• Storage & Archiving

  Can an Apple Software RAID Mirror drive be transferred?

  Posted by Johnny Lyddon on August 10, 2010 at 2:09 pm

  Hi all.

  I work at a small production company and I’m trying to figure out a cost effective way to keep up with the increasing amount of data we need to make sure is contantly backed up. I was wondering if I had an Apple G5 with three hard drives set up in the following configuration:

  Drive 1 – System Drive (time machine backup to external drive)
  Drive 2 + Drive 3 software RAID mirror to use as ‘work’ drive

  …in the event of failure of drive 2 or 3, would it be possible to take out the other and just put it straight into another G5 to access the data? I heard that Apple Software RAIDs only work in the system they were created in or does that not apply if it’s a mirror RAID?

  Walter Soyka replied 16 years ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Walter Soyka

  August 19, 2010 at 1:50 pm

  You might try asking this question in the Arrays and RAID Setup forum.

  EDIT: Sorry, you are here already — it was me who was lost!

  Walter Soyka
  Principal & Designer at Keen Live
  Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
  RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
  Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
• 

  Walter Soyka

  August 19, 2010 at 1:57 pm

  [Johnny Lyddon] “Drive 1 – System Drive (time machine backup to external drive)
  Drive 2 + Drive 3 software RAID mirror to use as ‘work’ drive

  …in the event of failure of drive 2 or 3, would it be possible to take out the other and just put it straight into another G5 to access the data? I heard that Apple Software RAIDs only work in the system they were created in or does that not apply if it’s a mirror RAID?”

  Since I’ve mistakenly commented in this thread already, maybe I can try to be helpful. I don’t know the answer to your question, but if you’re looking for a live backup on a Mac, you might consider using Time Machine instead of a soft RAID.

  Both would offer protection against the failure of the drive, but RAID will not offer protection against accidental data loss — like a file deletion or overwrite. Time Machine does.

  Walter Soyka
  Principal & Designer at Keen Live
  Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
  RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
  Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

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