I have my R6 setup as a single logical drive Raid 5.
I was thinking about revising it to have multiple independent drives.
- Perhaps just 3 disks in the Raid 5.
- and the other 3 disks as independent backup disks.
What are some good setups this system?
Hi Nicolas,
If you want to change configuration, offload any files you want to keep first.
Then delete the current array.
If you want a standalone drive, go to the physical disk section of the Promise Utility and change the drive to 'passthru. You can then put an HFS+ filesystem on it with Disk Utiity.
For the 3-drives left, put an array on the drives that are not passthru, then create a RAID 5 logical disk on that array. Then use Disk Utility to put an HFS+ filesystem on it.
It is suggested that you do not put an APFS filesystem in storage with spinning disks..
Thank you.
1. Entire array was no longer mounting. (Previous issue.)
PromiseUtility said everything was OK
Disk would not mount
Apple DiskUtility was giving errors. (Keys out of order, etc) and refused to fix the issue.
I had previously backed up the entire system to a Dropbox after a prior issue. So now is a good time to start fresh I think.
2. Set the last three disks to 'Pass Thru'.
That gives a 'The disk you attached was not readable by this computer (Eject/Ignore/Initialize) error (see Image below)
Note: None of those commands work.
3. I read your last line was a suggestion to stay with HFS+ file system and not install APFS filesystem.
"It is suggested that you do not put an APFS filesystem in storage with spinning disks.."
4. In DiskUtiliity the commapn appears to be "ERASE".
- Format: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensative, Journaled) (aka HFS+)
- Security Options: Used Fastest. Options from Fasteset to Most Secure.
Presume that is the number of times it writes over the entire disk from 0 1/3/7times to remove prior information.
Just for grins, I tried one as APFS.
The MAC OSX disk is named PPDisk3.(hmm, should be 4 as in 4th slot).
The APFS disk is named "Physical Store disk4s2 / PPDisk4.
------
"APFS or Mac OS Extended, which one should you choose?
Hi Nicholas,
Looks like you got things figured out.
Here are a few issues reported with APFS.
Have fun and maybe later if you have time you can report your experiences with APFS.
For the 3-drives left, put an array on the drives that are not passthru, then create a RAID 5 logical disk on that array. Then use Disk Utility to put an HFS+ filesystem on it.
From Promise Utility: Select Disk Array tab
Entered an Allias: PromisePegasusArray
Enable Media Patrol: Yes
Enable PDM: Yes
Select Physical Drives: Clicked on the first three drives
Select: Locial Drive
Alias: PromiseLogic
RAID Level: Raid5 (Choices were , 1E or 5)
Capacity: 6 TB
Stripe: 1MB
Sector: 512 Bytes
Read Policy: ReadAhead
Write Policy: WriteAhead
Format: Yes
Select: Add Then SUBMIT
Subsystem Information:
Save Service Report
EVENTS:
- Clear
Type CONFIRM then press CONFIRM
Hi,
As an added note, when repurposing storage this way, there are often issues if the HFS+ disk label from the previous configuration disagrees with the new RAID configuration.
It's a good idea to do a quick init on any new LUNs. This does not apply to passthru disks. The CLI command is...
init -a start -q 1024 -l <LUNid>
Note, this will erase the filesystem and partitioning from the LUN, don't do this to an existing LUN unless you want to erase everything.
Also, when you create a passthru disk, macOS suddenly sees a new disk and you get that popup when it can't mount a Volume. Use Disk Utility to format the passthru disk with HFS+.
Hi R P
Thanks for the suggestions.
I had already swtiched it back. So I have one 1 disk RAID5 array and 3 - independent HPS+ disks.
- I put TimeMachine on one disk to backup the old computer.
- Need to figure out how to wire up the new computer (Thunderbolt 4? to thundebolt 2... I have an adaptor, but need to find a thunderbolt 2 cable) to connect to the new computer to Timeline it.
- and perhaps a third cable to Timeline the other computer.
Might be able to do both computers on one disk. They are each 0.5 TB and the disk is 3TB.
And transfering down the dropbox to the last disk, so I can drop back to just an ordinary sized dropbox.
That is at least the initial plan. Might switch it up.
Question: What is the path to remove one of the independent drives, if I want to put it into storage and replace it with a newer drive?
- File access gets extremely slow as the filesystem gets full
- Deleting files does not change the free space available.
Have fun and maybe later if you have time you can report your experiences with APFS.
Hi Nicholas,
Question: What is the path to remove one of the independent drives, if I want to put it into storage and replace it with a newer drive?
I would suggest powering off the Pegasus, then you can remove the drive you want. Label the drive and make sure to put the current date on it. Then remove the drive from the drive carrier and insert the new drive. Many new drives arrive in passthru mode, if it is not change the drive to passthru mode from either the GUI or the CLI. Then put a filesystem on it with disk Utility.
