Wanted: Apple Hardware RAID Card for Xserve G5

I have some questions regarding the original internal Apple Hardware RAID Card for an Xserve G5.
1) Does it support native hardware RAID level 5?
2) Does anyone know where I can find one of these cards? I can't even find them on eBay.
3) I heard this card is based on an LSI board. Which model? Has anyone had success using the non-Apple version of the same model board in an Xserve G5 with internal Apple Drive Modules?
4) How do you hook up this card? Do I put it in the PCI slot and move the SATA cables to it or does the presence of the card just automagically take over the drives?
Thanks for all your help!

I heard this card is based on an LSI board. Which model?
Camelot is correct that this card is based on (is) the LSI Logic MegaRAID SATA 150-4 card:
http://www.lsi.com/storagehome/products_home/internal_raid/megaraid_sata/megaraid_sata1504/index.html
However, it has custom Apple Firmware to support booting by a PPC Xserve G5 rather than a PC. Apple also provides a ported version of the LSI Logic "megaraid" program to manage the card.
There is a bug (well, at least one) in the Apple Firmware version that was fixed by LSI Logic in its PC version subsequent to Apple's branch off of the LSI Logic code tree for the firmware. Specifically, the card sometimes doesn't fully flush its write caches before it disconnects from the drive buses on graceful power down (doesn't happen on restart). Only known workaround is to turn off the write caches for all LUNs. I turned in a RADAR report (RADAR ID 4350243) under our support agreement back in November 2005, but no action since. I follow up every so often, but clearly this EOL product is not a priority.
Has anyone had success using the non-Apple version of the same model board in an Xserve G5 with internal Apple Drive Modules?
Won't work without the Apple firmware. Apple doesn't distribute the firmware. Been there, done that. Our Apple Hardware RAID card failed in an odd way shortly after installation - it still functioned as a RAID controller once booted from another drive, but you couldn't boot from it. believe that the firmware became corrupted, and that it could have been fixed by flashing the firmware using the "megaraid" program, but Apple Support didn't have a file to flash it with, so it was handled by an RMA exchange.
RAID 5 performance is degraded with the write caches off, but our load is not heavy. I guess you could script the turning off and flushing of the write caches prior to shutdown, and turn them back on again during the boot sequence, but you'd really have to be careful to handle things like restart to CD boot, etc. We value our data more than speed.
This was a very difficult bug to troubleshoot, because the RAID 5 made the mystery garbage blocks from space very hard to find repeatably. Finally came up with a repeatable test case. Fortunately, discovered while testing the Xserve prior to deployment, so no valuable data was lost.
Russ

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Using a Mac Pro w / Apple Internal Hardware RAID Card?

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Is it worth the $600-700 ?
How much faster than the software RAID 0?
I see Hamm's RAID tips chart .. but it doesn't include such options .. plus it is based on a PC system.
Any tips would be great ..
I find many areas where the application is slow / unresponsive .. and I'm not sure where the bottleneck is ... Maybe the hardware RAID will solve it?
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Go Team!!!

I have a 2009 Mac Pro 3.33GHz Quad core w/ Apple RAID card, 16GB RAM from OWC, and Apple's Radeon HD 5870 GPU.
I have RAID 0 set across 3x1TB drives internally, and the standard 640GB drive for OSX and all program files. I set all video assets, renders, previews and such on the 3TB RAID.
This seems to work wonderfully. I built this system specifically to edit a feature film shot on P2 DVCProHD, and I've been impressed with how it handles it. This was all built prior to CS5, which took me by surprise. Had I known nVidia would become such a problem for Apple, I would have built a PC, but that's another story.
I just started a new project in CS5 on the same system, this time using H.264 video from my Nikon D7000, and so far, it seems to play just as nicely, despite not having hardware acceleration via CUDA technology. Yellow bars on top, even. I haven't had any problems with clips taking a long time to populate on the timeline or any of that, so perhaps the RAID card helps there.
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I hope this helps, and feel free to ask any questions I didn't address.

