Removeing internal RAID to external housing?

Hello!
So, I have a couple drives formatted as a striped RAID and want to move them out (to make room for new drives) - can I put them in some external housing as is and expect the housing to understand that they are formatted as a Striped RAID?
I am trying to avoid cloning everything off to a single drive and re-formatting the two old RAID drives.
Thanks in advance, Don

I'll say this: clone or backup, even under the best of circumsances if you have data on them.
Yes, it should be fine.
Why not look into G5 Jive then, and keep them as internal. You'd have to buy a controller unless you already are running some external drives.
A Sonnet Temp and 4-5 drive enclosure, even if you only are using two drives now.

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Remove Internal HD and mount as external? Possible?

Hey folks- thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
I am retiring a G4 that is no longer starting up and has a busted optical drive. I'll be working primarily on my new MacBook.
I would like to remove the internal hard drive from the G4 and mount it in an external case so I can access the files. Is this possible? If so, any guidance or suggestions would be most appreciated.
Many thanks,
Chris

Get an external housing. Firewire would be best, however, since you have USB 2.0, USB would also work (but a bit slower).
 Cheers, Tom

Internal RAID moved to External enclosures... will it work?

i currently have an internal RAID in my macpro using a pair of 320GB drives... I'm about to purchase a pair of 500GB drives that i would like to replace the 320's with. my question is, can i buy 2 external (e)sata enclosures, or even usb enclosures, pop out the 2 internal drives, hook them up to the enclosures and have the RAID still function as it should, so i can then put the new 500's into the machine, format them to a RAID and then transfer all the stuff on the old one off. or i guess the other option is to format the 2 500's using the external enclosures into a RAID, make the file transfers and then do the drive swap...
and again is this possible using a usb interface? i don't have a sata card (yet) and was hoping to add that later after i get the drives swapped...
much thanks

Yes, but I would only use a Firewire enclosure (you'll want a two drive enclosure.) USB is much too slow. FW800 would be much much faster.
Sources for enclosures:
CoolDrives.com
WiebeTech.com
MacSales.com
CalDrives.com
FirewireDirect.com

How can I temporarily remove a RAID set but keep the data?

I recently had to restore my Netgear ReadyNAS to factory settings, which meant that I needed to make a backup of its data and restore it afterwards. The only possible way to back up the 8.5Tb of data was to get 9Tb of WD Red disks and somehow use them - so my immediate thought was that the Mac Pro would be a good idea. I t had four drives in it, but three of them were not being used by the OS so they could be temporarily removed.
So I replaced three of my four Mac Pro drives with new 3Tb drives and used Disk Utility to set them up as a JBOD. I then used this JBOD drive to back up the NAS and restore it again after I had re-installed its O/S (the whole thing took two weeks!!!).
So now I'm in the following situation:
* I want to tear down the JBOD set and take the three new drives out of the Mac Pro again and replace them with the drives I normally use there so that I can go back to making music (which is what I usually use it for).
* I also want to be able to put the new drives back in and read the data as a JBOD again if needed (in case anything is discovered to be amiss with my ReadyNAS backup/restore operation) - let's say for the next month I'll plan to keep the old drives around for safety.
How can I remove the JBOD set in such a way that I can set it up again using the same drives, and access the data (i.e. I don't want to delete the RAID set the usual way because that will delete the data too - apparently...)?

Going to ask the mods to move this to MacPro, Hatter can answer your question, but I'm pretty sure if you power down and remove the RAID drives, you can put them in back again and boot up and the RAID will still be recognized as the info is stored on the drives themselves in the GUID/MBR of each drive in the set.
Also you should know, there is a new MacPro coming and it doesn't accept internal drives, only external.
So you should prepare and have some sort of external hardware redundancy for your data that isn't dependent on the Mac HFS+ formatting as Windows doesn't read that.
Perhaps exFAT would be better as both platforms can read/write that, but if the drives are going to be used with a PC ever, they need to be formatted by Windows for exFAT to get it right. Check first before you commit to copying huge data over.
Anyway research it, because if your MacPro dies, you might be up the creek and have some issues getting at all that data since it's in a RAID, external options might not work correctly or reliably for RAID.
Also consider talking to the fellows at MacGuru's, they are external RAID box setup experts for Mac's, sounds like you need a RAID 5 box, gives redundancy and can connect to any computer.
Hardware RAID is more reliable than software ones, cross platform as well.
good luck.

How can I set up a Mac pro with internal Raid 5

I have a Mac pro running Leopard server. I would like to format 3 of the drives as an internal Raid 5.
Can this be done?
Can it be done without an internal Raid card?
or
Can it be done if I install a Mac Pro Raid card?
Thanks,
RT

RAID5 or RAID10 or such does require add-on software and / or add-on hardware, yes.
And I'd tend to go toward external RAID storage here, as that is what the most common packages offer and as that tends to have the greatest expansion. This would involve a PCIe RAID controller and external storage here, though Apple does offer the Mac Pro RAID card for use with the internal drives.
The integrated Apple software RAID has RAID0 and RAID1 capabilities. Not RAID5.
As for any additional questions, here's [the FAQ|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1346] for the Mac Pro RAID card, and here is [the manual|images.apple.com/server/docs/RAIDUtility_UserGuide.pdf].
External RAID can involve Apple Xsan and Promise and related, or third-party FC SAN storage, or any of various third-party direct-attach storage (DAS) options.

