Using two external USB drives in RAID 1?

Is this acceptable? I initially set it up, copied files over only to see one slice degraded. Now I've been trying to rebuild the RAID but it's taking 40 +hours. Seems it would be easier/less time consuming to delete, recreate the RAID and recopy the files.
But - I wonder if this an acceptable practice or even supported (many posts say IDE or SATA drives).

Check out the Linksys articles below, if RAID 1 is not running properly then the RAID status would indicate "degraded" and disk health status "failed".
Checking the Status of Hard Drives
Creating RAID 1 on the Network Media Hub
Cheers.

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R&R Backup (Image) on two external USB drives

Hi Forum,
in the early BIOS state of my T500 and working with Vista I had to rebuild my system several times due to OS failures. For that reason I periodically run R&R and make images on an external USB drive.
Since I'm traveling very much I always have the USB drive with the image with me. The drive contains one basic backup and some incremental backups up to level 25 (at the time being).
Now my goal: in case of a theft or a failure of that USB drive, I want to keep a second image on another USB drive at home.
Now my questions:
1: Is it possible to make backups with R&R (basic and incremental) of one computer on several USB drives?
In that case R&R must detect which incremental level is present on the USB drive and create the appropriate backup (management of the levels on the USB drive, not on the computer).
Example: USB drive A contains one basic backup and some incremental backups to level 12 (consistent) - USB drive B contains one basic backup and some incremental backups to level 17 (consistent as well).
2: If the answer to question 1 is "yes" - does R&R manage this automatically in the windows interface or is it necessary to use the DOS level (rrcmd.exe). Which switches are to be set?
Many thanks for help
Axel

It is a difficult question: the help file isn't entirely clear.
Here is my recent experience: using R&R 4.21 I had backed up my machine to the internal drive + 1 external USB drive several times, so that there was the base back-up and several incrementals on both drives. I also had copied the base backup + earlier incrementals to DVDs using the advanced menu entry for that task, just to be on the safe side. And, using another program (the free version of Syncback by 2BrightSparks), I regularly duplicate documents + pictures to the USB drive, so I'm covered in 3 different ways on 2 types of external hardware.
On one or two occasions I did an incremental backup on the internal drive only--but the next time I did an incremental with the external USB drive attached, the missed incrementals were synchronized onto the external drive.
Now, 2 weeeks ago I decided to zap the main disk and rebuilt the OS + programs to have a "clean slate" for 2010. When I had finished reinstalling everything minus personal files, I made a base backup (the only choice offered) on the internal drive with the external drive attached. This effectively erased the existing earlier backups on the external drive and copied over the new base backup.
So this synchronization only operates in one direction: the external USB drive's store of R&R backups is a replica of what is on the main internal drive.
I strongly suggest trying this all out (i.e. missing an incremental backup on the external drive, then making sure it has catched up after the next incremental backup) after making an external copy on DVD of the R&R backups. In fact, if you have the nerve, the patience and the time (and the DVD backups!), you should also try a bare metal restore of the DVD backup (I did last year when I bought this machine and hadn't too many personal files on it-- R&R 4.21 does actually work!)
sorry i can't be more specific, but my advice is to practice the "disaster recovery" at least once, early on, in order to be sure how it works if disaster does strike.

New Firewire 800 External Hard Drive and how to use old External USB Drive

Hi All,
I have a new LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk hard drive 500 GB - FireWire / FireWire 800 / Hi-Speed USB / eSATA-300 on the way, when it arrives I plan to use it as my Time Machine Backup drive with the FireWire 800 connection. I am currently using a Seagate Free Agent USB 2.0 320 GB external drive as my Time Machine disk. The reason for upgrading is the USB drive is slow slow slow! I am not concerned about the data on my old drive and will just wipe it clean using Disk Utility. What I would like to do is use the old drive to archive iTunes 7.7.1 and Aperture 2.0 music and photographs. Can someone give me an idea how to go about doing this?
Thanks!

