RAID 5 re-partition

I'm running OSX 10.5.8 Server on a MacPro with RAID 5 running across 3 x 300 GB drives. The RAID was originally partitioned into 2 equal volumes; I now want to re-partition those volumes dynamically. Can anyone give me advice on how to do this?
Thanks!

You may not need commercial apps - Disk Utility can dynamically repartition drives, but there are some caveats.
The biggest question is how you created the partitions.
Did you create them at the hardware level (using raidutil)? or did you create one RAID 5 volume at the hardware level and use DiskUtil to partition it in two?
If the former then I think you're out of luck - raidutil can expand a volume, but not shrink it, so your only option is to delete one of the volumes, expand the other one, then create a new volume in the remaining space.
If you just created a single volume that you then soft-partitioned via Disk Utility, then you can resize the partitions if you used GUID as the partition format. The older APT can't be resized - at least that's what I recall... 10.5.8 is a little fuzzy now). If the disk is using GUID (and selecting it in Disk Utility will tell you) then you should be able to resize the partitions in the Partitions tab, otherwise it's a reformat and re-create job.

Similar Messages

Software RAID setup by partition or by drive?

I've outgrown my ext FW drive that has served me well. May I still use it in a RAID 1 with a partition from a larger drive I am going to get?
I've spent the last few years backing up a TiBook to an ext FW 120GB Maxtor drive, which has worked well. I use SuperDuper to create the bootable backup every week or two and usually keep one or two old versions. It also holds my music and photo libraries, which are multi-GB.
With that said, I now have a MBP w/100GB int HD, so the 20GB partitions will no longer suffice. I've been thinking of getting a Maxtor 600GB RAID 0 as an upgrade. I like the speed but remain concerned about the risk of RAID 0. If SW RAID is by partition, it recently occurred to me that I can RAID 1 mirror the ext FW 120 GB drive and one 120 GB partition of the RAID 0 600GB dirve. Is that possible?
These appear to be the advantages: 1. RAID 1 on the backup, so if either the old drive fails or one of the drive in the RAID fails, the data is still fine. 2. Still get speed on the new RAID 0 ext. drive.
Please advise.
fellow

Hi fellow;
With the experience I have had supporting servers with RAID for IBM, I personally would try to find a different solution. I see too many variables, such as the buses and drives, to make me think it is going to be worth the effort. About the only RAID solution that were worthwhile were those that followed the rules.
Allan

Raid 0 disk partitioning

Anyone know how to create a new partiition once up and running. 2 sata 80 gig maxtor's running in raid 0. Partition magic 8 doesn't work and windows won't do it.
any suggestions?

Do you really need to partition a RAID 0 array?
I'm asking because I found it just complicated things un-necessarily when I tried it with x2 160G Samsung SATA drives.
Firstly,a Raid 0 array offers no protection anyway so a Partition isn't going to make any difference to disk failure or data loss.
Also,the real benefit from Raid 0 is speed,not security,hence the trade off with Raid 1 Mirroring.
Last,Windows does allow you to change disk status through Disk Management .
Try it anyway and let me know how you get on.

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

Completely messed up Raid-Array and Partition! How to delete and create new Raid-Array?

Hello,
I am using Ideapad U310 and tried to clean install Windows 8 and use my SSD as CACHE and Hibernate-Partition.
So, I was able to get to the Intel CTRL+I-RAID Config Menu and there I was able to create and delete my RAIDS.
Unfortunately I did not setup the Partition Size correctly, thus I only have a 50 GB Partition combined with my SSD and my HDD. This is what it looks like in the Intel Storage Manager:
As you can see both, my SSD and HDD appears, but only have small partitions on the right. And Windows 8 only recognizes this small partitions, as you can see here:
And now I am NOT able to get to the Intel RAID CTRL+I-menu before Windows starts, where I could delete this array.
My Partitions are "empty", so I dont care if anything is delete. I just want to use raid with FULL CAPACITY of my harddrives. But how can I delete the RAID Arrays and reconfigure them correctly?
When I change in the BIOS from RAID to AHCI I am able to install Windows 8 again with the whol CAPACITY of my SSD and HDD. But then I will not be able to use the RAID via Intel Storage Manager...
Hopefully someone could help me.
Thank you in advance.

Hi
Please see this thread
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-Z-and-P-series/The-Guide-on-How-To-Reformat-Repartition-AN...
Hope this helps
Ishaan Ideapad Y560(i3 330m), Hp Elitebook 8460p!(i5-2520M) Hp Pavilion n208tx(i5-4200u)
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D20 (4158) Marvell no RAID - RAID 0 preserve partitions?

