RAID 5 Software?

Is there no way to set up a RAID 5 via software? Is it a bad idea? Is a RAID 5 NOT backing up your data by mirroring it across, say, 3 drives?
I guess I don't understand the mechanics or the pro's of a RAID 5 controller, the HDs are external and connect via SATA cables? That seems to be much more complex or messy than having 3 internal HDs.
Thanks in advance!

I responded in your other thread, but basically if you aren't running applications such as video, etc. that require high transfer rates, raid probably isn't necessary (well raid 3 or 5 that is). Imo, it's just not worth the trouble, and cost.
You have a lot of options to play with 3 x 1TB, with 3 empty slots. Look into partitioning the drives. If you want add performance, you can look into Softraid which is an app that can raid partitions of drives together, something that disk utility cannot do. So for example splitting 1TB into 500/500, and another 1TB into 500/500. You could raid 0 the separate disk partitions together, raid 1 them, etc. Softraid gives a lot of options.
As hatter stated though, I would change out your boot drive to like a 640 WD Black. Hands down the best boot drive available for price/performance.
That will give you an immediate boost in performance.
I think running your disks independently will be better. It's up you though. Try and experiment with different configurations, since the drives are new. It's quite easy to just try out raid 0,1,etc in disk utility. Once setup, benchmark it using a benchmark app, or just do real world tests like transferring large files.
There's a lot of combos you can do with 4 drive slots.
It depends on your needs, but this is an example:
1st slot:
640 WD Black partitioned into 140/500. 140 = Boot drive on outer partition for better performance w/ apps and system, and user folder (you can put your user folder on a separate volume if you like, some people recommend doing that). Remaining 500 = data files, etc.
2nd slot:
1TB partitioned 500/500. Outer 500** for raid 0 scratch. Remaining 500 backup 1st slot 500 data.
**for simplicity sake I used 500, but you really don't need this much for scratch.
3rd slot:
1 TB partitioned 500/500 Outer 500 for raid 0 scratch w/the 2nd slot. Remaining 500 backup an external 500 hd.
4th slot:
1 TB partitioned 960/140. Outer for data, time machine, backup of external hd. Remaining 140 for clone of boot drive.
This is just a rough example of what you could do. But again there are many combinations that you could do. If you don't have Superduper!, get it. It's an absolute essential app for cloning and backup.

Similar Messages

  • Best RAID software (SATA) for DVCProHD editing

    Hi, I am editing DVCProHD footage 1080/24pa and will be doing loads of Shake work with it and some compositing (all green screen stuff).
    I have a G5 Dual Core with 4.5 gigs of RAM, Blackmagic Decklink Extreme HD card and I've just purchased two external SATA Seagate Drives (750 gigs each) and a Tempo SATA E4P Serial ATA Host Adapter card. I want to Stripe the drives for editing and I was wondering what was the best software to do that with?
    Is it SoftRaid?
    If it's Apple's Disk utility, then what are the exact specs to use for this kind of use? (Journaled? RAID block size? etc)

    Journaled is really just to help with restoration of System Drives - so no.
    Must be OS-Extended though.
    Quote from Disk Utility Help:
    A video processing application might require fast throughput of large amounts of data, so a larger block size might be best for the set.
    Andy
    Quad 8GB. 250+500 HDs. G-Raid 1TB. NORTON. FCP 5.1.1. Shake 4.1. Sony HVR Z1E   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  
    "I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".
    Message was edited by: andynick