Hi, yes that will copy the whole iTunes..including everything in iTunes..BUT, as you add to your iTunes on the Main HD, with the ext HD I think you will have to manually update anything added. Or dragNdrop the whole thing again.. You could also locate you iTunes music Library & just copy that across..With images once again find your iPhoto library & just copy that across..L

Kernel task when using Firewire external usb drive

Hi, I'm using an external 320GB Iomega USB drive that has both usb and firewire cable sockets. When i connect the drive with the firewire cable to my mac (MacBook Pro) the CPU usage increases. Specifically, kernel_task usage goes up and stays constant in around 3% and sometimes it goes higher and stays high for longer periods.
Does anyone knows why this occurs and how to avoid a kernel_task CPU usage increase?
Greetings,
C.

It's probably Spotlight Indexing the external drive, if you don't want this to happen open System Preferences/Spotlight, click the Privacy Tab then drag the external drive icon from your Desktop into that box.

How can I use an external USB drive on my Macmini with Boot Camp and Lion/Windows 7?

I have a MacMini (Last model with a disk drive). The Mini has Lion and Windows 7 installed using Boot Camp. I want to attach a 350GB, USB, HP Personal Storage Device (Hard Drive) to the computer and be able to use it in both Lion and Windows 7 mode. The USB drive is formatted for Windows 7. I only want to use it for storage and back-up purposes for both operating systems. It would be nice if I could access the total disk from either system without having to reboot to change operating systems to view Windows 7 files and reboot again to view Lion files. Can anyone offer any guidance or any informational websites to help me? Thank you for any help!!

Yes, you’ll be able to do that.
(116841)

Mini doesn't always connect bluetooth and external (USB) drives on boot

I have had a new Intel mini for 4 months now (we also have a PPC G5, which we love). In the last few weeks the mini started to not connect my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nor recognize some of my USB peripherals when booting up. When this happens, it also makes a repeated "startup sound - bong!" echo when the start button is pressed. I have two external USB drives, one 500GB Phantom and one 500GB WD MyBook. When the Apple logo appears at boot, I can see the activity lights flashing on the drives as the BIOS interrogates the USB connections, but after the Leopard start up desktop appears, the only drive shown is Macintosh HD, the mouse pointer is at the top left of the display and will not move, nor will the keyboard do anything. I have read every post on this subject and tried all of the resets suggested. Sometimes this works after a few attempts, sometimes it takes 6 or more tries - disconnecting all cables, and turning the computer on again and again. Occasionally the WD MyBook drive appears on the desktop, yet still the Bluetooth is unresponsive and the other drive absent. I am getting frustrated having to disconnect everything and trying to boot this thing up, sometimes for one hour or longer before I can use it properly (all of my work is on the external drives).
There MUST be a firmware update for this by now, because I see that I am not the only one experiencing these problems, and this is obviously some problem with how the BIOS is communicating with the bus.

Hi amyta pdx-
I'd be careful jumping to conclusions or the troubleshooting process may get clouded. For one thing those WD drives are junk and most people using them eventually have problems.
What happens with everything disconnected from the Mac except a mouse connected to a USB port on the Mac and the monitor connected to the video port only?
Luck-
-DP

PX6-300D + External USB Drive = Freeze

I am trying to use an external USB drive as my Macintosh TimeMachine drive.
However, my PX6-300D is freezing some time after external USB drive is connected.
The only protocol enable is AFP.
This is a bug? What could be happening?
Thanx any help.

Are you able to test with a different USB drive? This will help to determine if it is the drive or NAS that is the problem.

I just added two external firewire drives and they keep going to sleep. I did not have this problem when USB. I have turned off "put disks to sleep" in power preference.

I just added two external firewire drives and they keep going to sleep. I did not have this problem when using USB external drives. I have turned off "put disks to sleep" in power preference.

It is not clear if these are the same drives, just connected
differently, or different drives?
One thing that may be happening is that the drives firmware
itself is putting it to sleep when inactive. Many drives on
the market have ths feature and it is turned on by default
and require a drive utility from the manufacturer to disable it.

HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

Hello, I have two questions on time capsule I can only have it on my external hd files and free up my internal memory to my mac I can use an external hard drive, in my case a lacie rugged as shared memory for my two computers

Hello, I have two questions on time capsule I can only have it on my external hd files and free up my internal memory to my mac I can use an external hard drive, in my case a lacie rugged as shared memory for my two computers

I have a mackbook pro and an iMac if I buy a time capsule 2tb airport, I can use it with time machine and what would be the best way to use it.
There is no particular setup required for TM.. both computers will create their own backup sparsebundle which is like a virtual disk.. Pondini explains the whole thing if you read the reference I gave you.
and how to use time capsule airport whit other external hd to use my old lacie airport with the new time capsule
Up to you.. you can plug the external drive into the TC and enjoy really slow file transfers or you can plug it into your computer and use it as external drive.. which is faster than the TC.. and TM can include it in the backup.
Again everything is explained in the reference.. you are not reading it.

Can I use an external usb super drive on my iMac 10.6.8 ?

Can I use an external USB SuperDrive on my 10.6.8 iMac the internal drive is not working at all? Thank you.

DrGerega wrote:
Can I use an external USB SuperDrive on my 10.6.8 iMac the internal drive is not working at all? Thank you.
The answer is no unless you are willing to modify a system file. See this article. Read the entire thing and the comments before deciding if it is the route for you.
If it were me I'd go with Shootist's advice and get another brand--for the reasons he stated.
I have a SuperDrive that I use with my 2012 MBA but with my late-2012 27" iMac, which does not have an internal CD/DVD drive and therefore will work with the SuperDrive, I use a 3rd party that is both faster and cheaper than the SuperDrive.

Hi, I used an external hard drive as a time machine,now I want to use it on a windows PC as a normal hard drive again. How do I "reformat" the time machine to an normal usb-device?

Hi, I used an external hard drive as a time machine,now I want to use it on a windows PC as a normal hard drive again. How do I "reformat" the time machine to an normal usb-device?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+format+hard+drive

I replaced the battery on my RAID card, when I booted my mac pro up, I get the folder with the question mark. I used a boot USB drive to boot and when I looked in the RAID utility, my RAID 5 volumes were no longer showing, advise.

I replaced the battery on my RAID card, when I booted my mac pro up, I get the folder with the question mark. I used a boot USB drive to boot and when I looked in the RAID utility, my RAID 5 volumes were no longer showing, advise.
Ernest

Not sure if I'm following you. I have 4 hard drives installed on my Mac Pro. I had a RAID 5 configured and functional for about 5 months. My battery died on the RAID card. I replaced the battery, seated the RAID card back in the slot I removed it from. When I booted to the USB drive to look in the RAID utility, I could see the battery is charged but my volumes are not showing.
The drives don't show in disk Utility. I built the RAID with the RAID Utility and they did show there. I have a early 2008 Mac Pro, Mavricks OS running Mac Server

In start disc mode can I use a external USB flash drive on MAC Book Pro

In start disc mode can I use a external USB flash drive on MAC Book Pro?

To do what? Yes you can connect a USB flash drive to the system and if it has the Recovery HD files on it you can boot from it. If it has the OS X install files on it you can boot from it. If it is large enough to contain a Time Machine backup on it you can restore your system from it.
So what do you want to do with the USB thumb drive?
Roy02649 wrote:
In start disc mode can I use a external USB flash drive on MAC Book Pro?

Make Time Machine use a specific amount of space on an external usb drive

I have 1tb external usb drive which i use for backup with TM. I want to set TM to use only 200GB space so I can always have 800GB available on the drive. This way I can prevent TM to keep backups that are too old and exanding backup data to all of the disk because when there is only 200GB available old backups are removed automatically. How can I do that?

Find good info here.

Using two external USB drives in RAID 1?

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