different discussion lol), then place it on a nice looking shelf for clients to gawk at. We don't generate a ton of data. With the availability of 1+ TB hard drives, we would probably only be putting one or two RAID-1 drives into our storage space per year.
In terms of a RAID-1 drive/provider, we'd prefer to deal with a company that would still be around and relevant ~10 years down the road. Great customer service is also key. Internal build quality is important, and i'd be very happy to have an ugly ugly chassis if the internal parts were top notch. We also live in Canada incase that's an issue. We bought a G-Tech drive a while back and had to pay an extra 20% on it due to import duties .

Thanks Shane for the reply! My last experience with 'hot swap' was ~5 years ago with a server. It required a bunch of special trays, and I had extra hard drives pre mounted into these trays for hot swap daily backups. What is hot swapping a drive like now a days? Is it simply plug and play?
How durable is the CalDigit FirewireVR? The front grill looks delicate :S. As I may bring the drive to different locations (though it would be reasonably cushioned), durability is important to me.
Would you recommend that I buy spare hard drives directly from the enclosure manufacturer (e.g. CalDigit)? Do you know why they are so expensive (250 GB drive from CalDigit ~$120), higher quality? Since i'm doing RAID-1, would it be ok for me to buy drives from Best Buy (could get 500 GB for ~$100).
Also to clarify my previous post, our intention would be to use multiple enclosures. So once the RAID-1 is filled, we would NOT take out both hard drives and put them on the shelf. Rather we'd prefer to simply put the enclosure, WITH the hard drives inside, onto the shelf.
But if hot swapping IS simply 'plop in the naked hard drive and you're good to go', then maybe I'd be open to simply storing the RAID-1 hard drive pair on the shelf...
Message was edited by: Phillip Roh

Stability of Internal/External RAID

Hello, I was curious to know if you were going to set up a RAID, is there a choice between going with internal drives or external? I've been looking at some external RAID set-ups (G-Technology, Lacie) and they look pretty good. But would a internal drive be better or is it more suceptible to failure?
Also, if I did go internal, is setting up the RAID done in the OS or would I have to buy some software to do it?
thx

I meant, are you interested in RAID because you are seeking automatic backup, greater throughput or some other benefit?
If automatic backup, you will be better off with offline backup rather than RAID. Mirrored RAID only provides a degree of protection against one of the two drives in the array failing ... but most failures (i.e. loss of critical files) occur because of user error or a software glitch, and mirrored RAID is not going to protect you from that. Hence my emphasis on offline backup rather than RAID.
If greater throughput, you would need an external enclosure with an eSATA interface and SATA-II drives to have any chance of achieving greater throughput than you could achieve with a single SATA-II drive. If the external interface is FW400 or FW800 or if the external enclosure uses IDE drives instead of SATA-II drives, you won't get any greater throughput with RAID than if you had a single external hard drive. (The FW400/FW800/IDE interfaces are the limiting factors.) And if you're shooting DV, HDV or AVCHD, RAID isn't going to make any difference anyway because their data rates are well within the throughput capabilities of FW400 and FW800. The only way RAID would benefit is if you are comparing a pair of striped 5400 rpm drives against a single 7200 rpm drive ... and the single 7200 rpm drive would probably still win the throughput contest.
As for recommendations on drives themselves, I'd suggest either WD Caviar SE16 drives or Seagate 7200.11 drives. Both are excellent. Hitachi drives perform great but they run hot, and heat is the primary enemy of hard drive life; the drives that have failed me without warning have all been Hitachi drives. And i've never been a fan of Maxtor drives. One man's opinion (and experience).

Huge Issues opening projects from eSATA External RAID-Please Help!