I added a second SAS HD to my setup and am intending to create a RAID 0 (the second drive is the same type, size, and speed).
Does the Marvell BIOS utility preserve partitions while creating a RAID 0? Or do they all get destroyed and I'll end up with a single, unpartitioned space?
If it destroys everything, what would be the simplest way to preserve them? Any utilities you can recommend that would allow me to (a) copy out my partitions into files on a server on the network, (b) create partitions after RAID 0 created, and (c) copy back from file on the server into the partitions?
Thanks in advance!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

i'm using a 160GB intel G2 SSD. any commercially-purchased 2.5" SSD would work in your system.   all you need is a 3.5" to 2.5" tray.   intel's retail boxed SSDs come with such an adapter.
i posted a few benchmarks last year comparing RAID 1 to a single intel SSD.   i'll hunt around for my RAID 1E bench.   it honestly wasn't much better.
here is my post: /t5/ThinkStation/D10-SAS-HDD/m-p/313106/message-uid/313106#U313106
two 15K SAS drives in RAID 1 (same as RAID 0 for read speeds) booted and launched apps in the same amount of time as the SSD.   the difference is that you're using less power, creating less heat, and dealing with less noise.   when copying files and performing normal tasks, the SSD feels a little quicker.   at a minimum, you aren't losing anything by going with an SSD -- it's a gain all-around.
after switching to an SSD and two 7200 RPM SAS drives, the loudest components in my D10 are the system fans.
ThinkStation C20
ThinkPad X1C · X220 · X60T · s30 · 600

About: making RAID sets - partition independant?

(the querry made simple: look last 2 lines)
When making a RAID set, whatever the type it is, will it rely on the partitions or on the disk itself?
In the Disk Utility help it keeps mentioning "disk", and when I was about to create a set, it also asked me about "disk".
I have set up 2 partitions for the purpose of testing RAID for me, being about the same size on a big backup drive.
The drive itself also has a bit of free space filled with original files.
So I wanted to mirror, say, RAID test 1 and RAID test 2, both of them being on the same disk.
Will it work?
Or will it wipe my disk?

A RAID may be constructed using individual partitions on separate drives although using the whole drive would be preferred for speed. You could actually RAID multiple partitions on the same drive, but of course what would be the point.
I've actually used two drives each with three separate partitions and created three separate RAIDs of two partitions each. Not particularly efficient but it does work.
There is really no point to creating a RAID of two partitions on the same drive. And, certainly no point creating a mirrored RAID this way.
Any RAID you create with Disk Utility will erase the drives used (or partitions.)
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?

Partitioning a Hardware RAID

OK, I have already searched the net to no avail, im hoping someone here will be able to help me.
I currently have an external 300gb HD with 2 partitions, one is a bootable backup and the other is storage. I have recently realized that if this drive were to fail I would lose a ton of important data. I therefore have decided to create a raid setup. I am considering purchasing a Buffalo DriveStation Duo with 2 500GB drives in it. I would set this up in a RAID 1 array so I will have 500gb of usable space with a constant mirror image backup. My question is, can I partion the RAID into 2 partitions (as I have now with my 300 gb drive) one for a bootable backup and one for storage and still maintain the mirroring. In essence I want to have 1 drive with 2 partitions on it, and have the drive still be mirrored to the second drive.
First-Is this possible?
Second-Will I still be able to boot from the boot partition?
Three-If so, can having more than one partition on a raid create problems, such as increased disk failure, slower speeds, etc?
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me with this!

I'd say you want separate partitions for atleast /, /usr,/opt, and /var. Probably one for /home, too. I'd definately isolate the filessytem where all of the work will occur onto it's own partition to reduce fragmentation on the others.

