Software RAID apps?

is there any alternative to SoftRAID and Disk Utility for creating software RAID arrays? Disk Utility falls short in a couple of areas. SoftRAID is perfect for my purpose, but I find the US$180 price outputting. Unfortunately, after searching with Google, I cannot find an alternative to it.

If it weren't for the bugs, I'd be delighted with AppleRAID.
To have something that almost works for nothing or works for $180 is not an easy choice. You can get at least 4TB of storage for $180!

Similar Messages

[Solved] Move Software RAID 5 Array From NAS To Arch

Edit: I probably never had a problem at all, the error in dmesg probably just scared me, because after I disconnected it I noticed that /dev/d127 was 8.1 TB, the exact size of my RAID array node in my NAS which was /dev/md0, I just overlooked it. I reconnected it to my pc and mounted /dev/md127 to /mnt/raid and got this wonderful sight!
[bran@ra ~]$ ls /mnt/raid
data lost+found meta sys
[bran@ra ~]$ ls /mnt/raid/data/
data ftproot module _NAS_Media _NAS_Piczza_ _NAS_Recycle_RAID _P2P_DownLoad_ stackable _SYS_TMP TV USBHDD
download htdocs Movies _NAS_NFS_Exports_ NAS_Public nzbget-downloads PLEX_CONFIG sys tmp USBCopy
I bought a Thecus N4520 a few months ago and it's ok but programs crash a lot and they're hard to debug, apps have to be updated manually and the whole thing is moderately underpowered. I'm trying to move the software RAID 5 array from the NAS to my desktop, the kernel seems to detect that there is a RAID array but all these drives aren't part of it. I'm pretty new to RAID and I'm just getting my feet wet with it.
When I try to assemble the RAID array, it just tells me that it isn't an md array. How can I get it to build my array?
[bran@ra ~]$ sudo mdadm --assemble /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde
mdadm: device /dev/sdb exists but is not an md array.
Found this little chunk of info in dmesg, it says that the md devices have unknown partition tables.
[ 3.262225] md: raid1 personality registered for level 1
[ 3.262483] iTCO_wdt: Intel TCO WatchDog Timer Driver v1.10
[ 3.262508] iTCO_wdt: Found a Patsburg TCO device (Version=2, TCOBASE=0x0460)
[ 3.262585] iTCO_wdt: initialized. heartbeat=30 sec (nowayout=0)
[ 3.262933] md/raid1:md126: active with 4 out of 4 mirrors
[ 3.262961] md126: detected capacity change from 0 to 536850432
[ 3.263272] RAID1 conf printout:
[ 3.263274] --- wd:4 rd:4
[ 3.263276] disk 0, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdc3
[ 3.263276] disk 1, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdb3
[ 3.263277] disk 2, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdd3
[ 3.263278] disk 3, wo:0, o:1, dev:sde3
[ 3.263501] md: bind<sde4>
[ 3.264810] md: bind<sdb2>
[ 3.268262] async_tx: api initialized (async)
[ 3.272632] md: raid6 personality registered for level 6
[ 3.272636] md: raid5 personality registered for level 5
[ 3.272637] md: raid4 personality registered for level 4
[ 3.272905] md/raid:md127: device sdb2 operational as raid disk 1
[ 3.272908] md/raid:md127: device sde2 operational as raid disk 3
[ 3.272910] md/raid:md127: device sdd2 operational as raid disk 2
[ 3.272911] md/raid:md127: device sdc2 operational as raid disk 0
[ 3.273211] md/raid:md127: allocated 0kB
[ 3.273241] md/raid:md127: raid level 5 active with 4 out of 4 devices, algorithm 2
[ 3.273243] RAID conf printout:
[ 3.273244] --- level:5 rd:4 wd:4
[ 3.273245] disk 0, o:1, dev:sdc2
[ 3.273246] disk 1, o:1, dev:sdb2
[ 3.273247] disk 2, o:1, dev:sdd2
[ 3.273248] disk 3, o:1, dev:sde2
[ 3.273273] md127: detected capacity change from 0 to 8929230716928
[ 3.273322] RAID conf printout:
[ 3.273326] --- level:5 rd:4 wd:4
[ 3.273329] disk 0, o:1, dev:sdc2
[ 3.273331] disk 1, o:1, dev:sdb2
[ 3.273332] disk 2, o:1, dev:sdd2
[ 3.273360] disk 3, o:1, dev:sde2
[ 3.283617] md126: unknown partition table
[ 3.309239] md127: unknown partition table
[ 3.312660] md: bind<sdb4>
[ 3.318291] md/raid1:md124: not clean -- starting background reconstruction
[ 3.318296] md/raid1:md124: active with 4 out of 4 mirrors
[ 3.318333] md124: detected capacity change from 0 to 10736291840
[ 3.318385] RAID1 conf printout:
[ 3.318391] --- wd:4 rd:4
[ 3.318395] disk 0, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdc4
[ 3.318398] disk 1, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdb4
[ 3.318402] disk 2, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdd4
[ 3.318405] disk 3, wo:0, o:1, dev:sde4
[ 3.319890] md124: unknown partition table
[ 3.323462] md: bind<sde1>
[ 3.338094] md/raid1:md125: active with 4 out of 4 mirrors
[ 3.338225] md125: detected capacity change from 0 to 2146414592
[ 3.338253] RAID1 conf printout:
[ 3.338258] --- wd:4 rd:4
[ 3.338262] disk 0, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdc1
[ 3.338266] disk 1, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdb1
[ 3.338268] disk 2, wo:0, o:1, dev:sdd1
[ 3.338271] disk 3, wo:0, o:1, dev:sde1
Here's my full dmesg
mdadm.conf
# The designation "partitions" will scan all partitions found in /proc/partitions
DEVICE partitions
ARRAY /dev/md127 metadata=1.2 name=(none):0 UUID=d1d14afc:23490940:a0f7f996:d7b87dfb
ARRAY /dev/md126 metadata=1.2 name=(none):50 UUID=d43d5dd6:9446766e:1a7486f4:b811e16d
ARRAY /dev/md125 metadata=1.2 name=(none):10 UUID=f502437a:d27d335a:d11578d5:6e119d58
ARRAY /dev/md124 metadata=1.2 name=(none):70 UUID=ea980643:5c1b79e8:64f1b4cb:2462799b
Last edited by brando56894 (2014-04-21 22:51:01)

