Stability of Internal/External RAID

Hello, I was curious to know if you were going to set up a RAID, is there a choice between going with internal drives or external? I've been looking at some external RAID set-ups (G-Technology, Lacie) and they look pretty good. But would a internal drive be better or is it more suceptible to failure?
Also, if I did go internal, is setting up the RAID done in the OS or would I have to buy some software to do it?
thx

I meant, are you interested in RAID because you are seeking automatic backup, greater throughput or some other benefit?
If automatic backup, you will be better off with offline backup rather than RAID. Mirrored RAID only provides a degree of protection against one of the two drives in the array failing ... but most failures (i.e. loss of critical files) occur because of user error or a software glitch, and mirrored RAID is not going to protect you from that. Hence my emphasis on offline backup rather than RAID.
If greater throughput, you would need an external enclosure with an eSATA interface and SATA-II drives to have any chance of achieving greater throughput than you could achieve with a single SATA-II drive. If the external interface is FW400 or FW800 or if the external enclosure uses IDE drives instead of SATA-II drives, you won't get any greater throughput with RAID than if you had a single external hard drive. (The FW400/FW800/IDE interfaces are the limiting factors.) And if you're shooting DV, HDV or AVCHD, RAID isn't going to make any difference anyway because their data rates are well within the throughput capabilities of FW400 and FW800. The only way RAID would benefit is if you are comparing a pair of striped 5400 rpm drives against a single 7200 rpm drive ... and the single 7200 rpm drive would probably still win the throughput contest.
As for recommendations on drives themselves, I'd suggest either WD Caviar SE16 drives or Seagate 7200.11 drives. Both are excellent. Hitachi drives perform great but they run hot, and heat is the primary enemy of hard drive life; the drives that have failed me without warning have all been Hitachi drives. And i've never been a fan of Maxtor drives. One man's opinion (and experience).

Similar Messages

HDD setup - Internal RAID, External RAID or single discs

I know variations on this question have been done to death on this forum, but I'm still struggling to understand how to apply it to my specific requirements and hardware.
I am looking to optimise the performance/speed of my Hackintosh for video editing on Premiere and grading on Resolve Lite, Colorista and AE.
I work mainly with Pro-Res files, sometimes with AVCHD, and occasionally with raw.
My Hackintosh specs are as follows:
Part
Component
Processor
4th Generation Haswell Core i7-4770 - Quad Core 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo Boost)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE 8 Series GA-Z87N-WIFI
Memory
16GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical 1600MHz
Primary Graphics
Zotac Nvidia GTX 770 - 2GB Video Memory, 1059MHz Core Clock, 7010MHz Memory Clock
Secondary Graphics
Intel HD 4600 Graphics
Maximum Video Resolution
2560x1600
Hard Drive
240GB CRUCIAL SSD 32MB Cache (OS and Programs)
Hard Drive
1TB TOSHIBA SATA III 7200RPM 32MB Cache
Network Card
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Wifi
Atheros AR9287 802.11BGN 300Mbps
Sound
High Definition 7.1 Channel Audio
Power Supply
Corsair CX600M 600w Modular PSU, 80 PLUS Bronze
Chassis
Bitfenix Prodidgy
External Ports
1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Port
3 x HDMI Ports
3 x DVI Ports
1 x Display Port
2 x Antenna Connectors
6 x USB 3.0/2.0 Ports
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 Ports
2 x Ethernet Ports
1 x Optical S/PDIF Out Connector
5 x Audio Jacks
Operating System
OS X Mavericks
I have also purchased a USB3 Lacie 4Big Quadra 8TB external RAID.
I currently run the OS and programs from the SSD, and have partitioned the 1TB SATA III HDD, using one partition for scratch and the other for projects, media and exports.
My question is, what would be my best solution for optimising performance?
1. Buying a couple more HDDs, installing them internally and striping along with the existing disc as a 3-disc RAID 0, using the Lacie as backup/storage only?
2. Buying a couple more HDDs, installing them internally as single discs (SSD for OS & Apps; HDD1 for Scratch; HDD2 for Media and Projects; HDD3 for Exports), again using the Lacie for backup/storage only.
3. Using the Lacie as an external 4-disc RAID 0, and the existing internal HDD as storage. Buying further HDD(s) for backup.
Also, if RAID is the answer, what is the best configuration in terms of which disc(s) to point Premiere to? i.e does Premiere treat the RAID as a single disc for i/o purposes, creating a bottleneck with high bandwidths, or does it act as it would if different file types were pointed at separate individual discs?
Many thanks in advance for helping the IT dunce!

