Author Topic: RAID  (Read 1590 times)

Blicj11

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RAID
« on: April 11, 2017, 01:56:18 AM »
Now that I have a solid backup strategy, I am exploring implementing a software RAID. RAID was mentioned in passing in the earlier thread about backups (see http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1986.0).

I would appreciate anyone who has setup RAID on their Mac computer sharing with us a summary of what you are using and why, i.e., number of drives, software used, which level of RAID (0,1,4,5,1+0), SSD drives or non-SSD, 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch, is your MacOS on your RAID or just on your Mac, and any other helpful hints you have discovered.

I know that Apple removed RAID from the Utility Disk app in El Capitan, but they put it back in for Sierra (and supported it in between in the command line). Has anyone used it or are you using a third-party app to create and manage the RAID? Is there another third party app besides SoftRAID that is worth looking at?

I have done quite a bit of reading and research, but would really appreciate hearing from someone who has actually done it. (DFW, when you come up for air in Hong Kong, I would love to hear from you.)
Blick


dfw_pilot

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SoftRAID
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2017, 04:16:07 PM »
One of my favorite topics.

Start here. It's a great tome on Raid, why Raid is not a backup, but for fault tolerance, and details about the different Raids, their pros and cons, stipe size, etc. Lloyd Chambers is a wizard and a Mac guy.

I currently use SoftRaid for a couple reasons: 1) Lloyd recommends it as one of the best, and 2)It comes "free" when you buy an excellent OWC ThunderBay4. I'm glad you found them. In my opinion, you can keep looking at other options, but you'll end up back at Softraid.

I use Softraid on a four bay, 3.5" 16 terabyte (4TB x 4) Thunderbolt 2 external ThunderBay4 in a Raid 5 configuration. I'm still using El Capitian on my production/office computer because of excessive Apple Core Rot.

I only have two volumes on it: Data and TM (TimeMachine). Fewer volumes makes automatic CCC backups easier ;). All my data: pictures, website code, tax documents, everything, is on the Data volume. That not only makes backups easier, but then, only having the OS on the internal SSD makes operating system upgrades fast, easy, and doesn't hold my data hostage if there is a crisis during upgrade.

When I ordered my ThunderBay4, I ordered it with four 4TB drives, and then ordered a 5th identical drive as a cold spare. It sits in the office desk drawer. If there is ever a drive failure, I can pop it out, pop the new one in, and the Raid will rebuild. I can do this without much worry because even if the data gets corrupted during the rebuild, my latest backup would have run the night before.

If you have the bucks, SSD sounds really awesome (pun intended). Not only is it faster and more energy efficient than spinning platters, it's quieter. I will say though, that I don't notice any lag with using 7200 RPM 3.5" disks. Opening a 100,000+ photo catalog in Lightroom doesn't have any issue. I only buy reputable ones from places like OWC (currently Hitachi). I do not buy the enterprise class drives, because with Raid, I think that money is wasted.

Networking: because I leave my iMac on 24/7 thanks to WeatherCat, the Data volume is "on the network" and easily found by other computers if they are needed. With open ports, I SFTP into it from Hong Kong without problems. The point being, that NAS with an ethernet port isn't really necessary today, and Cat5/6 is sloooooooow compared to Thunderbolt 2. Thunderbolt 3 is on the way to things like Macs and storage devices, but who knows when it will really arrive. If you aren't in a hurry, you might try reading the tea leaves on it and decide if you think it's worth it to wait. Remember, it will be pricey.

I'm no expert, but have been happy with the setup I have. It's quite reliable, fast, and has worked really well. Let me know if you have other questions that I can try to answer. I'm also looking forward to other's setups so I can learn more, too!
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Blicj11

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Re: RAID
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2017, 07:45:35 PM »
Thanks for taking the time to share your details. I really appreciate it. I'll be back with questions.
Blick


jhoke

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Re: RAID
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2017, 11:56:33 PM »
Are you looking to build a raid IN your mac or attached to your mac?

If you do not need portability, you may also want to look @ a NAS box like synology. I have it with ~12TB usable space RAID5 and mounted to my mac when @ home... and when not @ home I use its mac and iOS apps to connect to my files (personal/private cloud).

I back up my machines via time machine to it, and then I use an amazon account to back my NAS up to .. so I have 2 backups always in sync and ubiquitous access (with RAID)

just a thought  to throw out there