  • Software RAID failing constantly

    Dear all,
    I need help as I cannot work out what is going wrong the the Mirrored RAID i set up.
    I bought 2 x 1TB drives and setup Mirrored RAID (software) through the GUI Disk Utility Application. I assumed it would all "just work".
    After about a month the RAID failied. It happened after I ran TechTool Pro 5. Could this have caused permanent damage which leads me to where I am today (see below)? I unplugged the drives and plugged into my laptop (I don't know why I didn't just unplug and plug them into the Mac Mini they were in). Anyway it came up saying "Rebuilding" and it took about 9 hours. All was good again.
    Until early October 2009 when Disk Utility reported that the RAID was "degraded" and one of the drives had "failed".
    I was pretty shocked as it was a new drive. I thought the best thing to do would be to get a new 1TB drive to rebuild the RAID and then deal with the failed drive.
    It took over 2 weeks to get the new drive and enclosure (long story). I setup the new drive last night, plugged it in and the "Rebuilding" message came up with the same "it will take 9 hours message".
    I left it over night and when I got up Disk Utility told me that the older drive of the two has "failed". There has to be something weird going on here and this is where I need your help.
    Configuration
    1. The drives are 1TB Hitachi 3200rpm SATA I/II, 32 MB Cache drives
    2. The 'old' enclosure is an Icecube G2 SuperS 800/400/USB2/eSata 3.5" Enclosure
    3. The 'new' enclosure is an OWC Mercury Elite-AL, Quad Interface eSata/FW 400/FW 800/USB 2/USB 1
    4. The Mac Mini only has one FW800 port and I connect the 2 drives up in serial.
    <hr />
    Here is the behaviour I'm seeing now.
    I'll start with both drives off and turn both on.
    1. Both drives mount in Disk Util
    2. 20 seconds later a message comes up about rebuilding slices for "disk1 ... ?" and "disk (null)" and disk util crashed 2 seconds later (thus why didn't catch all of the message)
    3. I turn to the terminal:
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *298.1 Gi disk0
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Mini 297.8 Gi disk0s2
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk1
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk1s1
    2: Apple_RAID 931.2 Gi disk1s2
    3: Apple_Boot Boot OSX 128.0 Mi disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk2
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk2s1
    2: Apple_RAID 931.2 Gi disk2s2
    3: Apple_Boot Boot OSX 128.0 Mi disk2s3
    /dev/disk3
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: Apple_HFS terra *931.2 Gi disk3
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    Password:
    RAID SETS
    ===============================================================================
    Name: terra
    Unique ID: 2AC46C49-5F0B-4BD5-B1FE-C322A6F51DD9
    Type: Mirror
    Status: Degraded
    Size: 999860895744 B
    Rebuild: automatic
    Device Node: disk3
    Apple RAID Version: 2
    # Device Node UUID Status
    0 disk1s2 A12D748F-0779-4217-8C75-B31D9AE45B4E 0% (Rebuilding)
    1 disk2s2 CF03D24E-AB5D-4F86-A7B1-26A1F4589CB7 Online
    ===============================================================================
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    Run it again 10 seconds later:
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    It just hangs.
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    It just hangs.
    4. Now I turn off the 'old' drive and look at the terminal (that was hanging). When I turn it off I'm told (through the Hardware Growler Growl extension to show the status of hardware) that the old drive ("Macpower"), the new drive ("OWC") and the RAID disk ("terra") have all unmounted. The diskutil commands follow.
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *298.1 Gi disk0
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Mini 297.8 Gi disk0s2
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *0.0 B disk1
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk1s1
    2: Apple_RAID 931.2 Gi disk1s2
    3: Apple_Boot Boot OSX 128.0 Mi disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk2
    /dev/disk3
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: Apple_HFS terra *931.2 Gi disk3
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    RAID SETS
    ===============================================================================
    Name: terra
    Unique ID: 2AC46C49-5F0B-4BD5-B1FE-C322A6F51DD9
    Type: Mirror
    Status: Degraded
    Size: 319728959488 B
    Rebuild: automatic
    Device Node: disk3
    Apple RAID Version: 2
    # Device Node UUID Status
    0 disk1s2 A12D748F-0779-4217-8C75-B31D9AE45B4E 0% (Rebuilding)
    1 -none- CF03D24E-AB5D-4F86-A7B1-26A1F4589CB7 Online
    ===============================================================================
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    I don't know alot about this output, though its weird that disk2 is still in the list but only shows the GUIDpartitionscheme. And its interesting that disk1 is also in the list but shows 0.0B against the GUIDpartitionscheme for it.
    5. Just for kicks I turn off the 'new' drive aswell and run the commands again. When i do it Hardware Growler doesn't say anything has unmounted (I guess since they all did so before).
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *298.1 Gi disk0
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Mini 297.8 Gi disk0s2
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    Password:
    No RAID sets found
    As expected I guess.
    6. Now I'll turn both drives back on and confirm I get back to the same state I was in before after both drives were turned on.
    This time I get the Hardware Growler message that both drives have mounted followed by the RAID drive about 20 seconds later.
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *298.1 Gi disk0
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Mini 297.8 Gi disk0s2
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk1
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk1s1
    2: Apple_RAID 931.2 Gi disk1s2
    3: Apple_Boot Boot OSX 128.0 Mi disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk2
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk2s1
    2: Apple_RAID 931.2 Gi disk2s2
    3: Apple_Boot Boot OSX 128.0 Mi disk2s3
    /dev/disk3
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: Apple_HFS terra *931.2 Gi disk3
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    RAID SETS
    ===============================================================================
    Name: terra
    Unique ID: 2AC46C49-5F0B-4BD5-B1FE-C322A6F51DD9
    Type: Mirror
    Status: Degraded
    Size: 999860895744 B
    Rebuild: automatic
    Device Node: disk3
    Apple RAID Version: 2
    # Device Node UUID Status
    0 disk1s2 A12D748F-0779-4217-8C75-B31D9AE45B4E 0% (Rebuilding)
    1 disk2s2 CF03D24E-AB5D-4F86-A7B1-26A1F4589CB7 Online
    ===============================================================================
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    Now let me run the commands again:
    MMM, the exact same result is returned - it didn't hang this time.
    It's 21:44, I'll leave this a while and see if the rebuilding continues.
    Its 13 mins later and this time the commands are just hanging. Before I went away at 21:44 the lights on the front of the drives where flashing showing something was happening. They had stopped by the time I returned.
    7. Now I turn off the 'new' drive and run the terminal commands again. When I turn it off I'm told by Hardware Growler that the new drive ("OWC") and the RAID disk ("terra") have both unmounted. Last time (when the 'old' drive was turned off) Growler told me all 3 drives unmounted. The diskutil commands now show.
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *298.1 Gi disk0
    1: EFI 200.0 Mi disk0s1
    2: Apple_HFS Mini 297.8 Gi disk0s2
    /dev/disk1
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: GUIDpartitionscheme *931.5 Gi disk1
    It hangs at this point and hasn't completed yet.
    bsmith@kanga ~ $ sudo diskutil listRAID
    Password:
    RAID SETS
    ===============================================================================
    Name: terra
    Unique ID: 2AC46C49-5F0B-4BD5-B1FE-C322A6F51DD9
    Type: Mirror
    Status: Offline
    Size: 999860895744 B
    Rebuild: automatic
    Apple RAID Version: 2
    # Device Node UUID Status
    0 disk1s2 A12D748F-0779-4217-8C75-B31D9AE45B4E Failed
    0 -none- CF03D24E-AB5D-4F86-A7B1-26A1F4589CB7 Missing/Damaged
    ===============================================================================
    bsmith@kanga ~ $
    So HELP PLEASE!. Does the above provide enough information to suggest to someone with more knowledge than me about this, what is going on and what can I do to fix this? Let me know if there are any more tests I can run.
    I have a backup of the data so can erase and recreate the RAID drive. But what would stop this happening again? Could it have been TechTools Pro 5 which was running when the problem first happened that caused some permanent damage?
    Any and all help appreciated.
    Thank you,
    Brooke

