Configuring enclosure in RAID1 when there is no manual

[Peperonix]

I would like to configure the pictured enclosure in RAID 1. (N.B. : I would not have buyed it years ago if it was not supporting RAID 1.)

Unfortunately I don't know the model of the enclosure, and it is not written on it. Likely it was written on some missing housing base.
Doing a reverse image search, I could find pictures from quite similar enclosures, but all had a different layout of sockets, so that I could not find the model and the manual.

I tried all four possible combinations of cursors "1" and "2".

With two 1TB hard disks, I was hoping to see a unique 1TB (mirrored) storage for the RAID 1, but I see either:

• one 2TB storage (likely JBOD and RAID 0)
• two independant 1TB storages

For Icy Box models, the RAID 1 configuration is usually cursor "1" up and cursor "2" down.
Maybe it is the configuration same for this unbranded enclosure. (I think it was a LaCie.)

I remember from an Icy Box RAID, that there was some procedure so set the enclosure in RAID 1, but unfortunately, I cannot remember it.
(Maybe moving some cursor with the power button being hold down ?)
I assume there is a quite similar procedure to set this enclosure in RAID 1 ...

Can you remember the procedure for a quite similar model to set it in RAID 1 ?
If yes, I would attempt it, write some test file, and check that it was written on each of the two hard drives.

Thanks.

 

[lcoughey]

I woudn't waste my time on it with such a slow connection. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[NviGate Systems]

Not going to lie, back in the day I would have given my left kidney for one of those boxes. They were kinda of cool. We take so much of our multi sata backplane and SSD for granted. This is going back to the frontier.

 

[Markverhyden]

I woudn't waste my time on it with such a slow connection. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

Not to mention it must be some 15 to 20 years old. I'd use it as a book end.....

 

[Peperonix]

It can be seen as no-worry solution for dual storage.
For sure, not the fastest interface, but if there is an long initial copy, it can be done during the night.
Then, for the typical regular backup of small files (Word, Excel, PDF, ...), USB 2.0 speed is enough.

Even nowadays, there are still many individuals and self-employed that have no more than a few Megabytes per week to backup.
If reliability matters more than speed, such backup solution is still a decent one, especially if compared with some unreliable backup storages that people commonly buy in supermarkets.

I am selling some old equipment through marketplaces to free up some space in my office and warehouse.
This system has been sold, I just want to send it ready-for-use.

So, any idea how to initialize the RAID 1 on such system?

 

[Markverhyden]

It can be seen as no-worry solution for dual storage.
For sure, not the fastest interface, but if there is an long initial copy, it can be done during the night.
Then, for the typical regular backup of small files (Word, Excel, PDF, ...), USB 2.0 speed is enough.

Even nowadays, there are still many individuals and self-employed that have no more than a few Megabytes per week to backup.
If reliability matters more than speed, such backup solution is still a decent one, especially if compared with some unreliable backup storages that people commonly buy in supermarkets.

I am selling some old equipment through marketplaces to free up some space in my office and warehouse.
This system has been sold, I just want to send it ready-for-use.

So, any idea how to initialize the RAID 1 on such system?

You get what you see, so it means everything you do has to be on the client side. Since it presents 2 single drives then you'd have to use a software based solution to create a mirror. In MS it's Disk Management. In macOS it's Disk Utilities. Linux via a disk utility GUI or CLI it's mdadm.

In the other mode you don't know if it's RAID 0 unless you tried 2 different sized disks. If it's automatically giving you the smaller disk as the size then it's RAID 0. If it's the sum of the two disks then it's JBOD. Given the age I'd be it's just JBOD. You could do RAID 0 as well from the utilities listed above using the option where it presents 2 disks.

 

[Peperonix]

You get what you see, so it means everything you do has to be on the client side. Since it presents 2 single drives then you'd have to use a software based solution to create a mirror. In MS it's Disk Management. In macOS it's Disk Utilities. Linux via a disk utility GUI or CLI it's mdadm.

