How to Use the Software RAID Feature in Mac OS Mojave
Posted on 17th June 2023
How to Use the Software RAID Feature in Mac OS Mojave
The software RAID feature in Mac OS Mojave is a great way to protect your data. It provides redundancy in case one of your disks fails, and it can also improve performance by striping data across multiple disks.
Here’s how to set up a software RAID in Mac OS Mojave:
1. Open the Disk Utility app, which is located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
2. Select the disk or volume that you want to use for the RAID, then click the RAID tab.
3. Click the Add button, then select the RAID type and options that you want to use.
4. Click the Create button, then enter a name for the RAID.
5. Click the Done button.
Your software RAID will now be created and will appear in the Disk Utility app.
How to Use the Software RAID Feature in Mac OS Mojave
The software RAID feature in Mac OS Mojave is a great way to increase the storage and performance of your Mac. Here’s how to set it up and use it.
What is RAID?
RAID stands for “Redundant Array of Independent Disks”. It’s a way of combining multiple physical disks into a single logical volume. This has several benefits:
Increased storage capacity. You can combine multiple disks into a single volume, allowing you to store more data.
Increased performance. By spreading the data across multiple disks, you can increase the read and write speed of the volume.
Increased redundancy. By replicating data across multiple disks, you can protect against data loss in the event of a disk failure.
There are different RAID levels, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. The most common RAID levels are 0, 1, and 5.
RAID 0
RAID 0 is the simplest RAID level. It involves stripping data across multiple disks, with no redundancy. This provides the highest storage capacity and performance, but if any disk fails, all data is lost.
RAID 1
RAID 1 involves replicating data across multiple disks. This provides redundancy, meaning that if one disk fails, the data is still available on the other disks. However, it halves the storage capacity, as only half of the disks are used for data storage.
RAID 5
RAID 5 is a balance between RAID 0 and RAID 1. It involves striping data across multiple disks, with parity information distributed across all disks. This provides both increased storage capacity and redundancy. However, it requires at least 3 disks, and the performance is lower than RAID 0.
How to Set Up RAID in Mac OS Mojave
The software RAID feature in Mac OS Mojave is a great way to increase the storage and performance of your Mac. Here’s how to set it up and use it.
Before you begin, you’ll need to have two or more physical disks connected to your Mac. These can be either internal or external disks.
Once you have your disks connected, open the Disk Utility application. This can be found in the Applications > Utilities folder.
Click on the RAID tab at the top of the window.
Click the “+” button to create a new RAID array.
Give your array a name, and select the RAID type and disk layout.
Click the “Create” button.
Your RAID array will now be created. You can verify this by looking at the “RAID Sets” list in the Disk Utility window.
How to Use Your RAID Array
Once your RAID array is set up, you can use it just like any other volume on your Mac. You can format it, mount it, and use it to store data.
To format your RAID array, open the Disk Utility application.
Select your RAID array from the list of volumes.
Click the “Erase” button.
Give your volume a name, and choose a file system.
Click the “Erase” button.
Your RAID array will now be formatted and ready to use.
To mount your RAID array, open the Disk Utility application.
Select your RAID array from the list of volumes.
Click the “Mount” button.
Your RAID array will now be mounted and available for use.
To unmount your RAID array, open the Disk Utility application.
Select your RAID array from the list of volumes.
Click the “Unmount” button.
Your RAID array will now be unmounted.
To delete your RAID array, open the Disk Utility application.
Select your RAID array from the list of volumes.
Click the “Delete RAID” button.
Confirm that you want to delete the RAID array.
Your RAID array will now be deleted.
Troubleshooting
If you have any problems setting up or using the software RAID feature in Mac OS Mojave, here are some troubleshooting tips.
Make sure you have at least two physical disks connected to your Mac. The software RAID feature requires at least two disks.
If you’re using external disks, make sure they’re connected to your Mac using a Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 cable. The software RAID feature won’t work with slower USB 2.0 or Firewire cables.
Make sure all of your disks are the same size. The software RAID feature won’t work with disks of different sizes.
Make sure all of your disks are formatted using a compatible file system. The software RAID feature supports HFS+, APFS, and FAT32 file systems.
If you’re having trouble creating or mounting a RAID array, try restarting your Mac. This will often fix the problem.
If you’re still having trouble, contact Apple support.
The next step is to create the RAID set. To do this, open Disk Utility and select the RAID tab. Select the type of RAID set you want to create from the drop-down menu. The options are: mirror, stripe, and concatenate. For this example, we will create a mirror set.
Next, select the disks you want to include in the RAID set. For a mirror set, you need to select two disks. Once you have selected the disks, click on the “Create” button.
Enter a name for the RAID set and click on the “Create” button.
The next step is to format the RAID set. To do this, select the RAID set from the left side menu and click on the “Erase” button.
Enter a name for the RAID set and choose the format you want to use. For this example, we will use the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Click on the “Erase” button to format the RAID set.
The next step is to mount the RAID set. To do this, select the RAID set from the left side menu and click on the “Mount” button.
The RAID set will now be mounted and available for use.