    Thanks ridogi and Antonio for your replies,
    For clarification, both drives have dual FW 800 to allow them to be connected. No FW 400 involved (I'm not that silly .
    I can't say i've done extensive research into setting up RAID drives but I've never come across advice to not use multiple external drives. Here is an extract from a Nov 2007 MacTech article on using RAID for backup:
    {quote}
    The Desktop Mac User:
    The second user I want to look at is the professional who relies on his desktop Mac for his business. He is a lawyer, developer, architect or other professional whose business relies totally on the contents of his computer. If he loses the files on his computer, his business will really suffer. In addition, the time lost when dealing with a failed hard disk is money down the drain. This user relies on a three disk mirror volume. His Mac has two internal SATA disks which are used as the primary and secondary disks of a mirror volume. If one of the disks fails at any given point, the other one will take over and become the new primary disk, so his files are always protected from a hard disk failure. The third disk is an external FireWire disk which is also a secondary disk. It is stored offsite (either at home in a fireproof safe or at another safe location). Every Friday, he brings this third disk into his office and connects it to his desktop Mac. Once this disk is connected, a mirror rebuild starts automatically. He can perform this rebuild as he continues to use his Mac during the day. At the end of the day, when he shuts his Mac down, he disconnects his external secondary disk and returns it to its offsite location. This offsite secondary disk becomes his insurance against his building getting broken into or his building burning down. Like the laptop user, if his Mac gets destroyed, he can just purchase a replacement Mac and then boot up from his external secondary disk. At most, he will use one week's worth of work.
    {quote}
    So I just assumed it is ok to use external drives. This is discussing a software product called SoftRAID and perhaps that is able to handle the situation. Or perhaps one external drive is ok???
    My plan, developed when deciding to buy the Mac Mini April 2009 was to amortize costs by buying external drives first for doing backups and then buying a NAS within 12 months. I guess I should have just gone the NAS.
    However ridogi I see you've recommended WiebeTech which don't seem to have NAS devices but DAS (direct attached storage) as the devices are connected directly to a network machine via Firewire etc. (Whereas NAS connects via the Network - I'd connect such a device to the Airport wireless router). Do you prefer DAS over NAS? I guess the downside of NAS is that the complexity is somewhat greater.
    And reading http://www.wiebetech.com/just-say-no-to-nas/ they say:
    {quote}
    Let's face it - Networked or "shared" storage is a great feature but most NAS devices are just too slow for many applications. 3MB/s for a NAS device is common and 10MB/s is considered fast. Direct Attached Storage (DAS) performs much faster while still having the ability to be "shared". The RTX400-QR can transfer data to your computer at speeds exceeding 100MB/s.
    {quote}
    How can this be? If connected via Gigabit ethernet (128MB/s) then isn't that faster?
    Though it is true that if you connect via Wifi then the best speeds you are going to achieve is 6.75 MB/s (802.11g) or 17.5 MB/s (802.11n).
    Of course the speed advantages for DAS are only going to be on the machine its connected to as the other machines will connect to it (via the machine its on) over the network anyway!
    Why I like the idea of NAS is to move the drives away from the Mini (noise and powerpoint reasons), make it easier to share with other Macs/PCs in the house (including via SMB) and I have a vague hope that this might stop the delay caused by the connected external drives spinning up when an open/save dialog box is activated (or is this just me?!).
    Your thoughts appreciated! And thanks for the help so far.
    Cheers,
    Brooke

  • Can I install Snow Leopard and boot from software RAID 1 (mirror)?

    I have a Mac Pro (quad core 2.66 GHz) on order for my office workstation. Yeah, I know new ones are probably coming out early next year but due to budget and upcoming projects I need one now. What I'd like to do is replace the pre-installed 640GB drive with two 1 TB drives and mirror them. The 640GB drive will be redeployed to another machine in the office. Can I boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD, go to Disk Utility, setup a RAID 1 with the two drives, install Snow Leopard to the mirror and then boot off the mirror set?
    I've searched and found offhand comments to the effect that installing to and booting from a software mirror is OK, but I'd like to know for sure that it's OK. Any experience that you have with such a configuration would be nice to hear.

    Yes. But before you do read the following:
    RAID Basics
    For basic definitions and discussion of what a RAID is and the different types of RAIDs see RAIDs. Additional discussions plus advantages and disadvantages of RAIDs and different RAID arrays see:
    RAID Tutorial;
    RAID Array and Server: Hardware and Service Comparison>.
    Hardware or Software RAID?
    RAID Hardware Vs RAID Software - What is your best option?
    RAID is a method of combining multiple disk drives into a single entity in order to improve the overall performance and reliability of your system. The different options for combining the disks are referred to as RAID levels. There are several different levels of RAID available depending on the needs of your system. One of the options available to you is whether you should use a Hardware RAID solution or a Software RAID solution.
    RAID Hardware is always a disk controller to which you can cable up the disk drives. RAID Software is a set of kernel modules coupled together with management utilities that implement RAID in Software and require no additional hardware.
    Pros and cons
    Software RAID is more flexible than Hardware RAID. Software RAID is also considerably less expensive. On the other hand, a Software RAID system requires more CPU cycles and power to run well than a comparable Hardware RAID System. Also, because Software RAID operates on a partition by partition basis where a number of individual disk partitions are grouped together as opposed to Hardware RAID systems which generally group together entire disk drives, Software RAID tends be slightly more complicated to run. This is because it has more available configurations and options. An added benefit to the slightly more expensive Hardware RAID solution is that many Hardware RAID systems incorporate features that are specialized for optimizing the performance of your system.
    For more detailed information on the differences between Software RAID and Hardware RAID you may want to read: Hardware RAID vs. Software RAID: Which Implementation is Best for my Application?

  • How to install on a software raid with dmraid?

    In linux 2.4 the ATARAID kernel framework provided support for Fake Raid (software RAID assisted by the BIOS). For linux 2.6 the device-mapper framework can do, among other nice things like LVM and EVMS, the same kind of work as ATARAID in 2.4. While the new code handling the RAID's I/O still runs in the kernel, device-mapper stuff is generally configured by a userspace application. It was clear that when using the device-mapper for RAID, detection would go to userspace.
    Heinz Maulshagen created the dmraid tool to detect RAID sets and create mappings for them. The controllers supported are (mostly cheap) Fake-RAID IDE / SATA controllers which have BIOS functions on it. Most common ones are: Promise Fasttrack controllers as well as HPT 37x, Intel, VIA and LSI. Also serial ata RAID controllers like Silicon Image Medley and Nvidia Nforce are supported by the program.
    I would like to ask if someone out there managed to set up a raid machine with dmraid, and I am asking for a full raid setup, nothing like raid for /home only.

    Loosec;
    I see that you have a handle on the dmraid package, recently upgraded I see.
    I have an application for raid that does not involve booting with raid, data system only.
    I desire to generate an archive for pacman using a raid array for purposes of install speed.
    My first attempts used mdadm techniques and provided a software raid of hde and hdg drives which did not produce  an improved hdparm read speed.
    What changes to dmraid procedures will provide a non-bootable raid0 system which will archive pacman packages and provide combined raid read speed at least 50% greater than the normal 40MB/sec.?
    Performance figures for raid0 with dmraid haven't been available in the forums.  Perhaps these are disappointing?
    Basically, how to make a raid0 system  with dmraid but not make it bootable?
    EDIT:  Solved my problem with mdadm and mke2fs, fstab entry and /mnt/md entry.
    Last edited by lilsirecho (2008-03-14 07:50:00)

  • Is it true any Mac Pro can do software RAID 0?

