- Softraid 5 5 – High Quality Raid Management Software
- Softraid 5 5 – High Quality Raid Management Software
- Softraid 5
- Softraid Raid 10
One of my first goals for the new year was to reorganize our computer setup. Here are a few of the things I've been working on to get us ready for another year of photography.
For a couple years now we've used Hackintoshes (custom built computers that can run the Mac operating system) as our photography workstation computers. We made the switch to Hackintoshes because at the time Apple hadn't updated their Mac Pro line in over two years, and with a Hackintosh you can build something with similar power for a fraction of the price that Apple charges.
- SoftRAID supports RAID 4, RAID 5 and RAID 1+0 volumes. You can convert your AppleRAID stripe volume to a RAID 1+0 volume. SoftRAID can also create RAID 4 and RAID 5 volumes. You can test a disk before you start using it, monitor it for defects. You can even have the SoftRAID Monitor notify you via email whenever there is a problem.
- A SoftRAID license gives you full control of RAID volumes including creation, management and deletion. If other users need to access data, simply install SoftRAID for read/write access. SoftRAID also enables you to spread volumes over two or more drive enclosures for mind-boggling performance over a single hardware RAID device.
- This document describes the appearances and features of the redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller cards, how to configure properties for the RAID controller cards, and how to install drivers. The RAID controller cards include the LSI SAS2208, LSI SAS2308, LSI SAS3008, LSI SAS3108, LSI SoftRAID, PM8060, and PM8068.
- Have been using SoftRAID Version 5(.x) since around 2014 with external (Thunderbolt) OWC RAID arrays. Perhaps the best thing I can say is that since then, except for replacing drives from time to time as needed, I've barely thought about SoftRAID, everything has just worked.
Can SoftRAID 5.7 build RAID 50 (5 +0) arrays, if not 6? I am planning to build RAID 50 with 10 bay tower casing with 10 500MB HDDs with 5 volume array each for RAID 5 (say, array 1 and array 2) and then mirrored with RAID 0. It's for SNS use and does not necessarily need speed and size for the arrays. 2.5TB each suffice, if not overkill.
Fast forward to today and Apple has just recently launched their iMac Retina, and they now have a newly designed Mac Pro (which is already a year old).
I wanted to refresh our current computers, and for a long time I debated between getting the new iMac Retina, and Mac Pro. You can find reviews galore all over the internet for both computers so I'll spare you the in depth details about them.
Despite the impressive specs of the new Apple computers, we ended up keeping our current Hackintosh computers. Here's why:
The iMac retina is currently the fastest available Mac for single core processing, and it's only around 15% slower than the fastest Mac Pro for multi-core processing. A fully loaded iMac is a little over $4000, and a decently outfitted Mac Pro starts around $4000.
Our current Hackintoshes are about 30% slower than the fastest iMac Retina. That's quite a bit slower, but it's not paralyzing. I decided that the 30% increase wasn't worth the additional $8000 (we need two computers). We would also need to invest in external storage enclosures (which are expensive!).
Another detail is that the next round of processor upgrades Apple puts in their iMac Retina and Mac Pros likely won't produce much of a bump in speed – instead they'll be more energy efficient.
What that means is that we're probably looking at a couple more years with our current Hackintoshes until Apple releases something significantly faster.
Our Hackintoshes
If you're interested in learning more about Hackintoshes then you need to check out www.tonymacx86.com. You'll find all the parts lists, programs, and installation guides you need to build your own Hackintosh.
Atheros ar5b125 drivers for mac. You don't need a ton of experience with computers to be able to put a Hackintosh together. I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert with computers, but it was easy to work through the guides on tonymac, and search for solutions to problems on their forum.
After having Hackintoshes for a couple years I wanted to switch back to real Apple computers. You certainly save a ton of money compared to purchasing a real Apple computer, but overall I'm not sure they're worth the trouble (especially if you use your computer professionally). Once you have the Hackintosh set up they're fairly reliable. What was frustrating was not being able to do the system software updates easily. You would have to wait for a Hackintosh patch to be released, and then you would install the patch and things like sound or internet would stop working and you would have to go searching for a solution. Eventually I stopped installing the system updates – not great.
Despite the shortcomings of Hackintoshes I'm already invested in all the hardware, and the best option for us is to continue using them for the time being. I've reformatted both our Hackintoshes and freshly installed all our software. One downside (or possible benefit) is that we have to keep using the Mavericks operating system (10.9). The new Yosemite OS (10.10) is currently too buggy with our old Hackintosh hardware. From the reviews of Yosemite, it seems like it might be a good thing that we can't upgrade – all our software still works fine anyway!
