JBOD RAID disks change

[uvitor]

Hi all, I installed a very specific layout of disks and would like to know if you could help me:
I have a hex with 4x 2tb istalled on regular Mac bays and one ssd on the optical bay. They(4x 2tb) are configured as a giant 8tb JBOD. Now I purchased 3x 3tb and a sata card for the extra sata ports. Is there a way to create another JBOD with the the new 3tb drives and in the near future get rid of 2tb ones and put the 3x 3tbs on the regular Mac ports without loosing the data.

All JBOD will be and was created using Snow Leopard's disk utility.

Thanks to all.

 

[philipma1957]

yes but it involves another storage device. how much info is on the current 8tb JBOD?




you can buy 3 of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...111110&cm_re=towerstor-_-16-111-110-_-Product

the mac pro should be able to see them my 2010 does. it should see them as 3tb hdds. you should be able to make a software raid with the mac pro's software utility . you did this with the 2 tb drives now do it with the 3 3tb drives do not erase or delete the older raid. now you have 2 raids one is 4 x 2 = 8 the other is 3 x 3 = 9. do a superduper clone from the old 8tb to the new 9tb. then pull the old drives out label them 1 2 3 4 . then take the 3 tb drives out of the sans digital case put them in the pro close up every thing and boot. the machine should be able to figure out what you did and be able to boot the 9tb clone.

 

[uvitor]

yes but it involves another storage device. how much info is on the current 8tb JBOD?




you can buy 3 of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...111110&cm_re=towerstor-_-16-111-110-_-Product

the mac pro should be able to see them my 2010 does. it should see them as 3tb hdds. you should be able to make a software raid with the mac pro's software utility . you did this with the 2 tb drives now do it with the 3 3tb drives do not erase or delete the older raid. now you have 2 raids one is 4 x 2 = 8 the other is 3 x 3 = 9. do a superduper clone from the old 8tb to the new 9tb. then pull the old drives out label them 1 2 3 4 . then take the 3 tb drives out of the sans digital case put them in the pro close up every thing and boot. the machine should be able to figure out what you did and be able to boot the 9tb clone.

Am I able to do that all internally using the sata card instead of those sans digital cases?
I think the main question is: how snow leopard "see" the hard drives of a jbod? If I change the 3x 3tb from the sata card to the regular Mac sata bays will it keep the jbod intact?
Thanks.
Ps: I have 6,5 tb used for now.

 

[nanofrog]

yes but it involves another storage device. how much info is on the current 8tb JBOD?




you can buy 3 of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...111110&cm_re=towerstor-_-16-111-110-_-Product

the mac pro should be able to see them my 2010 does. it should see them as 3tb hdds. you should be able to make a software raid with the mac pro's software utility . you did this with the 2 tb drives now do it with the 3 3tb drives do not erase or delete the older raid. now you have 2 raids one is 4 x 2 = 8 the other is 3 x 3 = 9. do a superduper clone from the old 8tb to the new 9tb. then pull the old drives out label them 1 2 3 4 . then take the 3 tb drives out of the sans digital case put them in the pro close up every thing and boot. the machine should be able to figure out what you did and be able to boot the 9tb clone.

Keep in mind however, if USB isn't going to be fast enough, it will mean a 4 port eSATA card will be needed. They're a bit on the pricey side (cheapest from OWC is the Dat Optic, which is $168USD).

It's potentially faster than a PM setup, but for JBOD, it won't matter anyway (would make a difference for a stripe set though).

Depending on shipping, the Sans Digital TR4MP may actually be a bit cheaper than buying the separate enclosures and card at regular prices. But currently, it's available from Sans Digital TR4MP for $185 (includes the eSATA card). The TR4M would also present less clutter in the work area, which may be important to the OP.

So for what the OP's trying to do, I'd go with the TR4M right now.

I think the main question is: how snow leopard "see" the hard drives of a jbod? If I change the 3x 3tb from the sata card to the regular Mac sata bays will it keep the jbod intact?

So long as you create the JBOD via Disk Utility, the set information is stored as part of the GPT partition scheme. So when you move it to the system's SATA ports (ICH), it will be recognized.

If however, it was created via different software or via a hardware solution, it would be lost due to the initialization proceedure.

 

[reeses]

Sans Digital TR* = noisy but good

Depending on shipping, the Sans Digital TR4MP may actually be a bit cheaper than buying the separate enclosures and card at regular prices. But currently, it's available from Sans Digital TR4MP for $185 (includes the eSATA card). The TR4M would also present less clutter in the work area, which may be important to the OP.

So for what the OP's trying to do, I'd go with the TR4M right now.

I have some of the Sans Digital enclosures for DAS and I will say they're very noisy. I spent a lot of time replacing the fans and power supply and dampening the hard drive vibration in my first one. Now they're all in a custom cabinet (OK, I hacked it out of an IKEA cabinet with a jigsaw, dremel, 120mm fans, and acoustic foam ;>) because it ended up being less expensive and more effective.

I'll say the TR5M is a great, cheap, eSATA DAS enclosure apart from that fact. They're often on sale at Fry's and I usually end up picking up one and five HDs whenever I swing by. (I'm a hoarder. :/)

 

[nanofrog]

I have some of the Sans Digital enclosures for DAS and I will say they're very noisy. I spent a lot of time replacing the fans and power supply and dampening the hard drive vibration in my first one. Now they're all in a custom cabinet (OK, I hacked it out of an IKEA cabinet with a jigsaw, dremel, 120mm fans, and acoustic foam ;>) because it ended up being less expensive and more effective.

I'll say the TR5M is a great, cheap, eSATA DAS enclosure apart from that fact. They're often on sale at Fry's and I usually end up picking up one and five HDs whenever I swing by. (I'm a hoarder. :/)

I was commenting from functionality alone.

Noise issues are fairly common, so if it's important, users will have to replace fans as you did. Not many go through the additional extremes, but if they're used in a recording studio, would likely be necessary.

Longer cabling solutions are also possible, such as Ethernet, FC, or SAS based.