PRODUCT MANUAL G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Hardware RAID 8-Bay Thunderbolt™ 2 Storage Solution g-technology.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Table of Contents Safety & General Use Viewing Temperature Sensor Information............................................38 Safety Precautions........................................................................................... 5 Locating an Enclosure..................................................................................39 Backup Your Data.............................................................................................
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Table of Contents Running Media Patrol on Your Physical Drives....................................63 Creating a Spare Drive Manually..............................................................91 Managing Disk Arrays.................................................................................64 Changing Spare Drive Settings.................................................................92 Viewing a List of Disk Arrays...........................................
Safety & General Use • Safety Precautions ........................................ p. 5 • Backup Your Data ......................................... p. 6 • Make Two Backups ......................................... p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Safety & General Use Safety Precautions Your G-SPEED Studio XL’s warranty may be voided as a result of failing to respect the precautions listed below. If you detect a problem with your drive, please contact our Technical Support department. If the product is returned with damage caused by improper handling, the warranty will be void and liability will rest with the user. Please read our Limited Warranty. • Servicing: Your drive contains no user-serviceable parts.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Safety & General Use Backup Your Data The disk drive contained in your G-SPEED Studio XL is a delicate electronic instrument and is susceptible to damage from excessive physical shock. Under no circumstances will G-Technology be held liable for the recovery or restoration of lost data. Any loss, corruption or destruction of data while using a G-Technology drive is the sole responsibility of the user.
About Your G-SPEED Studio XL • Introduction .................................................... p. 8 • What’s in the Box .......................................... p. 9 • System Requirements ................................. p. 9 • Overview of the Drive ................................. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ About Your G-SPEED Studio XL Introduction Thank you for purchasing the G-Technology G-SPEED Studio XL, featuring 20 Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 interface technology. Specifically designed for professional content creation applications, the G-SPEED Studio XL storage system provides RAID 0, 1, 1E, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60 and JBOD functionality for both application performance and data protection.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ About Your G-SPEED Studio XL What’s in the Box The following items are included in the box: • • • • • G-SPEED Studio XL storage solution Eight removable Enterprise-class drive modules (installed in unit) (1) Thunderbolt cable Power Cord Quick Start Guide If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at www.g-technology.com/contact/contact_support Download the latest G-SPEED Studio XL manual and utilities at: www.g-technology.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ About Your G-SPEED Studio XL Overview of the Drive G-SPEED Studio XL ships from the factory preconfigured in RAID 5. The RAID controller also supports Protected RAID modes on XL: RAID 1, 1E, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60. For an explanation of these RAID levels, please refer to RAID Levels Explained. If you wish to change the RAID mode, please refer to Change the RAID Mode.
Using Your Drive • Drive Activity LED ..................................... p. 12 • Warning LED and Alarms ....................... p. 13 • Disconnect the Drive .............................. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Using Your Drive Drive Activity LED Under normal operation, each G-SPEED Studio XL drive module has an LED that glows blue, indicating a connection to the RAID controller. The LED will flash when the drive is being accessed. Drive module power/ activity LED p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Using Your Drive Warning LED and Alarms The G-SPEED Studio XL enclosure integrates an audible alarm or buzzer that will sound when any of the following conditions exist: • • • • Internal temperature exceeds a temperature of 60°C. Main cooling fan fails Fan slows to a state where the fan can no longer adequately cool the system To silence the alarm, push the Alarm Mute button located on the back of G-SPEED Studio XL as shown at below.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Using Your Drive Disconnect the Drive A great feature of Thunderbolt technology and G-SPEED Studio XL is the ability to connect and disconnect the system while your computer is running. To prevent drive failures and/or data loss, it is important to follow the steps below when disconnecting or unmounting the drive from your computer. 1.
Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • G-Technology Assistant....................................................... p. 17 Recommended Installation .............................................. p. 17 G-SPEED Studio Software Utility...................................... p. 18 Power Modes on G-SPEED Studio XL............................. p. 22 Shutting Down G-SPEED Studio XL................................ p.
Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL (continued) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Choosing Automatic Configuration............................... p. 68 Choosing Express Configuration..................................... p. 69 Choosing Advanced Configuration................................ p. 71 Formatting Your Logical Drives........................................ p. 73 Changing Disk Array Settings........................................... p. 73 Locating a Disk Array.............................