    I dont know why I never came across this, but is it true that any Mac Pro (or just macs in general??) can do software RAID 0 if you have two of the identical hard drives? Basically the OS handles everything and no special hardware or card is needed?
    If true, what would be the reason so little people do it for faster disk access??

    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?

  • 975x and Raid .. Works fine for me with all bios

    I just glanced at the Bios thread to look something up (I forget what) and was stunned to see the posts there...
    Why are people being discouraged from using Raid with the Official bios ver 7.3 (or any other bios) ?
    If there was a problem using Raid with an official bios, especially one that gets auto updated, this board would be swamped with complaints..
    I have never had a problem with Raid on this board..
    And most of you that know me, know that I test almost every bios that comes out..
    I don't have to reinstall my raid after installing a new bios...
    Okay... sorry .. had to rant...
    I don't have a step by step of "how I set up my Raid" but basically here is what I did..
    (Please note, everyone has their own prefered method for installing an OS on a raid)
    No matter what bios I used, I would have my "working" OS on an IDE drive...
    I would then reboot, go into my bios, set my Sata to Raid (set forcegen to whatever you want)
    f10 to save the setting and when the reboot happens, I try "control + I" to get into the Intel panel..
    If I don't get the Intel Panel, I just reboot again, go in the bios, disable jmicron (my IDE drive will still work), and ...
    f10 to save setting, and try "control + I" to get into the intel raid panel, if you can't get into the panel, something else is set wrong in your bios or your SATA drives aren't set up properly..
    Once I created my raid, I would boot into my OS (on my IDE drive)...
    My OS will find the raid and want to install a driver, ignore that, and just install the Intel Raid software..
    Then I would either migrate my OS to the newly formed Raid drive using a tool like Data Lifeguard (that is Western Digital's tool for its drives)
    Or I would just restore to the raid drive using an OS backup (I used Norton Ghost) and set the Raid drive as a boot drive..
    Make sure your raid is formatted as a "primary partition" to be a boot drive...
    Now that I have my OS on the raid drive, I just simply reboot, go into my bios, set my raid as the first boot drive and then when my system boots, I am running off my Raid...
    As for having my raid running and trying a new bios...
    I just flashed from bios ver 7.30 to ver 7.16 booted into my raid (all worked fine) and then flashed back to 7.30 and no problems finding my raid...
    The only suggestion that I can offer is:
    If you have problems finding your SATA Raid after a bios flash, the problem is most likely jmicron related...
    Try disabling the jmicron in the bios (your IDE stuff should work fine unless you are using a Raid on the jmicron ports)..
    or just try disconnecting all your drives except your SATA raid
    Then see if you can see your SATA raid...
    Understand, if there was a problem with running raids with this motherboard, there would be posts everywhere..
    Somehow, either the way you created your raids, your bios settings, or the way your jmicron is implemented is causing problems..
    Hope this helps someone...
    I know I am gonna get blasted for this post...
    But I don't think I am the only one running a SATA raid using bios ver 7.3
    I just think that those with working Raids, don't look at the Official Raid thread since it looks like a "How to" thread...
    I am sorry (in advance) if I offended anyone with this thread...

     
    Hey Vaniireq
    1. Thanks for that info - Perhaps the forum modrerators would see more of the issues coming to light with RAID if they changed the topic in the stickies from HOW TO install Intel Matrix Storage Driver Guide  to MAIN RAID ISSUES and put in a subthread on HOW TO install Intel Matrix Storage Driver Guide
    2.  I have always kept the JMD disabled as nothing on BIOS 7.1 would work for me in raid when otherwise.
    SUGGESTION:  I suspect that many when starting to look at the forum have no idea what there is in the "HOW TO install Intel Matrix Storage Driver Guide " thread - as it does not mention RAID that clearly.
    Just a suggestion.   
    I am about to do the 4 hour check and attempt to get back to dual channel 800 with my system.  Will advise....
    Good weekend all.........  Keith

