For Mac users, there’s no better way to expand storage capacity and share files across networks than NAS.But with so many NAS solutions available for home and business use, knowing what you’ll need can be tricky. Here’s how Mac users can make the most out of NAS, and a look at the top four NAS solutions currently available. I have 2x 2TB RAID 1 arrays using OSX software RAID in my Hackintosh. (4x 2TB drives) RAID 1 is not a backup, in that if you delete something it's gone, however it will give you redundancy in case of a drive failure, which in my experience, is usually the reason for data loss.
Modifying this control will update this page automatically
Disk Utility User Guide
You can create a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) set to optimize storage performance and increase reliability in case of a disk failure. You can also create a set that concatenates smaller disks to act as one larger disk.
- In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose File > RAID Assistant.
- Select a set type:
- Striped (RAID 0) set: A striped RAID set can speed up access to your data. You can’t create a RAID set on your startup disk; you must first start up your computer from another disk.
- Mirrored (RAID 1) set: Protect your data against hardware failure with a mirrored RAID set. When you create a mirrored RAID set, your data is written to multiple disks so the information is stored redundantly. You can’t create a RAID set on your startup disk; you must first start up your computer from another disk.
- Concatenated (JBOD) set: Increase storage space with a concatenated disk set. If you need one large disk, but you have several smaller disks, you can create a concatenated disk set to use as one large disk.
- Select the checkboxes of the disks you want to include in the set.
- For each disk, click the pop-up menu in the Role column and choose “RAID slice” or “Spare” to designate the disk as a standard member or spare in the set, then click Next.
- Enter a name for the RAID set in the RAID Name field.
- Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose a volume format that you want for all the disks in the set. (See File system formats available in Disk Utility.)
- Click the “Chunk size” pop-up menu, then choose a disk chunk size that you want used for all the disks.When you create a striped set, chunks of data from the same file are distributed across the drives. Ideally, you want data distributed across drives evenly and at an optimum size so that it can be efficiently accessed. If you want high data throughput from your set, choose a smaller chunk size so that data is spread across the drives and one drive can be accessing data while another is seeking the next chunk. With mirrored disk sets, choose a chunk size that matches the data you’re accessing. For example, when working with video files, your Mac is accessing large chunks of data, whereas when using a database of many small records, your disks may be accessing smaller chunks of information.
- If you are creating a mirrored RAID set, select the “Automatically rebuild” checkbox to allow the set to be automatically rebuilt when member disks are reconnected.
- Click Create.
- Click Done.
If you have a Mac Pro with a Mac Pro RAID card, use RAID Utility. It uses the RAID card for better performance and to create more types of RAID sets.
See alsoOverview of creating disk sets using Disk Utility on MacDelete a disk set using Disk Utility on MacUnmount a disk set or disk member using Disk Utility on MacRepair a disk in a mirrored disk set using Disk Utility on MacAdd a disk to a disk set using Disk Utility on Mac
Why do Windows users, especially server users need to backup RAID drive? This is easy to answer, but to RAID users, there are two questions they may ask, 'Does the software compatible with RAID?' 'Is it easy, safe and fast to clone RAID drive?' They have to find and compare with the candidates.
Is it possible to backup RAID in a safe and easy way? The answer is yes and this article will introduce a great solution to backup RAID with a RAID backup software.
What Is RAID
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, which is a technology that employs the simultaneous use of two or more hard disk drives to achieve greater levels of performance, reliability, and/or larger data volume sizes. When several physical disks are set up to use RAID technology, they are said to be in a RAID array which distributes data among several disks. Meanwhile, the array is seen as one single disk by the users and Operating System.
RAID makes use of two or more hard drives in order to improve performance, reliability or create larger data volumes. The former is achieved through striping, whereby data is split and written across multiple drives to increase throughput, and reliability can be improved by introducing redundancy. An example of this is a mirrored RAID array, whereby data is written to more than one disk so that in the event of a single disk failure, an exact copy of the original data still remains.
Usually, there are 3 most commonly used RAID levels as follows:
Raid Backup Software For Mac Download
Level | Description | Minimum No. of Disks | Image |
---|---|---|---|
RAID 0 | Striped set without parity/ [Non-Redundant Array]. | 2 | |
RAID 1 | Mirrored set without parity. | 2 | |
RAID 5 | Striped set with distributed parity. | 3 |
RAID is really used to its full potential in emergency services and business where data reliability and performance are essential. Meanwhile, backing up the operating system and RAID by the RAID backup software is important to avoid downtime.
Tutorial: How to backup Windows Server RAID with Windows Server backup software?
Best Raid For Mac
You can save the image archive to local hard disk, tape, LAN computer disk or CD/DVD. Besides backing up to an image archive, you may also clone the virtual disk to replace or upgrade the old one by this RAID backup software.