LaCie 1.6 TB RAID question

[billh]

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I have a LaCie 1.6 TB RAID drive, and the third HD had a yellow/red light and it beeped nonstop for a many hours while I copied files to other HDs. After copying most everything on the drives, I shut the LaCie RAID down. Interesting thing is I did not run into any files that would not copy - were the other three drives reconstructing whatever was on the dead number 3 drive?

 

My understanding is now I just need to buy a drive to replace the bad number 3, plug it in and the remaining three drives will reconstructing what is on the failed third drive. Is this correct?

 

Thanks!

 

Bill

[wlaidlaw]

I have a LaCie 1.6 TB RAID drive, and the third HD had a yellow/red light and it beeped nonstop for a many hours while I copied files to other HDs. After copying most everything on the drives, I shut the LaCie RAID down. Interesting thing is I did not run into any files that would not copy - were the other three drives reconstructing whatever was on the dead number 3 drive?

 

My understanding is now I just need to buy a drive to replace the bad number 3, plug it in and the remaining three drives will reconstructing what is on the failed third drive. Is this correct?

 

Thanks!

 

Bill

 

That is certainly my understanding of raid drives. However it may depend on what level of Raid you are using. There used to be from level 1 to 10 with several variations and sub-sets of each level, depending on manufacturer. Since I haven't had anything to do with such stuff for about four years since I retired, the situation may have become more complicated since. Have a look here for a reasonably comprehensive explanation - Software-RAID HOWTO: Understanding RAID

 

Wilson

[BillBrittain]

I have the LaCie 1TB unit.

 

A lot of good it does to tell you this now, but if you press the "enter" key it will stop that infernal beeping. As if you need any more stress when hard drives are exploding all over your desk.

 

Assuming you had the array configured as a RAID 5 you are correct. B&H sells replacement drives that just plug right in. When you install it and power up the RAID array, it will assume the role of the dead drive, and the data will be restored.

 

I keep mine configured as RAID5 + a hot spare. That way everything automatically rebuilds onto the two good drives + the spare. Of course that means I only get 500MB storage from a 1 TB device, but to me the security is worth it.

[billh]

I have the LaCie 1TB unit.

 

A lot of good it does to tell you this now, but if you press the "enter" key it will stop that infernal beeping. As if you need any more stress when hard drives are exploding all over your desk.

 

Assuming you had the array configured as a RAID 5 you are correct. B&H sells replacement drives that just plug right in. When you install it and power up the RAID array, it will assume the role of the dead drive, and the data will be restored.

 

I keep mine configured as RAID5 + a hot spare. That way everything automatically rebuilds onto the two good drives + the spare. Of course that means I only get 500MB storage from a 1 TB device, but to me the security is worth it.

 

I would have loved to have that enter key info last night! I was copying files from 7:30 to 1:30 in the morning with that bloody thing beeping at me.

 

I don’t remember how I configured the drive, but I do remember talking with the LaCie people when I bought it, and I configured it in such a way that if a drive failed, I could replace it and have the files restored, and I also remember losing a good bit of storage space by doing this.

 

How do you tell what it is set to? I looked on the back and I see a little set of two switches with the word ON to the left and 1 ands 2 to the right. The top switch is set to the right (1) and the switch below it is also set to the right side (2). When I picked the unit up to look at it, tons of dust came out - I wonder if that is the cause for the failed disk, and if I should clean it before replacing the failed drive? if so, do you know how to do this? Would you mind explaining what a Hot Spare is, and how you use it? Also, if the drive it currently set to something other than RAID 5, is it too late to change it when I add the new HD?

 

I have been keeping two copies of my regular drives (Non-RAID drives). Now i am wondering if I should also keep a regular (say 500 GB HDs) drive copy of what is on the RAID drives too?

[BillBrittain]

Once you've selected a mode for the RAID you're stuck with it, even if you replace a disk. The only way to change is to pull all the data off of there and reconfigure.

 

I'd recommend that you download the manual from LaCie, since your might be different from mine. But:

 

Mine is also configured with two red DIP switches on the back. It sounds like yours is set to RAID 5. It should show a capacity of something like 1.2 TB if it's a 1.6 TB array.

 

On mine, you can check the configuration by pressing the "menu" key. Each press cycles you though the settings and also gives you the status of each drive in the array. I think you'll find that it tells you you're on RAID 5.

 

RAID 5 uses 3/4 of the array's capacity for storage, where RAID 5 + Hot Spare uses 1/2 of the capacity. The lost 1/4, the "hot spare", is available for immediate rebuilding of the array in the event of a drive failure. To the user, a drive failure should be invisible if you have a hot spare.

 

If you were running with a hot spare, one of the indicator lights on the front panel would have been a steady yellow when the array was functioning normally.

 

But the beauty is, no harm done! You'll unmount the disk, power it down, and slip in a new drive. In a while everything will be rebuilt and you'll be back to normal.

 

Personally, I can keep about a year's worth of work on the 500MB I have. After a shoot (I primarily do weddings and events) I process the RAW files and burn a "safety" CD of full size JPEGS. Then the RAW files live on the RAID array until the albums and prints are delivered. Once the shoots are stale, I archive the RAW files and processed images to DVDs and store those in a fireproof safe.

 

So I don't normally have multiple backups on other hard drives, but there's a lot to say for it. Everyone has their own solution. Congraulations on surviving a disk crash, it sounds like your data is fairly secure!

