OWC Mercury Rack Pro 4 Bay Storage Enclosure, OWCMANFWRACK Owner's Manual

Copyright ®2007 Other World Computing All Rights Reserved. Other World Computing’s 2 year Limited Warranty is not transferable and subject to limitations.
Copyrights
Copyright © 2007 Other World Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Other World Computing.
Changes
The material in this document is for information only and subject to change without notice. While reasonable eorts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, Other World Computing assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. Other World Computing reserves the right to make changes or revisions in the product design or the product manual without reservation and without obligation to notify any person of such revisions and changes.
FCC Statement:
Warning! Modications not authorized by the manufacturer may void the user’s authority to operate this device. NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense. NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installa­tion. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment o and on, the user is encouraged to try and correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit dierent from that to which the receiver is connected.
Health And Safety Precautions
• Use proper anti-static precautions while performing the installation of your hard drives into this drive enclosure. Failure to
do so can cause damage to your drive mechanisms, and / or the hard drive enclosure.
• Read this User’s Guide carefully, and follow the correct procedure when setting up the device.
• Do not open your hard drive or attempt to disassemble or modify it. Never insert any metallic object into the drive to avoid
any risk of electrical shock, re, short-circuiting or dangerous emissions. Your hard drive contains no user-serviceable parts. If it appears to be malfunctioning, have it inspected by a qualied Other World Computing Technical Support representative.
• Never expose your device to rain, or use it near water, or in damp or wet conditions. Never place objects containing liquids on the drive, as they may spill into its openings. Doing so increases the risk of electrical shock, short-circuiting, re or personal
injury.
General Use Precautions:
• Do not expose the hard drive to temperatures outside the range of 5° C to 40° C (41° F to 104° F). Doing so may damage the drive or disgure its casing. Avoid placing your drive near a source of heat or exposing it to sunlight (even through a window).
Inversely, placing your drive in an environment that is too cold or humid may damage the unit.
• Always unplug the hard drive from the electrical outlet if there is a risk of lightning or if it will be unused for an extended
period of time. Otherwise, there is an increased risk of electrical shock, short-circuiting or re.
• Use only the power supply shipped with the device.
• Do not use the hard drive near other electrical appliances such as televisions, radios or speakers. Doing so may cause inter-
ference which will adversely aect the operation of the other products.
• Do not place the drive near sources of magnetic interference, such as computer displays, televisions or speakers. Magnetic
interference can aect the operation and stability of your hard drive.
• Do not place heavy objects on top of the drive or use excessive force on it.
• Never use excessive force on your drive. If you detect a problem, consult the Troubleshooting section in this manual.
• Protect your hard drive from excessive exposure to dust during use or storage. Dust can build up inside the device, increas-
ing the risk of damage or malfunction.
• Other World Computing recommends the use of normal glass cleaning products to keep the high lustre nish at it’s nest
with this product. Be sure to not get any moisture inside the holes and if you do, allow time to air dry before use.
• Do not block the ventilation outlets on the rear of the drive. These help to keep your drive cool during operation. Blocking
the ventilation outlets may cause damage to your drive and cause an increased risk of short-circuiting or re.
OWCMANFWRACK
OWC Mercury Rack Pro
4 Bay Storage Enclosure
Owner’s Manual
Page 1
Page 34
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
• Quickstart Guide 2
Chapter 2
• Package Contents and Accessories 3
Chapter 3
• Hardware Overview 3
• Important note before proceeding! 4
Chapter 4
• Cable Connections 5
• FireWire 800 (1394B) connection options 6
• USB 2.0 connection options 7
• How to daisy chain multiple enclosures 8
• How to NOT hook up your enclosure (what NOT to do) 9
Chapter 5
Using with a Macintosh 10
• Setting up as JBOD (4 individual hard drives) 11
• Setting up as RAID-0 (2 hard drives striped for performance) 14
Chapter 6
Using with a PC 17
• Setting up as JBOD (4 individual hard drives) 18
• Setting up as RAID-0 (2 hard drives striped for performance) 24
Chapter 7
• Customize - Swap drive trays, change system drive icons 30
Chapter 8
• Troubleshooting 31
Chapter 9
• Tips 32
Chapter 10
• Contacting Customer Service 33
Page 33
Page 2
You can start using your OWC Mercury Rack Pro storage solution imme­diately with a few easy steps if you don’t want to read the entire manual. The drive solution is formatted for a Macintosh and ready to use right out of the box. If you’re using a Mac, Simply follow the instructions on this page and dive in!