Partitioning RAID Master

Oops. Accidentally posted this in the wrong category. Now, I hope it is in the right one...
When I was on OS X 10.3.x server, I was able to mirror my 2 250g HDs and partition the RAID master. It seems I am unable to do that with 10.4.3.
I can partition each drives with the exact same partition table. Then, I try to mirror the partition. I can do that with 1 partition. When I try the second partition, it fails.
They are partitioned thusly:
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: Applepartitionscheme *233.8 GB disk0
1: Applepartitionmap 31.5 KB disk0s1
2: Apple_Boot 128.0 MB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS Classified 29.9 GB disk0s3
4: Apple_HFS Composing 119.9 GB disk0s5
5: Apple_HFS News 59.9 GB disk0s7
6: Apple_HFS Systems 23.6 GB disk0s9
/dev/disk2
#: type name size identifier
0: Applepartitionscheme *233.8 GB disk2
1: Applepartitionmap 31.5 KB disk2s1
2: Apple_Boot 128.0 MB disk2s2
3: Apple_HFS Classified 29.9 GB disk2s3
4: Apple_HFS Composing 119.9 GB disk2s5
5: Apple_HFS News 59.9 GB disk2s7
6: Apple_HFS Systems 23.6 GB disk2s9
So, I issue the command:
diskutil createraid mirror Classified "Journaled HFS+" disk0s3 disk2s3
No errors on this. A diskutil checkraid says that all is online.
So, I issue the command to RAID the next partition:
diskutil createraid mirror Composing "Journaled HFS+" disk0s5 disk2s5
And I get this:
Marking partition 'disk0s5' for RAID
Marking partition 'disk2s5' for RAID
Preparing partition 'disk0s5' for RAID
2005-12-12 10:12:47.459 DiskManagementTool[2707] Made bootable had an error on disk disk0s5 Composing {
Error = 16;
MapChanged = 0;
NewName = "AppleRAID_OfflineV2_Untitled2";
NewSlice = 5;
Adding disk 'disk0s5' to new RAID set
2005-12-12 10:13:19.613 DiskManagementTool[2707] Could not find disk with partition map name, we will not make it bootable disk2s5 Composing BuildRAID1
Preparing partition 'disk2s5' for RAID
2005-12-12 10:13:36.787 DiskManagementTool[2707] Made bootable had an error on disk disk2s5 Composing {
Error = 16;
MapChanged = 0;
NewName = "AppleRAID_OfflineV2_Untitled3";
NewSlice = 5;
Adding disk 'disk2s5' to new RAID set
Creating RAID Set
Bringing RAID partitions online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Waiting for new RAID to come online
Error -9983 encountered updating or creating raid on disk
and a diskutil checkraid only shows the previous RAID.
If I use the gui DiskUtil, I can add the 4 RAID sets, but after it creates the first one, the Create button is no longer active.
I would really like to have 4 volumes (Since users in News tend to let things fill up, I don't want them bumping into Composing...
Thanks in Advance,
Chris

This isn't a solution to your partitioning problem...
But perhaps you should consider using Disk Quotas.
It's a lot more flexible than having partitions, you can make adjustments as needed where you can't do that with pre-set partition sizes.
Jeff

Xserve 10.5 RAID and partitions

I am trying to configure my two 750G harddrives to be mirrored RAID and partition them, but am getting no love from Disk Utility.
I have tried partitioning one and then making them RAID. I have tried making them RAID and then partitioning.
If I partition both and then try to RAID the two equal partitions, only the first pair show up.
I'm a bit of a newby, but did the RAID and partitioning before in 10.4.11, but that was a few years ago, and I don't think it works the same in 10.5.8.
Any help will be greatly appreciated

hi,
once I had the partitioning as I wanted (options -> GUID, right?) I chose my volume A1 in disk utility, selected RAID, added A1 (stupid GUI) and B1, adjusted the raid level and let it do its thing. Same for A2 and B2. This worked for me: I have a 10.5 and a 10.6 install and can switch between the two.
Does this help?
cheers,
Michael.

Disk Utility : Partition / Raid or Raid / Partition ?

I have two external USB drives that I'm attempting to set up using Disk Utility.
I'd like to create either
- one RAID1 set with two partitions, or
- two RAID1 sets with one partition
however I'm not having much luck with either option. Is either scenario possible?

After some experimentation, I seem to have come up with a kludge ...
Partition both disks into identical volumes (A1 = B1, A2 = B2)
Using Disk Utility :
- create RAID Set 1 ( A1 + B1 = RAID1)
- create RAID Set 1 ( A2 + B2 = RAID2)
Error message 'Creating RAID set failed'
Restart ...
Using Disk Utility :
- click on partition A2 (now renamed RAID Slice)
- Erase partition
Upon erasing the partition / RAID slice will remount and the Disk Utility should show two RAID sets. A cursory examination of each RAID set's behavior leads me to believe it is simply a bug in Disk Utility that prevents the creation of two RAID sets on the same disk pair.

