Is it possible to set up a RAID configuration on my new Powermac?

[gangst]

Hello,

I have my new Powermac G5 with 2x500GB hard disks, the Macintosh HD, is the scratch disk for all 4 users, and the second had disk, is storage which is not independent to each user, as anyone an access the files on the second hard disk not depending on who put them there.

I have decided that by making a RAID configuration I could have 1TB of storage, but Mac OS X would recognise it was one HD and it would be better for all the users. The problem is that I am not sure how to create a RAID, I do not want to format the scratch disk and I do not want to lose any performance. I would be very grateful if somebody could tell me if there are any performance benefits from creating a RAID and also if they could tell me how to do it with Disk Utility.

Thanks.

 

[robbieduncan]

You cannot turn 2 drives into a RAID array without a total reformat of both drives. If you are not willing to do that you will have to give up now.

Otherwise back everything up and boot from an OSX install CD, use the Disk Utility there to create the RAID array and install OSX, recover everything from backup and away you go.

 

[gangst]

You cannot turn 2 drives into a RAID array without a total reformat of both drives. If you are not willing to do that you will have to give up now.

Otherwise back everything up and boot from an OSX install CD, use the Disk Utility there to create the RAID array and install OSX, recover everything from backup and away you go.

Thanks for the help, I may do it in the future when I have quite a lot of spare time.

 

[pulsewidth947]

With Raid-0 (striping) if one of those drives fail, then you lose 1TB of data.. Admittedly, you can then format the still working drive and then start using it again, but just make sure you backup regularly!