Buffalo Drivestation Duo 500G - Please help to RAID this

[dfstan]

hello folks, i've bought buffalo drivestation duo 500G and try to setup RAID via my mac but it doesn't seems to work. look at the pic below, in the centre top, the Error "Failed to read DLL" appears after i run the RAID setting disk that comes in the box.

however, at the pic on the left side shows my disk available via Finder. it seems to show i have 2 x 232G drive icons.

Questions:

1. does this means that it was defaulted as RAID setting already? and i'm good to go now?
2. when RAID is setup, you will only see 1 drive icon is it? i.e. the other is not visible?
3. How to test if my RAID setup is correct and functioning?
4. somehow i got this feeling that my HDD is not RAID setup yet.

also, saw this. can anyone confirm this, please?

The DriveStation Duo ships configured as a RAID Level 1 (mirrored) system. Inside the chassis are two 7200RPM Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive mechanisms. The drives utilize Buffalo’s SecureLockWare technology, which it says encrypts and protects data in the event the drive is stolen or lost. The drive also features auto on/off, which will automatically power the product on or off when the computer is powered on or off.

hope someone here can help me with the above. thanks in advance.

 

[dfstan]

problem solved. case closed.

 

[CanadaRAM]

How about you tell us what the solution was.>>>?

 

[dfstan]

easy. RAID setup via PC first and such setup can be used in mac. when in mac, if you see the disk icon, it means you're all set to go. but if it didn't then, you need to format it under Journal Extended, vis disk utility. format the disk in mac will not erase the RAID setup. anyway, this is what i was informed of, yet to try. will give a final verdict after trying tonight. cheers!

 

[dfstan]

works like a charm! woo hoo!

 

[bdegrande]

Better solution

It's also simpler and works without another machine.

The problem with running Buffalo's RAID setup utility on a Windows PC or an older Mac (the software won't riun on Intel Macs), is that the disk formay will be set to FAT32. This can be read by both Macs and PCs, but won't allow files larger than 4GB, which can be a big problem if you use virtual machines, for instance.

Instead,if you don't need PC compatibility, ignore Buffalo's software and just use Disk Utility. Format each disk as OS Extended (Journaled). This will allow large files. The click on RAID and drag the two disks into the window to create a RAID set. Once you have done this, anything you copy to it will be backed up redundantly on both volumes. You will have half the capacity and the backups will take longer, but that's the way RAID works. I use Super Duper, but the sofware used shouldn't matter.

Edit - hadn't seen an earlier post, which is similar. This may still be useful if you don't have access to a PC.

 

[j.e.f]

I know it's a little bit late, but for those who may run across this again later -- It's possible to do hardware RAID with the Buffalo Drivestation Duo on Intel Macs without resorting to using a PC or Parallels/VMware to do the job. You just need to jump through a few easy hoops.

I just purchased my 3rd Buffalo DriveStation Duo, and while setting it up decided to write up what I have found to work. I also took a few screenshots in the process. You can find the writeup here:

http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~jpelliot/archives/2008/03/buffalo_drivest.html