  • Raid Setup Guide 865/875 LSR/FIS2R Rev 1.04

    On-Board Raid Setup MSI 865PE/875P
    Revision History
    Revision 1.0 (January 2004)
    -   Original Raid Article
    Revision 1.01 (February 2004)
    -   Reformatted text and fixed spelling/grammar
    Revision 1.02 (October 2004)
    -   Added warnings to temporarily disconnect ALL drives including Zip drives during formatting Raid drives for WinXP.
    Revision 1.03 (October 2005)
    -   Reformatted text and added links to download Promise/Intel Raid floppies if user is missing them.
    Revision1.04 (February 2006)
    -   Minor BB reformatting
    Intro
    Equipment List For Tests
    Description of Tests
    Pre-Raid Setup Bios Tweaks
    Raid Setup On Promise Controller
    Raid Setup On Intel Controller
    --->Intel- Migrating from single SATA to Full Raid Array
    Intro
    This guide is intended to help people configure their Bios and setup Windows for Raid using the Intel ICH5R controller  and the Promise FastTrak 378 controller. Although all the tests were done using Raid-0 the methods described should be virtually identical to setting up Raid-1 provided the user is aware of the fundamental differences between the two. It should be useful for anyone with an MSI 865PE/875P chipset on motherboards with LSR and FIS2R suffixes. Before continuing, please read the FAQ thread posted by Maesus and the Raid manual(s) that came with your motherboard. There's also some good info regarding Raid Here and Here and Here
    Keep in mind this guide is intended as a reference to help you. It is not a manual. I do not work for MSI and my equipment and time are limited. You will have different equipment and different versions of software.
    All the data below is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
    Equipment List For Tests
    MSI 875P FIS2R Motherboard
    Bios 1.8
    Enermax EG365P-VE (350w)  PSU
    P4 2.6c CPU
    Kingston KHX-3200A2 2x512MB Memory
    Radeon 9800Pro AIW Video Card
    WD 400JB 40GB/8MB cache IDE Hdd
    2-Seagate 80GB 7200.7 SATA Hdd's
    Liteon 52x32x52 CDRW
    Floppy Drive
    Tests
    Generally, tests were as follows:
    Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
    Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
    Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
    Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
    Configure 1 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1) and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on it. Then add 2nd SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial2) and migrate to Raid0 using Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition.
    IDE drive used in these tests was pre-installed with a fresh copy of WinXP Home SP1a using default settings and the following drivers all from MSI setup CD and Raid Floppy Disks that came with motherboard:
    Intel INF files - version 1002
    Gigabit Lan drivers - 7.0.37.0
    SoundMax drivers - 5.12.1.3538
    Catalyst 3.7 & Multimedia Center drivers from standard ATI CD came with video card.
    Pre-Raid BIOS Tweaks
    Before I continue, I'd like to point out a few changes from the defaults that I alway make to Bios before I attempt a WinXP install or hardware change. I can't guarantee that they all apply to you but none should make things worse. If anything differs from a setting that you feel is fixing another problem you're having, by all means leave at your prefferred setting. Anything related to performance and overclocking can be raised again AFTER the Raid is all setup and everything is running smoothly.
    Standard Cmos Features
    The only thing I change here is to enable "32bit transfer mode" whenever I connect new devices to the Intel IDE controller.
    Note: Devices attached to the Promise controller and the Intel Raid(when it is enabled) will NOT appear in the standard Cmos page
    Advanced Bios Features
    Everything on defaults is usually fine except I always change the following for WinXP:
    APIC ACPI SCI IRQ - Enabled
    Boot Device select is also on this page and you'll be changing it after all the hardware is setup; more later.
    Advanced Cipset Features
    Confirm that the memory timing "by SPD" is enabled
    PNP/PCI Configurations
    Clear NVRam option I always set to "YES" before the first boot after making hardware changes. I'm not sure how important this is but I understand that's what you're supposed to do. I believe it forces the motherboard to detect hardware changes. It reverts to "NO" after the reboot.
    PCI/IDE Busmaster set to "enabled" to speed things up outside of Windows.
    Integrated Peripherals (Before Raid for most flexibilty)
    Onboard Promise IDE - Disabled if you have nothing attached to IDE3 and Serial 3&4
    ON-Chip IDE Configuration:
    Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
    SATA Only or PATA Only (select the one that you boot XP with)
    Keep SATA Active - Yes (if option available)
    Keep PATA Active - Yes (if option available)
    PATA Channel selection - Both (if option available)
    Configure SATA as Raid - No (if option available)
    Leave other settings here at default
    Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above
    Frequency/Voltage Control
    Dynamic Overclocking - Disabled
    Performance Mode - Slow
    Dram Frequency - Auto
    Adjust CPU Bus - 201 (for "c" type cpu's)
    DDR Voltage - 2.65 (minimum for Dual-Channel Mem stability)
    AGP Voltage - 1.55
    Note: some features above may not appear with your Bios
    Note: performance & overclocking features can be increased again AFTER the Raid array has been setup and is stable with Windows.
    Raid On Promise Controller
       This procedure should work for anyone adding a Raid array to a system already having XP installed on another drive on the Intel controller or intending to install Windows XP on the new Raid array.
    Note: IDE 3 and Serial 3&4 connectors are controlled by the Promise controller.
    Note: It is possible to setup Raid arrays using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 or even 2 SATA & 2 IDE drives. I only tested 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4 connectors.
    Note: It is possible to setup Raid 0+1 using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 and 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4. See HERE for a related thread.
    Note: It is possible to setup SATA or IDE drives on the Promise controller as separate drives NOT using Raid but I did not test this. See your manual.
    - Attach the SATA drives to Serial 3&4 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
    - Boot into Bios
    Integrated Peripherals:
    Set Onboard Promise IDE  - As Raid
    - Save and reboot computer
    - Use control-F keys during the boot(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Promise Raid Bios.
    Note: You will only be able to enter the promise Bios if you have set the Promise controller to "As Raid" AND there are devices connected and detected by the Promise Bios.
    - Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
    Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. Do some research.
    - After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
    - In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
    Set the order you prefer to boot from
    - If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
    - If you will be installing XP on the new Raid, make sure the new Raid array is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
    Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
    - Save bios
    Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes USB/Zip drives.(See "Bugs" below).
    If Installing XP On The New Raid Array(others skip to below):
    - Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
    - Follow prompts to load the WinXP Promise FastTrack 376/378 Controller from the floppy that came with motherboard(If Required Download Floppy Here). There are a number of different choices on the floppy. PICK THE RIGHT ONE.
    Note: if using Win2K with the floppy, you can scroll down to get more driver options on this screen. It's not readily apparent on the screen.
    - Continue setup and Windows should now show you the new Raid array as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
    - When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
    - After XP is up and running, you can re-connect/re-enable any drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
    - You can also install the Promise Array Manager software(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which adds some array management settings.
    If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
    - Boot into WindowsXP.
    - As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers.   
    - Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
    - Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
    Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the Promise drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
    - Install the drivers and re-boot
    - Device Manager should now show the Raid properly identified by XP.
    - If the Raid array was not previously formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
    - The Raid array should now show in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
    Bugs/Surprises
    - Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array.
    Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