Sorry I numbered them to show the flow of information, this was also just a place for me to store info as I worked through it. I managed to get it to work by creating a partition that takes up the whole drive and is actually 22 GB larger than all the other drives (since I found out that the had root, swap and home partitions that are no longer needed).
I should be able to resize the other partitions without a problem, correct? They're EXT4. Should I unmount the raid array and do them individually, remount the array, let it sync and do the next? Or just unmount the array, resize all of them, mount it and let it sync?

Software RAID issue

I have just installed 2-200 GB seagate hd's into my machine and set them up as a software raid 0. Also installed is the original 80 GB drive and a Hitachi 160 GB drive. The two new drives functioned long enough for me to copy all of my raw digital home video.
Now, when I try to boot the grey Apple screen comes up and the machine hangs. When I disconnect the drives, it boots right up.
I thought maybe my power supply was giving up the ghost until I reconnected them and successfully rebooted with Drive Genius 1.2. I rebuilt the raid set (maintaining all data) and rebooted into OSX successfully. Woohoo!
But not so fast. Next reboot started the same thing. And now Drive Genius has no effect.
I really dont wan't to lose the data on these drives. Is there a problem with the software raid in 10.4.7? Any ideas of other things to try? Help?!?!
Thanks,
Andy
G4 1.25DP FW800 Mac OS X (10.4.7)
G4 1.25DP FW800 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Possibly a couple things that "aren't quite right" with your setup.
SoftRAID 3.5 supports mirror for boot drive, but not with stripped.
The two IDE buses are not identical, making for some slight problems with RAID on the two.
You really can't RAID if both drives are together in one drive cage on the same IDE bus.
You need a PCI controller to RAID in MDD. Most people at this point in time opt for Serial ATA drives and controller. If you want a bootable SATA drive...
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek
If you must boot from stripped RAID (not always a good idea and may not offer much actually in real world performance, check www.barefeats.com for some tests for one).
A dedicated boot drive for OS/Apps and use other drives for media, data, scratch, even for /users.
Two ATA drives on the same bus, have to share the bus, contend for I/O.
You can create a stripe raid with Disk Utility and boot.
I assume that you read the SoftRAID QuickStart and Manual which really are helpful. There are a number of sites etc that can go into more about RAID.