In the other mode you don't know if it's RAID 0 unless you tried 2 different sized disks. If it's automatically giving you the smaller disk as the size then it's RAID 0. If it's the sum of the two disks then it's JBOD. Given the age I'd be it's just JBOD. You could do RAID 0 as well from the utilities listed above using the option where it presents 2 disks.

Thank you Mark,
Your trick of using disk of different capacities to distinguish a JBOD configuration from a RAID 0 sounds like a good one.

However, the config that I want is RAID 1 (mirrored disks).
It is the only one that still makes sense nowadays. I could find in my office a quite similar device, "Iomega" branded.
I think most of these RAID devices are built by a few Taiwanese or sometimes Chinese constructors, and then sold wholesale.
Then, if I find the online manual for the Iomega, I have good hope to learn about how to initialize the hardware in RAID 1 for this enclosure as well. (I think it was a LaCie.)

Both the quite complex PCB board and the "RAID Setting" cursors at the rear of the enclosure make me think that it a hardware RAID and not a software one. But I remember from an Icy Box IB-RD3621U3 that there can be a tricky start-up procedure (with the device) before you can see a unique 1TB storage in Windows Disk Management or Mac's Disk Utility.

 

[Markverhyden]

To begin with I highly doubt that the enclosure is a real hardware RAID device. Meaning a real RAID chipset. RAID cards in those days cost in the high hundreds if not thousands and I sincerely doubt you paid anything close to that for this box. The device presents 2 disks to the OS. So you use the OS to configure the RAID.

 

[NviGate Systems]

About the only OS that could handle those disks gracefully was Mac OS X. Windows had a bit of a clunky System that would only allow mirrors on 2003 Server and I think Pro.....I don't think Home could....and even then, you were still subject to glitches and stuff.

Now, I know back in the day, there were shops that sold "SATA Upgrade Kits" that would upgrde many of the older IDE and SCSI enclosures like this to SATA and even SAS.

By the way, about the RAID mode switch, I recall a few units like that. The modes were often JBOD, Passthrough?, RAID 1 and sometimes RAID0 if you needed fast throughput. You have two switches with two positions. So 2x2 =4 possible configurations.

For example, see this, in this unit, it has 3 modes. RAID 1, RAID 0 Stripe and RAID 0 span (basically JBOD). We used to use these enclosures in video production because Fireware behaved better than USB. Depending on the work being done, some units very well would be in RAID 0 Striped.

These days this would only really be useful for vintage computing. Modern computers often don't have the interface or Windows refuses to work with it. We live in a great age where chip design has been drastically better. So many chips were glitchy back in the day.

 

[Peperonix]

To begin with I highly doubt that the enclosure is a real hardware RAID device. Meaning a real RAID chipset. (...)

Thank you Mark for your expert advice. You are right, the device was not a real hardware RAID.

Thank you "NviGate Systems" for your answer, which is useful as well.

I set the two cursors of the enclosure "Up" and "Up" (like for some quite similar model from Verbatim) and set the RAID 1 following this video and using the Disk Utility from Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard:

Worked like a charm. For RAID 1 on my enclosure, the frontal Firewire 400 port is the one to use.

I could confirm that the files were written on both drives, by accessing them separately (using a docking station).
Both disks still showed RAID 1 volume, even if read separately. The RAID 1 seems getting corrupted by doing (even if unmounting properly).
So, reading disks separately is should be done only if one disk fails.

I simply had to set a fresh RAID 1 volume again.

So, I recommend simply using the Firewire 400 port for the previously pictured device.

Problem solved.

 

[Markverhyden]

I could confirm that the files were written on both drives, by accessing them separately (using a docking station).
Both disks still showed RAID 1 volume, even if read separately. The RAID 1 seems getting corrupted by doing (even if unmounting properly).
So, reading disks separately is should be done only if one disk fails.

You mounted them RW which immediately alters the headers. All modern OS's automatically do that for recognized partitions unless it's disabled. Even that's not perfect so using a hardware write blocker is the preferred option. Since they were done separately it broke the mirror. You can mount them Read only and it'll preserve the the array info.