If you have a bunch of old usb drives, this is a good way to make good use of them rather than throwing them away. My book duo raid 1 setup external drives for mac wd. How to use your macs disk utility to partition, wipe, repair. Sep 14, 2006 i read a post that indicated a mac pro user created two mirrors and then striped them with disk utility to create a raid 10. It should be the drive at the top of the sidebar if there are multiple drives. Thankfully, disk utility is one of the hidden gems of os x. Raid 0 is a popular disk setup solution to achieve the fastest possible read and write disk speeds by splitting data between two or more hard drives.
Lets get things up and running so we can move onto all the fun projects a compact nas. Hack old usb drives into a mini raid on a mac make tech. Depending on how you set it up, this either treats them as one big disk, or it automatically creates a backup of everything so if you have a disk failure, you can swap in a new disk for the broken one and just start working again while the data is copied from the other disk so you have two copies of everything again. If you want performance and can tolerate low data integrity, go for raid 0.
A window will drop down, asking you to confirm the deletion of the raid set. How to configure a software raid in macos sierras disk. I would like to set it up as a storage device running raid 1. The following image demonstrates disk utility in mac os x snow leopard. Want to make a raid from usb flash drives on windows. If that doesnt suit you, our users have ranked 37 alternatives to disk utility and 16 are available for mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Another application called drive setup was used for drive formatting and partitioning and the application disk copy was used for working with disk images. I tried this but disk utiity will not allow me to stripe the two mirrors.
After you create the mirrored set, your mac sees it as a single disk drive. Nov 18, 2010 raid lets you use multiple disks as if they were a single disk. Using macs disk utility, he chose raid and placed each pny drive into the selection area. Mac secret trick how to clone mac hard drive with disk. Click the raid type popup menu to specify the type of raid that you need.
Create a macos recovery partition on a usb flash drive. Formatting a drive in disk utility is easy, though disk utility uses a different term. I have a macos server setup which is connected to two raid 0, i think systems. Click on your mac s startup drive in the disk utility sidebar. There are many alternatives to disk utility for mac if you are looking to replace it. This may seem like an inconvenience, but it provides for both a fast copy and a safe one.
Also known as a mirrored array, raid 1 one of the redundant array of independent disks raid levels supported by os x and disk utility. And the raids that we have available arewhat weve had available in much priorversions of mac os going back ages. Raid stands for redundant array of independent disks, and with at least two hard disk drives, you can setup them up as a raid array in order to increase the disk performance a. The disk utility also allows you to set up raid on a mac. You can now close disk utility and use your raid 0 striped set as if it were any other disk volume on your mac.
A striped raid set can speed up access to your data. Disk utilitys raid feature doesnt seem to work mac os. You use raid admin to set up the xserve raid hardware, including m. In a raid 1 array, you assign two or more disks as a mirrored set. Hi all i have just bought a my book duo to use with my mac running high sierra. Raid utility application on a computer with a mac pro raid card or xserve raid card. Apr 06, 2010 if a single disk of a 3 or 4 disk raid had died, then adding a new disk may have been achievable even in the raids degraded state.
To set up the array, first attach all devices and then launch disk utility and select the raid tab in the window to the right of the device list this can be done from the os x installation dvd. Clone bootable apple mac hard drive from disk utility mac os sierra 2017. With a mac pro raid card or xserve raid card installed in your computer, you can use raid utility to turn your computers internal disks into storage volumes based on raid redundant array of independent disks schemes that improve performance and. How to configure a software raid in macos sierras disk utility. Combining raid0 and raid1 is often referred to as raid10, which offers higher performance than raid1 but at much higher cost as it requires a minimum of four disks. Mirrored and concatenated raid options in mac os x cnet. Open disk utitlity finder user applications utilities. I saw a demote button on the raid setup panel that wasnt even mentioned in help, and some of the raid procedures described in help simply didnt work. If you have a mac and some spare hard drives lying around, you can find out how to build your own either superfast or superresilient raid using disk utility. Though some companies sell macformatted drives, and charge extra for the feature. To browse the disk utility user guide, click table of contents at the top of the page.
Hack old usb drives into a mini raid on a mac make tech easier. How to show all drive devices in disk utility for macos. Softraid the best raid drive monitoring for macs owc. You can adjust a setting in disk utility for mac to see all device disks and drives connected to a mac. The third application, disk utility, is part of mac os x and mac os x server. We have our raid zero, our raid one, and our jbod,and they are explained here, but basically,striped is for speed, but you risk your databecause if any disk in the set fails, you lose your data. Part of the data is written to each disk simultaneously. Oct 20, 2016 raid o or raid 1 can both be configured easily through macos sierras disk utility app.
In the disk utility app on your mac, choose file raid assistant select a set type. The raid utility window click to see overall raid status raid battery status. Smart utility for mac 2020 full offline installer setup for mac. Remember, the clean install of the os will include all of the usual applesupplied apps, including safari, mail, and disk utility. How to set up raid in macos sierra make tech easier. The total capacity of the raid 0 striped set you create will be equal to the combined total space offered by all members of the set, minus some overhead for the raid boot files and data structure. Aug 16, 2019 disk utility on the mac will still not show some other volumes and partitions even with his setting enabled, for example the recovery partition and efi partitions will not be displayed through disk utility on the mac in modern versions and there is no longer a known disk utility debug menu for advanced users to access either. Format each disk you want to use in your raid set to mac os x extended. Heres how to set up and configure a software raid using macos sierras disk utility. Raid lets you use multiple disks as if they were a single disk. The version and features of disk utility depend on the version of mac os x. Dec 08, 2019 click disk utility when in macos recovery.
