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PROMISE Pegasus2 R4 Diskless JBOD?

A

akrantz

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 24, 2008
58
0
Hey all,

Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid. I am trying to figure out the cheapest TB2 way to take the two drives (4TB) of data I have inside my current mac pro and use them with my new MacPro when it arrives in January. My apologies if it should be obvious but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

Thanks in advance.
 
akrantz said:
Hey all,

Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid. I am trying to figure out the cheapest TB2 way to take the two drives (4TB) of data I have inside my current mac pro and use them with my new MacPro when it arrives in January. My apologies if it should be obvious but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

It's not mentioned on any of the data sheets, etc. I've seen for the Pegasus2.

That said, if all you're trying to do is use two non-RAID, non-SSD hard drives with a new Mac Pro, there are much cheaper options. USB 3.0 is fast enough to handle one or two HDDs, for instance, so you could install them in something like this or use a dual drive dock like this.
 
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ZnU said:
It's not mentioned on any of the data sheets, etc. I've seen for the Pegasus2.

That said, if all you're trying to do is use two non-RAID, non-SSD hard drives with a new Mac Pro, there are much cheaper options. USB 3.0 is fast enough to handle one or two HDDs, for instance, so you could install them in something like this or use a dual drive dock like this.
Click to expand...

Well I guess its also about being a little forward looking because I was assuming I would expand to a 4 drive system later on. Also, I run Audio and video apps that use plugins and footage ill be storing on these drives so the more speed I can have (that I can afford) the better, for that reason I would prefer a TB or TB2 drive.

Thanks for the answer :)
 
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akrantz said:
Hey all,

Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid. I am trying to figure out the cheapest TB2 way to take the two drives (4TB) of data I have inside my current mac pro and use them with my new MacPro when it arrives in January. My apologies if it should be obvious but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

As Nugget links above... Someone from Promise (we presume) dropped in on another thread and confirmed it supports a "passthrough" mode which works just like JBOD.
 
akrantz said:
Hey all,

Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid. I am trying to figure out the cheapest TB2 way to take the two drives (4TB) of data I have inside my current mac pro and use them with my new MacPro when it arrives in January. My apologies if it should be obvious but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I found this to be interesting solution

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MESRTBT0GBK/

I'm in same situation so I think I'm gonna go this route
 
A little off topic, but thought I'd mention it here...for people using the Promise utility on R series units, there is a large firmware update out to improve performance and stability under Mavericks.
 
akrantz said:
Hey all,

Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid.
Click to expand...

The answer was on the page you looked at first. You read this paragraph.
Use your hard drives from your old Mac Pro
The Pegasus2 R4 Diskless System allows existing Mac Pro users upgrading to the newest Mac Pro model to migrate current storage seamlessly. Simply remove your drives from your current Mac Pro and reinstall into the drive trays of the Pegasus2 R4 Diskless system to get instant access to all of your data. Most drive models shipped with the Mac Pro line are qualified with Pegasus2. (Please refer to the Promise compatibility list for supported drive models.)
Click to expand...

And few blocks bellow it;
Enterprise-class RAID protection
Once your data is cleanly backed up elsewhere, the drives in your Pegasus R4 Diskless System can be reconfigured as a RAID volume. Pegasus2 features enterprise-level RAID storage protection for your data, supporting a broad range of RAID levels as well as automatic error handling.
Click to expand...

So, I think, you need some place to back up your data while you reconfigure it to RAID.
 
Last edited:
akrantz said:
Does anyone happen to know if this ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...kless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system?fnode=5f ) can be used as just a HD interface (JBOD) and NOT a Raid.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it can, but I do know through interacting with Oyen Digital's sales that their 4-disk RS-M4T can be configured as a JBOD, where each individual drive appears to OS X. That way you can continue accessing any data and/or filesystem already on them, as well as use OS X's internal kernel-based RAID if you want.
 
Thanks for all the help guys I have complied this information in another thread for easy reference.
 
Yes it can.

Just loaded my new Promise Pegasus2 R4 diskless with four new blank WD RE 4 TB drives. Hooked it up to a 2013 MBP 15 inch retina display running 10.9.1 and it appeared without difficulty as four separate drives. The Promise utility lists each drive as pass-thru and functions as a JBOD. Just waiting for my Mac Pro sometime in January. . .