Start here: Tweakers Page and continue reading all the articles there.

Unable to capture to external RAID drive FCP 7

Here are my specs:
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
Running:
OS X 10.5.8
Final Cut Studio 3 (recently upgraded from Studio 1)
At the end of last year I had a problem with capturing and upon research it seemed to be that the most recent update of QuickTime was not compatible with Final Cut Pro 5, which was causing my machine to not be able to capture at all. So we upgraded to Final Cut Studio 3 (FCP7) and part of the problem was solved but an issue still remains.
For over 3 years we have been using an external Raid drive as a capture scratch and we still have over 5 TBs free. The Raid is connected by SCSI. Earlier last year I was able to capture to the Raid drive without any problems but now the capture will freeze whenever that is set as the capture scratch. If I set the internal drive as the capture scratch it captures without any issues.
The problem is that using the internal as the capture scratch can only be a short term solution. The drive is only so large and I have a problem with finder if I try to move files from the internal drive to the external. Finder freezes up and I can't even force quit properly. So being able to once again use the external as the main capture scratch is the only real solution. The external is fully functionally and communicating with the Mac.
Any help with resolving this would be appreciated!

Off the top of my head, because I haven't worked with SCSI in years--
"The problem is that using the internal as the capture scratch can only be a short term solution. The drive is only so large and I have a problem with finder if I try to move files from the internal drive to the external. Finder freezes up and I can't even force quit properly. So being able to once again use the external as the main capture scratch is the only real solution. The external is fully functionally and communicating with the Mac."
Are you trying to move files while you have FCP open? The fact that simply moving files is giving you finder issues and freezing you up, says that all is not well with the scsi raid. You should not see that at all.
You might try powering down the mac and the raid, unplugging and letting the machine sit for a while to discharge the capacitors. Then try reseating the scsi card. (pull it out carefully and plug it back in.)
On another note, when you upgraded fcp, did you do a clean install?

External RAID not recognized

I put together a 2x200 gb external RAID drive several months ago that has been working like a charm over FireWire to my Mac Mini. Galaxy Metal Gear enclosure with a pair of identical Western Digital 200gb drives, all of it brand new from newegg less than a year ago. I store my iTunes library and all my photos, plus documents and stuff like that -- basically the only thing I keep on the Mini's internal HD are applications and the system software (it's the boot disk, not the external).
I recently got a MacBook and wanted to put my iTunes library onto it so I could have some music on the road. The external drive was mounted on my Mini, so I tried to eject it but it wouldn't eject after several minutes. I had quit out of iTunes and anything else I could think of, but it still wouldn't eject. So (and here's where I'm an idiot) I just pulled the FireWire cable out of the back of the Mini.
Now all the drive does is spin and make random sounds, won't mount, won't get recognized in Disk Repair, won't get recognized by System Profiler, nada. I even downloaded Data Rescue II and ran it in the demo version just to see if it would work, but that won't recognize the drive either.
Any solutions? Is the drive dead? Can I disconnect one of the RAID drives and see if that will mount or would that hopelessly mess up my data?
any advice would be most welcome, thanks!

Hi Mark Ankcorn-
It sounds like one of the drives in the RAID is bad. Don't overlook the obvious and be sure to try a new USB or firewire cable.
The problem with a 2 drive RAID is when one drive goes bad there goes the RAID. Your data is already hopelessly messed up.
Luck-
-DP

Portable external raid - should I get 5400 or 7200 rpm?

Hi,
I'm in need of a portable external raid 1 for live data protection. I do illustration work in photoshop and I use bridge to access and view files and reference. I would like to write all my files and read all my files from an external raid 1 and I am wondering if I should get a 5400 or 7200 rpm setup.
My concern is read and write speeds.
My portable setup is a mbp 2.16 intel core duo. I'm thinking of getting the g raid mini 2.
Thanks in advance

Thanks for the response.
To clarify my question though -
1. I'm wondering if either will be fast enough to work off of - I'm planning on keeping the internal drive clean and all data would reside on the raid(so no incremental backups will be needed).
2. will the difference between 5400 and 7200 be worth the difference in price - ie. lag time or a noticeable speed difference.
Thanks

External RAID-1 storage providers?