Software raid 1 drive(s) failed

Curious on what to do with a RAID 1 Drive (s) failure? I've searched the community and cannot find similar issue/answers.
Configuration:
One 1TB OS & App Drive is fine
Two 3TB RAID 1 Drives for Video scratch are fine
Two 2TB RAID 1 Data Drives are my issue
I'm using the software raid in OSX and it shows "2TB Data Drive/Mirrored Offline"
Both drives have "Failed" next to them
I have backup this Data Drive in Time Machine and a recent full back up to a single drive that is off site. I believe I have a good back up strategy with Time Machine and offsite back ups via Voyager S3. I guess we'll find out!
My question is how do I find out if it's a HW issue or SW issue with this configuration ? And then how to go about recovering them?
Initially when I looked in Disk Utility it appeared that only one of the 2TB drives had "Failed" next to it but now after a reboot "Failed" is next to both drives.
My initial hope was that one of the drives had failed and I'd be able to just replace that drive and the RAID System would rebuild from the other drive.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks

TommyH wrote:
My initial hope was that one of the drives had failed and I'd be able to just replace that drive and the RAID System would rebuild from the other drive.
RAID 1 just copies the same data to two (or more) drives at the same time, it's only for mission critical data loss requirements where a drive failure during writing would be catastrophic. Like taking purchasing orders or getting a phone call from ET for example.
RAID 0 is dangerous as the data path is separated to how many drives in the RAID 0 set, one drive glitches and all data is lost. But provides insane speeds.
RAID 5 is a much more reliable, it combines many drives (4 or more for more speed) splitting the data path but also has redundancy factor that if a drive dies it can be replaced and the data is recovered from the other drives. Usually a RAID 5 is in a external enclosure with it's own cooling and hardware controllers, not software based RAID where your CPU is being overloaded.
There are other forms of RAID some combinations like RAID 1+0, RAID 6, 10 and so forth, you can find out more about the more eclectic RAID types online.
RAID 5 is more ideally suited to video requirements for data storage, with perhaps a RAID 0 as a scratch disk or a RAID 0 + 1 (the RAID 0 is mirrored to another RAID 0) if your going to take a while working on it that increases the potential of failure.
Once the work is completed, it's sent to the RAID 5 where it's safe with it's redundancy and speed.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop
The thing to remmeber with the failed RAID 1 Data drive is the data is still on the drive, even though it failed and perhaps things are messed up a little on it on the directory. All the drive needs is to be told it's not part of a RAID 1 anymore, that it's a normal drive, a simple fix, but I don't know how to go about it.
You have two drives and two chances to recover the data off off, simply disconnect one data drive and reboot, see if it will mount and or you can repair the drive in Disk Utility.
If not pull one drive out and stick another blank one in there and download Data Rescue and simply recover the files to the new blank drive. DR works by simply reading the files themselve, not the file struture or anything else.
Software RAID is unreliable, it depends upon the CPU. Opt to get a external RAID where it's based in hardware instead. Use eSATA if all possible.
Also consider using backup software, like Carbon Copy Cloner which can be scheduled to make a backup of your data during the middle of the night. This way if something happens to either your boot drive or a data drive, the clone won't immediately copy the issue to the other drive like a RAID 1 does.
Also Carbon Copy Cloner makes "hold option" bootable OS X boot drive clones, which TimeMachine doesn't.
Also TM kicks in what, like once a hour? It's likely what caused your issue, CCC will work when you schedule it. TM is for consumers, not video pro's like yourself.
If you need even heavier iron as a external RAID setup and more expertise, then see these guys
http://www.macgurus.com/

Looking for opinions on Apple's software RAID in Disk Utility

I'm thinking about making a stripped RAID (RAID 0) with Apple's software RAID in Disk Utility. How reliable is it, and will I see a huge speed improvement over just having two independent drives. This RAID will also be my boot drive. Is that a good idea or should I have a separate drive for that function?

