[mkerr64]

Hi there

I have just purchased a new 250gb WD HD for my Mac Pro and already have added 62gb onto it
I am planning to combine both of these drives to create 1x 500

I have gone to the Disk Utility and I’m not sure exactly how add it properly and create this RAID. When i first attempted this the "Create" button was not highlighted and I was stuck there


Could someone please guide me how to properly create this concatenated RAID?
and would I lose any data from the 2nd drive?

Thanks

[OreoCookie]

If you just concatenate your volumes, you are aware that you will not see any improvements in terms of speed, just a larger volume with twice the capacity, right?

[mkerr64]

yes i am aware of that

[mac128k-1984]

Why not stripe the disks, you'll get the increased capacity and a performance boost.

[OreoCookie]

When you add drives to create a JBOD, MacOS X has to format it before using it. Hence, you cannot add the boot volume to your JBOD.

Perhaps this is of interest for you: if one drive fails, all your data will be lost, so make sure to have a backup strategy. Also, IMHO there are only a few instances when JBODing a drive is useful.

[mkerr64]

what would you suggest i do just leave it as 2 seperate drives and etc...?
if so, and my 1st HD is full would i still be able to install applications
because some require that i install them on the boot HD?

[OreoCookie]

Yes. You can use another drive relatively easily for your Music, Movies or whatever takes a lot of space on your harddrive. You could also download software that puts your user folders onto the second drive.

[mkerr64]

which program would that be?

[mkerr64]

SuperDuper?

[mkerr64]

could someone please respond to which program i can use to put my user folders on to the 2nd HDD

[OreoCookie]

Have you even bothered to do a search?
There are instructions here. However, at least one of Apple's update assumes that your home directory is located in /Users/[short user name]

You'll probably have a much easier time if you were to put some of your directories such as Documents onto the second harddrive. For that, you can do the following:
(0) Make sure to have a fresh backup of your files at hand.
(1) Create a Documents folder on your second harddrive at a location of your liking.
(2) Open the Terminal and enter

Code:
cd Documents [Enter]
ditto -rsrc * /Volumes/[name of second hd]/[Path to other Documents directory]/* [Enter]

(if you don't want to type the path, just write `ditto -rsrc * ' and drag the directory into the Terminal window. You could also just copy the files in the Finder. However, ditto will preserve creation dates, etc.
(3) Rename your Documents directory on your first harddrive.
(4) Go back to the Terminal and type

Code:
cd [Enter]
ln -s /Volumes/[name of second hd]/[Path to other Documents directory] Documents [Enter]

(5) Once you are sure the link (`Documents') you have created really points to the right directory, you may deleted the renamed Documents directory.

Now a new Documents folder should appear in your home directory. All documents will be saved on your second hd.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by mkerr64 

I have gone to the Disk Utility and I’m not sure exactly how add it properly and create this RAID. When i first attempted this the "Create" button was not highlighted and I was stuck there

You have to boot from the cd or a drive that will not be in the RAID. When you create the RAID you will loose all data on both drives.

[mkerr64]

and yes OreoCookie i have bothered to search

thanks for everything