I'm looking for suggestions and providers of RAID-1 (mirroring) storage solutions. I work in-house for a corporate video company and we think that an external RAID-1 storage would be best. I'm also very open to hear what other people think would work for us as i'd rate my technical knowledge at intermediate.
All our work is currently DV25. We may switch to HDV in 2 years or so. Currently we're working off various single drive Firewire or USB 2.0-based hard drives. Thus, I don't believe read speed is a concern for our needs. Also, I read alot about the drive speeds of technology like SATA III, so maybe read speed is a null issue?
We like RAID-1 for it's simplicity, it's very easy to understand how it works . It also feels like the right 'place' we'd like to be on the backup spectrum. We could be more intense with the backups (e.g. multiple backup drives at off-shore locations) or less intense (simply burn project files to DVD), so RAID-1 feels like a nice balance.
Cost is almost a null issue. But we're looking for a solution that provides for some portability. So we're not looking for some intense multi-server rack solution, but more something like a typical LaCie drive that we can put into our backpack and move to a different location. We definietly don't mind paying extra for the 'backup' drive as it pays off for us in piece of mind and ease of use.
How we're basically looking to do this is that when we're done a project and the RAID-1 is near full, we would simply catalogue it (whole different discussion lol), then place it on a nice looking shelf for clients to gawk at. We don't generate a ton of data. With the availability of 1+ TB hard drives, we would probably only be putting one or two RAID-1 drives into our storage space per year.
In terms of a RAID-1 drive/provider, we'd prefer to deal with a company that would still be around and relevant ~10 years down the road. Great customer service is also key. Internal build quality is important, and i'd be very happy to have an ugly ugly chassis if the internal parts were top notch. We also live in Canada incase that's an issue. We bought a G-Tech drive a while back and had to pay an extra 20% on it due to import duties .

Thanks Shane for the reply! My last experience with 'hot swap' was ~5 years ago with a server. It required a bunch of special trays, and I had extra hard drives pre mounted into these trays for hot swap daily backups. What is hot swapping a drive like now a days? Is it simply plug and play?
How durable is the CalDigit FirewireVR? The front grill looks delicate :S. As I may bring the drive to different locations (though it would be reasonably cushioned), durability is important to me.
Would you recommend that I buy spare hard drives directly from the enclosure manufacturer (e.g. CalDigit)? Do you know why they are so expensive (250 GB drive from CalDigit ~$120), higher quality? Since i'm doing RAID-1, would it be ok for me to buy drives from Best Buy (could get 500 GB for ~$100).
Also to clarify my previous post, our intention would be to use multiple enclosures. So once the RAID-1 is filled, we would NOT take out both hard drives and put them on the shelf. Rather we'd prefer to simply put the enclosure, WITH the hard drives inside, onto the shelf.
But if hot swapping IS simply 'plop in the naked hard drive and you're good to go', then maybe I'd be open to simply storing the RAID-1 hard drive pair on the shelf...
Message was edited by: Phillip Roh

Faster memory, external RAIDS, and the WD Raptor 150

Hello,
I've just got a g5 quad and need to fit it out for photoshop.
Does anybody know if there is any point in fitting memory faster than the 533mhz it comes with; what options there are for an external RAID (possibly 4 sata II drives?); and whether anyone has got a WD Raptor 150 to work in the internal bays.
I know that's three questions, but they are only little.
g5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) I thought mac's were supposed to 'just work'
g5 Mac OS X (10.4.5) I thought mac's were supposed to 'just work'

It seems that Crucial lists 667 RAM as compatible. But, I am not sure I would mix chips with different speeds. And I really don’t think you would see a real world benefit going from 533 to 667.
For external raids I prefer Granite Digital but there are others: miniG, WiebeTech, MacGurus… just to name a few (all US vendors though).
I have the WD 150 Raptor, however there is a known issue with this and other WD drives. Presently, I have kept mine installed as I am only using it as a boot/program drive and the issues in my case only come up when trying to copy very large files to the Raptor (which I don’t do because I don’t use it for storage). But I have a cloned back up ready at all times.
Mike

What external raid devices can I use on my Non-Thunderbolt Macbook pro (Mid 2009)?