Hi peeps. I'm hoping you guys have some insight into my issue here. I thought I get further talking with you rather than trying Dell again. Here's my system specs in brief....
Dell Studio XPS 9100
Intel i7-960 3.2Ghz
18Gb DDR3 SDRAM 1333Mhz
Radeon HD 5870 1GB (until I can afford Quadro, but has no bearing on issue)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit - all updated
Venus DS3R Pro External RAID enclosure w/ 2x500Gb WD 7200rpm Drives in RAID 0 Config (forget exact models and am writing this not from edit system but from my internet-connected system)
Running CS5 Master Collection - all updates installed as of writing.
Ok, so here's my issue. Shortly after getting new system (above) and installing newly-purchased CS5 I had to work on one new project and make client-requested changes to an old project. Issue has been the same for both. When my external RAID was connected via eSATA, Premiere would take forever (and I mean forever) to load assets, would often (6 times out of 10) crash or hang-up system so badly as to require hard reset. Those times when I finally got the timeline up, playback was horribly choppy on both HD 720p (new project) and SD (old project). If any files needed conforming, Premiere would take (literally) hours and hours to perform task, and trying to export anything to DVD, blu-ray or encodes to files I would get multiple render issues or complete failures.
I was tearing my hair out until I finally remembered that Venus enclosure also has USB (2.0) out. Hooked this up and all problems went away. Projects loading correctly and quickly and playback is what I would expect from USB and software-only playback (as I mentioned above, am running Radeon card that came with system until I can afford NVidia option)
One strange thing is that After Effects was performing fine when drive was connected via eSATA (although the projects were very simple - I will test on complex project from archive).
My question is - do you guys agree with me that it's some kind of SATA driver issue? Or is there something going on in Premiere of which I'm unaware? I called Dell support and they helpfully informed me that "all my BIOS and chipware drivers are up to date but that I should rest assured that my complete satisfaction is their primary concern". Thanks Dell...you want to come finish my edit for me then?
Anyway...what do we think? Thinking of installing an eSATA card into a free slot - good idea?
Any help would be much appreciated - would like to get back onto eSATA thruput ASAP, esp. after I get Quadro card - prob next month.
Thanks in advance for your time!

Did this external enclosure ever work well with its eSATA connection? I doubt highly that this is a Premiere issue--as far as the program is concerned, it's blind to the nature of the storage medium you're using. Rather, I'd suspect a faulty or low-quality RAID or SATA controller in the enclosure. I've had issues before with "bargain" enclosures that either wouldn't connect over a certain interface, or were so sporadic and slipshod that I just pulled the drive out of the enclosure and used it bare.
If the enclosure worked well before, I would look at the eSATA connection on your computer as the issue. You might circumvent the Dell drivers site/advice and go hunting for your own from the OEMs.

External HDD mirroring using USB Interface

Has anyone out there explored the possibility of mirroring two external HDDs (identical ones) through the USB interface ? If so, I would like to know how it can be achieved.
When I say mirroring, I mean that a single write operation actually duplicates the information on two separate external disks simultaneously. Much like the professional RAID mirroring on more expensive solutions. I am looking at a very inexpensive way of having redundancy built in for safeguarding my data. Perhaps some app out there can do this for me ? Or perhaps this may be a good idea for a brand new App ? Compromise on speed may be an issue, but it would be great value for money.

That is actually a classic backup solution using time machine, where both boot drive as well as EHD is being backed up incrementally in a format which is native to OS Mavericks. Such a backup can only be used to "Restore" the files back onto the source machine. Excellent for normal backup operations.
However, what I have in mind is two sets of EHDs (external HDD) formatted to FAT or maybe the NTFS, where the files are kept in a standard format and can be read on ANY machine whether OS X or Windows.
On a proper mirrored system, both HDDs appear to be one only, and the filesystem also appear to be one. So when we handle a file from the mirrored system, the cloning on the two HDD is done transparently without the user getting to know of it. Failure of one HDD will not result in loss of data since that would be available on the other HDD, and when the faulty HDD is replaced, the data gets replicated again from the good HDD. Such a mirrored system is very expensive and not affordable by ordinary mortals like most of us.
So, to get around the expense part of the whole thing, now that we have fast USB3 interfaces, we can possible use 2 x cheap EHDs hooked onto two separate USB 3 ports, and use them as a mirrored set. It is understandable that since the computer cannot access two USB ports simultaneously, there will be some trade-off to the speed of handling the two EHDs, but, that is acceptable. At least we have two identical sets of data available, which can be used in an emergency on any other system. Should one EHD crash, we can always extract all data from the second one.
I am not sure if such an arrangement is possible using the existing functionality of the OS X, and so someone may need to whip up an app or a script for doing this. Alternately, some really clever geek could come up with some remarkable solution/work-around. Looking forward for some bright spark from somewhere.

