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Setup RAID 1 on MACPRO

M

mujurip

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 1, 2009
5
0
Hi,
I just got a brand new MAC PRO desktop. It came with a 600GB HDD. I purchased a second identical internal 600GB HDD.

I wanted to do setup a RAID 1 using these 2 drives. Currently the main drive has the OS and all my other apps installed. I installed the 2nd drive and was fooling with disk utility. I'm not sure how to set this up however.

I tried numerous guides online but I just cant figure it out.

I guess for starts, is this even possible w/ what I have on hand?

MAC PRO (takes up to 4 internal drives) - currently installed 2 identical drives
Leopard
Using Disk utility

The RAID tab says "online" and the status is green (indicating the RAID is working). However on my desktop i see the 2nd hardddrive mounted with no contents in it. I just want to able to use the 2nd drive as a mirror so this way if one fails I'm still up and running.

Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks!
 
Thanks.. I visited that page and infact followed the below instructions:

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.

I was unable to select 2 disks. I was only able to select 1 disk and drag it to the RAID box. Perhaps this needs to be done with the OSX installation page (boot using the leopard CD?)

Also, do you need to have a RAID card? Doesnt the MAC PRO have a built in RAID controller?
 
mujurip said:
Thanks.. I visited that page and infact followed the below instructions:

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.

I was unable to select 2 disks. I was only able to select 1 disk and drag it to the RAID box. Perhaps this needs to be done with the OSX installation page (boot using the leopard CD?)

Also, do you need to have a RAID card? Doesnt the MAC PRO have a built in RAID controller?
Click to expand...

The Mac Pro doesn't have a built in RAID card, but OS X can do software RAID.

Okay dumb question time... Did you format the new HDD and give it a GUID partition Map? Also format it for OS X Extended (Journaled). If you've already done that forgive me for pointing out the obvious.
 
You don't need to boot from CD or have a card for RAID levels 1 or 0.
You do not need to format it first either. Disk Utility will do this for you
automatically when you create or "enable" the RAID.

  1. Insert drives,
  2. Turn on your mac,
  3. Open Disk Utility,
  4. Select one of the drives of the RAID set,
  5. Drag the other drive into the list box,
  6. Name the Raid,
  7. Click Options and set the appropriate values,
  8. Click create or enable as the case me be,
  9. Done.

I guess step #5 is what's throwing you?

Here are the steps shown when you click Help in the Disk Utility App:

To create a mirrored RAID set:
  1. Select one of the disks that you want in the set, and then click RAID.
  2. Click Add (+), and type a name for the RAID set.
  3. Choose a format from the Volume Format pop-up menu, and then choose Mirrored RAID Set from the RAID Type pop-up menu.
  4. Drag the disks you want to use in the set to the list on the right.
  5. For each disk, select it and choose its type from the RAID Type pop-up menu.
    • To use the disk as a mirror at all times, choose RAID Slice.
    • To use the disk as a mirror only when another disk fails, choose Spare. A disk can be a spare in only one RAID set.
      If a disk in the set fails and you have no spares, you must add a new disk to the RAID set in Disk Utility to return to the original number of disks.
  6. To rebuild reconnected or spare disks automatically, click the Options button, select RAID Mirror AutoRebuild, and click OK.
  7. If you don’t choose to rebuild disks automatically, you must rebuild it yourself in Disk Utility.
  8. Click Create.


--
PS: RAID0 is better! ;)
 
panzer06 said:
Faster, yes... better ... not so much as you will lose all data if a single disk fails.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Not if you have a back up. And you have to back up a RAID 1 anyway... so in reality... there's no difference - unless the data between backups is crucial to you.
 
I really appreciate the comments guy. I'll give this a shot and report back!
 
Tesselator said:
You do not need to format it first either. Disk Utility will do this for you automatically when you create or "enable" the RAID.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. I wasn't sure about software RAID. :eek:

I use the god awful Apple RAID card in the 09 Pro. It is possibly the slowest RAID card I have ever seen.
 
"If you do the software RAID though the RAID lives and dies by the OS."

wow wow, so if my OS crashes i lose the RAID??

I have the raid card aswell but how do i interface it to the cards? I removed it because the hard drives connect straight to the motherboard hence not letting me connecting the SATA cables from the addon RAID card to the harddrives. I noticed this and figured that the motherboard has a built in RAID controller and went ahead and removed the card.

Can someone verify the above?
 
If you have/had the Apple RAID card this is what you need to do...

EDIT: There is nothing you have to do with the Apple RAID card you just leave it installed in the top PCI slot. It is Apple Simple, but damn slow.
 

