Help
I have upgraded the size of my hard drives that came with my mac
G5. The disks that I took out are Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023AS 160GB Hard Drives. I would like to find the correct enclosure and software for these disk so as to make them appear as one external disk (ie 320GB disk). Can this be done and how and where to buy the right enclosure and what type is needed.
This is my first trip to this sight and I assume questions of this nature are what this sight is about. If anyone out there can help, thank you in advance.
Sincerly
Doug Howle
G5. The disks that I took out are Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023AS 160GB Hard Drives. I would like to find the correct enclosure and software for these disk so as to make them appear as one external disk (ie 320GB disk). Can this be done and how and where to buy the right enclosure and what type is needed.
This is my first trip to this sight and I assume questions of this nature are what this sight is about. If anyone out there can help, thank you in advance.
Sincerly
Doug Howle
Comments
Well, I'm going to answer your question with a question.
What do you want to do with the discs ?
Use for Archive, or for network access as in storage, or for media access. Do you want to Raid them ?
(see, you knew there'd be more than one, didn't you ?)
- there's just so many different boxes now that are more suited for one thing or another.
Some of these add layers of complexity dependant on your needs. Which you don't say - but rest assured we WILL grill you !
A simple storage thingy - many people have been content with simple old fw 400 for yonks now. You just buy fw 400 external cases, mount your disc in and plug them into your Mac. Format the disc Mac Os extended (hfs+). The disc is seen by your computer and mounts as a volume on your desktop. You can clone to this disc or simply copy files over to it. It is fast enough to run the OS, meaning you can boot off it if you have an OS on there.
If you used a simple software Raid as in a stripe (raid 0) you will have the 320. Ask back if you intend to Raid 0 any discs - you need to have a backup plan.
Want more fw 400 discs at once then daisy chain the discs together and they'll mount as seperate volumes.
Want to go faster ? - then a fw 800 raid might do.
I think that's likely to be enough at this point to get you thinking but anyhow - what do you plan to use them for ?
oh, and welcome to the boards !
edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_enclosure Some reading.
The functions I need in this drive are:
1) Backup my itunes library
2) Backup my photos
3) Install Mac OSX 10.5
4) Install Utility software so this drive can be used for repairs & emergencies
I just can't thank you enough for your help!
Doug
This is actually pretty easy, although the price of drives is so cheap nowadays you may just want to go ahead and get another Ext HD as well. The reason I say this is that to do what you want and have the 2 drives show up as one requires you to Raid 0 them. Many people do this, mainly more for speed. That is because if one of the drives goes down you loose all of your info. So if you are planing to do this as a BACKUP for your files, this may not be the best choice.
Here is an External case that will do what you want. (just add your drives-easy!)
This will make your 2 HDs appear as one 320GB.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other...ng/MEFW912AL2/
Here is the same unit with drives already in them and ready to go.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firew...erformanceRAID
Just remember that if 1 drive goes down you loose ALL your info.
As I said before, drives are so cheap why not just get another as backup or just make 2 EXT drives out of your 2 drives. Keeping them separate will be a pain on your desk and require you put the info in both, but saves you if one were to go bad.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
Good luck!
Sell those on eBay and buy a 500 GB drive from NewEgg.