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I have ordered my new Mac Pro with the optional raid-card by Apple. Since there are no drivers for Windows XP or Vista available, harddrives attached to the card cannot be used for bootcamp to boot from. But it seems the Apple ships teh new Mac Pros with all drive bays connected to the raid-card. I was wondering if i could bypass the card by detaching one of the SATA-cables and plug it into the mainboard directly to use the first (or last) drive bay for a separate boot drive (WD velociraptor 300 GB) with a partition for Mac OSX 10.5 and Windows XP (each 150 GB) on this drive. I want use the rest of the harddrives attached to the RAID-card for a raid 0 under Mac OSX only. Windows XP will use an external storage case connected by Firewire 800.

Hi,
I believe the iPass cable connects all four hard disks with a single connector. This makes it difficult to remove one bay from the Apple Card. My experience is that you either use the card for all four bays or you disconnect the card and use the stock motherboard SATA interface.
I found using an external RAID box allows me to have all four internal hard disk bays available for boot disk or boot camp use. The external SeriTek/5PM provides my RAID. I can use the HighPoint RR2314 for a five disk RAID 5 configuration or the Sonnet Tempo E4P if I want a RAID created by Disk Utility. Using multiple SeriTek/5PM enclosures can increase the performance.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/5pm/
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata5pm.html
If you want even higher RAID performance and SAS compatibility and don't mind spending more $$$ the HighPoint RocketRAID 4322 RAID 5/6 Controller provides amazing performance with the Enhance RS16 JS SAS expander enclosure. The AMUG tests show this combination can provide RAID 6, sixteen disk average write performance of 696MB/sec. and 833MB/sec. read performance.
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/highpoint/4322/
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/enhance/rs16js/
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/datoptic/rm16_ex8/
There are lots of RAID solutions available for the Mac Pro. However, I find the internal Apple RAID lack of Boot Camp support is too restrictive and higher performance is available from 3rd party solutions at a better performance to cost ratio.
Have fun!

HT203128 iTunes 12.1.050 - Rollback: Updated from 12.01, now I cant't change track numbers and add additional data fields. How can I roll back to the previous version? @Apple, I want a $100 gift card for the inconvenience.

iTunes 12.1.050 - Rollback: Updated from 12.01, now I cant't change track numbers and add additional data fields. How can I roll back to the previous version? @Apple, I want a $100 gift card for the inconvenience.
- it's all said in the title. I can't understand why the developers turn things bad ... risking loosing Apples valuable customers.
More examples needed? (check out the communities and the reviews)
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You can offer Apple feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/
as for "
"@Apple, I want a $100 gift card for the inconvenience"
dream on.

XServe with hardware RAID card and headless install

Today, while trying to remotely install Mac OS X Server 10.4 ("Tiger") on an Apple XServe G5 with hardware RAID card, I discovered that it did not report the IP address of the server (booted from CD) with the sa_srchr command as it did with Mac OS X Server 10.3. With Mac OS X Server 10.3, I could boot the server from the CD, use the sa_srchr command from a remote machine to find the IP address, ssh into the server and user megaraid to create or recreate the RAID volumes using the internal drives in the server.
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Are you sure you have the 10.4 Admin Tools installed on the 'client' machine? I've seen this happen when trying to set up a 10.4 server from a machine with 10.3 Admin Tools installed. Try deleting the Admin Tools from your client machine, and re-install from a 10.4 DVD.
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XServe G5 unable to boot from raid 5 partition (Apple PCI raid card)

I've installed Leopard Server on a raid 5 partition, on a XServe G5 with an Apple PCI raid card, but I can't boot from that partition.
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Post to the appropriate forum under Server Products.

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Does anyone know if there are any problems using the Hardware RAID card, 661-3174 : M9699G/A, in a regular G5 tower instead of a xserve?
Thanks,
Scott

The G5 tower has two designated 3.5 inch drive bays although you may be able to stuff a couple of more drives in out of the way places.
You will need to run cables from wherever the drives are installed to the connectors on the RAID card. Keeping them out of the way may be a challenge.
The Apple card requires Mac OS X server 10.3.4 or higher. No mention was made if there were any problems with Tiger (10.4) or Leopard (10.5) server.
You will need to backup or image the existing drives prior to creating the RAID.
You may want to take a look at the LSI MegRAID controllers. Word on the street is that the Apple Xserve G5 RAID card was just a rebranded LSI with Apple firmware and drivers. But the product documentation may give you some ideas on the path ahead.
Good Luck

