Apple RAID

From Koset Surakomol

Instructions

The Apple PowerMac has a built-in capability to support a pair of hard disks in a RAID configuration. This note describes how to replace one of the drives if it has failed. This assumes you have a system running on a mirrored pair with two drives. More info is available from Apple here and here too.

1. Power down the system.
2. Open the chassis and remove the failed drive.
3. Replace the failed drive with a new one. It must have the same capacity or greater than the functional drive.
4. Power up.
5. Open the Disk Utility, available in the Applications / Utilities folder.
6. On the disk browser pane on the left, select the functioning RAID drive.
7. Click on the RAID tab in the right pane.
8. Drag the new drive from the left pane to the disk list on the right pane.
9. Click the Rebuild button on the bottom right. It will ask you to confirm the operation.
10. A reboot will be required when it's finished.

The process has been observed to take about 90 minutes for a 149GB drive.

Disaster Recovery

This procedure is an excellent way to perform a complete image copy of the hard disk. Remove a functioning drive and keep it off-site. In the event of a disaster, it can be used to rebuild the system to the point in time when it was removed from service. As a suggested procedure, take one disk off-site and return with the last month's disk. Rotate them monthly or even weekly.

For a more current backup set, use Dantz Retrospect from EMC or similar utility. I use a firewire drive for incremental daily backups. Note, this process must be syncronized with the rotation schedule above.

Getting Started

If you are not yet currently running on a RAID pair, here is one suggested method to do so.

1. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up your boot disk to an external disk. Of course, you need enough free space to do so. You'll need as much space as you are using on your current disk, not necessarily the entire usable capacity.
2. Insert two identical sized drives. One can be your former boot disk, but if you can, set it aside just in case.
3. Boot using the Apple Restore disk that came with your system. Hold Apple-C while booting.
4. Exit the installer.
5. Run the disk utility. It will guide you through building a RAID set.
6. Restore from your external image and you should be up and running.

Contact me for questions or more info contact.koset@gmail.com