1. Open the boxes and remove the above items
3. Plug the power cable in and turn the power switch on. Your drives will
mount on the desktop and you can start using them.
2. Look at the back of the storage enclosure. You need to choose which
interface you want to use - FireWire 800 or USB 2.0.
FireWire 800
USB 2.0
Quickstart Guide
Chapter 1
Contacting Customer Service
Chapter 10
Before contacting Customer Service:
• Read the manuals and review Chapter 8: Troubleshooting
• Try and conrm the problem is with the hard drive. If you have a sec-
ond Macintosh computer, move the drive to that system and verify that the drive does not function with that machine.
• Visit our tech center for more support suggestions.
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/index.cfm
• Also visit our FAQ section, to see what other customers have asked
about and how they solved their problem.
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/FAQ/index.cfm
If you still need support:
•Have the serial number of the storage solution handy
•Your invoice number (if possible)
•What operating system you are using
•Which kind of Macintosh you are using
Available to you to speed your support contact.
Tech Support Hours (Central Standard Time)
8AM-9PM Monday - Friday 9AM - 4PM Saturday & Sunday Phone (815) 338-8685
Live Chat is available during normal business hours as well. Visit
http://eshop.macsales.com for more information.
Or, you can email: Submit your email at: http://eshop.macsales.com/Service/Tech.cfm
Page 3
Page 32
Item Quantity
OWC Mercury Rack Pro Enclosure 1
SATA Hard Drive in carrier (installed) 4 1394b (FireWire 800) cable 2 USB 2.0 (A-B) cable 2
Power cable 1
Drive Carrier Keys 2 Software Bundle CD 1 Installation & Setup Guide 1
Front panel LED status indicators:
• Access LEDs will light up blue if the hard drive is installed.
• Access LED will always light up red if the hard drive is removed.
• HDD Access LED will ash blue when data is being accessed.
• Power LED will light up blue when the power is turned on.
• Fail LED will light up red when the internal temperature exceeds 60˚C
or if the internal fan has failed.
Hardware Overview
Chapter 3
Package Contents and Accessories
Chapter 2
To disconnect or unhook your OWC Mercury Rack Pro hard drive,
follow these important steps to properly dismount your drive.
If you wish to disconnect your OWC Mercury Rack Pro storage solution without shutting down your computer, simply drag the OWC Mercury
Rack Pro drive icon(s) to the trash can on the desktop (or, in the dock using Mac OS X). Your drive is now safe to power o and unhook.
Realize that you have up to 4 drives to dismount with this 4 bay unit ­make sure all drives are disconnected before powering down.
Share your Mac formatted drive with your PC using MacDrive
(optional purchase)
After installing MacDrive, your HFS+ Macintosh volume will mount as if the drive were formatted in a native Windows format. MacDrive allows
you to use your OWC Mercury hard drive on either platform without having to reformat or re-initialize the volume. We highly recommend this software for anyone that is sharing data in a cross platform environment.
Cloning drives (exact copies)
If you want to make an exact duplicate of a hard drive, we highly recommend Mike Bombich’s donationware “Carbon Copy Cloner”. It’s a great tool! You can nd it on his website at: http://www.bombich.com/ccc.html
Using with Time Machine (Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”)
The OWC Mercury Rack Pro storage solution is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5’s Time Machine as long as you have a hard drive volume
formatted using the Mac OS Extended HFS+ scheme. Follow Time
Machine’s built in instructions to congure.
Tips
Chapter 9
Page 31
Page 4
1. Before installing, make sure that you have reviewed the previous page and that all necessary cables and parts are present.
2. Please be sure to use the heavy duty power cord that is provided. The
unit is able to be used with 100-240V, 60Hz power and is autoswitching.
3. Any disassembly of the enclosure or modication will void your warranty. If you are experiencing problems, please contact our technical support department before opening the enclosure.
4. Hardware Requirements:
• For the best performance, connect the enclosure using the included 1394b cables (FireWire 800). See note below about gaining even more performance than a single FireWire 800 connection can provide.
