i made a RAID set, why cant i boot from it?

[aplasticspork]

ok so seeing as how im out of school finally i was sitting around and i noticed that besides the internal hard drive on my flat panel imac there are two firewire LaCie hard drives that i have. so i backed up all my documents on my ipod, shut down, and booted from the panther install cd. from there i opened the disk utility and created a RAID set with the two firewire drives and the internal drive (its RAID 0). i have looked this up and learned that if you create the RAID set you can install the system on it and then boot from it. so i installed the first cd, and when it restarted it didnt ask for the second cd and it came up with a white screen with black writing that said...(exact words, formatting, etc.)


DEFAULT CATCH!, code=300 at %SRR0; ff84755c %SRR1: 0000b030

Apple PowerMac4,2 4.3.4f2 BootRom built on 01/16/02 at 17:58:42
Copyright 1994-2002 Apple Computer, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

Welcome to Open Firmware, the system time and date is: 21:01:41 06/15/2004

To continue booting, type "mac-boot" and press return.
To shut down, type "shut-down" and press return.

ok
0>_


so after that showed up i typed in the mac-boot command and everything disappeared and what came on the screen next was...


DEFAULT CATCH!, code=400 at %SRR0: 00000000 %SRR1: 00086030
ok
0>_


then if i typed in the mac-boot command it would just say the same message each time i typed it in. soooooo i booted from the cd again and told it to use my ipod as the startup disk, from there i put in the second install cd and finished the installation on the RAID set. after that i figured it might work to boot up from it since the entire system was installed so i tried again. it did the EXACT same thing except that the second message was...


DEFAULT CATCH!, code=700 at %SRR0: 00000000 %SRR1: 00086030
ok
0>_


the only difference is that it says code=700 instead of code=400. so now im using my ipod as the boot drive temporarily while i wait for replies

any ideas? or should i just give up on the RAID idea and sit in a hole?

 

[rendezvouscp]

From what I've read, I don't believe that you can boot off of a RAID without third party utilities in Mac OS X. But I'm not completely sure, so please don't quote me on that one.
–Chase

 

[aplasticspork]

i wont quote you. in mac help when you look up RAID it says that you can boot from it as long as its in Mac OS Extended format, as far as i know i set it to be in that format so thats why im asking. if i need a third party utility then hopefully someone will be able to direct me to one otherwise i'll just give up.

 

[SpaceMagic]

I think:

RAID separates everything into thirds (in your set up) and send it to each drive... hence speeding things up.

BUT you are using FireWire drives in the RAID set, which I'm sure are loaded after the normal OS X boot, unless otherwise instructed to.

So I'm thinking you can't use removable, firewire drives in RAID as your BOOT.

Also, are the FireWire drives slower than the internal one? Because then that'd make the system be a bit dodgy? Would it not?

 

[aplasticspork]

as far as i know RAID 0 stripes the data over the three drives so a third of it is on each drive. before i decided to make a RAID set i was using one of the external drives as the boot drive because they're much faster than the internal drive (7200 RPM as opposed to maybe 5400, but they are noticeably faster). and i have read about people using external firewire drives in a RAID set sooooo...yeah

 

[SpaceMagic]

I've heard of RAID on firewire drives, just never bootable RAID firewire drives. Also, for the RAID, im guessing the drives cannot be on a hub... try separate FireWire ports.

 

[aplasticspork]

they are plugged in separately, using both my firewire ports anyways... if you look up creating a RAID set in mac help it says that you can boot from it as long as its in Mac OS Extended format, which the RAID set is. i just want to know why it takes me to open firmware instead of starting up, and if theres any way to get around it and have the computer actually start up or if i should just give up.

 

[rendezvouscp]

Try on the same FireWire bus for setting it up. It should work though. Interesting.
–Chase

 

[rendezvouscp]

I've heard of RAID on firewire drives, just never bootable RAID firewire drives. Also, for the RAID, im guessing the drives cannot be on a hub... try separate FireWire ports.

I think a while back someone took two iPods on a hub and RAID'd them together, so I think they can be on a hub.
–Chase

 

[dudeami]

You might want to try these steps out and see if you have any luck.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642

 

[aplasticspork]

ok.....yesterday my ipod started having problems as the boot drive so i removed the internal drive from the RAID set and installed OS X on it and im using that now.....i booted from the RAID set (now just the two external drives) and it went to open firmware again, i did what the apple document said and all it did was boot from the internal drive so im just going to sit here and be confused until someone suggests something else.