SoftRAID
One program I haven't seen the Hackintosh community talk about is SoftRAID. We've been using it for years and it's an excellent program for managing your computer's hard drives. SoftRAID isn't just for Hackintoshes, anyone with a Mac can use it!
SoftRAID recently released a new version of the program that is capable of RAID 5. What this means is that you can connect several drives to your computer to act like one big drive. The data is written across all the drives. RAID 5 also writes parity information across all the drives, so that if one hard drive fails you still have all your data, you just need to replace the failed drive with a new one and the RAID array will automatically rebuild.
Up until now mac users basically had to purchase a separate enclosure capable of RAID 5, since the software included in OSX isn't capable of RAID 5. Kakaotalk for ipad free download.
Another advantage of a RAID 5 array is that the read and write speeds of the array are much faster compared to using a single hard drive.
For professional photographers and videographers with a lot of data to store, RAID 5 is a good solution. You'll still need to backup your data on other hard drives, but with RAID 5 you'll be safe against a single hard drive failure.
I've setup a RAID array using seven 3TB hard drives. That gives me a total of 18TB of usable storage space (after accounting for the one extra drive required for parity). Read and write performance of the RAID 5 array is stunning:
It's much faster than a single hard disk drive, or single solid state drive.
Sure it's not as fast as a single PCI-Express solid state drive found in the Mac Pro, and if the RAID array were made of regular solid state drives instead of hard drives the speed would be much faster. However, since my existing storage setup was based around 3TB hard drives it was the most affordable option to go with 3TB drives for the RAID array.
The nice thing is that you don't need to create one big 18TB volume (and you shouldn't!). I have several small volumes (no bigger than 3TB) which makes it easy for me to backup data onto individual 3TB hard drives.
SoftRAID is especially beneficial for people using Hackintoshes professionally since with a Hackintosh you normally have a tower with tons of room to connect additional hard drives.
Even if you don't have a Hackintosh SoftRAID can still be useful. OWC has external hard drive enclosure bays available that let you connect hard drives to your computer through a Thunderbolt connection. You can even buy SoftRAID bundled with a Thunderbay. Ghost ip.
Final Thoughts
Tuneskit audio converter 3 3 0 530. If you're just getting into photography then I would recommend checking out Apple's iMac Retina. It offers tremendous value – you're basically purchasing a 5K screen and getting a free computer. I wish it was fast enough for us to justify an upgrade, but for now we'll keep trucking with our Hackintoshes.
If you have an Apple computer with Thunderbolt and you're looking for large capacity, blazing fast, external storage then definitely check out OWCs Thunderbays and SoftRAID.
Finally, if you're interested in building a Hackintosh I would weigh carefully the costs involved (and not just in terms of the price of parts). If you're using your computer professionally then it's probably not worth going down the Hackintosh path. I personally regret the time I've spent wrestling with the computer. If you're an enthusiast interested in building computers and don't mind the extra setup work, and ongoing maintenance then it's worth further investigation (you can build a powerful computer for a fraction of the cost of a real Apple computer).
Up until Windows 8, software RAID in Windows was a mess. Windows 7 has arbitrary restrictions on the available RAID levels, and it was impossible to create a Level 5 RAID without Windows Server. Fortunately, it is easy to build a software RAID 5 in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. We just need a couple of disks, and we will have the extra security of RAID in no time.
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We can create both level 1 and level 5 RAID in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, depending on the number of hard drives we have at our disposal. We will need two drives for RAID 1 and three or more drives for RAID 5.
However, with software RAID 5 it's impossible to have the operating system on the RAID. We can only use it for storage.
Table of Contents
- How to create a software RAID 5 in Windows 10 and 8.1
- What happens when a drive on the RAID fails
How to create a software RAID 5 in Windows 10 and 8.1
To create a software RAID 5, we need at least three hard drives of the same capacity, apart from the OS drive. All three disks need to be unformatted.
We can build a RAID with drives of unequal size, but then the smaller disk will dictate the array's total capacity.
Making sure our drives are unformatted
A simple way to check if the drives are unformatted is through the Disk Management Console. We can open it by pressing the Windows key + R, and on the Run window type:
All three drives we will use for the RAID need to be Unallocated.
If any of the drives has a partition, we need to back up any data on it, then right-click and select 'Delete Volume.'