• You can also use a USB 2.0 connection (but not at the same time) if you
do not have a FireWire port on your computer.
• You can even use a FireWire 400 to 800 converter cable if you don’t have a native FireWire 800 port built into your computer.
If you are looking to maximize the performance of this enclosure, it
has the ability to utilize 2 discrete FireWire 800 connections. You can connect 2 drives to one FireWire 800 interface, for example, the built-in FireWire 800 connection on your computer, and the other 2 drives to a PCI/PCI Express FireWire 800 card, doubling the bandwidth available.
5. OS Requirements:
• Mac:
Compatible with all Apple OS Versions 8.5 through 9.2.x; Apple OS X
10.0.3 and higher (including OS X ‘Leopard’ 10.5.x).
• Windows:
Compatible with Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP; Any OS or device with standard FireWire or USB support.
IMPORTANT!!
Please read before proceeding with installation
Troubleshooting
Chapter 8
If your OWC Mercury Rack Pro is not functioning properly, begin by checking some basic possibilities, such as:
• Are all cables tightly attached to the computer and drive?
• Is the power supply plugged in rmly, and is the LED lit on the power supply brick?
If the above solutions are not working, a full reset of your system may be in order.
• Performing a set of open rmware reset routines can result in the
memory being properly recognized again. To do this, you will need to boot your machine into Open rmware.
To boot into Open Firmware, shut down your Mac, then start it up while holding down the Command, Option, O and F keys. At the Open Firm-
ware screen prompt, enter the following commands (you may want to write them down on a piece of paper before beginning this process),
pressing the return key after each:
reset-nvram (press return) set-defaults (press return) reset-all (press return, your machine will reboot)
For further troubleshooting tips, visit our FAQ section online at: http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/FAQ/index.cfm
If you are still experiencing problems with your drive, please continue
on to Chapter 10: Contacting Customer Service, on page 33.
Page 5
Page 30
Please review the following pictures to determine the best way to hook your new drive solution to your computer.
Power Plug On/O Switch
Insert the power plug and connect to your standard wall outlet. The internal power supply is autoswitching and you can use it with voltages
ranging from 110V to 220V, 60Hz.
Drives 3 & 4
Drives 1 & 2
1394B
(FW800)
USB 2.0
1394B
(FW800)
USB 2.0
These are the connections you will use to attach the storage solution to your computer. You will need to decide if you are going to hook the
solution up via FireWire 800 (1394b) - which is the fastest interface this drive solution uses, or via USB 2.0, or both. If you don’t have a FireWire 800 port you can use a FireWire 400-800 converter cable.
The OWC Mercury Elite Rack Pro has two separate back panel connec­tions - called bridges - each controlling 2 hard drives. On the following pages you will see the dierent methods used to connect the drive solu­tion to your computer.
Cable Connections
Chapter 4
Drive Icons:
Now that you have your new OWC Mercury Elite Rack Pro congured to your needs, dress it up! Change the icon of the hard drive! We have cre­ated disk icons for every model of drive we make:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Framework.cfm?page=/icons/
icons.html
Customizing your new OWC Mercury Elite Rack Pro
Chapter 7
Removable Trays:
You can purchase extra drive carriers and swap out drive mechanisms, perfect for o-site backup or archiving.
To remove the drive tray - rst, make sure the power is turned OFF on the Mercury Elite Rack Pro - this is not a “hot swap” procedure.
Start by inserting the included drive key into the small hole on the right side of the tray, in the area below the door.
Push the key in - and it will pop the door up, allowing you to pull the tray out of the enclosure.
You can purchase multiple drive trays and perform a rotation, if you want to archive data and store it at another location for safety.
Page 29
Page 6
Connection option #1 - Connect to the same FireWire 800 source (built in FireWire 800 ports, or a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card) using two cables -
direct connection for each bridge card.
Connection option #2 - Connect to the same FireWire 800 source (built in FireWire 800 ports, or a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card) via daisy-chaining
the two bridges together, then connect one bridge to the computer.
Connection option #3 - Connect to separate FireWire 800 interfaces (such as a built in FireWire 800 port, AND a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card). Use the 2 included cables to connect one cable to each of these inter-
faces, doubling the bandwidth.