No Boot from Internal SSD RAID 0 ( partitioned )

6 Core Westmere MAc PRo 10.6.2
I have 2 OWC Exteme PRo RE SSD drives 200 Gig each -
one in lower optical bay , the other one in HD bay .
I made 2 exactly same partitons on each of those ( using Disk Utility )
and created Striped RAID on two pairs of those - using this workflow:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-HowToSetupRAID.html
( so I have 2 volumes Boot and Scratch )
Everything works fine - extremely fast .
I can do things on those volumes no problem .
So I made a Super Duper clone of my system
harddrive into "boot" SSD volume .
What I get is a " forbidden " sign while trying to boot from that .
I was able to boot from my SSD in JOBD setup ( before Raid O of partitions )
Any suggestions how to make my 400MB /S SSD raid0 volume bootable ?

Usually you do not want your scratch and system to be on the same hard drive, even if shared in RAID0.
6-core Westmere is Mid 2010 and comes with a later build of OS X than 10.6.4.
You'll also see SoftRAID recommended on MPG and what I prefer to use for arrays.
While you are experimenting, I would use the entire two SSDs in RAID0, formatted with 10.6.4 Disk Utility. And ask OWC what they think is up.

2 channel "multi-partitioned" RAID 5...Is it possible?

Hi folks,
I own an XserveRAID. I'm definitely not a network administrator. I use this XserveRAID for storage only for a video editing system. It is loaded up with 8x500 Gig drives (4 on each side). I currently have the whole things set up as a 1 (2.7 TB) partition RAID 5 configuration (I want the protection in case one of my drives should fail on me during a project.)
Now, here's my problem.... As I have begun filling up my XserveRAID with media, my editing system is upset that it is having too many files to keep track of on a single large partition. I've recently discovered that it is recommended, by my editing software, that I use a multi-partitioned RAID with each partition being no greater than 300 gigs.
So, my question is this.... (a) Is there any way that I can maintain the fast 2 channel fiber data rates, (b) in a multi-partitioned RAID and, (c) still have the same sort of RAID 5 protection I feel is necessary for putting so many valuable eggs in one giant basket such as this?
If so, how? How would I configure it? In what order?
Thank you very very much for your time and help,
Sincerely,
Rob

300GB isn't large by many video editing standards, so I'm surprised your software suite is having issues at that level.
That said, it's entirely possible to do, but you're going to need to backup your data and reformat your arrays in order to do it.
From your description it sounds like you're using 3 active disks and one hot spare disk on each side and then you're using software RAID 0 to combine the two halves into a single volume.
It's entirely possible to divide the array on each side of the XServe RAID into multiple 'slices' (up to 6 per side).
This means you'd take your three-disk array (approx 1.4TB) and slice it into 6 parts of about 230GB each. You'd repeat that for the other side of the array, so now you have 12 slices (which will appear as 12 separate volumes on your desktop).
You can then use software RAID 0 (if required) to combine multiple slices (one from each half of the XServe RAID) into RAID 50 volumes of about 450GB each. When done you'll end up with 6 volumes, each using two slices of RAID, one from each side of the XServe RAID.
Now, of course you'll have to deal with configuring the application to use 6 volumes of 400GB each rather than 1 volume of 2.7TB but if they're limiting you to 300GB volumes I'm assuming they have some mechanism for managing that.

P35 Neo2 - OS died, need help restoring RAID after re-install of XP

I have a P35 Neo2 with on-board Intel RAID. I need a bit of help getting a two drive RAID going again after reinstalling XP.
Here's my situation:
Same hardware, MB, etc. I originally set up the system with a 20gb IDE and two 320gb SATA drives. I put the OS on the 20gb, and set the two 320's up as a RAID. I partitioned the 320's into 200gb + 120gb sections on each drive. The 200gb partitions were mirrored between the two drives, and the remaining 120gb on each drive was used as non-RAID storage space.
I picked up a nasty virus-spyware a month or two ago that I was struggling to find a fix for when the OS began to BSOD. I put the 20gb IDE to the side, and put a 40gb IDE in it's place. I re-installed XP on it last night, and now need to get the RAID up and running again.
I went into Disk Management and it showed three dynamic drives with a yellow triangle icon and labeled 'foreign'. I right clicked and found an option to 'import'. I clicked on import and a window popped up showing all of the partitions and logical drives I had previously created on the two drive RAID. I figured I was in business, so I clicked OK.
Disk Management now shows one dynamic disk as 'Online', but still shows two as 'Foreign'. If I right click on them, and chose import, I get the same window showing my partitions and logical drives, but if I click OK, I get a warning message that: "Some of the volumes you are importing will lose data because you have not moved all of your disks to the system."
I'm in over my head at this point, so any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
GeoD

