Raid 5 options with MBP?

Are there any good hardware Raid 5 options out there for use with the Express Card slot on the MBP likely using eSATA? I have seen plenty of Raid 1 or Raid 0 configs available. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Drew

Thank you for your response.
The ADM are purchased as replacements. The xRaid is not iunder warranty (1.5 years old). They are the same 250 Gig configuration.
We have not tried to re-intall the new ADM's as we were concerned about the data, since they did not appear to be re-bulding them selves and we just 'sitting there'. So we thought that it would be a reasonable idea to performa a data back-up onto external drives...yes all 2+ terabytes. The back-up worked fine for about the first 1.5 Terabytes, but then the server would hang during the file copy process and lock-up the entire system. In looking further it has been determined that the system locks up at the same files (some 65Mb tifs) so I presume that the data is currupt.
The curruption of the data confuses me a little. We do have one dead ADM per controller side (one on the left and one on the right side) but it was my understanding that each controller could in theory loose one ADM without loosing data....
Also, the xRaid does Not have the Latest Firmware. Should we update the firmware while trying to get this system back into a healthy condition or should we wait until we get all ADM's back up an going prior to firmware upgrading?
Thank You

Similar Messages

RAID Options with (3) 1TB drives

Hi Folks,
Setting up a brand new XServe with Snow Leopard. I have (3) 1TB drives, as well as the 128GB SSD for the OS. Can anyone recommend the best configuration for the setup of these 3 drives? Srtiped or Concatenated? RAID 1 or 5?
Thanks in advance,
-andy-

No one can recommend a setup other than yourself, since you're the one that knows what you plan to do with the server. All anyone here can do is tell you the pros and cons of the various options.
First off, RAID 5 requires a hardware RAID card - you can't do RAID 5 in software alone, so unless you also have the RAID card that's not an option.
RAID 0 (striping) gives good performance and results in a volume approximately the same size as all drives combined - so three 1TB drives will yield about 3TB of usable space.
There is no redundancy in RAID 0, though, so if one drive fails all the data is lost because each file is 'striped' in chunks across all drives
A concatenated array is similar except that each drive is just appended to the end of the previous one. It offers the same usable capacity as RAID 0 (e.g. three 1TB drives ≈ 3TB space), but offers lower performance (since you can't parallelize the reads/writes over multiple drives. There's still no redundancy but there is a higher chance of recovery if a drive fails (the data on that drive is gone, but data on the other drives may be recoverable).
RAID 1 mirrors data across multiple (usually 2, but can be more) drives. Data written to disk is written to all drives simultaneously so the loss of one drive doesn't affect availability (the system keeps running off the other drives). Performance is lower than RAID 0, but you gain the redundancy.
Available space is based on the smallest drive in the set, so using any number of 1TB drives in the array will result in a 1TB usable volume.
So that's the back-end. It's up to you to determine which is most appropriate for your setup.
For example, if performance is your primary driver, then striped may be the way to do, as long as you have a viable backup strategy for any data you wanted to keep.
Striping may also be viable if available capacity is your concern - if you need 3TB of space then this is pretty much your only option.
However, if redundancy is your concern, then mirroring seems more appropriate as long as your needs are less than 1TB. It doesn't necessarily make sense to mirror three ways, so maybe you mirror two drives and use the third for backup.
Or maybe you need redundancy and capacity, then maybe you need the hardware RAID card to go RAID 5 (this will yield 2TB usable space, with redundancy to protect against single disk failure).

SSD Raid 0 With 2011 MBP

I have a late 2011 15" MBP with 2x Intel SSD x25-M 160gb drives (1 in the main bay, 1 in the optical bay). I chose these drives due to the limited bandwidth in the optical bay (it's restricted to 3g vs the main bays 6g).
I have found an issue that is rather curious when trying to install OSX onto the machine and it concerns the disk utility:
OS X Recovery Disk Assistant created with Mavericks will NOT see either SSD installed in either bay using the disk assistant (no format or parition possible of either drive. I can place the drives in external cases and they work flawlessly i.e. you can partition each drive but when you put the partitioned drives back in the MBP Mavericks will not see them).
OS X Recovery Disk Assistant created with Lion will see BOTH drives and will configure raid 0 successfully (once installed I ran the Mavericks install and it did not see the drive with Lion Installed on it so no upgrade was possible - I ran the internet download as well as trying to install Mavericks from an external firewire drive using a previous download of OSX 10.9).
I am about to try installing Mountain Lion to see if it will detect the SSD raid drive (it's downloading now). If that works I will try to then upgrade to Mavericks (doing this incrementally kinda *****).
I'm wondering if anyone else has ran into this problem? I have seen plenty of YouTube videos of people putting two SSDs in their MBPs and running Raid 0 with plenty of success. I'm just wondering if maybe there's a brick wall with anything other than a 13" MBP?
Thanks in advance.