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I had a rocketRAID card..it didnt come w/ the computer tho. I bought it separate assuming I'll require it. However when i popped it in i couldn't connect the SATA drives to the RAID card cuz you guys know how the interface is. The harddrives go directly into the board
 
mujurip said:
"If you do the software RAID though the RAID lives and dies by the OS."

wow wow, so if my OS crashes i lose the RAID??
Click to expand...
You can take drives set up under an OS and transfer them to another system for example. The problem is with what you're doing, if the OS goes, it's stored on the drives you're concerned about. :eek: So data loss is very likely.

Depending on what goes wrong, you may be able to recover. However, as Tesselator mentioned, any drive needs a backup solution. It's easier than trying to use software utils, etc. to recover data on your own, possibly faster, and certianly cheaper. :D The software isn't less expensive than a disk for backup, and is way cheaper than having to use a data recovery service.

If you need 24/7 availability of the system, then RAID 1 makes sense. Even in RAID 1, if you lose data, it's not going to cover you. For example, if you accidentally delete a file (say via some secure erase means), it's gone. An action taken is performed on both disks. Hence you still need a backup. :D

Otherwise, implement RAID 0 for performance, and keep a proper backup. That way, you get the speed improvement, and if something should ever go wrong, you're data is safe. ;) Afterall, a backup drive doesn't have to be the fastest, or even equal capacity of the array. Just large enough to hold the data sent to it. ;) So cheap works fine for this purpose, as they aren't constantly accessed, and speed isn't the primary concern. :)

mujurip said:
I have the raid card aswell but how do i interface it to the cards? I removed it because the hard drives connect straight to the motherboard hence not letting me connecting the SATA cables from the addon RAID card to the harddrives. I noticed this and figured that the motherboard has a built in RAID controller and went ahead and removed the card.
Click to expand...
The built in RAID is software based, not dedicated hardware. That is, the OS has the functionality in it, and uses the system resources to operate it.

For hardware implementations, you do need a separate card. This is more difficult in the '09's, but not impossible.

1. Get the proper cabling (iPass = MiniSAS*4i = SFF-8087 to SATA*4i), unless the card you have actually uses SATA connectors on the card. Some still exist. :eek: :p

Then install the drives in the optical bay(s), possibly relocating the optical drive to an external enclosure.

2. There's a device made by Maxconnect that allows you to use the HDD bays with a 3rd party card. Not cheap though ($165USD). You also lose the SATA ports on the board, unless you manage to fit RT angle SATA cables to the data section. Again, you'd have to make space for any drives, and the ODD bays are the easiest. ;)

3. Go external. Worst case, there's cables that take internal ports to external ports. You do have to find some hole to run it/them out of, and the PCIe bracket area is the easiest. Unless you don't mind cutting holes in the case. :eek: :p
 
mujurip said:
"If you do the software RAID though the RAID lives and dies by the OS."

wow wow, so if my OS crashes i lose the RAID??
Click to expand...

Well only in the same regard that you would lose everything. No OS means no RAM, no CPUs, no Drives, etc. :D


What I think Lethal was getting at is if Apple pulls a change-up on you or you decide to move your drives to a Linux box, there may be some compatibility issues. But that's going to be true with hardware RAID too.

Apple's software RAID is very fast and system friendly. Just set up the RAID like you were thinking and don't worry about it - would be my advice. Unless you're dealing with HIGHLY sensitive data or something. :p
 
3 TB Drives

Thanks for all the great info in this thread! I am planning on setting up a raid 1 configuration in my Macpro 2.26 quad core using the apple OS and this answered a lot of my questions. I do have one more. Does the apple OS recognize 3TB drives or do I need to put 2TB drives in instead?

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Hello,

3TB drives are fine. But I'll ask you the same question I asked the OP: why the RAID1?

Loa
 
RAID in mac pro

hello

i've got a 3,1 early 2008 MP and i went with a setup like this

main HD - OSX boot (only)
2 HDD - spare - copy of boot drive, installers etc - just in case !
2 x 750Gb enterprise grade HDD's

I use software raid to set the 2 x 750's as a RAID 1 volume to keep my home folder on, music etc, work.

Pros.
1. Work / home folder is raid 1 mirrored so quite safe
2. can reformat boot drive without worrying about home folder
3. run monthly backup of raid volume to external using SuperDuper

Cons.
1. expensive = 100% more expensive than single drive
2. twice as likely to get drive failure -but data is ok as can rebuild raid with new drive
3. slower than hardware raid (but much cheaper than buying a raid card)

So far i have had no problems with software raid and 2 x 750Gb drives, even after clean installing the main os a couple of times.

be careful with RAID - raid 0 is worse than no raid at all !, lots of people think that they are safe with raid 0, ideally i would run a hardware raid 5 system or something or a G-Tech Speed Q or something

hope this helps and good luck.

