RocketRAID 1820A on a G5/Tiger 10.4 HELP! :)

[euphoriasonic]

Hello... thanks in advance for any help!

Great with computers, but brand-new to RAID setups...

System:

Apple Dual 2.5 GHz PowerMac G5 / 2.5 GB RAM
Highpoint Technologies Inc, RocketRAID 1820A v. 1.2
2 x SATA RAID Enclosures with 4 x Hard Drives each
Enclosures and Sata Brackets from MacGurus.com
Final Cut Pro Studio 2 Rig
Mac OS X 10.4.11

So, i work in a studio with a 2.5 GHz G5, that was running Tiger 10.4, with Final Cut Pro 5 and the whole RAID setup working just fine...

We decided to do a Fresh Install (Erase and Install Option) of OS X 10.4 Tiger, with a new install of Final Cut Pro Studio 2.

The Raid drives won't show up!

Figured out we need drivers for the Raid Card - Downloaded the drivers for the RocketRAID 1820A, from Highpoint's website.

The drives now show up in Disk Utility (i snapped a picture), however they are still not showing up in Finder, or on the desktop. One set of Four SATA drives shows up as a 1.8 TB "Video-01", and after cntrl+clicking it, "information" is Raid Set Type = Striped Raid Set, Offline, and LOCKED. Writable = No. Listed above in Disk Utility, Raid Type = Mirrored RAID Set.

The other 4 x 250 GB SATA drives show up individually... clicking on the volumes, shows up some-sort of Raid setup, that all states, as "Offline".

I'm assuming i need to reset the Arrays... But there is information on the drives, we don't want to lose.

Question 1. - Am i able to get the drives back online, without erasing the data that is already on the drives?

I'm great with computers and Mac, but i'm a total noob to RAID setups... can anyone point me to a good "I need to learn Mac RAID Setups RIGHT NOW" thread, article, book, etc? I did do a quick search, and couldn't seem to find-out if i set the arrays, will it erase the currently-stored information?!?

or any quick tips, directions, info? lol... thanks, i need to get these back online as soon as possible!

Chris

 

[4np]

I'm just having a look at the MacGurus site and it looks like this particular disk array (burly port multiplier SATA encolusures) doesn't do hardware RAID, but insteads lets the host computer handle the RAID setup?

Capable of being formatted into individual (JBOD) mounted drives or in RAID arrays using utilities like OSX Disk Utility, SoftRAID or Windows XP RAID utilities, you can realize up to 300 MB/sec transfer rates and unparalleled versatility.

With a clean setup you normally initialize the RAID array, however I'm not sure how things would work if you tranfered a RAID setup to another host computer (like you did). Somehow the host OS should know this is a RAID setup, I'm not sure if you should re-initialize or something.

The MacGurus site doesn't provide much help, but they have a list of Host Bus Adapter drivers: http://www.burlystorage.com/ccp0-display/Drivers.html

 

[4np]

Have you tried reconfiguring the RAID array in Disk Utility?

 

[euphoriasonic]

Have you tried reconfiguring the RAID array in Disk Utility?

i'm afraid to do anything, before i know what i'm really doing... i don't want to erase the information on the RAID drives... eek!

The studio had purchased the Enclosures and SATA cable brackets from Macgurus, but the drives/RocketRAID 1820A card was not purchased, nor supported through them. I called MacGurus the other day, and was very helpfully pointed in the direction to the Highpoint website, to download and install the Raid card drives - so at least now, the RAID drives do show up in the computer.

i am confused by host computer, to another computer.... the drives have not moved from computer to computer, we only did a fresh install of OS X Tiger 10.4. but i'm guessing that's what you meant, it's like a new computer?

i'm also assuming the one set of RAID drives that shows up as 1.8 TB Video-01 is showing up at least half-correctly?

i'm scared to click anything in Disk Utility, in fear i might erase the drives, in trying to re-configure the RAID setup, or by re-setting the Array.

Does anyone know if it will definitely erease the drives or not?

i'm searching and looking online now, for additional info and help, too. will post if i find/do anything new...

thanks again for all replies!

 

[euphoriasonic]

Have you tried reconfiguring the RAID array in Disk Utility?

so does anyone know if adjusting/configuring the arrays, will erase the material that is presently on the drives? i don't want to try this, and lose all the information on there. that's my biggest worry...

is there any thread/article that discuses setting this up in detail? i can't seem to find one, just other threads about small snippets, here and there. the few posts/threads i've found on RAID setups, seem to be on the new Mac Pro's, only. this system is on a G5, not sure how much may have changed. still running Tiger 10.4.11

i'm sure i could figure out how to set them up and going properly, but i just can't lose the info on the drives - does anyone have any ideas how i could retrieve the info off of the drives, before i re-set the RAID arrays? that is, if it will format the drives, when setting the arrays. i really just need that one question answered, anyone please?!?!

thank you

 

[euphoriasonic]

Have you tried reconfiguring the RAID array in Disk Utility?

OK. so i've been searching... trying to find the answer to my Question #1., from the first post. i've Googled the same searches i've done here, and i've read through some threads and posts by searching, especially the ones i've found, under this search results list, here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=15076782

there is some good info on RAID in there, but i'm still not sure what to do with my problem. Most of those posts are RAID setups, that are starting up, and don't already have my problem here, or are on Mac Pro machines... i'm on a G5 with Tiger 10.4.11.

i'm getting the impression, i may have to re-install OS X Tiger, and make sure to re-set the RAID Array in Disk Utility, before i actually complete the OS X Install... ?

Re-installing the OS again is not a problem. But i can't see how that would be different, then re-setting the RAID array in disk utility now. Any thoughts?

obviously, i should've backed-up the info on the RAID drives, before i did an Erase and Install on the Startup Disk in the G5, but i didn't know that then. And i don't want to lose the info that is currently on the RAID drives, by doing something (like re-setting the RAID Array), without really knowing what i'm doing...

i'm also guessing, that by the over 53 views to this thread, and only one person reply, i must be not mentioning a crucial piece of information to get a proper answer, or.... ?

Please, can someone answer this question? Ask me any questions you might need to know, in order to give me the correct answer here, if possible!?!? i can email a picture of the screenshot i took, with the present condition of the RAID enclosures/drives showing up in Disk Utility... PM me, i shall send along to your email! i tried posting the pic here, but for some reason it is not attaching correctly (and yes, i made sure if fit the size specifications, related to the type of picture file it is - i actually resized it to a JPEG in Photoshop, to make sure - still won't load, for some reason).

I was hoping to have access to those RAID drives by now, every day is costing our studio some valuable time!


The Question: Am i able to get the drives back online, without erasing the data that is already on the drives?

In other words, if i try to re-configure or re-set the RAID array, will it format the drives in the process?

Again, much thanks for any help, i'm just a little lost here with RAID setups.

Blessings!

 

[euphoriasonic]

Ok, I feel dumb. the second 4 x hard drive enclosure was disconnected the whole time!

So, at least I did learn, that u can do A fresh install and keep ur current raid setup intact. Just need to install the raid card drivers, after Os install. This at least applies to the type of setup I have listed above.

Whew, I finally feel better, everything came back online great!