RAID via the Disk Utility and Mac mini as a server

[jeff.grant@pobox.com]

After limited success with NAS devices. particularly with inbuilt Linux, I am looking at where I go when my latest one fails. It occurs to me that the Mac mini should be able to be a fast file server and that the disks would be Mac formatted. In looking at the possibilities, I discovered that the Disk utility lets me define a pair of disks as a RAID set. This would then let me buy external firewire disks and even be able to get RAID from a pair without any of the Linux issues that I have suffered in the past.

This strikes me as being easy to do, and I wonder whey I haven't heard of it before. Has anyone done this or a variant of it?

[Phil G]

Hi Jeff
it has been mentioned a number of times possibly not the most economic method but if you have a number of FW800/400 external drives that you can daisy-chain then you can use disc utility and if your Mac Mini has Gbit Ethernet  I have achieved link direct speeds over 70MB/s networked at 10MB/s max

FW is ok but eSATA is better and much cheaper if your going over 1TB and remember you need more than one physical backup device that can be stored at a different location I started out with FW800 units with my G5 Quad and Mac mini Mail server

But have migrated to bare 1TB SATA HDD in a Wiebetech http://www.wiebetech.com/products/RTX400.php 400SV unit  holds 4 bare drives

Disk Utility will allow you to define as many drives as you have in multiple configurations I have tried a few with four HD's   A (for Time machine)  + BCD as triple stripe ( for speed -working drive); 
or  A(TM) + BC (Double stripe-Working) + D (Backup)  which I have found to be optimum


I have posted quite a bit about my set up may not have been on this forum will have a check in the meantime


http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php/topic,669.0.html
http://www.hasselbladdigitalforum.com/index.php/topic,681.0.html

Phil

[jeff.grant@pobox.com]

Phil, thanks. I realise that it isn't the cheapest or fastest way but neither the iMac or Mac Mini let me use external SATA. That's why I am looking at FW800. Any non-Mac based solution will end up giving issues with file names somewhere along the line. The Mac Mini looks like it will make that problem go away. I am sick of backup solutions that look like they are working until you need them. The MacMini solution also gives me file in Mac format so that I can get at them with other apps etc. Changing subject slightly, my 1TB Time Capsule died a few weeks back without warning, so much for the much vaunted industrial strength drive in it.

Derek, I agree. I'm over RAID 5 in particular. RAID 1 is my limit now.