Kappy - I think you missed part of the information in my last post:
I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY created and installed OSX (Snow Leopard, Lion, & Moutain Lion) using the Disk Utility provided by Apple to install fresh versions of each and they work perfectly.
I DID NOT clone these from external drives.
I would like to install Mavericks (I don't care at this point about the raid config but it would be nice) but the disk utility version of Mavericks (that you need to install that specific OS) will not see the SSDs installed inside the MBP. Even if I install Mountain Lion on a single drive and then try to upgrade to Mavericks the drives are not seen.
Even if i could clone the Mavericks install from an external drive onto the internal raid I still can't see either drive to even do it.

Why no RAID options for new disks?

Hi support group,
"My name is Shaun, and I am a mac-aholic"
I inserted 4 new 3TB disks into the bays of my Mac Pro (2012), and there is no RAID option for them.
How I got here:
Inserted the WD Red drives, and they were not initiated.
I "erased" the drives, gave them names, and they appear in Disk Utility in grey drives.
Went to set up the RAID, and move the drives into the RAID, but got an error that they could not be used.
It appears to me that disk utility is not allowing me to fully use those drives. I Have created RAID drives before with no issue in RAID1 with 3TB drives before on this machine. Am perplexed, I thought this to be the easy and simple part of my upgrade odyssey! Did I screw up the initialization? On all FOUR drives?
Now, if I click on the drives, the RAID option does not present itself.
FWIW, I am using OS X 10.9.5, on Mac Pro 5,1. I boot from PCIe card. My end goal is to create a 4-disk RAID 10 using the four SATA connections on the MP.

It was really pretty simple based on your feedback, I powered down, removed the drives from the SATA backplane, moved each drive separately to the USB enclosure, then re-"erased" in OSX-Etended. I ejected each drive when finished, and moved to the next one until all four were re-"erased". Then I restarted the Mac with all four in the SATA connections, and all four were visible and had the RAID option tab. I created the three RAID schemes (two stripe and one mirror), and dragged the drives into the RAID option. Then I hit "create" or some other command to finish the RAID.
Note that I did get an error on the RAID creation. From memory, this was "cannot create RAID without an unmounted disk" or something like that. I cleared the error, and then opened back up Disk Utility. All the RAIDs were listed, and were operational with the green "On" signal. I could read/write/transfer from the RAID. Once I transfer the data to this RAID, I will work on a way to test it, but if any risk to the data, I might just leave well enough alone.
For now, it seems I have a fully functional RAID 1+0 using the four HDD on the SATA connections in my Mac Pro 5,1.

[915 Series] Why is there no RAID option?

Hi
mainboard is MS 7058 V1.0
type of mobo is 915p/g combo
it has full options, it has three IDE and four SATA connectors on board.
Bios was 1.4, and some time ago I updated to 1.7
it ran off a SATA 160 Gigabyte drive in enhanced IDE configuration
today, I pulled the drive, and fixed four identical 300 giga Sata drives because I want to run a striped mirrored RAID.
but... when I look at the available options, the BIOS setup screens do not ever show a RAID option at ALL.
I could connect an IDE drive, and see wether that will then allow me to install a RAID, but I really want to boot from RAID.
I also have an azalia question, but this can wait... the burning question right now is this..
kind regards, Jaak

Hi
hey, Thanks... Sorry if I be late to reply.
looks like default forum option is no not have email notification ON...
gonna look for this, if available.
F6 and driver on floppy, when I go for it and launch the setup on blanco SATA drives for a stipe/mirror without any PATA drives present at all, will that work?
I could still try this, even after I moved the mobo to a smaller case so as to get rid of it.
what I saw is that in BIOS, it does not show any of the raid options.
Is that floppy gonna install something in preboot, or in MBR of first active (if no option can be taken in BIOS, how so?)
r, or in EMBR of first active?
long time ago I did do some raid in real SCSI, and them things had an active bootrom in scsi raid setup, what is what I do not see...
now, maybe, MAYBE, one can set this up as a disttributed volume in windows, but will it do stripe/MIRROR?
I am skeptical.
yet... what have I got to lose, eh?
If ya really think a striped mirrored SATA RAID can be done n my mobo, I am willing to get me another (BIG/GER) case with an azalia front connector... and try it out.