After that, we won't be needing the Disk Management console anymore; we can close it.
Managing Storage Spaces
We go to the Start Screen (Windows 8.1) or Start Menu (Windows 10) and start typing 'storage spaces.' The 'Search' dialogue will automatically come up, and we select the relevant option.
On the Storage Spaces window, we select the only option, 'Create a new pool and storage space.'
The system will automatically detect the unformatted drives and select them.
If we want, we can change the name, drive letter, or file system for the storage space. To create a software RAID 5, on resiliency type we select 'Parity.'
On 'Size,' we see the size of the storage space. To calculate the array's capacity, we just need to take the smallest disk's capacity and multiply it by the number of drives minus one.
With three 1TB HDDs, it is 1*(3-1) = 2TB array. Free download studio sound recording software.
If we had three 1TB drives and one 500GB drive for the array, the array's capacity would have been 500*(4-1)=1500GB.
After we click the Create storage space button, our software RAID 5 is ready.
On the 'This PC' folder, we will see it as one disk.
How to move our personal folders on the software RAID
The primary reason to create a software RAID 5 is for the added data security. When any of the three disks fails, we will still have access to all the data; nothing will be lost.
So, it makes sense to have our personal folders on the RAID. Documents, Pictures, Music, even the Desktop will be much safer there than on the single Windows disk.
Moving those folders is easy. We just need to go to Local Disk C: -> Users -> (our username) - filod, in the example.
There, we Ctrl+click to select some of our personal folders or select them all with Ctrl+A. Then, we right-click on one of the selected folders and click on 'Cut.'
Caution! If the hidden folder AppData is visible on your system, do not select that folder. It's not a folder that we can move to the RAID.
After we cut our important folders, we right-click on the software RAID 5 and select 'Paste.'
Now, whatever we save on the Desktop and in our Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, etc. folders will be safe on the RAID.
What happens when a drive on the RAID fails
If When one of the drives fails, the rest of the drives give us full access to our data. If, however, a second drive fails before we replaced the first drive, all the files on the RAID will be irretrievably lost.
Strangely, in the case of a disk failure, both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 take their time to report that something is wrong.
A few minutes after we boot the PC, Windows 8.1 will show the Action Center flag, with a nonchalant 'Check Storage Spaces for issues' message.
It wouldn't hurt if it had a bit more urgency.
Windows 10 does it slightly better, by adding an exclamation mark on the notification. It still takes a couple of minutes to show up after boot, though, and some Windows 10 users don't check the Action Center notifications often.
The best warning system is if we had moved the Desktop folder to the RAID. We will know that something is wrong right at boot time. Download bbedit 12 full serial {mac os x}.
The array won't appear when Windows boots.
.but it will appear a few seconds later.
Our data is still safe and readily accessible with the rest of the disks working.
In case we get the notification or the message that desktop isn't accessible, we need to go immediately to 'Manage Storage Spaces.'
There, we will get the warning that a drive is gone, and we have reduced resiliency.
Softraid 5 5 – High Quality Raid Management Software
How to rebuild the software RAID 5
The first thing we must do when we have a drive failure is to completely backup all the data in the RAID, preferably on an external hard drive. Remember, if a second drive fails, all the array data is gone for good.
Our data is still safe and readily accessible with the rest of the disks working.
In case we get the notification or the message that desktop isn't accessible, we need to go immediately to 'Manage Storage Spaces.'
There, we will get the warning that a drive is gone, and we have reduced resiliency.
Softraid 5 5 – High Quality Raid Management Software
How to rebuild the software RAID 5
The first thing we must do when we have a drive failure is to completely backup all the data in the RAID, preferably on an external hard drive. Remember, if a second drive fails, all the array data is gone for good.
After the backup and after we have bought and installed a replacement drive, at the 'Manage Storage Spaces' window we click on 'Change settings'.
.and then 'Add drives.'
The system will recognize the new drive, provided it is unformatted.
After we have added the drive, we remove the one that crashed from the RAID.
That's it. Now the software RAID 5 is healthy again and can withstand a single disk failure.
Is software RAID 5 for you?
HDDs are pretty inexpensive nowadays, even for a couple of Terabytes of capacity. Getting two or three of them to create a RAID array wouldn't make a big dent in our budget.
Will you consider building a Software RAID 5 on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10? Or do you find it wasteful, and prefer an external hard drive or cloud backup? Let us know in the comments below.
Softraid 5 5 – High Quality Raid Management Software
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Softraid Raid 10
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