Taurus mini Super-S User Manual

EN

Dual-Bay RAID Storage Enclosure

Taurus Mini Super-S

User Manual

for two 2.5-inch Serial ATA Hard Drives

September 13, 2010 – v1.1

Taurus Mini Super-S Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 System Requirements ....................................................................................................... 1

1.1.1 PC Requirements .......................................................................................................... 1

1.1.2 Mac Requirements ........................................................................................................ 1

1.1.3 Supported Hard Drives .................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Package Contents ............................................................................................................. 1

1.3 About this Manual.............................................................................................................. 1

1.4 Trademarks ....................................................................................................................... 1

1.5 Detailed View .................................................................................................................... 2

1.5.1 Front View ..................................................................................................................... 2

1.5.2 Rear View ...................................................................................................................... 2

1.6 RAID Modes ...................................................................................................................... 3

1.6.1 RAID 0 - Disk Striping ................................................................................................... 3

1.6.2 RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring ................................................................................................. 3

1.6.3 Changing the RAID Mode ............................................................................................. 3

2 System Setup .......................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Hard Drive Assembly ......................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Replacing Hard Drives ...................................................................................................... 6

2.3 Connection to Computer ................................................................................................... 6

2.4 About Data Backup ........................................................................................................... 6

3 LCD Display ............................................................................................................................. 7

3.1 Main Menu......................................................................................................................... 7

3.2 System Information ........................................................................................................... 7

3.3 HDD Information................................................................................................................ 8

3.4 Settings ............................................................................................................................. 8

3.4.1 >2TB Volume Mode....................................................................................................... 9

3.4.2 RAID Mode Setup ....................................................................................................... 10

3.4.3 Alarm Setup ................................................................................................................. 11

3.4.4 Backlight Setup ........................................................................................................... 12

3.5 Event Information ............................................................................................................ 13

4 Appendix ................................................................................................................................ 14

4.1 Precautions ..................................................................................................................... 14

4.1.1 Power on/off precautions ............................................................................................. 14

4.1.2 Location and placing precautions ................................................................................ 14

4.1.3 Electricity and power plug ........................................................................................... 14

4.1.4 Cables ......................................................................................................................... 14

4.2 FAQ ................................................................................................................................. 14

Taurus Mini Super-S Introduction

1 Introduction

1.1 System Requirements

1.1.1 PC Requirements

• Minimum Intel Pentium III CPU 500MHz, 128MB RAM

• eSATA equipped PC; Windows XP/Vista/7

• FireWire 400/800 equipped PC; Windows XP/Vista/7

• USB 2.0 equipped PC; Windows XP/Vista/7

• Your hardware device must have the correct corresponding port (e.g. USB 2.0 host controller)

• Plug & Play support for eSATA host controller

1.1.2 Mac Requirements

• Minimum Apple G4 processor, 128MB RAM

• eSATA equipped Mac; Mac OS 10.4 or above

• FireWire 400/800 equipped Mac; Mac OS 10.2 or above

• USB 2.0 equipped Mac; Mac OS 10.2 or above

• Your hardware device must have the correct corresponding port (e.g. USB 2.0 host controller)

• Plug & Play support for eSATA host controller

1.1.3 Supported Hard Drives

• Two 2.5" SATA-I or SATA-II hard drives (1.5Gb/s or 3.0Gb/s)

• Height 9.5mm or 12.5mm

• 20GB - 1TB per HDD

• Hard drives of identical capacities are recommended

Note

In order for the computer to access volumes larger than 2TB, both the hardware and OS need
to have the capacity to support large volumes (e.g.: WinVista 32bit/64bit or Mac OS 10.4 and
above).

1.2 Package Contents

Package content may vary depending on vendor & version.

• Taurus Mini Super-S storage enclosure (hard drives not included)

• Power supply and interface cables

• User manual

1.3 About this Manual

Firmware, images and descriptions may vary slightly between this manual and the actual product
you have. Functions and features may change depending on the firmware version. Please read
your warranty carefully, as this may vary between different vendors!

1.4 Trademarks

• MS-DOS, Microsoft, Windows XP/Vista/7 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

• Apple Macintosh and Mac are trademarks of Apple Computer.

• All other third party brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

Page 1

Taurus Mini Super-S Introduction

LED/Button

Status

Red = Error or empty drive bay

Orange = Rebuilding data

Select setup menu or mode

OK

Confirm current option or enter setup menu

Icon/Label

Meaning

DC IN

Power receptacle

USB 2.0

USB 2.0 High Speed port

FW800

FireWire 800 port

eSATA

External SATA port

RAID

RAID

1.5 Detailed View

1.5.1 Front View

• Green = Data access (read/write)

•

• OFF = HDD status normal

•

Select

Note

HDD A indicates the drive at the bottom and HDD B indicates the drive on top.

1.5.2 Rear View

•

•

RAID mode is locked and cannot be changed

RAID mode can be set via LCD display

Page 2

Taurus Mini Super-S Introduction

1.6 RAID Modes

Hard drives of identical capacities are recommended. If the capacities are different, the total
amount of the space that can be used will depend on the drive with the smallest capacity. The
difference in performance is only visible for fast interfaces like eSATA.

1.6.1 RAID 0 - Disk Striping

The drives are shown as one large single volume but the total size will depend on the drive with the
smallest capacity. This setting is used where speed is the primary objective but RAID Level 0 (also
called striping) is not redundant. This form of array splits each piece of data across the drives in
segments; since data is written without any form of parity data-checking, it allows for the fastest
data transfer. On the downside, if one drive becomes damaged, the whole array can become
corrupted.

 2 drives

1.6.2 RAID 1 - Disk Mirroring

Two drives show up as one volume but only 50% of the total capacity, depending on the drive with
the smallest capacity, can be used. RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on the
second drive. This is useful when reliability and backup take precedence over storage capacity.
Should one hard drive fail, it can be replaced and the data rebuilt automatically.

 2 drives

1.6.3 Changing the RAID Mode

The RAID mode should be set after installing the drives and before first formatting the drives.

1. Make sure the power is off and then install the hard drives.

2. Unlock the RAID switch on the rear of the device.

3. Connect the power supply to the device and then plug it into the power outlet to turn the
device on.

4. Enter the setup menu and set your preferred RAID mode. The system will restart and ask
for confirmation.

5. Initialize the disk, create a partition and format the drives.

6. Lock the RAID switch to prevent an accidental change of the RAID mode.

Note

Changing the RAID mode requires you to re-format the drives. This will erase all data on the
hard drives that are being formatted. Make sure to backup all existing data first!

Important

In order for the computer to access volumes larger than 2TB, both the hardware and
Operating System need to have the capacity to support large volumes (e.g.: WinVista
32bit/64bit or Mac OS 10.4 and above).

Page 3