Best RAID option for old video

I want to create an inexpensive RAID for old video and data. The stuff is very important to me, but I don't need performance, as this is "deep storage." In order to save money, I'm thinking of using 2 500 GB drives and Disk Utility.
What would be your preferred RAID option and why? Thanks.

I would say RAID 1 "mirrored".
Your data would be stored on both disks and if you had a failure with one disk.
quote from Disk Utility Help:
+About mirrored RAID sets+
+To help protect your data against disk failure, you can create a mirrored RAID set, also called RAID 1. In a mirrored RAID set, your data is written to two or more disks at once. If one of the disks fails or is disconnected, your computer can still access the data from the other disks. If you reconnect a disk you disconnected, the RAID set can rebuild it in the background so that it contains the latest data.+
+You can add spare disks to the set, called hot spares, that aren’t written to unless another disk fails or is disconnected. The RAID set then rebuilds one of the hot spares. If you reconnect a disk after the RAID replaces it with a hot spare, the reconnected disk is treated as a hot spare.+
+You can choose to have the RAID set rebuild a reconnected spare disk automatically. Otherwise, you must rebuild it yourself.+
+You still need to back up your data regularly, even though you have a mirrored RAID set. Mirroring protects you from some types of hardware failure, but not from user errors or software corruption. If you delete a file, it’s deleted from the mirror as well. If software corrupts a file, it’s also corrupted on the mirror.+
Message was edited by: David Altonaga

Pegasus RAID Storage with Thunderbolt opinions / backup solutions?

I'm trying to get some opinions about the Pegasus RAID Storage with Thunderbolt
http://www.promise.com/storage/raid_series.aspx?m=192&region=en-global&rsn1=40&r sn3=47
since I've been researching some info for a friend who is looking for extremely reilable local storage solution for his record label.
Does anyone here use this? If so, do you use it with Time Machine? And also what type of RAID setup did you use?
I was thinking of a RAID 5 setup, since I feel that would be best in the long run should any drives fail, the backed up data would still be available on the other drives even if the performane is a bit slower until the failed drive is replaced. I would like to hear about people's experience with these drives and RAID setups. Also if anyone might want to suggest other disk options, please feel free to mention them here.
This would mostly be for "Setup 1" which is mostly audio production dedicated.
There is also a need for a "Setup 2" which would be mostly business/document dedicated.
Would it be better to get another smaller local back up solution for Setup 2?
We're not too keen on using Time Capsule for Setup 2 as their long term performance does have a great track record.
We're also going to be using Carbonite to have an offsite/remote backup of everything we have locally, but I'm not too familar with their services as well and if anyone here can comment on that I would apprecaite it. I've read up a bit on them and I would think to probably use their Business level service.
Any help, advice, opinions are welcome and appreacaited!
Thanks!

You can (re-)install to the Pegasus raid and boot from it.
However, you'll actually get a faster system if you use an SSD for the system drive and then just use the Pegasus for data files (and Time Machine backups of the SSD ...).
In any case:
Be sure to use the Promise Utility (download it from their site) to configure the RAID level etc if you don't want the default RAID 5 configuration. (For me I prefer RAID 6 if there are more than 4 drives, RAID 1 for 2 drives and RAID 10 for 4 drives – RAID 5 is just too risky; even configured with a spare).
If you use the Pegasus as your system drive, consider using RAID 10 on it. You'll "only" get 6 TB storage; but it'll be fast and quite safe (much safer than RAID 5).

RAID option missing in BIOS

I am working with one each: the 865PE and the 865G. I have two 120GB Seagate SATA drives attached to the Intel controller. No VIA controller on-board. I am attempting to set up RAID 1 (mirrored), but I'm not able to activate the Intell controller, the option "CONFIGURE S-ATA as RAID" option is not available as shown in the manuals. Both drives do register in BIOS during POST sequence, but I can't figure out how to turn on the RAID controller so I can press CTRL-I and configure the RAID. I have installed the latest BIOS on each board.
Do these boards always have the RAID option, or is it truely "optional" and if so...what is the identifier on the box the says this board has the RAID option on board?
The white stickers show:
865PE:
P4-800, 865PE, ICH5,6ch S/W Audio, (DB2, Round, SATA*1, SATA Power*1) cable
865G:
p4-800, 865
g, ICH5,6ch S/W Audio, (DB2, Round , SATA*1, SATA Power*1) cable