Internal RAID Drives Disappeared from Desktop & Finder

A few days ago, one of my two internal mirrored RAID sets no longer showed on the desktop or in the Finder Sidebar. A day later, the other internal RAID set disappeared from desktop and sidebar. The two remaining internal non-RAID drives show up as do two external drives. All internal and external hard drives still show under Disk Utility and Photoshop Bridge CS3.
I checked Finder Preferences and boxes are checked to show internal and external drives on the desktop and sidebar. I looked at the drive detail under Disk Utility and nothing looks wrong with the two RAID sets ON-LINE. I unmounted one RAID set and re-mounted without any change. I tried unchecking the two preference boxes to not show the drives and rebooted, rechecking the boxes and rebooting and nothing changed on the desktop or sidebar.
Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this?

Well our invisible drives problem is resolved but it's not the solution that I'd hoped for.
We visited the Genius Bar at a local Apple store and they denied any knowledge of problems with invisible drives in Macs and discounted my reports from Mac forums.
I went home and ordered a new 1tb Seagate drive. When it arrived, I installed it in bay 2, copied each invisible drive to the new drive one-at-a-time, broke my two sets of internal mirrored drives, erased all the affected drives and reloaded them. Now all drives are visible on the Desktop and Finder again.
I'm hoping that the disappearing drive problem doesn't surface again but view this as an unresolved Apple issue. Now I can look at other mass storage options for future growth.

HT201250 how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.

how do I disable time machine? I want to use my external drive as additional storage. But it mirrors everything I edit. If I remove a document, it removes it from the external drive as well.
I purchased a 1 TB WD passport drive, formatted for Mac. I set it up originally (mistakenly) to backup time machine. I went back and set it to "do not backup" It still backs up evey document I edit. If I add a document when the drive is disconnected, it automatically adds it to the external drive the next time connect to the passport drive. If I remove a document the same thing happens.
I need additional storage to free up space on my laptop hard drive. This is not working the way I want it to. Help!

Do not backup your startup volume to another partition on the same drive. If the drive fails you have nothing. Always backup to another drive or volume on another drive.
The I/O error usually means there's a problem with the drive. Clone ASAP, then repartition and reformat the main drive. Then restore the clone. Here's the basic process:
You will have to backup your OS X partition to an external drive, boot from the external drive, use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat your hard drive back to a single volume, then restore your backup to the internal hard drive.
Get an empty external hard drive and clone your internal drive to the external one.
Boot from the external hard drive.
Erase the internal hard drive.
Restore the external clone to the internal hard drive.
Clone the internal drive to the external drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After startup do the following:
Erase internal hard drive
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your internal hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Do not quit Disk Utility.
Restore the clone to the internal hard drive
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal hard drive. Source means the external startup drive.
Note that the Source and Destination drives are swapped for this last procedure.

Making the internal drive and external drive

My G5 died last week and I got a new macbook pro. I just got an external closure for the internal hard drives. Can The same be done for the burner. I upgraded the burner last year and it is very nice. Please let me know if this is possible and what some good options would be.

Hi-
Yes, an optical drive can also be placed into an external housing like this one.
Or, save money with a refurb model.

Shutting down Mac Pro with an internal RAID

Hi,
Since I got my new machine a month ago I have never had cause to turn it off except when the power failed once! Everything was OK on that occasion. It has the Apple RAID card controlling four apple 1TB drives in RAID 0 for speed importing HD footage. My system is on a separate drive fitted in the second optical drive bay. It all works fine but I just want to check that I will not lose my RAID if I shut the computer down for a prolonged period, in this case about two weeks whilst I am away. I know that this length of time would allow the the RAID Cache battery to run down. I am not sure exactly what this battery is doing perhaps someone would explain it to me in words of not more than two syllables (I make films, I am not an IT expert)! If the computer remains attached to the power socket will the battery still keep charged even though the computer is off? Whatam I likely to find when I power up again?
Any advice would be much appreciated as I can't seem to find an answer to this on the forums.
Thanks,
David

Thanks for the quick replies. I take the point about the UPS. I am doing some research still on that one. We rarely have power failures but when we do they generally last longer than most affordable UPS units can last. The last one which I referred to lasted three hours and then went of a second time (fortunately before I got around to restarting the computer)! I thought that it was possible to get units that will initiate a proper shutdown of the computer? Is this so?
Just to clarify your point Malcolm, I bought the RAID card because it is my intention to reformat the internal RAID in RAID5 for some safety when I eventually get a larger external unit which can handle HD data rates in RAID5. If I do that though are you saying that I would never be able to turn the computer off for longer than the cache battery will last or will a proper shutdown still write everything properly to disc?
It does sound like a UPS is a must before any external RAID array is added to allow some form of shutdown procedure.
Thanks again

What happens when RAIDing two external Iomega FW disks?