A 200gb partition is restored, but the 120gb is not, which is confusing. ALso, when I look at the logical drives in the partition, I'm beginning to think I had the 200gb mirror /120 gb storage backwards. The data restored is not something I would be concerned with losing. It's installed applications, and multimedia files that I could lose without worry.
There is also 70gb dynamic drive labeled Missing. I know I left a small portion of all three of the drives unallocated as a reserve, so that must be what this is. It's like the RAID info is incomplete which leads me to the next piece of info.
Something I didn't initially mention for the sake of brevity, was when I right-clicked on 'Import Disk' the applet noted the disk was 3/3. I assumed that meant disk 3 of 3 disks. I've since begun to wonder if I imported the disks in the wrong order. ie) I should have imported disk 1/3 first.
Do you know how to clear out Disk Mgt's info, so I can start over?
I also noticed only one of the 320 SATA's shows up in Device Mgr, (DM). What I found both confused me and encouraged me.
When I created the array, I named the the drives RAID0 and RAID1. They both show up in DM. But only one of them shows up as the drive model: WDC WD3201ABYS-01B9A0. There should be two of them.
The OS knows there should be a RAID, but for some reason only one of the drives show up as hardware. I rebooted and checked the data and power supply cables, (connected), the BIOS, (both drives show up) and both drives show up in Disk Mgt. Just not in DM.
Does that mean the HD has died?
Part of my difficulty is I had a brain injury in 2001, followed by another in 2003. The 2nd injury caused 6 months of what the docs call it a walking coma - I walked and talked, but have no memory of the time.
When I 'woke up' in the Fall of 2003, I found I had lost considerable cognitive function and other problems. These problem have ended up disabling me, (I'm now on SS Disability).
Until then I had been a 'System Admin' for micro-businesses, (max - 15 computers). I built systems and servers, installed networks, maintained them and did all the support. Basically I was these company's Sys Admin on an as-needed basis.
One thing I lost was the ability to troubleshoot and repair hardware. Combined with other cognitive problems, I was forced into closing my business. At the time, I was maintaining close to fifty offices; ~20 had Peer-to-Peer networks & ~20 had servers I had built.
What's doubly frustrating is I was just getting ready to sign up with an online backup service when I got hit with a nasty malware/virus that's so new there's no info on the 'net about it. I got entangled in trying to fix it and spaced out the online back up. Now I find myself in a situation where I desperately need to restore the data on these RAID drives. Because of the memory problems I now have, I completely depend on my computer as an auxiliary 'brain' - I have stuff on these drives that I have to have.
I didn't do much with RAID when I was still in the biz, and this is the first time I've had problems with a RAID of my own, so I'm struggling to figure this stuff out.
Should I be able to install one of these drives by itself so I can get the data from it? The way I understand the theory of RAID is that if one drive dies, you can put another in and the mirrored portion will re-create itself on the new drive. Couldn't that be a way to get the important data off the drive or drives if they don't want to go back together as a RAID?
I could back each up to the online service and then just rebuild them. Not my first choice, but it would reduce my stress level if I thought I could do it.
Sorry to go on, but now you can see why I'm both struggling & worried.
Thanks for any info or help.
Later,
GeoD

HT1175 Using G-Raid to backup iMac and Mac Pro laptop

Has anyone atttempted to backup both machines to a Hitachi G-Raid with one partition? If they have, was it by direct USB 2.0 wire using AirPort Express for the Mac Pro and direct fire wire to the iMAC?
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Len

leonardfromoshawa wrote:
To backup in the future requires hooking up each machine individually and using TM.
To do it that way, yes, but that's not your best bet.
First, having both sets of backups made directly, in the same partition, may present problems later on. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #4 for details.
Second, the inconvenience of switching back and forth means both Macs won't get regular backups. If you do switch frequently, there's the risk of damaging a port or plug.
Your best bet is to partition the drive. Continue backing-up the iMac to one partition directly. Leave the drive connected to the iMac, and back the laptop up to the other partition via your network. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #33 for details, and #22 for setup instructions. That way, both will be backed-up hourly, as long as they're awake and the laptop is in range of your network.
Will my original question of using AirPort Express work
No. You cannot connect a drive to an Airport Express's USB port, only a printer.

RAID 5 re-partition

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