It depends. And seeing you don't have a lot of exposure to RAID, it depends, you still need even more to regularly backup, and depends on the drives to some extent. RAIDs are great for some things, and the sustained reads and writes look good in some simple benchmarks, but for most users, they are better off with a really good fast 10K Raptor or something as a dedicated OS/apps boot drive.
http://www.barefeats.com/quad07.html
They did some earlier tests on RAID for boot drive, which you might want to look into.

Software RAID as startup volume

I want to get 4 velociraptor hard drives for my mac pro. If I create a software RAID 0 in Disk Utility, and reinstall Leopard on that volume, can I use it as a startup volume? If you can, does it take longer for the computer to startup?
Thanks

Firstly, I'm assuming that you have an extra external disk for time machine. So in order to restore to the raid, maybe instead of using time machine clone it using superduper. Just to maybe make things easier. Clone the your boot volume to the external, create the raid of all 4 hds in disk utility, then once it's made clone back the boot volume from the external to your raid.
For superduper:
www.shirtpocket.com
But just to reiterate, (and adding to what hatter mentioned) maybe a couple larger 640 or 1 TB Western Digital Blacks might be better, instead of all VRs. You could maybe use 1 VR for your boot drive, and like 2 or 3 WD blacks(if that's what you want to do). 3 x 1TB Blacks might serve you better as you are using video apps.
Or if speed is your main concern, maybe an external enclosure might be a better fit. Sonnet, Firmtek, etc. Raid the drives on the external (using hardware or software raid) and use the internal slots for backup. Of course this will cost more, however it would probably be better for you down the road, especially since you are working with video.
http://www.amug.org/
They have some good reviews for external enclosures.

Updated my iphone4 with ios6.1 software. App store is not working. Tried rebooting, restoring, changing date, signing with another apple id etc. but no luck. can someone please help?

Updated my iphone4 with ios6.1 software. App store is not working. Tried rebooting, restoring, changing date, signing with another apple id etc. but no luck. can someone please help?

I guess I will wrap this up. I have abandoned iPhoto and viewing my Photo Streams using it and moved to Adobe products (Bridge + PS). So that's that.

I have some questions regarding setting up a software RAID 0 on a Mac Pro

I have some questions regarding setting up a software RAID 0 on a Mac pro (early 2009).
These questions might seem stupid to many of you, but, as my last, in fact my one and only, computer before the Mac Pro was a IICX/4/80 running System 7.5, I am a complete novice regarding this particular matter.
A few days ago I installed a WD3000HLFS VelociRaptor 300GB in bay 1, and moved the original 640GB HD to bay 2. I now have 2 bootable internal drives, and currently I am using the VR300 as my startup disk. Instead of cloning from the original drive, I have reinstalled the Mac OS, and all my applications & software onto the VR300. Everything is backed up onto a WD SE II 2TB external drive, using Time Machine. The original 640GB has an eDrive partition, which was created some time ago using TechTool Pro 5.
The system will be used primarily for photo editing, digital imaging, and to produce colour prints up to A2 size. Some of the image files, from scanned imports of film negatives & transparencies, will be 40MB or larger. Next year I hope to buy a high resolution full frame digital SLR, which will also generate large files.
Currently I am using Apple's bundled iPhoto, Aperture 2, Photoshop Elements 8, Silverfast Ai, ColorMunki Photo, EZcolor and other applications/software. I will also be using Photoshop CS5, when it becomes available, and I will probably change over to Lightroom 3, which is currently in Beta, because I have had problems with Aperture, which, until recent upgrades (HD, RAM & graphics card) to my system, would not even load images for print. All I had was a blank preview page, and a constant, frozen "loading" message - the symbol underneath remained static, instead of revolving!
It is now possible to print images from within Aperture 2, but I am not happy with the colour fidelity, whereas it is possible to produce excellent, natural colour prints using its "minnow" sibling, iPhoto!
My intention is to buy another 3 VR300s to form a 4 drive Raid 0 array for optimum performance, and to store the original 640GB drive as an emergency bootable back-up. I would have ordered the additional VR300s already, but for the fact that there appears to have been a run on them, and currently they are out of stock at all, but the more expensive, UK resellers.
I should be most grateful to receive advice regarding the following questions:
QUESTION 1:
I have had a look at the RAID setting up facility in Disk Utility and it states: "To create a RAID set, drag disks or partitions into the list below".
If I install another 3 VR300s, can I drag all 4 of them into the "list below" box, without any risk of losing everything I have already installed on the existing VR300?
Or would I have to reinstall the OS, applications and software again?
I mention this, because one of the applications, Personal accountz, has a label on its CD wallet stating that the Licence Key can only be used once, and I have already used it when I installed it on the existing VR300.
QUESTION 2:
I understand that the failure of just one drive will result in all the data in a Raid 0 array being lost.
Does this mean that I would not be able to boot up from the 4 drive array in that scenario?
Even so, it would be worth the risk to gain the optimum performance provide by Raid 0 over the other RAID setup options, and, in addition to the SE II, I will probably back up all my image files onto a portable drive as an additional precaution.
QUESTION 3:
Is it possible to create an eDrive partition, using TechTool Pro 5, on the VR300 in bay !?
Or would this not be of any use anyway, in the event of a single drive failure?
QUESTION 4:
Would there be a significant increase in performance using a 4 x VR300 drive RAID 0 array, compared to only 2 or 3 drives?
QUESTION 5:
If I used a 3 x VR300 RAID 0 array, and installed either a cloned VR300 or the original 640GB HD in bay 4, and I left the Startup Disk in System Preferences unlocked, would the system boot up automatically from the 4th. drive in the event of a single drive failure in the 3 drive RAID 0 array which had been selected for startup?
Apologies if these seem stupid questions, but I am trying to determine the best option without foregoing optimum performance.