Quote
Originally posted by Danny
For onboard raid you need a board with the ICH5R chipset, which is typically only on the high end boards. This table shows the models/chipsets: http://www.msi.com.tw/html/products/mainboard/mb_htm/mb_comparison.htm
None of the "G" boards have this option. Some of the newer Socket 775 boards do (ICH6R).
Thanks Danny. After a little more digging I found what I was looking for. The answer (for me) was in the white tag I semi-quoted earlier. I left of what turned out to be the important part. The 865PE should've read 865PE Neo2-PLS, where P seems to stand for Prescott, L for 10/100 LAN (F for Gigabit LAN), S for SATA, and the missing letter "R" for ... yes you guessed it... RAID. Oh, and the other letter is I for IEEE1394 (Firewire).
The board I need (and have now ordered) is the 865PE Neo2-PFISR
Again, thanks. Hope this helps someone else.

915P Combo No Raid option please help

Hi everyone,
Recently I bought MSI 915P combo FR and 2 S-ATA HD and 1 ATA HD.
I want to use the two S-ATA HD as Raid but BIOS does not let me select the raid option under IDE/S-ATA configuration. I have tried to clear CMOS and use different BIOS version and checked all connection but nothing helps.
Any help, advice and suggestion is very welcomed
Thanks in advance

Quote
Originally posted by Guci
The MB is packed with the software that can be used for SATA Raid configuration and in the manual it is explained how you have to configure your SATA controller as RAID in the BIOS (please download the manual for this mobo and look at chapter 5) as well as in WindowsXP environment.
Please take a look at page 1-2, under Chipset, u will c this "Serial ATA 150 RAID 0, RAID 1 and Matrix RAID (for ICH6R only)."
Quote
Hi Darkslayer,
It is written at least on the pack that it does support both SATA and IDE RAID and the chip is ICH6 and ICH6R ready.
I have follow the instruct mentioned but I do not see the RAID option anymore since updating the BIOS
BTW, maybe u should call up ur local MSI distributor and ask the what the ICH6R ready mean. I wish to know as well

IMovie HD to 1080p projector. Mirroring 0ff-on option. MBP 15" 10.5 latest

This is a question for people working with iMovie HD and projecting it via a 1080p projector. I have put the question on the iMovie "discussion", but am not getting a reply.
I have no problem viewing my FotoMagico slides show showing at full 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution on my 1080p video projector with the "mirroring" option set to OFF; full image filling the screen.
HOWEVER, I have not found the way to do it with iMovie; I can only project my video sourced material with Mirroring option set to ON. That means that I am projecting at a resolution equals to that of my MBP lcd monitor ie 1440 width, which produces a lower image resolution on the screen, as well as not filling the screen. I've tried and tried to find the "key" but to no avail . I "played" with Displays preferences etc ...
Anyone out there having experience in this field ? Is there a problem with MBP 15" laptop, 10.5 in this regard ?
Thanks for any help.
jc

Just a clarification ...
It does not have to be a 1080p projector specifically, although that's what I use ... you can replace it by "an external display".
Tks
jc

RAID Option ROM Version 3.2.1545.3

My sons PC will only boot up to a black screen titled RAID Option ROM Version 3.2.1545.3. The only keyboard functions that work is ctrl/alt/del. You can here a clicking when trying other keyboard functions but nothing happens. The PC will not boot up at all. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Hi JCCR, sorry to hear that you are having issue with you computer. I have found a link to Microsoft fix-it that has been known to repair issue such as the one you are having. http://fix-kit.com/Microsoft-Fix-Software/repair/?als=00010&nid=1&dist=GS&uq=%2Bmicrosoft%20%2Bfix&c...
If this does not resolve the issue, please feel free to write back and I will explore other options.
Thank you
Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" at the bottom of this post to say “Thanks” for helping!
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
W a t e r b o y 71
I work on behalf of HP

RAID Option ROM utility unavailable.