Raid cards for mac pro 2.66

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and a hardware raid 1 for my data.(same/separate card ??)
are there any sudgestions on makes and models and compatability?
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Yeah they say the software raid is good and I can't say first hand but I have heard good reports. In general I prefer hardware RAID but i setup server not clients so. Was using acard.com stuff for a bit but there offerings have gone down on the mac side. My current card of choice is Highpoint's Rocket RAID.
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/
Card works good and drivers all appear to be up-to-date with Intel based Mac's now. Nice web-GUI to the Raid controller. My only complaint could be OS related as opposed to driver but the Hot-Swap won't work right. In order for me to swap i need to drop the drives from the server and pull them. (alarms alarms, lol) Then put my swaps in. Seems the release call from the web-GUI does not kick the drive out right or the Mac OS won't let go of them even after un-mounting.

How can i exchange an apple store gift card for an itunes gift card?

I purchased an Apple Store gift card and received it with its PIN number via email. I did not intend to buy this; I wanted an iTunes gift card and bought this on accident. Is there a way I can exchange this Apple Store gift card for an iTunes gift card?
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No; it needs to be an iTunes Store gift card to do that.
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Apple Hardware Test software for late '07 Macbook?

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What is the best e-Sata PCI RAID card for Mavericks.

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PM made sense - 6 yrs ago when disk drives were much slower. Today it is a bottleneck.
SAS makes more sense. Outside of SSD, no disk drive maxes out by itself one PM interface (an SSD will) but it also means just two drives are enough to do so. So check out why to avoid PM:
www.macperformanceguide.com

RAID card for a Macpro

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Thanks.

YOu don't NEED it...but it does come in handy. I have my OS drive installed in the empty area below the optical (spare SATA connection on the logicboard, so I used that)...then I have all four bays open for drives. I have one bay that I use for Time machine, one as a single SATA for files I like to store, exported movies and graphics and stuff, then I have RAIDED the last two as RAID 0. This is FAST, but unprotected. Now, you can have three Raided drives (do NOT have your SYSTEM drive in the RAID...no no no) for more speed. The RAID card offers Raid 5 protection, meaning if one drive fails you are still fine. You sacrifice some storage and speed, but it works. And the good thing is that it is a HARDWARE raid, meaning that if your OS crashes for some reason, your RAID is fine. Not so with the software RAID. If the OS dies, so does the RAID. I had this happen recently.
It is a tad expensive...$999...and THEY must install it. A lot of stuff needs to be taken out to make room. CalDigit is offering a card too for half the price, and with the added benefit of the ability to add drives EXTERNALLY with the card. Due out next month. www.caldigit.com. I am planning on getting this when it comes out.
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SATA card for Xserve

I had the SATA RAID card go out on an Xserve G5. The machine is out of warrenty and Apple want $499 for a new card. My question is:
Why can't I just put a much cheaper card (Adaptec, SIIG, etc.)
in the server? It is not going to be set up in any kind of RAID and only used for more experimental purposes.
Does anyone have any thoughts on my thinking?

I'm a tad late, but here's some additional information.
Essentially any G5 Tower Compatible SATA RAID card will work in the Xserve G5.
Between the drives and the logic-board, there is a 'drive interconnect board.' When you order an Xserve with the SATA RAID, Apple basically provide you with the RAID card and long SATA cables to plug into the interconnect board.
If you no longer require SATA RAID in your Xserve, you could plug the interconnect board directly into your logic-board and your Xserve would continue to function as normal.