Well said.
Steps to set up RAID
Setting up a RAID array in Mac OS X is part of the installation process. This procedure assumes that you have already installed Mac OS 10.1 and the hard drive subsystem (two hard drives and a PCI controller card, for example) that RAID will be implemented on. Follow these steps:
1. Open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities).
2. When the disks appear in the pane on the left, select the disks you wish to be in the array and drag them to the disk panel.
3. Choose Stripe or Mirror from the RAID Scheme pop-up menu.
4. Name the RAID set.
5. Choose a volume format. The size of the array will be automatically determined based on what you selected.
6. Click Create.
Recovering from a hard drive failure on a mirrored array
1. Open Disk Utility in (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Click the RAID tab. If an issue has occurred, a dialog box will appear that describes it.
3. If an issue with the disk is indicated, click Rebuild.
4. If Rebuild does not work, shut down the computer and replace the damaged hard disk.
5. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
6. Drag the icon of the new disk on top of that of the removed disk.
7. Click Rebuild.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2559
Drive A + B = VOLUME ONE
Drive C + D = VOLUME TWO
What you put on those volumes is of course up to you and easy to do.
A system really only needs to be backed up "as needed" like before you add or update or install anything.
/Users can be backed up hourly, daily, weekly schedule
Media files as needed.
Things that hurt performance:
Page outs
Spotlight - disable this for boot drive and 'scratch'
SCRATCH: Temporary space; erased between projects and steps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StandardRAIDlevels
(normally I'd link to Wikipedia but I can't load right now)
Disk drives are the slowest component, so tackling that has always made sense. Easy way to make a difference. More RAM only if it will be of value and used. Same with more/faster processors, or graphic card.
To help understand and configure your 2009 Nehalem Mac Pro:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/04/266ghz-8-core-mac-pro-review.ars/1
http://macperformanceguide.com/
http://www.macgurus.com/guides/storageaccelguide.php
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/index.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshop-Configuration.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404440.html

I have three iPhone 4 models purchased in late 2010 that all share the same iTunes account (apps, music, etc), but I can only update the software on one of the three iPhones. What is the best solution to manage these devices for software updates, apps?

I have three iPhone 4 models purchased in late 2010 (for my family) that all share the same iTunes account for access to apps and music, but each phone/user still has his/her custom contact list, email accts, and select lists of apps and music from the one iTunes acct library. The problem is I can only update the software on one of the three iPhones – the primary phone I used to setup the iTunes acct. What is the best solution to manage these devices for software updates, apps? This is probably a common problem with families wanting to share apps and music without realizing the issues created by this approach. As it stands today... the first (primary) iPhone associated with the iTune acct has been updated with the latest software version 5.1.1 and sync'd up with all the apps, music, etc from the one iTune acct, while the other two iPhones are still running on the original software version 4.0.2 and are experiencing problems now. I was advised by AT&T back in January that it would be necessary to setup separate iTunes accts for the second and third iPhones in order to receive system updates. The problem would be how to keep all the apps, etc from being deleted off the second and third phones that were originally loaded from the one iTunes acct. Since this AT&T advice was prior to iCloud coming out, would iCloud be a better solution or at least part of the solution? I really don't yet understand how iCloud works. Hopefully, someone out there can help me?? Please?