I'm looking for the best external Raid drive options for my non-thunderbolt port 2009 Macbook Pro. I only require 2Tb total storage (prefer RAID 1 so it'll be 2x2tb drives, removeable). Can I still use a thunderbolt drive or would I be wasting my $$ if I can't take advantage of the speed?
I have a 17" Macbook pro 5,2 (mid 2009) running 10.6.8 OS X (Snow Leopard), Intel core, without a Thunderbolt port.
Thanks!

Hi, cubingcouple.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
I understand that your MacBook is not working with your external display. display shows a blank screen. Here is the best troubleshooting resource to go through when experiencing these symptoms.
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201177
Cheers,
Jason H.

External RAID Enclosure

Hi guys, my external raid enclosure Mapower TB32 broke down saying I/O to the disk is failing. So I am seeking to replace it with an external enclosure which can give me at least Raid 5 with 1.5 tb disk. I use an internal areca 1110 in Raid 0.
Which one would you recommend for a budget of GBP£400. I was looking at the Areca 5020. Is there anything else I should consider here.
Thank you.

OK! I managed to get a Q5 as my external raid HDD. Now I have got 2 1.5TBs WD15EADS Western Digital HDDs hooked on my Areca 1110 in RAID 0. Apparently these drives are really slow for some reason, I don't know why. They are beaten by a single Seagate Hybrid in terms of benchmark. On the other hand I was planning to use theSE WD in RAID 5 alongside the 2 Seagate 1.5TBs. In addition I ordered another Seagate 1.5TB and when delivered it indicated that its a 5400rpm rather than the 7200, I currently have. So this means that I may have to RMA this HDD. Unfortunately one of my 1.5tbs just gone dead and needs to be RMA.
Now the major question that is worrying me now is which are the HDDs to go for here. The Seagate 1.5tb @ 7200rpm appears to be out of production and they are nowhere to be seen here in Egland. I am currently considering to sell the Western Digital and the remaining Seagate on Ebay and go for something else. Are the 5400rpm 1.5tb good for HD editing or the 1tbs @7200rpm.
Can someone help here,, some advise will be greatly appreciated.

External RAID 1 (mirrored) advice

Sorry if this question is in the wrong place.
I need an external RAID 1 (mirrored) for work.
We need more shared storage space on our G4 Mac server. I'm a graphic designer not an IT person but the job has fallen to me. Needs to be external RAID drive (with firewire 400, 800 or USB 2) as our internal hard drives that are also mirrored are in use and maxed out. Here are some products I was looking at and each has pros and cons. Need something that is more reliable than fast as well as easy to use. What do you think? Thanks for your insight. Chris
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10969
http://www.drobo.com/Products/drobo.html
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-SAFE.cfm
http://www.newertech.com/products/gmax.php
http://www.istarusa.com/storage/mini_trayless/v7age220uf.aspx

More info
We have 8 macs on ethernet and one g4 server. Looking for something in the 1TB plus range. Easy enough for the non IT person to manage.

Boot from external raid hard drive in new iMac 2012

Just owned iMac 2012 21.5", but seemed internal drive is pretty slower than my previous iMac 2008. Planning to buy external raid hard drive like Lacie 2big Raid or G-Tech 4tb G-Raid (Thunderbolt) to be my main boot drive instead of internal one. Would this would solve the problem?

If your new Late 2012 21.5" iMac was Not ordered with the Fusion Drive option, then it came with a much slower standard 5400 rpm hard drive. Your 2008 iMac had a 7200 rpm hard drive. That's why this one is slower.

I currently use Aperture. I understand Adobe is developing a conversion to Lightroom. I currently store all my photos on an external RAID server and I want to continue to do so. Is this allowed with Creative Cloud?

I currently use Aperture. I understand Adobe is developing a conversion to Lightroom. I currently store all my photos on an external RAID server and I want to continue to do so. Is this allowed with Creative Cloud?

So, what if I (1) connected an external hard drive to my wi-fi router so I could remote access pics w/a network connection-- this way even my wife's macbook could connect to it, creating our own cloud.
A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
Or (2) had a way to save the most recent 6mo on my locally and the rest on said external HD?
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager
how do you keep photos accessible in iPhoto when your HD is full?
Move the Library to an external disk - see above.
Do you just switch to Aperture and have multiple libraries?
Aperture uses as much space as iPhoto and both can do multiple libraries.
Regards
TD

How many DNS record need to create in Internal & external DNS server for exchange?