Reinstall mac os x without a dvd using disk utility. In some instances, the cd with raid admin and fibre channel info is supplied with other systems or cards as well. The interesting part is, these two volumes appear in the finder and throughout the system as a single, unified volume although a savvy user can view them separately by talking a look at apples disk utility app. Click on the raid tab in disk utilitys main window, name the raid in the raid set name field, and choose the type from the raid type popup menu. Create a disk set using disk utility on mac apple support. How to use macos recovery to restore the operating system on. If you need more capacity for that set of drives, youll have to get a raid card proper unit, not fake raid that can do a level 5 properly has an nvram solution. One thing to note is that old usb drives, especially usb 1. With disk utility, you can see and manage volumes that are. Jul 17, 2017 synology uses a custom raid setup called synology hybrid raid shrseen as the selected option in the screenshot abovedesigned to keep your drives redundant. How to use the restore feature of disk utility to clone a drive tuesday, january 10th, 2017 author.
This will erase any data that exists on the disks you want to use for the raid. This will make it so that you can view the containing drive like apple ssd rather than simply the partition or volume that is accessible by the user facing part of the file system like macintosh hd. Note that some items are grayed out because they are not applicable to the disk i have highlighted in the left pane of the disk utility window. Combining raid 0 and raid 1 is often referred to as raid 10, which offers higher performance than raid 1 but at much higher cost as it requires a minimum of four disks. How to manage disks and volumes with os xs disk utility. Disk utility, in all of its incarnations, has always had a restore function, a way to copy a disk volume or image file to another volume, creating an exact copy. The installer also creates a brand new volume with the system role. None of disk utilitys help files give you any warning about this. Use disk utility on your mac to create a raid set to optimize storage performance and protect your data. You can create a redundant array of independent disks raid set to optimize storage performance and increase reliability in case of a disk failure. First aid will run, checking the health of your mac s drive. In the classic mac os, similar functionality to the verification features of disk utility could be found in the disk first aid application.
Mac secret trick how to clone mac hard drive with disk utility hdd. Set up a software raid in disk utility lacie support us. Reinstall mac os x without a dvd using disk utility by janum trivedi if using the provided snow leopard installation dvd, or optical media in general to reinstall os x isnt an option, using disk utility is a much faster, reliable, and compatible method of doing so. Mar 30, 2020 also known as a mirrored array, raid 1 one of the redundant array of independent disks raid levels supported by os x and disk utility. That means youll need more drives, but if one fails, you wont lose any data, because itll be mirrored on another drive. Disk utility shows that one drive is missingdamaged. Disk utility raid controls on your macbook dummies. We often think of this as cloning a drive, so you have an exact copy for backup or archiving purposes. Smart utility is different from other drive utilities, such as disk utility. But the fact that the remaining raid structure only consists of a single drive may be a hurdle that disk utility cant overcome. If youre having problems with a disk, disk utility can check the disk and repair problems it detects. From the raid tab of disk utility, click and drag the disks from the list at the left to the disk box at the right.
Download cleanmymac to cleanup and speed up your mac. To set up a raid array in mac os x, follow these steps. Click on your macs startup drive in the disk utility sidebar. Why macos catalina installer splits data and system folders. Disk utility is used to diagnose and fix problems with a disk or damaged volumes. So if i move the drive from one mac, where it had been configured with raid manager, to another which does not have raid manager, does os x simply recognize the raid 1 array. Dec 21, 2017 you can later restore this disk image file to a partition, erasing that partition and copying the data from the disk image to it. Synology offers a very user friendly network attached storage nas device experience, but that doesnt mean unboxing it and starting it up is exactly a oneclick affair. After you purchase the raid parts you need, you need to run disk utility.
If a single disk of a 3 or 4 disk raid had died, then adding a new disk may have been achievable even in the raids degraded state. The mac article in the second article i read it explains how the author bought 4 pny 128gb usb 3. Disk utilitys raid feature doesnt seem to work mac os x hints. Dont plunk down your hard earned money on a new mac when an upgraded mac can run. The most popular mac alternative is daemon tools, which is free. When i open disk utility, the drive appears as a sinlge 2tb drive, there is nothing to indicate it is being treated as two drives in a raid 1 array. If you bought a preconfigured drive, consider using the erase and partition functions just to make sure your hard drive is running to its best capabilities. Smart utility for mac download free 2020 latest version. How to use macos recovery to restore the operating system. In fact, in snow leopard, they dont accurately reflect the operation of the program.
You can also create a set that concatenates smaller disks to act as one larger disk. None of disk utility s help files give you any warning about this. How to set up and get started with your synology nas. Most preformatted drives are set up for windows pcs. I read a post that indicated a mac pro user created two mirrors and then striped them with disk utility to create a raid 10. I have formatted it for mac mac os extended journaled but have found that it is not recognised by the included software, wd discovery so i have not been able to set it up using this. Jun 17, 2018 hi all i have just bought a my book duo to use with my mac running high sierra. Apr 06, 2010 the version and features of disk utility depend on the version of mac os x. An application for managing raid controllers present on your motherboard from the operating system rather than from the boot utility whats new in. Supports scanning os x software raid drives, as well as drives in many raid enclosures and cards including seritek drives. How to set up a raid in macos sierras disk utility.