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iPod RAID?

C

codycartoon

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 13, 2002
164
1
i was thinking about this today...but i dont have 2(or 3 or 4) iPods.... i was wondering could you set up Raid on a few iPods? and if so why?

thanks
-Socrates
 
Re: iPod RAID?

Originally posted by codycartoon
i was wondering could you set up Raid on a few iPods? and if so why?
Click to expand...

i think the real question is...why would you even wonder this, or care? it sounds like a horrible idea. you wouldn't be able to use any ipod independently if you did manage to succeed in raiding them together.
 
Re: Re: iPod RAID?

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
i think the real question is...why would you even wonder this, or care? it sounds like a horrible idea. you wouldn't be able to use any ipod independently if you did manage to succeed in raiding them together.
Click to expand...

:(
 
i have 2 here, probably will have access to a third next week when my sister buys one with her new iBook, she's the 4th person i've "switched". i have an original 5Gig, a new 10 Gig, and my sister will probably buy a new 10 Gig as well. the new Pods don't have a standard FireWire connection. will this pose a problem? i'm willing to give it a shot. what do i need to do?
 
Originally posted by tjwett
i have 2 here, probably will have access to a third next week when my sister buys one with her new iBook, she's the 4th person i've "switched". i have an original 5Gig, a new 10 Gig, and my sister will probably buy a new 10 Gig as well. the new Pods don't have a standard FireWire connection. will this pose a problem? i'm willing to give it a shot. what do i need to do?
Click to expand...

yea, it's a regular firewire connection, it just has a dock connecter on the pod instead of a firewire port, but the cable converts it to firewire
 
Originally posted by pretentious
I think it would be one kick-ass geek thing to do, just like the guy w/ the USB Floppy drive RAID.

So who has several iPods and a Firewire hub to put to this to the test? Can we RAID the iPod?
Click to expand...

Sometimes kick-ass geek things end up in usefull inovation.

Though the floppy RAID was only good for geek factor...
 
I for one would be interested in hearing the results. I don't see why it wouldn't work; iPods are treated exactly as (IDE?) drives with a Firewire bridge, which is to say software RAID shouldn't be able to tell them apart from normal drives. I suppose the biggest difficulty might be the fact that iPods come in so many sizes, and you'd ideally want all the same size for the test... But i think most RAIDs can be accomplished with disks of different sizes, it's just a tad more difficult...

pnw
 
i didn't mean to offend you...if i did, my apologies...
Click to expand...

he he i was just kidding

some glitches i see in it...if you do have 2 iPods and you set up a raid with them i think you will only be able to use them as really expensive firewire HDs...i think what RAID does is deals the bytes at the same time...doubling the speed...but i am not sure...i am waiting for someone to try it...

-cody
 
Originally posted by codycartoon
he he i was just kidding

some glitches i see in it...if you do have 2 iPods and you set up a raid with them i think you will only be able to use them as really expensive firewire HDs...i think what RAID does is deals the bytes at the same time...doubling the speed...but i am not sure...i am waiting for someone to try it...

-cody
Click to expand...

Yea it would be just a expensive FW HD, and I think that that is our biggest hurdle right now...but come on it would be RAID iPods! Who else can see a 300 post Slashdot story coming from this? :D
 
Damn, and just the other day on eBay there was a guy auctioning off 50 refurbished 10GB iPods as one lot. Those would have been perfect for doing this considering you could find a hub to deal with this many firewire connections.
 
It would be the most expensive RAID system in history per GB.
 
can someone just tell me what i need to do? i only have 3 iPods now. maybe someone with a few more would rather do it. or maybe someone here in NYC would like to pool our resources and we could collaborate. do i just buy a FireWire hub and connect them all and then do the RAID in Disk Utility?
 
Originally posted by tjwett
can someone just tell me what i need to do? i only have 3 iPods now. maybe someone with a few more would rather do it. or maybe someone here in NYC would like to pool our resources and we could collaborate. do i just buy a FireWire hub and connect them all and then do the RAID in Disk Utility?
Click to expand...

*WARNING*
if you do decide to do this you could lose all the data on your iPods and or damage them

1. Buy a firewire hub and connect more than 2 iPods to your mac
2. insert the OS X install CD and restart your computer. Press the "C" key as it is starting up, this will boot from the disk.
3. When you get to the install menu don't install! But open disk utility.
4. Disk utility should display multiple iPods. Click the RAID tab and drag all the iPod icons into the blank box.
5. Click configure and cross your fingers
*past this point i don't know what to expect*
6. Quit the installer and restart

:) good luck

I am very interested on how this will turn out...can't wait to see some pictures....

are those instructions right?

good luck!
-cody
 
ok, that sounds easy enough. now i'm getting cold feet though. losing all the data off the iPods is one thing, but actually rendering them unusable is another. what are the chances i'll destroy these Pods beyond repair? and once i'm done with this little experimenti will be able to reinstall the iPod software and use it again, right? i don't want to ruin my girlfriend and sister's iPods for the sake of being a geek. any more info would be great.
 
formatting your iPod via disk utility will ruin it. I heard an Apple store person advised someone to not format your iPod via Disk Utility.
 
Originally posted by Schiffi
formatting your iPod via disk utility will ruin it. I heard an Apple store person advised someone to not format your iPod via Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

well that settles that then. sorry everybody, i will NOT be doing this anytime soon. oh well. thank you for the warning Schiffi!
 
sorry, but i see no point in this. unless if he finds a way to hack the iPod OS to do whatever we want, and not void th warranty, or possibly damage the iPod ;)
 
Originally posted by Schiffi
formatting your iPod via disk utility will ruin it. I heard an Apple store person advised someone to not format your iPod via Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

Well it will erase all your data (music or otherwise), but ruin it?

Just format it again afterwards and run the firmware updater on it - should be as good as new (better even!). I've swapped mine between PC & Mac formats a number of times with no ill effects. Striping for a raid won't be any different.
 
Don't burn out the iPod

I think it is the book called 'iLife' or something like that, can't remember but it does say something about the iPod not being able to last for long periods of time as a hard disk because of something. Personally this sounds like rubbish - but it could be true/useful.
 
well, my iPod does get hot whenever i keep it pluggde into the computer as a hard drive. that's why i take it out of the case and put it in the dock
i oot into panther off of it and it gets realy hot.
 
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