I have my Itunes library on an external hard dive and I am running out of space. I would like "Drobo" like option without the drobo price tag. Anyone ever built a firewire "Drobo" like machine, and care to share how?
For RAID 0 and RAID 1 you can try the built-in raid configured by application disk utility found in the applications/utilities folder.
I have not looked for any software RAID for last several years for OS X. However you can Google "Software RAID five OS X" and see what you get.
In any case I am not sure I would trust firewire to maintain any RAID system reliably.
Not sure what you mean by Firewire reliability. I have used one of the following for several years - attached to my IMAC - for Itunes library (music and movies) as well as my iPhoto library. I have it configured as Raid 5 and keep a new drive handy in case - not needed it yet.
It serves music and HD movies to 3 ATV's with any "choking".
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/
I have used one of the following for several years - attached to my IMAC - for Itunes library (music and movies) as well as my iPhoto library. I have it configured as Raid 5 and keep a new drive handy in case - not needed it yet.
It serves music and HD movies to 3 ATV's with any "choking".
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/
You're unlikely to find a RAID enclosure with FireWire for less money than a Drobo 4-bay. Most enclosures eschew FW400/800 in favor of USB3 or eSATA. If FW is necessary, I'd look for a used Drobo--they can be had for under $200 (sans drives) if you look around.
Thanks,
the mercury is exactly what I was looking for. I was kind of hoping that I could make one since I have an old pc case and some mismatched drives laying around but this looks like a cheaper option.
Thanks for the info. After looking at the unRaid, it looks like a good option, but maybe a tad more work than I really want to put in right now. After looking through the forum it appears that most in my situation have moved to a NAS. Now most people look as if they use synology, What about Drobo? it appears you can pick up Drobos on craigslist and ebay fairly cheaply. Any thoughts? Sorry kinda a noob on NAS/Server/Raid thing.