    - When setting "Boot Device Select", if I selected "NO" for "boot from other devices", the motherboard would ignore my selection and still boot from other devices if the ones in the list were unusable.
    - Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
    Raid On Intel Controller
    This procedure should work for anyone adding 2 SATA hard drives for a Raid array on a system already having XP installed on another drive or intending to install XP on the new Raid array.
    Note: IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 connectors are controlled by the Intel ICH5R controller. Only Serial 1&2 can be configured for Raid arrays.
    You can also install a single SATA drive and configure the system for Raid BEFORE installing XP on this drive if you intend to add another SATA drive later to form a Raid array. This method was also tested. I will refer to this for the rest of the thread as the Raid-Ready Method.
    Note: If you install WinXP on a single SATA drive without enabling Raid and loading Raid drivers, you will NOT be able to migrate the XP disk to a Raid array at a later date. Reinstalling XP would be required.
    Note: There is no performance advantage to having a single drive with Raid enabled. But doing so makes the disk Raid-ready and XP reinstall unnecessary.
    - Attach the SATA drive(s) to Serial 1&2 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
    - Boot into Bios
    - In "Integrated Peripherals>>On-Chip IDE Configuration" set:
    Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
    SATA Only (Even if you will be booting XP from a PATA drive)
    Keep PATA Active - Yes
    PATA Channel selection - Both
    Configure SATA as Raid - Yes
    Leave other settings here at default
    Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above.
    - Save Bios and reboot computer
    - Use control-I keys during post(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Intel Raid Bios Utility.
    Note: If you are using the single SATA Raid-Ready Method, you can skip the steps involving the Intel Raid utility. Go to the step for setting Boot device select in main Bios.
    Note: You will only be able to enter the Intel Raid Bios if you have set the "Configure SATA as Raid" option to "YES"  AND there are devices connected and detected by the Intel Raid Bios.
    - Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
    Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. The Intel utility does describe the different options well though.
    - After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
    - In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
    Set the order you prefer to boot from;
    If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
    If you will be installing XP on the new Raid or using Raid-Ready Method, make sure the new Raid array or raid-ready drive is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
    Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
    - Save bios
    Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array or using the Raid-Ready Method, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other hard drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes Zip/USB drives. (See "Bugs" below).
    If Installing XP On The New Raid Array Or Using Raid-Ready Method(others skip to below):
    - Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
    - Follow prompts to load the IAA Raid Driver for ICH5R (If Required Download Floppy Here) from the floppy that came with motherboard.  I only had 1 driver to choose from on my floppy but if you have more, CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE!
    - Continue and Windows Setup should now show you the new Raid array or Raid Ready drive as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
    - When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
    - After XP is up and running and INF files and other important drivers installed, you can re-connect/re-enable any hard drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
    - You can also install the Intel IAA-Raid Program(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which gives some info and adds the array management settings(Not many. Just the enable/disable cache setting and the migrate to raid option).
    If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
    - Boot into WindowsXP.
    - As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers. Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
    - Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
    Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the IAA Raid drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
    - Install the drivers and re-boot
    Note: If the IAA Raid program detects that the Raid controller is not enabled or no device is present, it will NOT allow you to install the drivers/utility.
    - Using Windows Device Manager should now show the Raid device properly with no problems.
    - If the Raid array has not been formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
    - The new drive should now appear in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
    Bugs/Surprises
    - Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array. It is safe to assume this can occur with the Intel controller as well since I believe the problem occurs because of how WinXP setup addresses the hard drives.
    Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
    - Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
    Migrating XP System Disk To Raid On Raid-Ready System
    This part describes how to use the Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition to migrate an existing WinXP system disk (1-SATA) to a 2-SATA Raid array.
    This procedure is actually very well documented in the last part of the Intel SATA Raid manual that ships with the motherboard but I thought I’d add it to make this thread more complete.
    Please note that to use this feature of the Intel raid software the disk you are migrating FROM must have been made Raid-Ready as described above. Basically, this means that Raid should have been enabled in the Bios and the drivers installed from floppy during the WinXP install.
    Note: I tested this by migrating to a Raid0 array but Raid1 should work also if the latest Bios and version of Intel-Raid application used.
    - Open the Intel Application Accelerator Raid utility.
    - With the “Raid” tab window open, right-click on “Raid volume” and select “Create from Existing Disk” as seen below.
    - Follow the next several steps to choose the type of Raid array and the strip size.
    Note: 64kb strip size is good for general purpose and 128kb best for most desktops and work stations according to Intel. Anything smaller is for specialized purposes. You should research this a little because you can’t change it after easily.
    - After configuring the array for your preferences, you will face a couple of warnings telling you that “All data will be deleted from the Raid-controlled drive(s) and is unrecoverable” and ask if you want to continue. Obviously all data(if any) on the new drive you’re adding will be lost but the OS and other data on the disk you’re migrating FROM will be striped to the new array and will remain intact.
    Note: Any complex disk procedure such as this carries the risk of losing data. A backup of the disk is important BEFORE beginning the migration process. Don't say I didn't warn you.
    - The migration process can take a long time. You should see the window below during the operation.
    Note: With just a default WinXP installation, migrating to 2-80Gb drives took about an hour for me.
    - After the migration is complete, you will be prompted to re-boot to complete the process.
    - During the reboot, as the Intel Bios comes up for a couple of seconds(don’t blink) you will see the 2 drives configured as an array and they will be listed as “functional”.
    - After the reboot, you should have a fully functional Raid array with 2 SATA drives and all data from the single drive will have been striped or mirrored into the second one. Check Windows Disk manager(Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to see the status of the new drive. See bugs/surprises below.
    Bugs/Surprises
    The only problem I had with this test came in the form of a small surprise after everything was completed and the computer had rebooted. Although the Intel Application Accelerator showed everything functioning normally, Windows explorer showed my Raid drive as 74Gb in size instead of the 150Gb or so that I expected. After checking Windows disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc), I found that the missing GB’s were in fact there but were unformatted. Unfortunately, Disk Manager does not seem to allow merging or extending partitions so I ended up using Partition Magic 8 to format the empty space and merge it with the rest of the partition. This seemed to work fine and I ended up with a single 150Gb drive showing up in Windows Explorer. I also briefly tested the performance to confirm that it was operating as a Raid array.
    I know there is a utility for Win2K called DiskPart.exe that is run from command console to extend NTFS partitions but if anyone knows of an easier way or a FREE utility that will format/merge NTFS partitions that they have confirmed works, please PM me so that I can include a reference to it here.
    All the data above is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
    Vango44