Best external RAID option for MacBook Pro

I have been searching for an external RAID enclosure/solution to use with my MacBook Pro (with Thunderbolt). I would like to use Thunderbolt, but if Firewire 800 provides a more reliable solution than any of the Thunderbolt solutions I will go with the more stable options.
I have looked at a variety of options, and it appears the following are the top runners for a solution, any thoughts on any of these options:
Get a Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt array
The reliability of this unit really worries me, and if it failed as frequently as some are indicating, it could be busy nearly all the time recovering if I had 6+GB of content on the thing when it failed
Advantage of this unit is I could get enough capacity in one chassis to hold me for a fair length of time
The big disadvantage, if this thing fails as frequently as some indicate, restoring 6+GB of content to the thing does not sound fun
Get one of the Thunderbolt, OS X Software RAID boxes, (the likes of G-Tech, and Western Digital)
The use of the OS to manage the RAID array worries me, how is performance, how easy is it to replace a faulty drive and have the OS detect the new drive and start the rebuild process?
How long will it take to rebuilt a failed disc in the 2 to 3TB range?
Use the Firewire 800 port on a CalDigit VR 2 two drive RAID 1 mirror set
This seems to have fairly decent reviews, although there is not a lot of end user reviews that I have found
It will take at least three of the largest unit CalDigit makes to handle my images and have room for new images
Clearly Firewise will not be as fast as the Thunderbird devices
Get the CalDigit VR 2 but try to use the USB3 connection
CalDigit has a USB 3 card that can fit in the 17" MacBook Pro, but I have no idea how well the USB 3 card works with the MacBook Pro?
USB 3 does not daisy chain, the CalDigit card has two ports, however, if you have more than two external arrays you are still in a mood of swapping external drives
Drobo is coming out with Thunderbolt solutions
The bare box is pricey, add four or five large drives and there is some serious money in the thing
There are lot's of reports of failures and inability to rebuild, etc., on the Drobo
The OWC Quad interface QX2
A fair number of reports of failures on this device
Little information on rebuild speed in event a drive needs to be replaced
I am not very interested in a NAS, even with GigaBit Ethernet the performance will not be as good as direct attached
I do have a 3 year old Mac Pro that is under utilized, I could add more storage and even a RAID controller card for an external enclosures, but again, trying to edit images and/or videos across the network may not be a viable option
Any other ideas, something KNOWN to be good, with minimal failures, and when it does fail it rebuilds quickly and safely
The last piece of the solution is ideally a solution that is fairly low noise.
Any suggestions, direct end user experience, etc., would be greatly appreciated

What a list
Well, take a look at CalDigit's HDPro2 8TB (supporting RAID 5 and 6)
http://www.CalDigit.com/store.asp#HDPro2
It's more expensive than others but works with your MacPro thorugh PCIe connection and very reliable comparing to others.
or a cheaper HDOne 8TB in RAID 5/6
http://www.CalDigit.com/store.asp#HDOne

Splitting up a RAID mirror pair?

My QuickSilver dual-800 G4 won't boot. It has 2 internal drives that are configured as a RAID mirror (with Apple OS X Server RAID software).
While it's in the shop, can I pull one of the hard drives and put it in an external FireWire enclosure, allowing me to boot my backup Mac from it and access all my files? Will the QuickSilver boot from the remaining half of the RAID set until the two are reunited? When I rebuild the RAID, how do I specify which drive has the master data set?

