Looking for JBOD w/Duplication software like Stablebit DrivePool

[djplong]

I've been slowly moving over from Windows to Mac over the last couple of years and there are very few things I still need Windows for. There are Steam games and a couple of apps but a Window laptop will take care of that. I'm looking for a disk utility that's like a "poor man's RAID".

Specifically, I'm looking for a macOS Apple Silicon equivalent of Stablebit's Drivepool utility.

I have a large array of disks, over 120TB with recorded video taking up most of that space. Because it's almost impossible to back up, I use Drivepool's duplication feature. This means that there are always 2 copies of every file on separate drives. I can lose a drive and not lose a single bit of data. I have individual drives ranging in size from 3-10TB so a "standard" RAID is out of the question.

I know macOS can "concatenate" several volumes to look like one volume, but there's no redundancy there.

So is there a RAID-like utility that allows for JBoD (Just a Bunch of Disks) and redundancy/duplication that's native to macOS? I *really* want to retire the Windows machine that's down to that one non-mac-replaceable function.

 

[stiligFox]

Disk Utility can make a JBOD array for you, but there's no redundancy there, as you're asking for.

SoftRAID can make RAID5 arrays, which I think provides the JBOD+redundancy you're looking for, but it costs money and I think technically only supports OWC external enclosures, but I don't know if there's anything actually stopping you from using it with any hardware.

Have you considered running a network share with Unraid or something similar? I'm assuming you're looking for something directly connected to you Mac, though.

 

[djplong]

Thanks for the pointer. SoftRAID has 3 levels of pay - requiring $120 to get RAID 5 and $250 to be able to use 3rd party enclosures. ...and I have a batch of Mediasonic enclosures (a few 4-bays and one 8-bay). I'm not a big fan of striping data as opposed to simpler methods that simply keep two copies of every file on separate drives. I've had to recover data once before without the RAID-like software and having actual files on the remaining, functioning drives was a HUGE help. In a commercial environment, you can throw enough money at the setup to not have to worry about that particular disaster case.

If I go this route, it'll be a hell of a migration...

Thanks again!

 

[GzyOnline]

I've been slowly moving over from Windows to Mac over the last couple of years and there are very few things I still need Windows for. There are Steam games and a couple of apps but a Window laptop will take care of that. I'm looking for a disk utility that's like a "poor man's RAID".

Specifically, I'm looking for a macOS Apple Silicon equivalent of Stablebit's Drivepool utility.

I have a large array of disks, over 120TB with recorded video taking up most of that space. Because it's almost impossible to back up, I use Drivepool's duplication feature. This means that there are always 2 copies of every file on separate drives. I can lose a drive and not lose a single bit of data. I have individual drives ranging in size from 3-10TB so a "standard" RAID is out of the question.

I know macOS can "concatenate" several volumes to look like one volume, but there's no redundancy there.

So is there a RAID-like utility that allows for JBoD (Just a Bunch of Disks) and redundancy/duplication that's native to macOS? I *really* want to retire the Windows machine that's down to that one non-mac-replaceable function.

Were you able to find a Stablebit Drivepool alternative for macOS?

 

[djplong]

Were you able to find a Stablebit Drivepool alternative for macOS?

No. What I ended up doing, finally last year, was migrating over to a proper NAS with good duplication. There are plenty out there and I went with Synology. I took some of the drives from my Stablebit array, the largest ones, as the start - decommissioning them one by one to maintain the integrity of the array and then migrating a batch of files. It took a week or so to do it all but I have a MUCH more stable setup that lasts for months between boots as opposed to Windows always wanting to reboot. The 10Gbps connection didn't hurt, but I needed to upgrade my router to take advantage of that - and I'm quite happy with the results. I'm not worried about running out of "original" drive letters anymore.

 

[GzyOnline]

No. What I ended up doing, finally last year, was migrating over to a proper NAS with good duplication. There are plenty out there and I went with Synology. I took some of the drives from my Stablebit array, the largest ones, as the start - decommissioning them one by one to maintain the integrity of the array and then migrating a batch of files. It took a week or so to do it all but I have a MUCH more stable setup that lasts for months between boots as opposed to Windows always wanting to reboot. The 10Gbps connection didn't hurt, but I needed to upgrade my router to take advantage of that - and I'm quite happy with the results. I'm not worried about running out of "original" drive letters anymore.

right on.. thanks for responding and sharing your update. guess i'm sticking with windows and drivepool for now.. so far-so good!