I have three iPhone 4 models purchased in late 2010 (for my family) that all share the same iTunes account for access to apps and music, but each phone/user still has his/her custom contact list, email accts, and select lists of apps and music from the one iTunes acct library. The problem is I can only update the software on one of the three iPhones – the primary phone I used to setup the iTunes acct. What is the best solution to manage these devices for software updates, apps? This is probably a common problem with families wanting to share apps and music without realizing the issues created by this approach. As it stands today... the first (primary) iPhone associated with the iTune acct has been updated with the latest software version 5.1.1 and sync'd up with all the apps, music, etc from the one iTune acct, while the other two iPhones are still running on the original software version 4.0.2 and are experiencing problems now. I was advised by AT&T back in January that it would be necessary to setup separate iTunes accts for the second and third iPhones in order to receive system updates. The problem would be how to keep all the apps, etc from being deleted off the second and third phones that were originally loaded from the one iTunes acct. Since this AT&T advice was prior to iCloud coming out, would iCloud be a better solution or at least part of the solution? I really don't yet understand how iCloud works. Hopefully, someone out there can help me?? Please?

Software raid won't boot after updating to "mdadm" in mkinitcpio.conf

After a power outage I've discovetred the config I was using (with raid in mkinitcpio.conf) no longer works, it's mdadm now - that's fine. I've updated that and re-run mkinitcpio successfully, however my system is unable to boot from the root filesystem /dev/md2 like so:
Waiting for 10 seconds for device /dev/md2 ...
Root device '/dev/md2' doesn't exist. Attempting to create it.
ERROR: Unable to determine major/minor number of root device '/dev/md2'.
You are being dropped to a recovery shell
Type 'exit' to try and continue booting
/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
[ramfs /]#
As far as I can see from reading various threads and http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … AID_or_LVM I'm doing the right things now (although I'm not using lvm at all, which makes the installation document a little confusing).
I think I've included all the appropriate bits of config here that should be working. I assume I've missed something fundamental - any ideas?
menu.lst:
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/md2 ro
initrd /kernel26.img
mkinitcpio.conf:
HOOKS="base udev autodetect pata scsi mdadm sata filesystems"
fstab:
/dev/md1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/md2 / ext3 defaults 0 1
mdadm.conf
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=2 metadata=0.90 UUID=7ae70fa6:9f54ba0a:21
47a9fe:d45dbc0c
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=2 metadata=0.90 UUID=20560268:8a089af7:e6
043406:dbdabe38
Thanks!

Hi magec, that's quite helfpul - I've certainly got further.
Before I was doing this to set up the chroot (which is what is suggested in the wiki article about setting up software raid):
mdadm -A /dev/md1 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
mdadm -A /dev/md2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2
mount /dev/md2 /mnt
mount /dev/md1 /mnt/boot
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt /bin/bash
But based on your suggestion it's working better
mdadm -A /dev/md1 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
mdadm -A /dev/md2 /dev/sda2 /dev/sdb2
mount /dev/md2 /mnt
mount /dev/md1 /mnt/boot
mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
mount -t sysfs none /mnt/sys
mount -n -t ramfs none /mnt/dev
cp -Rp /dev/* /mnt/dev
chroot /mnt /bin/bash
The boot is now getting further, but now I'm getting:
md: md2 stopped.
md: bind<sdb2>
md: bind<sda2>
raid1: raid set md2 active with 2 out of 2 mirrors
md2: detected capacity change from 0 to 32218349568
mdadm: /dev/md2 has been started with 2 drives.
md2: Waiting 10 seconds for device /dev/md2 ...
unknown partition table
mount: mounting /dev/md2 on /new_root failed: No such device
ERROR: Failed to mount the real root device.
Bailing out, you are on your own. Good luck.
/bin/sh: can't access tty; job contol turned off
[ramfs /]#
The bit that really confuses me is this:
[ramfs /]# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md2 : active raid1 sda2[0] sdb2[1]
31463232 blocks [2/2] [UU]
md1 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdb1[1]
208704 blocks [2/2] [UU]
unused devices: <none>
[ramfs /]# mount /dev/md2 /new_root
mount: mounting /dev/md2 on /new_root failed: No such file or directory
[ramfs /]# ls /dev/md2
/dev/md2
[ramfs /]#
So the array is up, the device node is there but it can't be mounted? Very strange.
Last edited by chas (2010-05-02 11:24:09)