Hi friends,
I recently installed Exchange Server 2010 in my organization for testing purpose and I've register a pubic ip too for exchange server on godaddy.com. How many
internal & External DNS records reqired to configure on external & Internal dns server so my all feature like Auto-discover, Activ -sync,& webmail start working perfectly.
It's my first time configuring exchange for a organization.
Thanks & Regards,
Pradeep Chaugule

Hi,
Just as what ManU Philip said, you need to create
Autodiscovery.domaincom and mail.domain.com for external dns server.
Generally, you configure your Exchange Servers as DNS clients of your internal DNS server.
Refer from:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996996(v=exchg.65).aspx
Best Regards.

Routing issue with dual Ethernet NICs - Internal/External Configuration under Windows 8.1 - what am I doing wrong ?

I have a PC hosting Windows 8.1, attached to two Networks. One leads to the internet - and uses the private IP address (172.*) the other is purely internal (also using the private address 198.*) but, has no internet connectivity. I'm finding
that if I don't disable my internal NIC, I can't access any internet sites. Is this a bug, or have I not done something correctly.
I have also, a Windows 7 PC, attached to the same Networks, and it exhibits no issues when connecting to either the internet or to internal locations.
(Both are Enterprise builds, though only across a Windows for Workgroups network).
Can anyone tell me what I need to be doing with Windows 8.1 please, to make both internal & external network connectivity work as is the case with Windows 7 ?
I'm only running IPv4, and both Wired Networks have at their respective ends, Routers that support DHCP & NAT. Though the internal Router's external port is not connected to anything.
Thanks in advance...

Hi,
Can you tell me what you have tried so far and how did you set?
Firstly please update all network adapter driver.
After that, do the following:
1. Open the Command Prompt (Admin).
2. Run "Ipconfig /all" to check your nics IP information.
3. Use route command tell the computer which interface you want the packets to leave from.
Assuming Network A is...
10.10.11.0 /24
Router is 10.10.10.1
and Network B is...
10.10.12.0 /24
Router is 10.10.10.2
then use this command:
route add 10.10.11.0 mask 255.255.255.0 10.10.10.1 -p
route add 10.10.12.0 mask 255.255.255.0 10.10.10.2 -p
Hope this helps.
Karen Hu
TechNet Community Support

Lost External RAID 5 after upgrading to Windows 8.1

I have a Proavio EB4FR External RAID 5 connected through the eSATA port. It worked with my Windows 7 Pro and Windows 8 Pro no problem, tonight I've upgraded to Windows 8.1. I can no longer see the RAID 5 drive.
It is detected as an "Other" device with question mark. Cannot see it in Disk Management at all.
Proavio is very bad in returning back to customers so I'm not expecting any response back from them, I was hoping that somebody here can suggest some good ideas that I can chase...
Thanks in advance,
Akin

Hi Kate,
Copying below from setupapi.dev.log;
>>> [Device Uninstall (Device Manager) - SCSI\DISK&VEN_&PROD_EXTERNALRAID\4&2F621F8A&0&050000]
>>> Section start 2014/02/02 12:54:07.432
cmd: "C:\Windows\system32\mmc.exe" C:\Windows\system32\devmgmt.msc
dvi: {DIF_REMOVE} 12:54:07.447
dvi: No class installer for 'ExternalRAID'
dvi: No CoInstallers found
dvi: Default installer: Enter 12:54:07.447
dvi: {Remove DEVICE}
dvi: InstanceID = 'SCSI\DISK&VEN_&PROD_EXTERNALRAID\4&2F621F8A&0&050000'
dvi: Query-and-Remove succeeded
dvi: {Remove DEVICE exit (0x00000000)}
dvi: Default installer: Exit
dvi: {DIF_REMOVE - exit(0x00000000)} 12:54:07.463
<<< Section end 2014/02/02 12:54:07.463
<<< [Exit status: SUCCESS]
External drive still working when I boot from my Windows 7 drive.
Thanks a lot for looking into this...

Stability of Internal/External RAID

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for