Of the 3 types of FireWire 800 connection listed above, Connection option #3 is the fastest.
Step
13
You will see the drive begin to format. This will take up to 5 minutes to complete.
Step
14
The format has completed. You will see it report back as a
healthy partition. Complete the formatting process for the remaining drives using these steps. You’re all set!
FireWire 800 (1394B) Connection Options
Page 7
Page 28
Connection option #4 - Connect to the same USB 2.0 source (built in USB 2.0 ports, or a PCI/PCIe USB 2.0 card) using two cables - direct con-
nection for each bridge card.
Connection option #5 - This option allows you to use both a FireWire
800 and a USB 2.0 connection. Connect one cable from the FireWire 800 ports on either bridge card to the computer, and then connect the USB
2.0 connection on the opposite bridge card to the computer.
This allows you to maximize the performance, of the storage solution, even though you do not have two identical interfaces.
Check “Perform a quick format” and choose which le system you want to use. NTFS is default and recommended. Click
Next when you are ready.
This screen is an overview of the settings you have chosen to format the disk with. Click Finish when you are ready.
Step
11
Step
12
USB 2.0 & Other Connection Options
FireWire 400 Connection - same as the FireWire 800 connection op-
tions on the previous page - but you can use a FireWire 400 to 800 (9-6 pin) converter cable. This is slower, but oers a broader range of com-
patibility with dierent systems.
Page 27
Page 8
Mercury Elite RAID #1
Mercury Elite RAID #2
Mercury Elite RAID #3
If you wish to connect multiple storage enclosures together, use the above diagram to properly connect the enclosures to each other. You
can of course split the enclosures onto multiple FireWire 800 sources to
improve data transfer speeds, but it is possible to connect multiple units together in the described method.
The maximum volume size will automatically be prompted in
the box at the bottom. If you wish to adjust the size smaller, you can do so. In this demonstration we will use a maximum size volume. Click Next when you are ready.
Choose a new drive letter for the volume. It will automatically prompt an unused volume letter. Click Next
when you are ready.
Step
9
Step
10
Daisy Chaining Multiple Enclosures Together
Page 9
Page 26
The below described methods show what NOT to do to hook your storage enclosure to your computer.
You cannot share the storage enclosure between two computers.
Do not attempt to hook cables between the storage enclosure and 2
computers as shown, data loss and damage to the unit can occur.
You also cannot hook both the FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connection
to the computer on the same bridge card. Once again, data loss and damage to the computer can occur.
You will see the above box appear in the middle of the screen. Right click on the rst unallocated volume that you wish to
format. Select “New Simple Volume”.
The New Simple Volume Wizard will launch. Click Next.
Step
7
Step
8
Ways to NOT hook your storage enclosure to your computer
Page 25
Page 10
Once you have decided on the proper way to connect the OWC Mercury Rack Pro to your Macintosh, you’re now ready to power the unit on and
begin using it. Do so now.
The OWC Mercury Rack Pro comes from the factory pre congured
one of 3 ways. Please refer to your invoice to verify which method of
conguration you ordered if you do not know already.
The methods are:
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Rack Pro, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Rack Pro, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your desktop.
RAID 0+1 - This method is a bit dierent than the above two methods as
it uses a piece of software that is included with this bundle - SoftRAID. SoftRAID combines two Stripe (RAID-0) volumes into a RAID-1 Mirror
- allowing both speed, and full redundancy. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack using this method, you would
have 1 2TB volume mount on your desktop.
Your solution should be congured properly to work the way that you ordered it right out of the box. However, if you decide you want to recongure or change the method you ordered, please see the
following pages to reformat or recongure your RAID. For RAID 0+1 solutions using SoftRAID, please consult the SoftRAID manual on the included CD with those solutions.
Double click on Computer Management.
Click on Disk Management under the Storage subcategory.
Step
5
Step
6
Open Administrative Tools.
Step
4
Using your OWC Mercury Rack Pro 4 bay with a
Macintosh Computer
(If you are using a PC; please turn to page # 17
Chapter 5
Page 11
Page 24
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy
all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Rack Pro and locate the
switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they are both on the “JBOD” position (LEFT ).