D
 
You don't run RAID-0 for safety ... you run RAID-0 for speed! :)

Any RAID is not a backup if it is part of your working drive set other than for time critical systems where you need zero down-time in the event of a drive failure. You need a separate backup system, which can be RAID for drive redundancy, and using Time Machine for the historical backup storage works great and is automatic.

In my Mac Pro 3,1 I use the following:

dual 240GB SSD in RAID-0 for boot,applications,user
dual 1TB 7200rpm HD in RAID-0 for large library photo, music, video, etc.

I then use Time Machine to backup both RAID-0 disks to a locally connected high speed 3TB RAID-5 (4 disk) with eSATA (or FW-800) ... AND ... to a NAS redundant 8TB Synology (5 disk) located in the basement which also serves as backup to the rest of the family Mac desktop and laptop computers via the network and WiFi.

The Time Machine alternates between the local and NAS backup each hour so I have 2 physical disk-redundant backups of my main workstation.

So far this has been working great! ;)


-howard
 
Last edited:
LethalWolfe said:
If you do the software RAID though the RAID lives and dies by the OS.


Lethal
Click to expand...

What does that mean? In my experience, Apple software RAID can be used in any mac at any time, regardless of OS X version. As long as the drives are plugged in, the RAID works fine. You can Erase your OS and reinstall without even needing to reconfigure the RAID (it just works).

Software RAID is superior to hardware RAID in my opinion because of this fact. With hardware RAID, if you get a new RAID card or want to use the array on a different mac, you're SOL. Also most inexpensive "hardware RAID" cards use the CPU anyway so there's no speed advantage.

----------
hfg said:
The Time Machine alternates between the local and NAS backup each hour so I have 2 physical disk-redundant backups of my main workstation.
Click to expand...

How did you do that!? that's cool.

I have a RAID 10 (4x1TB), a RAID 1 (2x 2TB), and a 3TB drive backing up a RAID 0 (2x1TB) and a single 1TB drive.

----------
mujurip said:
"If you do the software RAID though the RAID lives and dies by the OS."

wow wow, so if my OS crashes i lose the RAID??
Click to expand...

NO!!! THIS IS NOT TRUE.

I've been using Apple's software RAID for years. The RAID configuration information is stored on the drives themselves, and are therefore transferable to any new installation of the OS (Or even a different computer altogether). You can even use it in firewire target disk mode or whatever you want.

All he was saying is that Apple's software RAID can't be used in Windows or Linux. Also, he seems to think that Apple will just decide to drop support for software RAID in future releases (... even though they've been supporting software RAID for 11 years, it could happen !)


----------

On a side note, wouldn't it be cool to have a RAID 0 with time machine backup on the same 2 drives? (does not exist yet, someone get cracking!)

Let me explain: 2 drives, 2 partitions each all equal parts. 1 partition on each drive are striped with the other drive (Drive A, partition 1 and drive B partition 1 are striped together). The 2nd partition on each drive does a time machine backup of the stripes on the opposite drives (Drive A partition 2 backs up Drive B partition 1, likewise Drive B partition 2 backs up Drive A partition 1).

If a drive failed, it would be slow as all jesus to access the data, but it would have the security of a RAID 1 (minus the delay between time machine backups) and the speed of RAID 0.

It's my newest invention! Call it JSLUG!
 
slughead said:
On a side note, wouldn't it be cool to have a RAID 0 with time machine backup on the same 2 drives? (does not exist yet, someone get cracking!)
Click to expand...

ER, no! If one drive of a RAID0 dies, the data dies entirely, on every partition, "unrecoverably". Having a back-up on the same drive just doesn't make any sense.

I use a RAID0 made from 2 drives that each have 2 partitions like you describe. But I'd never place the back-up of one on the other...

Loa
 
I think he meant to have a RAID-0 for the work partition, and have a RAID-1 for the backup partition. Then if a single drive failed, the RAID-0 would of course be gone, but the surviving drive would have one of the mirrored RAID-1 backups available for restore.

However ... still not a good idea. :)


To have Time Machine alternate between 2 backup devices, simply add them both to the backup drive list. You will be given the option to replace or add the new disk to the list.



-howard
 
Yeah I thought about it and it wouldn't work, however only for this reason:

The backup of the opposing drive's stripes would be partially invalidated every time a change is made, putting data at risk. If the backup were updated with each write, it would solve this problem, but all speed advantages of a RAID-0 would be negated :(
 
Last edited:
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