Graphics Card for Xserv G5

Please help!
Apple can't.....
We have a G5 Xserv, that we desparately need a Graphics Card for. Apple say they can't supply it (their most useful suggestion was to buy one of the new core-duo machines as they ship with a graphics card as standard!).
Xserv G5
2GHz PowerPC G5
2GB DDR400 ECC SDRAM - 2x1GB
1000GB ADM (2x500GB Serial ATA)
I believe we need a PCI-X card?
Any ideas where I can get one or what the alternatives are? It can be a very basic card - nothing hardcore required in terms of graphics performance. If it could only draw the desktop in black and white, it would do!
Thoughts?
Xserv G5/2Ghz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

The Radeon 7000 PCI card is based on the same GPU that Apple once shipped as the BTO Xserve video option - ATI RV100 - so it is worth a try.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeveloperNotes/Servers/XserveG5/2Architecture/chapter_3_section7.html
Any basic ATI should be supported by the OS because ATI was Apple's default video provider for much of this time period.
Note that using a PCI video card will limit the speed of any PCI-X cards you also have installed, but that shouldn't effect your actual performance probably.
=Tod
G5/2.0x2, Dual XServes x2, XRAID, beige G3 501Mhz

3rd Party SATA raid cards for internal drives?

All --
Apart from the discussion as to if RAID actually benefits a home desktop system, I am wondering if anyone has the lowdown on using 3rd party SATA raid cards to support the INTERNAL hard drives on the Mac Pro series?
My Mac Pro is still slated to be built at Apple and for now I have the minimum memory and HD spec being requested at Apple, with the plan to upgrade the memory and drives from OWC or another vendor.
I've toyed with the idea of utilizing Disk Utility's software RAID features (e.g. RAID 0 for scratch disks, RAID 1 for boot, RAID 0+1 for all else.) I've also toyed with the notion of searching for a hardware raid solution which would allow me to transfer the internal SATA cable runs from the motherboard to a host adapter card for an internal multi-channel experience (with options to create and break mirrors to external devices for backup purposes.)
So....
Has anyone experience or utilized 3rd party hardware raid controllers which can connect to the internal HD bays? Are there limitations to this (ie, does the boot drive HAVE to reside off the internal motherboard controllers, or can an internal hardware controller successfully boot the system) of which ought be noted?
Finally, in the event that a host adapter card cannot drive the interna bays, can anyone give feedback to hardware SATA cards to power external drive bays with support for Disk Utility (to allow RAID1 pairings of internal drives to external snapshot-backup drives)?
Thanks for your time,
Ian Poulin
Richmond, Va

I am wondering if anyone has the lowdown on using 3rd party SATA raid cards to support the INTERNAL hard drives on the Mac Pro series?
There are many 3rd party controllers that support the internal HDs if an internal iPass connector is used. The problem is that some are bootable but most are not.
The Areca ARC-1680ix-12 and the HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 are bootable. However, the system cannot be installed via the Apple DVD. Instead the user needs to clone a boot drive with the proper drivers to the boot volume on the controller and then boot from the 3rd party controller.
The other issue I found is that these controllers do not support Boot Camp. If Boot Camp is desired, my recommendation would be to leave the internal HDs on the Mac Pro internal bus intact and use the 3rd party controller for external storage. This method provides four internal bays that are bootable, support Boot Camp and can be used for system backups. I use the 3rd party controller for external storage for large RAID sets and hot swapping hard disks.
With the internal bays intact and external hot swap RAID storage available the user can support Boot Camp, multiple system volumes and large external RAID sets. From my experience using a 3rd party controller with the internal HD bays always has some limitations. The user usually does not realize it unit later when Boot Camp does not work or the computer fails on a system upgrade or the controller does not work at all with a new version of Mac OS X.
Staying with the standard internal Mac Pro bay configuration will be the best configuration to avoid compatibility issues with future versions of Mac OS X. It is rumored that the new Snow Leopard may require 64-bit drivers. If that is the case, I would expect most if not all existing 3rd party controller drivers to fail. Some drivers will be upgraded after a few months while others may not. Having the internal Mac Pro SATA controller intact should at least allow the Mac Pro to boot if my guess about compatibility issues is correct.
can anyone give feedback to hardware SATA cards to power external drive bays with support for Disk Utility (to allow RAID1 pairings of internal drives to external snapshot-backup drives)?
There are a large number of external controllers that work with Disk Utility. Here are some of my favorites.
1. FirmTek SeriTek/2SE2-E and the SeriTek/5PM
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata5pm2se2.html
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/firmtek/5pm/
2. Sonnet Tempo E4P
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/sonnet/mac-pro/
3. DAT Optic eSATA_PCIe8
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/datoptic/pcie8/
Have fun!

Wanted: Apple Hardware RAID Card for Xserve G5

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