QuickStart Guide

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SoftRAID 3 QuickStart Guide

• Part 1: A Quick Look at SoftRAID Scenarios
  
  
• Part 2: A Quick look at the SoftRAID 3 Application window.
  
  
• Part 3: The Step-by-step QuickStart guide.
  
  
  • Setup SoftRAID & Initialize Disk
  • Converting Volumes
  • Create New Volumes
    
  
  
• Part 4: Making Bootable SoftRAID Volumes .
  

Part 3

Section 1: The Step-by-Step QuickStart

1. Deciding on Your Volumes
   

   Before you use SoftRAID for the first time you will want to decide how many disks will be in your new SoftRAID volume, how big the volume will be, whether you want to save any of your data from your Apple volumes and whether the new volume will contain a system.

   Option A: Start from scratch
   
   If you have non-SoftRAID disks that have data you don't need to save, or new disks which have not been initialized, you will want to Initialize the disks according to the directions on page 7 and then create a New volume with those disks, as described on page 10.

   Option B: Convert a standard Apple Disk/Volume which may contain a system
   
   If you have a standard Apple volume which contains data that you want to save, you can convert it to a SoftRAID non-RAID volume and then, if you choose, add more disks to it and make it into a Mirror volume. You will use the Convert to SoftRAID 3 command to convert the disk and then the Convert to Mirror... command to add more disks to the volume. Read pages 7, 8, and 11 for these instructions.

   If you are converting your Apple startup or "boot" disk, the Mac must be started from a different startup volume, as described on page 14.

   Note: To prepare an Apple disk for adding to a non-RAID or Mirror volume you will want to use the Initialize command rather than the Convert to SoftRAID 3 command. Standard Apple and Apple RAID volumes take up the entire capacity of a disk, even if the data only fills a small amount of that volume. This means that after an Apple disk is converted there is only a small amount (128 MB) available for creating other SoftRAID volumes.

   Option C: Convert an Apple RAID volume:
   
   If you have an Apple Mirror or Stripe volume that you want to convert, you will convert each disk of the volume individually with the Convert to SoftRAID 3 command. When all of the disks are converted, the volume will perform as a SoftRAID volume. These instructions are on pages 8 and 9.

   As described above, converted Apple RAID volumes will use all of a disk's capacity regardless of the amount of data in the volume. To use the data in an existing Mirror or Stripe volume but alter the size of the volume, copy the data to another disk, initialize the disks with SoftRAID and then create the new volumes in the size you wish. Mirror, Stripe and non-RAID volumes can share the same disks in SoftRAID.

   
   
2. Launch the Application
   You will be prompted to enter the user password for your Mac. Once the password is verified, the SoftRAID application window will appear showing the disks which are connected to your Mac:
   
   
   
3. Install the SoftRAID driver on the Mac
   
   The following alert will appear. Click on Install.
   
   
   
   
4. Initialize a Disk/Convert a Disk
   
   All disks used to create SoftRAID 3 volumes need to be initialized with the SoftRAID 3 Application.
   
   Existing Apple Disk Utility RAID, non-RAID, and SoftRAID 2.x volumes can retain their data and be initialized with SoftRAID 3 using the Convert to SoftRAID 3 menu item. Converting a startup or "boot" volume requires that the Mac be started from a different startup volume. See Part 4 of this Guide for details.