The thing is that I cannot access the RAID Option ROM utility during bootup, just because I don't the see the "Press <Ctrl-F> to enter RAID Option ROM utility..." option at all.
I've recently updated the BIOS to 2.0 to install Windows 8. Don't know if that has something to do. As I said, I don't see the "Press <Ctrl-F> to enter RAID Option ROM utility" option at all. The RAID 0 I installed Windows 8 on was setup before updating BIOS to 2.0. As per MSI statement, once the BIOS was updated to 2.0 it cannot be downgraded.
What I want to do is to add a 3rd. disk to my RAID 0 array to expand the capacity. I tried to do it under RAIDXpert utility under Windows, but I don't see any options to add a new device to the existing RAID 0.
Do any of you know if there's another key secuense (but Ctrl + F as the user guide states) to enter the RAID Option ROM utility during bootup?. Any help will really be apreciaed. Thank you very much!.
My sys. specs are:
Mainboard: MSI A75MA-G55 with 2.0 BIOS
Processor: AMD APU A6-3670
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
HDD: 3 x 320 GB each:
1 x WDC WD3200AAJS-00YZCA0 (Western Digital)
1 x MAXTOR STM3320613AS (Maxtor)
1 x Seagate ST3320413AS (Seagate)
RAID 0 (JBOD) composed by the Western Digital + the Maxtor. The Seagate is the one I want to add to the RAID 0

try >>Clear CMOS Guide<< with power cord removed, if no change, it appear to be bios bug, if the same worked fine with older version.
ask msi at >>How to contact MSI.<<

Can't sign in on external monitor with MBP after Yosemite upgrade

After Yosemite upgrade, when I turn on my MBP, I can't sign in using external monitor with MBP, always could before Yosemite. Blurred image of my wallpaper shows on monitor, can move arrow on external screen but sign-in only shows up on my computer screen, with no arrow. Since there is no arrow on the computer screen, and no sign in box on the external monitor, I have to unplug the external video to sign in on the computer, then plug in the monitor again. Any ideas?

NOWEK,
Thanks for this suggestion, but so far no joy. I have zapped the PRAM, jammed the Frabitz and smashed the Gafrogsnicker, all to no avail. When the MBP restarts I get a blurred image (extreme "vibrancy") on the external monitor, but no images of the login accounts to choose from or the other options. However, on the MBP screen I get all that. The keyboard and mouse respond, but just doesn't display on the external monitor. This is of interest to me because I have the MBP down in a credenza with other related gear and the external monitor and keyboard up on my desk. It's true I don't have to do this often, but still, it just started this aggravation with Yosemite. Thanks for trying to help.

Adding Hard Drive: RAID option

I'm going to add a 500GB drive to my Mac Pro and I'd like it to be joined to the existing as one volume. What is the most common RAID option to use for that?
Thanks!
~TPS

You can start by reading this: RAIDs.
If you use the software RAID supported in OS X then you can create either a striped or mirrored RAID. What are typically referred to as RAID 0 or RAID 1. In addition you can create a RAID 1+0 which is essentially a mirrored RAID or two striped RAIDs.
If you create a RAID with your existing drive then all the data on your existing drive will be erased so be sure to backup your existing drive before creating the RAID. Using a RAID as a startup volume is not a particularly good idea.

Xserver RAID options

I just purchased an Intel xserve with three 750 GB drives, and see there was no hardware RAID option. I would be OK with just mirroring 2 of the 750s, and keeping the 3rd as a spare, but during setup, it just assumed I wanted to install the OS on one drive, without a mirror.
OK fine. I then went into disk utility, and figured I could just add a second drive as a mirror. I have set up software mirrors on Windows servers, and the is an option to "add this volume as a mirror". Is there a way to do this?
Also, I would like to know how you have all set up your servers. Have you just used a single drive for your OS? I am just not comfortable doing this. If, not, what have you done?
TIA for any suggestions!
Enio

I am a new Xserve user and I am of the opinion that Apple could do more to explain:
1 - the RAID limitations of Xserve and
2 - the limitations of the 'free' 90 day support.
In both cases it is either difficult or impossible to obtain this information prior to purchase!
An Apple support person agreed with me that they could do more to assist those who want to use the OS X soft RAID rather than let them discover after a few hours playing that they should have ignored the instructions supplied and formatted two disks as RAID 1 and then installed everything afresh from the CD.
I decided to spend a little longer and reformat with Disk Utility and got RAID 1 working although there are a few holes in the instructions - ie which of the various icons should one click on!
Others may wish to see the following technical reply from Apple:
"I cannot give you any information if there will be a hardware raid option in the future. However I found a method to create a mirror without destroying the contents of the source disk. It requires the command-line however. You can use the command diskutil with the option enable raid. http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/diskutil .8.html A step by step guide can be found here: http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20040827122302975 Your support contract does not cover command-line assistance but you could purchase a support agreement for £455."
Xserve Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Raid 5 options with MBP?

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