Yes.
Please refer to this recent thread:
https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2145958?tstart=0

External RAID backup

Would it be possible to have two External Hard Disks and make them work as a RAID Mirror, for backup purposes?

If you have FW800, then look for a dual drive case with mirror RAID capability.
http://www.macsales.com/firewire has some.
but normally you want two drives on a bus with enough bandwidth to write to both at an acceptable performance, and interface.

Automatically Rebuild RAID mirror set

In disc utility intalled a raid mirror set of two external drives. Later, after using the combined drive, I opened disc utility again and selected 'Automatically Rebuild RAID mirror set'. I didn't select that while installing the raid set, but did that afterwards. Later discovered that when reconecting a drive this would automatically update the drive again.
This option 'Automatically rebuild raid mirrir set' stays selected while in disc utility. However, when I close and later open disc utility again this option is deselected again. Is this normal? Or does this option remain active when selected and closing disc utility and is it just that disc utility assumes that I've removed/connected one or more drives in the mean time when starting disc utility again? Giving me the option to select it again manually in order to rebuild the raid mirror?

I believe you must enable that option when you create the RAID. The option does not remain enabled if you check it after the fact, at least it doesn't on my system either.
According to the DU Help:
If you are creating a mirrored RAID set, choose whether to rebuild disks automatically with the RAID Mirror AutoRebuild checkbox.
Message was edited by: Kappy

External raid, Formatted for VISTA and OSX?

I need an external raid for both platforms. Nothing fancy, do not need to boot from it, just a work horse.
So, #1 I need help buying a raid or advice on increasing through put.
2)I have decided it would be best for an external raid so I can share it with other artist for diff projects.
3)I have a macpro dual quad 2.8. 6gig sdram 2008 10.5.6…Bootcamp, Vista 64
4)I need faster through put for working with large file sizes,dpx, exr file sequences, playing back 1080p quicktimes in FCP. Compositing in after effects, nuke, some photoshop with 4k image sequences. As of now pulling this media off a local drive can be slow. I do not have specific data through put specs?
5)I do not need any back up. All this local media has already been backed up on a triple redundancy server over a network. I want speed not back up. I want to work local on a fast external raid, than wipe it clean.
6)I need a fast raid that I can format and work a job using Vista working in the PC world for a project. Than after that project I will format it to do a job on the mac. I need a raid that will allow me to use it for either platform. Very important to be able to use both platform.
What hardware do you recommend for my simple needs. I am overwhelmed with options. scsi, esata, JOBD, fiber optic, Raid 0, 5, 10. ahh
My projects have not exceeded 1 terabyte. That’s seems a sufficient size.
OK, I hope that covers the basics and my reasons are reasonable. I am saavy enough to build it myself to save cost. Something simple, efficient, cost effective and smart for my needs. My hang up is will it work with the PC than with the mac
Thanks so much. Advice is appreciated. You guys are the best!
Message was edited by: dupsta

Hi,
I would suggest the FirmTek SeriTek/5PM and the HighPoint RR 2314. This will allow you to install the PC driver on the PC and the Mac driver in OS X.
You could use different disks for PC or Mac and swap the disks in and out as needed. Or you could reformat as you suggested in your post. You could also erase the hard disks using the DOS format in Mac OS X Disk Utility and share the volume between the two OS types. The options are virtually unlimited with this external configuration.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/5pm/
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata5pm.html
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/highpoint/2314/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000NAXGIU
If 130MB/sec. performance is fast enough and you do not need RAID 5 you may want to consider the less expensive SeriTek/2SE2-E controller. This can be setup on the Macintosh or the PC and the card is less expensive.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/5pm/
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata5pm2se2.html
Have fun!

External RAID 1 (mirrored) advice

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