Can you move a software raid 1 from one mac to another

I have a 2 disc software raid 1 on my powermac and I want to move it to my mac pro. Does anyone know if I can do this?

It appears that in Mac OS X 10.4, and again in the transition to 10.7, RAID format may have undergone dramatic changes. If you are trying to move a RAID array across those boundaries, you may not have the best results moving the drives directly.

I am sort of new to MAC's and I love them so far. I am looking for a software or app to convert power point presentations to flash much like Ipring for PC Can anyone recommend something?

I am looking for a software or app to convert power point presentations to flash much like Ipring for PC Can anyone recommend something?

This article has 6 ways to do it.

Apps crashing, can't send problem to apple, software update app crashes....

I came back after a two month summer vacation (I unplugged the computer while I was away) and I went to update the software and then the software update app crashed. I tried to report the problem to apple, but it says that the submission failed, "your report could not be sent to apple, please try again later"
I then tried to sync my iPhone, and iTunes crashed, so I tried to report the problem, and I got the same error. So I un-installed iTunes, but when I emptied the trash it said that "iTunesHelper" was in-use, so I couldn't. But then I tried to restore iTunes by taking it out of the trash, and when I tried to open it, it said that it wasn't supported on that architecture.
I restarted the computer, but the problems won't go away. Firefox works fine...'
UPDATE: Safari crashes too...
System preferences works...
Garage Band: Crash!
iPhoto: Crash!
MS Word: Works...
World of Warcraft: Crash!
I am guessing that my problem has something to do with insufficient memory or something like that? I'm not sure...
About my computer: iMac7,1, running Mac OS X 10.5.7
@GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Any help is appreciated, I guess my best bet is to go to the Apple store or tek-serve.

Those weeks of sitting idle did not help the Mac as a vacation should!
Try repairing the disk permissions. At best do an Archive and Install. This will install a new Mac OS X, archive the old system, which you will later drag & drop to the Trash and flush away, and preserve your data and user accounts and settings. You can do this with your Restore DVD. Read all onscreen instructions and check the correct boxes to preserve your data and settings.
At worst, backup all your data and Erase and Install. Write zeros to the HDD and any bad sectors that exist will be locked out on the drive and no longer used. This is also done from the Restore DVD. After installing Mac OS X import your backed up data and begin anew.
Dah•veed