    Great work vango44!
    Here are some RAID performance statistics I gathered while testing RAID on my system.  The testing software was Winbench 99.  The hard drives tested were new Seagate ST380013AS drives, formatted NTFS.  Winbench was running on a third drive that is not included in the tests and should not affect the results.
    The drives were reformatted between tests and chkdsk'ed to try and keep things "apples to apples".
    No hardware or software changes other than the RAID setup/connections were made between tests.
    Higher numbers mean better performance.
    I also ran the same tests on the newish WD Raptor 10K drives:
    I couldn't stand all the noise   the Raptors made, so I returned them.
    On my motherboard:
    SATA 1 & 2 = Intel RAID controller
    SATA 3 & 4 = Promise RAID controller
    If the test title does not include "RAID", then it was a single drive test.
    Unfortunately, I don't have a spreadsheet version of the above stats.  Otherwise I'd create nice bar charts for us and it's would be easier to deduce performance.
    Perhaps some kind reader will OCR the pictures, put them into Excel, and make some nice bar charts for us?
    Hope the info helps.

  • I want to add another hard drive to my exsisting RAID 0 setup - how can i do this?

    Hi all, wonder if somebopdy can help me
    I have my computer setup as follows:
    1 x SSD - used for my O/S - windows 7 ultimate 64bit
    2 x 1 TB hard drives - WD black series in a RAID 0 arrar
    Now Im slowly but surely running out of space on the RAID ( the two hard drives) so im thinking about purchasing 2 x more of these exact same hard-drives to add to the RAID but iv never done this before and obviously I cannot lose any of my data currently
    saved on this RAID - as iv deleted everything I don't use or want
    what is the best way to back all my data up and how would I add 2 x new hard drives to my RAID 0  so that it will include 4 x 1 tb hard drives in total
    thank you hope somebody can help

    Hi,
    You have to know that with a RAID 0 (striped set), if any drive in the array fails for any reason, you will loose all data on the volume. In this case, the more drives you add, the greater the chance for failure--with increased I/O.
    Being you already have a RAID 0 setup with two drives, you cannot just break the stripe--you will loose all data if not backed up. 
    To effectively add another drive to your RAID 0 implementation, you will have backup your machine--making an image is the best option--break the array, add the drive and then restore your image.
    About how to extend the raid 0, you may need some third-party tool to complete. Here is some references for you:
    http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/extend-raid-software.htm
    http://www.partitionwizard.com/resizepartition/extend-raid-0-partition-windows.html
    Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance
    or reliability.
    Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
    Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

  • Mac Pro small business server; RAID problems

    Our company runs on a small network consisting of 8 workstations (iMac's) and 1 dedicated server: a 1,5 year old Mac Pro running OS X Snow Leopard Server. This machine has 2 hard drives of 1TB each, running in a mirrored RAID configuration. This configuration holds the OS X system and the data. Because the hardware RAID was so expensive, I chose the software RAID controller OS X offers instead.
    All this ran fine for the first 1,5 years, until yesterday... I ran an OS X update and the Mac Pro needed to restart after that. After the machine rebooted, I got a gray screen with the blinking folder-with-questionmark icon telling me no bootable drive could be found. I tried booting from the install DVD and that worked, but after I started DiskUtility to check the hard drive for errors the computer did not find any hard drives, only the DVD. Luckily I made a backup (clone) to an external Firewire drive just before the update and at this moment the server is running from this backup, so no harm done.
    How can I solve this problem? Why can't my Mac Pro find it's drives? Is it possible to circumvent the RAID software and boot from one of the two disks or are they formatted in a special way?
    My second question is on how to prevent this in the future. I still think the Mac Pro RAID controller is way too expensive, but I read that it's not that smart to use (software) RAID as a bootable drive (of a server). Because of this, I am looking at external options, like the SmartStor NSx600 Series through Firewire. Could this be a better way to go then the software RAID OS X offers or does this external solution have other disadvantages? (speed? reliability?)
    Thanks in advance for your input!
    Mario van Ginneken

    Who is your ISP...?
    What is the ip address of the modem..?
    What is the ip address of the router..?
    Where is the switch and server connected...?
    What is the ip address of the server...?
    How you are able to see the Wireless network if you have disabled the SSID broadcast on the router..?Re-check the settings on the router.

  • Resize raid volumes?

    Hello,
    I have a raid 5 (hardware) on my pro. With two raid volumes. Now i have change of mind with the size of those volumes. I know i can resize partitions, but is there also a way that i can resize a partion and give the free space to a diverent raid volume? (so can i resize the raid volumes?)
    Thank you for the help
    Edgar

    Unless the RAID software you are using permits it, then no. While the RAID is in tact you cannot alter the volumes that make up the array. You first have to delete the array which will in turn delete the data stored on the array.
    This is one of the main reasons why RAIDs should be structured with drives, not partitions on drives.

  • Setting up RAID 0 and scratch disk from blank drives?

    Folks,
    Howdy again from NC. I've been setting up an AMD Phenom II 955 to handle PPro CS5 as well as possible, within limits. I built four of these machines for my math class, and am going to give CS5 a go on one of them before caving in and migrating my Production Premium to an i7/X58 platform. Maybe I'll get lucky and find this computer works acceptably with PPro, especially if I transcode my T2i AVCHD footage (likely Neoscene).
    I put three new disks into my build yesterday and would like some pointers on setting them up, if I may ask. I have read through a number of posts on this, but don't find direct answers, unfortunately. I've never set up a RAID and want to get it right.
    I have two Caviar Black drives for my RAID and a Hitachi Deskstar for my scratch disk. The Blacks are new out of the pack and the Hitachi has had zeros written to the drive. How to begin?
    Anticipated issues:
    * Do I need to format the drives in a certain way? I had planned on going into Disk Management and setting up a volume on each as my first move. Right now, they aren't even recognized under My Computer. Under Disk Management, all three show as unallocated.
    From memory, I right click in the unallocated space and select an option for setting up the volume. Prior to this I only used straight-up drives, no RAID, and after writing zeros to a drive selected "New Simple Volume". It seems to me this is the move to make on the single scratch disk.
    But how about the two RAIDed drives? We also have options to set up as "New Striped Volume" or "New Spanned Volume". If the answer is to set as as "New Striped Volume" for the RAID 0 I have planned, do I do this before or after installing the RAID software?
    * My documentation for setting up the RAID on my motherboard doesn't indicate when to change my BIOS setting for the two SATA channels from IDE to RAID. Should I do this before or after running the software to set up the RAID? Do I need to go into the software setup with the two SATA channels already configured as RAID?
    Right now, all SATA channels are configured as IDE.
    * After getting my disks set up, I'd like to optimize my system for editing (turning off unwanted features, etc.). I've been looking all over for a link to an outside site I had bookmarked from a prior post, but lost it on re-install. Anyone recall what the favored link was? It started as a long page of instructions in simple typeface.
    In the end, my disks are as follows (unless someone makes a case to use them differently):
    OS/Programs - 1TB Caviar Green. Yes, I know the deal on green drives, but I needed to use this drive somewhere. I figured using it as the OS drive would be the best spot for the slowest drive. Maybe I botched this and should have used the following drive for the OS? I had transfer rates in mind and thought the Scratch drive should be faster?
    Scratch - 750GB Deskstar 7K100 series. This drive was tops 18 months back when I bought it.
    RAID 0 - Two 640GB Caviar Blacks (32 meg cache, twin processors). A bit older in the Black lineup, but the drive charts show them working quickly.
    To ask one dumb last question, which will really show my newbieness, I use the scratch drive for page files (right? and what else?) and the RAID for holding any media to be worked upon and for encoding the final project?
    I've been reading on this forum for over a month and am amazed that as I have the drives for a RAID, I can't find good links to tell me what to do. I know I am asking redundant questions here but have already spent two hours with the search engine and am only getting tangential anwers (ha! math joke).
    Sorry to be asking such newbie questions all over again, but my luck with the search engine hasn't been so good of late. Maybe Bill's idea of creating a sticky section for common questions is a good idea.