My problem: I am in the course of upgrading my internal MP disks to 2 x 750GB RAIDed to 1.5TB (for users only). For backup I have 2 external FW800 1TB Iomega Drives that are to be switched on independently. Can I (using disk util: software-) RAID-0 these two external drives (to give me 2TB storage) even if they are switched on subsequently? Does Leopard understand they are RAIDed?
AFAK the 1TB Iomegas are already internally RAIDed-0. Does this matter?
Thanks.

himbear wrote:
AFAK the 1TB Iomegas are already internally RAIDed-0. Does this matter?
So if I understand correctly, the external drives are in reality, two 500GB drives in a RAID0 configuration? And you want to know if you can RAID0 two of these 1TB drives?
Not sure if it would work; even if it did, it would be a very, very, very bad idea. As Alan stated, RAID0 stripes your data, so a drive failure would result in loss of ALL your data. You should never, ever, backup data to a RAID0 array. If your 1TB externals are in fact really 2 500GB drives in a RAID0 array, I would not even use one of those 1TB drives as a backup.

Internal RAID 0 with 3 or 2 Drives

Hello, iv been snooping around the forums looking for info on various internal RAID set ups...
I do a lot of editing with FCP but a do a lot of complicated After Effects stuff too.
I am considering the following...
set up 1
3x 1TB drives, RAID 0
vs.
set up 2
2x 1TB drives, in a RAID 0
with the other bay used as a render drive.
my question is, with a three drive RAID 0 would my read and write times be faster or slower than a 2 drive Media drive and one drive dedicated to writing for rendering...
any shared experience would greatly be appreciated, or suggestions...
thanks
also i was considering the WD caviar Black drives, any good or bad expeirence with those?

Thanks for the links. i am considering this option...
sdd in the lower drive bay.
and some kind of raid with the other 4 bays... id like to do a raid 5 internally. is that possible without a controller, or how would i go about doing that?
i also had one other question...
i was thinking about getting this external LaCie 1 Tb rugged drive for my itunes, iphoto, you know things that do not have to do with current work, maybe finished projects(not project files but final renders), other private stuff.
my question is, would a 5400 rpm drive be fast enough for such tasks. like playing an uncompressed quicktime... the drive is only like 120 euros with esata and usb 2, but its only 5400 rpm. i like the OWC drives from the links you gave me, but i live in Berlin germany, and it would kind of be a hassel to ship all these drives... but i am going to the USA in like 3 months so i could wait if i need to...
any suggestions?

Is it possible to create a Windows 7 Partition via Bootcamp while having an internal RAID 0 Setup ?

Is it possible to create a Windows 7 Partition via Bootcamp while having an internal RAID 0 Setup ?

Yes, just not on the RAID. Boot Camp Assistant will only partition a single drive containing OS X. You cannot partition a RAID array.

HELP! How do I get rid of the volume noise that plays when I switch from internal speakers to external speakers?

How do I get rid of the volume noise that plays when I switch from internal speakers to external speakers? I'm trying to watch something on my TV through an HDMi cable (& apple adapter) and when I go to switch the sound control in preferences from internal speakers to SONY TV, the annoying "popping" noise occurs on my TV's speakers.

Go to Edit > Preferences > General > Import Settings and check the box for error correction, and then try one of the problem CDs again.

ESata external housing options??

Hi everyone
Could anyone help me out with which eSata external housings to buy for my g5 mac.
I want to hook up an external sataII 500gb harddrive to my g5 via sata. Which eSata housings would you recommend. I want to leave the option of being able to add another drive, even maybe 3 or 4 at a later stage. So a housing that can hold more the one drive in it.
Also, i will need a eSata card to go into my g5, any recommendations
Thanks for your help

Sorry for my ignorance. This is what i found on my "about" section
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.4f1
I have four ram slots.
Thanks for the links. I will check this out and tell you what i think.
I've decided now that i don't want an external housing for only one drive, so thankyou very much for the reference but i want room for upgrade

Using iTunes to put my CD collection on my computer and then to my iphone5, I have an older Optiplex with 40 Gb internal and an external 1.5Tb drive. Question is can I get itunes to point to the 1.5 Tb drive to store my music, and if so how?

Using iTunes to put my CD collection on my computer and then to my iphone5, I have an older Optiplex with 40 Gb internal and an external 1.5Tb drive. Question is can I get itunes to point to the 1.5 Tb drive to store my music, and if so how?

Looks like I solved my own problem by going to itunes, preferences, advanced, media folder location.

Removeing internal RAID to external housing?

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