Adding A New Drive To A Software RAID 5 Array

Edit 3: Just mounted the partitions and I can delete them because they contain nothing special. Is it safe to expand the 2nd partition of each drive to fill up the left over 22 GB?
Edit 2: I just deleted all the partitions off of my new drive and created one partition, then added it to the array and it works just fine. My next question is, can I delete all the smaller partitions and expand /dev/sd[x]2 to reclaim all the space (about 70 GB)?
One of my drives failed and Western Digital sent me a new drive, except it was an external drive instead of an internal drive, so I cracked it open and the label looked different. Turns out it's just refurbished and it's the same model as my other drives (WD Caviar Green 3 TB).
I've read through the wiki article on Software RAID and created the partitions exactly the same as my other drives, but while creating the main 2.7 TB partition it says that the ending sector is out of range when it isn't. I'm new to all this so I have no idea what to do. From what I've read there normally aren't this many partitions per disk, correct? I also have md124, md125 and md126 for the other partitions. md127 is for the 2.7 TB partitions. I took the array out of my Thecus N4520. I have a 3 TB external drive and a 1TB internal, along with another 500 GB drive. Would I be better off at destroying the RAID set and creating a fresh RAID 5 set, considering I'm losing about 90 GB if I don't need the smaller partitions.
/dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 00636413-FB4D-408D-BC7F-EBAF880FBE6D
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 43941 sectors (21.5 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 41945088 46139375 2.0 GiB FD00
2 47187968 5860491263 2.7 TiB FD00 THECUS
3 46139392 47187951 512.0 MiB FD00
4 2048 20973559 10.0 GiB FD00 i686-THECUS
5 20973568 41945071 10.0 GiB FD00
/dev/sdd
Disk /dev/sdd: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): C5900FF4-95A1-44BD-8A36-E1150E4FC458
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 43941 sectors (21.5 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 41945088 46139375 2.0 GiB FD00
2 47187968 5860491263 2.7 TiB FD00 THECUS
3 46139392 47187951 512.0 MiB FD00
4 2048 20973559 10.0 GiB FD00 i686-THECUS
5 20973568 41945071 10.0 GiB FD00
/dev/sde
Disk /dev/sde: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 2B5527AC-9D53-4506-B31F-28736A0435BD
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 43941 sectors (21.5 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 41945088 46139375 2.0 GiB FD00
2 47187968 5860491263 2.7 TiB FD00 THECUS
3 46139392 47187951 512.0 MiB FD00
4 2048 20973559 10.0 GiB FD00 i686-THECUS
5 20973568 41945071 10.0 GiB FD00
new drive: /dev/sdf
Disk /dev/sdf: 5860467633 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 93F9EF48-998D-4EF9-B5B7-936D4D3C7030
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860467599
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 5813281700 sectors (2.7 TiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 41945088 46139375 2.0 GiB FD00 Linux RAID
2 47187968 47187969 1024 bytes FD00 Linux RAID
3 46139392 47187951 512.0 MiB FD00 Linux RAID
4 2048 20973559 10.0 GiB FD00 Linux RAID
5 20973568 41945071 10.0 GiB FD00 Linux RAID
when I type in 5860491263 as the end sector gdisk does nothing, just wants more input. If I type +2.7T it accepts it, but really it just creates a partition that's 1KB in size!
I am able to create a 2.7 TB partition with an end sector of 5860467599, this won't screw anything up will it?
Edit 1: just tried it and got this
[root@ra /home/bran]# mdadm --add /dev/md127 /dev/sdf2
mdadm: /dev/sdf2 not large enough to join array
[root@ra /home/bran]# fdisk -l /dev/sdf
Disk /dev/sdf: 2.7 TiB, 3000559428096 bytes, 5860467633 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 93F9EF48-998D-4EF9-B5B7-936D4D3C7030
Device Start End Size Type
/dev/sdf1 41945088 46139375 2G Linux RAID
/dev/sdf2 47187968 5860467599 2.7T Linux RAID
/dev/sdf3 46139392 47187951 512M Linux RAID
/dev/sdf4 2048 20973559 10G Linux RAID
/dev/sdf5 20973568 41945071 10G Linux RAID
Last edited by brando56894 (2014-04-28 00:47:29)

Sorry I numbered them to show the flow of information, this was also just a place for me to store info as I worked through it. I managed to get it to work by creating a partition that takes up the whole drive and is actually 22 GB larger than all the other drives (since I found out that the had root, swap and home partitions that are no longer needed).
I should be able to resize the other partitions without a problem, correct? They're EXT4. Should I unmount the raid array and do them individually, remount the array, let it sync and do the next? Or just unmount the array, resize all of them, mount it and let it sync?

Need help with formatting a software RAID 5 array with xfs

Hi,
i'm tying to format a software RAID 5 array, using the xfs filesystem with the following command:
# mkfs.xfs -v -m 0.5 -b 4096 -E stride=64,stripe-width=128 /dev/md0
but all I get is the attached error message. It works fine when I use the ext4 filesystem. Any ideas?
Thanks!
http://i.imgur.com/cooLBwH.png
-- mod edit: read the Forum Etiquette and only post thumbnails http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … s_and_Code [jwr] --

Sorry I numbered them to show the flow of information, this was also just a place for me to store info as I worked through it. I managed to get it to work by creating a partition that takes up the whole drive and is actually 22 GB larger than all the other drives (since I found out that the had root, swap and home partitions that are no longer needed).
I should be able to resize the other partitions without a problem, correct? They're EXT4. Should I unmount the raid array and do them individually, remount the array, let it sync and do the next? Or just unmount the array, resize all of them, mount it and let it sync?

Software RAID apps?

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