    about 75-80% of the systems we ship, ship with this config (others would be bigger arrays or no array)
    1)OS
    2) project drive 2 x raid 0
    3) render to/export drive 2 x raid 0
    4) back up (pick your poison)
    while i cant speak to the older WDs (we have not used them for 3-4 yrs until now)
    i can tell you with Seagate and now WD we have not seen the issue that applies to this inRaid 0
    we are aware of the timeout issue this happens with controller cards and seagate or WD with large raid 5/6
    simple answer use enterprise drives for raid 5/6
    if you look at all the external raid resellers Sonnet etc they all use enterprise drives (mostly seagate)
    so do we for large raids.
    (drobo does not so buyer beware (green), we like to sell drobo without drives in it and use ours)
    again BACK UP do not assume your raid 3/5/6/10/1 whatever is bullet proof, trust me its not
    so even if you have a loss it should be at best nominal
    something i dont think i have seen mentioned enough either
    the single most common cause of drive failure (or any component failure) is Dirty Power!
    dirty power can be spikes but are usually brown outs (very common in large older cities) or even low voltage coming into the home/office
    this is the most common.
    rather than a clean 120v you could see it as low as 105v
    the other is being on a circuit with a large appliance.
    ever see your lilghts flicker when the AC kicks on?
    buy a good inline filter UPS. add 20% MORE wattage than your power supply
    dont forget to add accessories LCDs, Audio interfaces, speakers/studio monitors etc.
    Scott
    ADK

  • Using An External RAID for backup on a PB

    I have a powerbook and would like to split my internal hard drive into a 20GB and a 60GB parrtition.
    the 20GB would be my basic home directory, Applications and System.
    The 60GB would have all my data.
    Now the question. I have a 60Gb external FW/USB2 hard drive. I would like to use that as a MIRRORED Raid drive for my data.
    Can I unplug the RAID drive and go about my work for the day making file changes and such. Then come back home and plug in my external MIRRORED RAID drive and have everything update?
    Or is that not allowed. Seems like it would be an awesome backup system.
    thanks in advance

    Charles
    I think you have slightly mistunderstood the way RAID systems work.
    Firstly you cannot use the PowerBook's hard drive as part of the RAID because it will be running the RAID software in OS X.
    However it is possible for to use two external drives that are then 'combined' to form a single RAID drive.
    For the kind of use you are thinking of backup software, like Retrospect or Data Backup that permits 'incremental backups' will do the job. However, you will probably need a larger external drive than 60GB.
    Alternatively you can get something like Maxtor's OneTouch drives, which has an easy to use backup feature.
    EDIT: RAID 0 (striped) and RAID 1 (mirrored) are the only supported RAID levels in OS X's software controller. What I described earlier is equivalent to RAID 1. Special hardware RAID controllers support more levels and is what most demanding RAID systems will be using, rather than a software controller.

  • 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?

  • RAID 0 on Qosmio X300-13O

    I have got Qosmio x300-13O and I would like to make raid 0, but in BIOS aren't any options to make raid.
    How I can do that?

    Hi
    I think this depends on software but I think you will need to install firstly the OS and then the RAID software and then you could make some changes.
    I searched also for some tips and someone posted this:
    Go to disk management (My computer -> right click -> Manage)
    There you will see both HDD. Click right on the square where disk 0 and disk 1 is listed and convert in dynamical data medium.
    Then you can build a RAID with both HDDs.

  • Enabling RAID on primary drive

    I've installed 2 1TB drives as a secondary storage array within my MacPro. Now, I'd like to turn on mirroring for the primary (boot) drive. So far, it seems like I will have to establish a Mirror between two drives and then clone my primary drive back to the mirror.
    One would think that you could just plug in a second drive and tell the software to mirror the existing primary to it..... but I cannot find anywhere where things are that simple.
    I hope I'm wrong and that I will not have to restore to a new mirror. Tho, if I can boot from an external drive, it may not be so bad as I could just clone back to the mirrored set once it is setup.
    Lee

    A startup volume cannot be included in a RAID because creating the RAID erases both volumes. You have to create a RAID, then install OS X on the resulting RAID.
    I might add that it's not a good idea to use a RAID as your startup volume. For more information on RAIDs see the following:
    RAID Basics
    For basic definitions and discussion of what a RAID is and the different types of RAIDs see RAIDs. Additional discussions plus advantages and disadvantages of RAIDs and different RAID arrays see:
    RAID Tutorial;
    RAID Array and Server: Hardware and Service Comparison>.
    Hardware or Software RAID?
    RAID Hardware Vs RAID Software - What is your best option?
    RAID is a method of combining multiple disk drives into a single entity in order to improve the overall performance and reliability of your system. The different options for combining the disks are referred to as RAID levels. There are several different levels of RAID available depending on the needs of your system. One of the options available to you is whether you should use a Hardware RAID solution or a Software RAID solution.
    RAID Hardware is always a disk controller to which you can cable up the disk drives. RAID Software is a set of kernel modules coupled together with management utilities that implement RAID in Software and require no additional hardware.
    Pros and cons
    Software RAID is more flexible than Hardware RAID. Software RAID is also considerably less expensive. On the other hand, a Software RAID system requires more CPU cycles and power to run well than a comparable Hardware RAID System. Also, because Software RAID operates on a partition by partition basis where a number of individual disk partitions are grouped together as opposed to Hardware RAID systems which generally group together entire disk drives, Software RAID tends be slightly more complicated to run. This is because it has more available configurations and options. An added benefit to the slightly more expensive Hardware RAID solution is that many Hardware RAID systems incorporate features that are specialized for optimizing the performance of your system.
    For more detailed information on the differences between Software RAID and Hardware RAID you may want to read: Hardware RAID vs. Software RAID: Which Implementation is Best for my Application?

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