:)
 
Bootable from different Operating Systems?

Hi,

I currently use an early 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 with four HDs inside that I use in JBOD. In fact, two contain different operating systems (Windows and Ubuntu) that I boot into. I'm interesting in the new Mac Pro and would very much like to continue using this JBOD setup and was wondering if anyone knows (or can test) if the Pegasus2 R4 can be used to boot into a disk with a different operating system.

Full disclosure: I already emailed PROMISE about this and they told me that other, "-Bootable only for Mac OS X, other operating is not supported at this time." However, I know that some people have figured out how to do this with external drives over thunderbolt. So, I guess I'm wondering if anyone knows (or can try) to see if this will work with the Pegasus2 R4?
 
If all you want is a JBOD option, it's much cheaper to go the USB 3 enclosure route. Since the new mac pro doesn't support win7. I couldn't test the win boot from USB when I have my MP.
 
raw911 said:
I found this to be interesting solution

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MESRTBT0GBK/

I'm in same situation so I think I'm gonna go this route
Click to expand...

Digging in to that bundle, I learned that it probably won't work as intended. The LaCie people say that their TB hub doesn't support "port multiplication" from eSATA inputs, meaning that it will only see ONE of the two drives in the OWC drive enclosure. LaCie also said they wouldn't recommend relying on eSATA port multiplication even if the hub DID support it - too much risk of dropped or errantly transmitted data.
 
Rad said:
Just loaded my new Promise Pegasus2 R4 diskless with four new blank WD RE 4 TB drives. Hooked it up to a 2013 MBP 15 inch retina display running 10.9.1 and it appeared without difficulty as four separate drives. The Promise utility lists each drive as pass-thru and functions as a JBOD. Just waiting for my Mac Pro sometime in January. . .

:)
Click to expand...

There was a review on CNET that claimed that if the host MacBook Pro went to sleep, the Pegasus volumes would dismount and couldn't reconnect unless the Pegasus enclosure was power-cycled. Have you had any such problems?

Thanks so much,
Jim Robertson
 
jamesrob said:
Digging in to that bundle, I learned that it probably won't work as intended. The LaCie people say that their TB hub doesn't support "port multiplication" from eSATA inputs, meaning that it will only see ONE of the two drives in the OWC drive enclosure. LaCie also said they wouldn't recommend relying on eSATA port multiplication even if the hub DID support it - too much risk of dropped or errantly transmitted data.
Click to expand...

Yes the esata hub will not work due to I think cause of the raid card that's installed into th oMP.
 
Rad said:
Just loaded my new Promise Pegasus2 R4 diskless with four new blank WD RE 4 TB drives. Hooked it up to a 2013 MBP 15 inch retina display running 10.9.1 and it appeared without difficulty as four separate drives. The Promise utility lists each drive as pass-thru and functions as a JBOD. Just waiting for my Mac Pro sometime in January. . .

:)
Click to expand...

I am glad that 4TB drives are supported. According to this it appears that only drives from the old Mac Pro are compatible.
 
Rad said:
Just loaded my new Promise Pegasus2 R4 diskless with four new blank WD RE 4 TB drives. Hooked it up to a 2013 MBP 15 inch retina display running 10.9.1 and it appeared without difficulty as four separate drives. The Promise utility lists each drive as pass-thru and functions as a JBOD. Just waiting for my Mac Pro sometime in January. . .

:)
Click to expand...

Does anybody know if with 4 of the same drives and using the Promise utility, I could set 2 drives to pass-thru and the other 2 drives to raid 0?
 
orytek said:
Does anybody know if with 4 of the same drives and using the Promise utility, I could set 2 drives to pass-thru and the other 2 drives to raid 0?
Click to expand...

Yes this is possible, I just played around with mine extensively and the combination you describe was a combination that I was able to set up with no problem. I have since setup a slightly different combo, although I had to jump a few hoops to do it. I currently have 2 Samsung 1TB SSD's in a RAID 0 and 2 4TB WD RE drives in a RAID 1.

The Box limits options when you have different types of drives. I had to remove the WD drives to setup my SSD RAID 0 then put in my WD drives to setup the RAID 1. In the end it has been great. Really robust utility
 
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