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SAS/SATA Expander Enclosures.
Hi all,
Quick question re SAS Expansion and how it relates to OS X Volumes.
I have just come across the SAS/SATA Expander-based arrays, and it is a complete revolution for me. The ability to daisy-chain JBOD chassis from the same RAID card to expand the storage is incredible.
I’m looking into the AIC XJ 1100 series, populated with Hitachi Saturn drives and connected to an ATTO R380. If it is anything like the Highpoint setups I have used in the past, one would create the RAID set through the proprietary interface and it would then pop up as a unformatted disk in OS X, ready to be initialised with Disk Utility. From there I could create partitions etc.
Once I want to expand the array, I buy a new enclosure, stuff it full of drives, connect it to the expander port of my first array and then what happens?
-Do I use the RAID utility to format the new array as a completely separate RAID set? Is this done through the RAID card interface or the enclosure interface?
-How does it interface with the original RAID set? Is it a completely separate set that will be formatted as a separate volume in OS X?
Many thanks in advance,
Jacob
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2 Replies
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Hi Jacob,
you are describing the AVID VideoRAID ST, which is the ATTO R380 card, and the AIC chassis, with SAS expansion capability. I am not a believer in volume expansion. If you start with one array, this becomes VOLUME 1. If you add a second arrray (by simply daisy chaining it on), this becomes VOLUME 2. The ATTO R380, an amazing product, will support 128 SATA disk drives total. The ATTO R380 does the RAID 5 support (not the AIC chassis). You create a single volume (with 5 drives, or 8 drives, or whatever). Once you create the RAID 5 with the R380, you then go into Apple Disk Utiltiy, and create your simple single volume. Any failure will appear in the ATTO Configuration Tool, not the Apple Disk Utility.Need to add another box, because you are now out of room. Daisy chain another AIC chassis onto the first one, use the ATTO GUI to create another RAID 5 group, go back into Apple Disk Utility to create your new second volume on your desktop. This is what I do all the time these days.
You see all these people say “gee, what about G-Tech, what about Lacie”. No one wants to realize that ALL these manufacturers are just packaging certain cards with their products – these core companies are ATTO, Areca, Highpoint, and LSI Logic for the RAID 5 cards (oh yea, CalDigit makes a card too, which is much nicer than the Highpoint).
Since you have been to the AIC website, now go to the AVID website, and the EditShare website – you will see the AIC chassis being used by these guys.
Bob Zelin
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Thanks a mill Bob, just what I thought and thanks for confirming.
The ATTO R380 does indeed seem to be an awesome card and a step up from the Highpoints I’ve used in the past…
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