[billh]

Thanks Bill. I have been dealing with a litany of Hd issues these past couple of weeks. A book published sent me a list of photos she wanted, and some were on the HDs in my Previous Mac G4, which had died, so i have to take the drives out and put them into a new housing and copy them onto extra HDs (so I now have two copies). Then some others were on a 250GB archive drive, but I could not get it to boot up. It turns out the power cord was bad, so I got the files that was stored there too. Then last night while I was working on them, the number 3 drive went. I am very happy the RAID worked like it was suppose to, but the next time I am going to do it your way! All of my lights were green on the RAID drive, so I think it must be set at RAID 5.

 

I am running on one of the new Intel Macs with four internal 500 GB drives. i copied the files from the 1.6 TB RAID to these disks. I do not completely understand how the new Mac is set up. When I open a HD there is a folder titled Desktop. Each HD apparently has its own desktop, and when I tried to convert a Tin for the web in Image Ready, I got a message saying Image Ready could not file the file. Weird. I had to copy the Tif the the main HD where Photoshop and the application are stored. then it worked perfectly.

 

I could not find the LaCie manual for the 1.6TB RAID - only one for the 1TB and 2TB RAIDS. Do you know where I might look?

 

Thanks again,

 

Bill

[BillBrittain]

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Wow, that's confusing! I'm about to "upgrade" from a G4 to a new intel Mac, so I suppose I'm up for the same kind of issues.

 

I'm actually thinking about replacing my dual 1.25 gHz G4 with a new Macbook Pro. Tough decision and frankly it doesn't excite me as much as spending the money on a Nocitlux would!

 

I don't know where else there would be a manual. I do know that when I bought my array a couple of years ago, there was a larger size option that I did not choose. I'm away from the array right now but I believe it's called the "biggest 800". Why not look for the manual on LaCie's site and see if it looks like the same thing?

[wlaidlaw]

Thanks Bill. I have been dealing with a litany of Hd issues these past couple of weeks. A book published sent me a list of photos she wanted, and some were on the HDs in my Previous Mac G4, which had died, so i have to take the drives out and put them into a new housing and copy them onto extra HDs (so I now have two copies). Then some others were on a 250GB archive drive, but I could not get it to boot up. It turns out the power cord was bad, so I got the files that was stored there too. Then last night while I was working on them, the number 3 drive went. I am very happy the RAID worked like it was suppose to, but the next time I am going to do it your way! All of my lights were green on the RAID drive, so I think it must be set at RAID 5.

 

I am running on one of the new Intel Macs with four internal 500 GB drives. i copied the files from the 1.6 TB RAID to these disks. I do not completely understand how the new Mac is set up. When I open a HD there is a folder titled Desktop. Each HD apparently has its own desktop, and when I tried to convert a Tin for the web in Image Ready, I got a message saying Image Ready could not file the file. Weird. I had to copy the Tif the the main HD where Photoshop and the application are stored. then it worked perfectly.

 

I could not find the LaCie manual for the 1.6TB RAID - only one for the 1TB and 2TB RAIDS. Do you know where I might look?

 

Thanks again,

 

Bill

 

Bill,

 

Unless you have your internal drives configured as RAID, which I have heard from a number of people is a brave thing to do, you should see your other mounted drives just like external drives. I have two 250 GB drives in my G5 Powermac. I can run programs from either one as long as it is mounted. I can store images in one drive and open them in a program on the other drive with no problems.

 

I am wondering if the rush for huge drives has gone beyond current technology. I am hearing from lots of people about failure of 500GB SATA drives. I was going to replace my 2 X 250GB SATA units in my Powermac with 500GB ones but have decided to wait about 12 months until they are making 1TB drives and then buy 500GB ones, which might be working better by then.

 

Wilson

[carstenw]

I have some bad experience with using software RAID in a Mac. I had my two PowerMac G5 internal drives RAIDed for speed, and it killed the one drive. Western Digital does make some high-end consumer S-ATA drives which are built for being used in RAID configurations, but I wouldn't do that again unless it was a fault-tolerant array this time. The brand of the dead drive is Maxtor. I also don't buy the largest drives, but tend to buy two-year-old technology, figuring that it has stabilised at that point. I use 250GB and 300GB drives now.

[billh]

Hi Bill,

 

I have the MacBook Pro (or whatever it is they call the notebook computer these days), and it is faster than my old dual processor G4. My desktop 3 GHz Intel Mac with 8 GB memory is in a different league entirely.

It zips through the 1Ds2 RAW files in C1 faster than I can go, while I used to wait and wait on these files from the old G4.

 

Hi Wilson,

 

I don’t have them configured as a RAID in the new Mac. I do see all the drives, but what is different is when I clicked on the old Mac drives or the drives, or for that matter the top drive in the Intel mac, I see the contents of the HD as a list or Icons, whichever i choose. However, when I click on drives 2, 3 and 4, the drive opens and I see only a folder titled ‘Desktop”. I then have to click on this folder to see the contents. Furthermore, in my older Macs I titled the drives HD2, HD3 and HD4, but all of these drives simply say HD and I cannot change the names to add a number. I think whatever different configuration this is in the Intel Mac is the source of the problems I am having with Image Ready not converting the file (Giving me the message it cannot find the file despite the fact I have just changed the mode and sizing and levels, etc. in Image ready). Also, when I do a search I get the file, but i have no way of knowing which HD it is located in.

 

Carsten,

 

I am very leery of Maxtor drives. i have one and it converted all the files to some weird format i cannot access. I have avoided them ever since. Do you know what brand is in the new Intel Mac (they are 500 GB drives)?

 

Bill

[carstenw]

I still have my PowerMac, and don't know what kind of drives are in Intel Macs Note that the Maxtor drive was put in by my Mac store, not by Apple. The original drive was a Seagate. I have also heard horror stories about Maxtor since this happened. However, they have been bought by Seagate, I think, so perhaps they are better now. Anyway, at the moment I am buying Western Digital.