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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 and Changing Bootable SoftRAID Volumes .

Part 3

Section 3: The Step-by-Step QuickStart

SoftRAID can create Mirror, Stripe or non-RAID Volumes on a variety of disks. For more information on making these selections, please consult the SoftRAID 3 Manual. If you are creating, deleting or converting volumes on the disk which contains your startup volume, you will need to boot off of another system located on another hard disk or a SoftRAID Startup CD-ROM or DVD. Part 4 of this Guide contains instructions on creating this CD-ROM.

To Create a New Volume:

Select New... This command is located under the Volume menu. The New Volume window will appear:

Select the Disks - Disks can be chosen from the New Volume window or from the Application window before the New.. command is selected. If chosen from the Application window, they will appear highlighted in the New Volume window. Disks can be selected by clicking, shift-clicking, command-clicking, or dragging through the list of disks. If a disk appears in the Application window but not in the New volume window, it may have no available free space, may not be initialized with SoftRAID 3 or may be a part of a startup volume.

Select the Volume type - Volume types can be chosen from the pull-down menu or by clicking the icons at the top of the window.

Select the File System - Choose HFS Extended unless the application to be used on the volume specifies UFS (Unix File System) in its documentation.

Select the Optimization - SoftRAID 3 gives 4 choices for optimization: Workstation, Server, Digital Video and Digital Audio. Choose the type which best describes what the volume will be used for. This selection enables Journaling for Servers and adjusts transfer parameters for Digital Audio, Digital Video and Workstation. If you are unsure about your use, choose Workstation.

Select the Volume Size - This box will, by default, display the Maximum size volume which you can create with the disks you have selected. Type in the desired volume size. If after selecting a volume size you wish to change to the Maximum size again, use the Max size button.

Type in the New volume name - This name will appear in a Volume tile in the Application window and under the Volume icon on the desktop. Volumes names should be less than 28 characters and cannot include colons : or forward slash /.

Click the Create Button - For Stripe and Mirror volumes, one more step of customization is required:

For Stripe volumes:

The Stripe Unit Size dialog box will appear. SoftRAID 3 creates a Stripe volume by segmenting data into chunks and sending them to each subsequent disk in the array. The size of the chunk is called the stripe unit size.

For Mirror volumes:

The Primary Disk dialog box will appear. When you create a new Mirror volume, SoftRAID asks which disk you prefer as your Primary disk and then designates all others in the volume as secondary disks. The Primary disk should be the fastest and most reliable disk used to create the Mirror volume. The Primary which appears as the first selection is the one which SoftRAID suggests based on its analysis of the buses of the possible Primary disks. In creating a Mirror volume, SoftRAID makes all of the secondary disks identical to the Primary disk.

Click OK on the desired customization. SoftRAID 3 will complete the Volume creation and will display the new Volume tile in the Application Window. A new Volume icon will also appear on the Desktop.

Quit the SoftRAID 3 Application. The Application does not need to be launched for the volumes to work. The volumes can now be used like any other volume on the desktop. If any changes occur in the state of the volumes, the SoftRAID Monitor will inform you with a dialog box. If you need to respond to a state change, launch the Application from the desktop or dialog box and you will be presented with the Application window.

Convert a Non-RAID Volume to a Mirror Volume

If you have a SoftRAID non-RAID volume that you want to make into a Mirror volume, you can use the SoftRAID Convert to Mirror... command in the Volume menu. If the volume is your startup volume or shares a disk with the startup volume, you will need to be started from a different startup volume such as one on a FireWire disk or a SoftRAID Startup CD.

To Convert a Non-RAID volume:

Highlight the volume in the Application window which you will be converting to a Mirror.

Select the Convert to Mirror... menu item in the Volume menu. SoftRAID will display the available disks which can be added to the volume. If a disk which you want to use does not appear, it is because it does not have enough available space, is part of another startup volume, or has not yet been initialized with the SoftRAID driver. If the disk is a converted Apple disk, it will show only 128 MB of available space, even if there is no data in the volume. You must reinitialize this disk with SoftRAID if you want to add it to a SoftRAID volume with a capacity of more than 128 MB.

Select a disk and click the Convert button. You will see a progress indicator appear which tracks the rebuild process.