Choose the connection method you desire (USB, FireWire 800),
and power on the OWC Mercury Rack Pro enclosure. You will see these dialog boxes pop up. Click on “Initialize”.
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Rack Pro, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Step
1
Step
2
Step
3
Click on the start button and then Control Panel.
Step
3
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Rack Pro, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your desktop.
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Step
1
Step
2
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Rack Pro and locate the
switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they are both
on the “RAID 0” position (RIGHT ).
Setup your OWC Mercury Rack Pro as JBOD
(4 individual hard drives) on a Macintosh
Setup your OWC Mercury Rack Pro as RAID 0
(2 striped hard drives) on a PC (Windows XP / Vista)
Page 23
Page 12
Once Disk Utility opens, you will see a screen that looks similar to this - note the 4 individual hard drives shown on the left side,
all unformatted with no volumes listed.
Click on the rst hard drive in the list that has no volume, as shown above.
Step
4
Step
5
You will see the drive begin to format. This will take up to 5 minutes to complete.
The format has completed. You will see it report back as a
healthy partition. Complete the formatting process for the remaining drives using these steps. You’re all set!
Step
13
Step
14
Page 13
Page 22
Enter a name for your new hard drive, select a volume format, and click Erase.
Are you sure? Click Erase.
1 drive down, 3 more to go. Continue naming and formatting
each of your drives. You’re all set!
Step
6
Step
7
Step
8
Check “Perform a quick format” and choose which le system you want to use. NTFS is default and recommended. Click
Next when you are ready.
This screen is an overview of the settings you have chosen to format the disk with. Click Finish when you are ready.
Step
11
Step
12
Page 21
Page 14
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Rack Pro, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your desktop.
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Rack Pro and locate the
switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they are both
on the “RAID 0” position (RIGHT ).
Choose the connection method you desire (USB, FireWire 800),
and power on the OWC Mercury Rack Pro enclosure. You will
see these dialog boxes pop up. Click on “Initialize”.
Step
1
Step
2
Step
3
The maximum volume size will automatically be prompted in
the box at the bottom. If you wish to adjust the size smaller, you can do so. In this demonstration we will use a maximum size volume. Click Next when you are ready.
Choose a new drive letter for the volume. It will automatically prompt an unused volume letter. Click Next
when you are ready.
Step
9
Step
10
Setup your OWC Mercury Rack Pro as a
RAID-0 (2 striped hard drives) on a Macintosh
Page 15
Page 20
Once Disk Utility opens, you will see a screen that looks similar
to this - note the 4 individual hard drives shown on the left side,
all unformatted with no volumes listed.
Click on the rst hard drive in the list that has no volume, as
shown above.
Step
4
Step
5
You will see the above box appear in the middle of the screen. Right click on the rst unallocated volume that you wish to
format. Select “New Simple Volume”.
The New Simple Volume Wizard will launch. Click Next.
Step
7
Step
8
Page 19
Page 16
Are you sure? Click Erase.
1 pair of drives down, 1 more pair to go. Repeat on the 2nd set and you’re all done!
Step
7
Step
6
Double click on Computer Management.
Click on Disk Management under the Storage subcategory.
Step
5
Step
6
Open Administrative Tools.
Step
4
Page 17
Page 18
Once you have decided on the proper way to connect the OWC Mercury Rack Pro to your Macintosh, you’re now ready to power the unit on and
begin using it. Do so now.
The OWC Mercury Rack Pro comes from the factory precongured one of 2 ways to use with a PC. Please refer to your invoice to verify which method of conguration you ordered if you do not know already.
The methods are:
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual
hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Rack Pro, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Rack Pro, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Your solution should be congured properly to work the way that you ordered it right out of the box. However, if you decide you want to recongure or change the method you ordered, please see the
following pages to reformat or recongure your RAID.
Click on the start button and then Control Panel.
Step
3
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Rack Pro, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Rack Pro and locate the
switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they are both
on the “JBOD” position (LEFT ).
Step
2
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Step
1
Using your OWC Mercury Rack Pro with a PC
(If you are using a Mac, please turn back to page # 10
Chapter 6
Setup your OWC Mercury Rack Pro as JBOD
(4 individual hard drives) on a PC (Windows XP / Vista)
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