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL G-Technology Assistant To enhance your experience with G-SPEED Studio XL we have developed the G-Technology Assistant (GTA) utility. The utility provides notifications and details on G-SPEED Studio XL as well as a link to the configuration and management utility known as the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility. The G-Technology Assistant is available for download from the G-Technology website at www.g-technology.com/support.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL G-SPEED Studio Software Utility G-SPEED Studio XL ships preconfigured in RAID 5 and is ready to use out of the box without configuration. However, G-Technology recommends installing the bundled G-Technology Assistant utility and the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility even if you do not plan to make any changes to device configuration. The applications are useful for monitoring the system and getting firmware updates.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 3. Double-click on the G-SPEED_Studio_Software_Utility.pkg* file to begin the installation. The introduction window explains that software will be installed on the Mac®. You can review the software license agreement. Once ready, click the Continue button to proceed. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 4. The software license agreement will appear. Please read the statement and click Continue to proceed. 5. Click Agree if you agree to the terms of the license. To read the license, click Read License. Choose Disagree if you do not agree with the terms. This will terminate the installation procedure. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 6. Click Install to begin the installation process. 7. The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility will install in a few moments. Once complete, a message will inform you that the installation was successful. Click Close to complete the installation procedure. The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility is now available to help manage your G-SPEED Studio XL.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Power Modes on G-SPEED Studio XL G-SPEED Studio XL introduces new power-saving and condition-response features. The automatic power features are: • Sleep — When your Mac® computer goes to sleep, G-SPEED Studio XL automatically goes into standby mode after all background activities complete. • Wake — When your system wakes, G-SPEED Studio XL automatically powers on.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Daisy Chaining Multiple G-SPEED Studio XL Units Up to six G-SPEED Studio XL or Thunderbolt-enabled devices can be connected to each other and to your Mac® in a sequential Thunderbolt connection. To daisy chain multiple Thunderbolt devices to your G-SPEED Studio XL, follow these steps: 1. Use a Thunderbolt cable to connect one of the Thunderbolt ports on the back of your computer to one of the Thunderbolt ports on your G-SPEED Studio XL. 2.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Thunderbolt daisy chain connections HDMI p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Displaying Multiple G-SPEED Studio XL Units The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility displays a separate window for each powered up G-SPEED Studio XL unit connected by Thunderbolt. • To view a list of the G-SPEED Studio XL units, click the View menu. • To display a G-SPEED Studio XL unit in the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility, go to the View menu choose the unit you want to see.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility requires a Thunderbolt connection between your computer and your G-SPEED Studio XL. See Connect G-SPEED Studio XL to Your Mac®. The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility must be installed onto your computer before you can use it. See Installing G-SPEED Studio Software Utility.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL You can also choose to place an alias into the dock. Closing There are two ways to close the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility: G-SPEED Studio Utility icon 12. Click the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility drop-down menu and choose Quit G-SPEED Studio Software Utility. 13. Press Command+Q p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Unlocking the UI By default, the user interface (UI) is locked to prevent unauthorized changes to your RAID system. When the UI is locked, you cannot create logical drives or change settings on your G-SPEED Studio XL. To unlock the UI: 1. At the lower-left of the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility window, click the closed lock icon. The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility password dialog box will open.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL G-SPEED Studio Software Utility Overview The G-SPEED Studio Software Utility interface consists of menus and icons, each leading you to a specific function.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Toolbar Icons • • • • • • • • Dashboard – Displays the Dashboard and overview Wizard – Displays the Wizard options for quickly setting up RAID arrays Physical Drive – Displays the physical drive list, settings and functions Disk Array – Displays menu for monitoring, managing and creating disk arrays Logical Drive – Displays the logical drive list, settings and functions System Information – Displays G-SPEED Studio XL information and settin
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Component List Click the Dashboard icon. From the System Status list choose Controller to view the Component List option to display the device ID, operational status, enclosure type and status description of all enclosures. The Enclosure, Controller, Buzzer and Fan menus are described in relevant sections of this chapter. See Viewing Controller Information, Viewing the Enclosure Information and Changing Buzzer Settings for more information.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Highlight Arrays From the Disk Array menu, select the Locate button to identify the physical drives assigned to a disk array. The LEDs on the enclosure will appear purple and flash in sync. The bays/carriers containing drives that do not belong to the chosen disk array will not be highlighted. Back View Add Back View to the Toolbar by going to the View pulldown menu and selecting Customize Toolbar.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Device: Front View display menu Click on the drive modules to view the status and identify the assigned disk array. Managing System Information Enclosure management includes: • • • • • • “Viewing System Information” “Making System Settings” “Clearing Statistics” “Restoring Factory Default Settings” “Saving a Service Report” “Updating Firmware” p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing System Information To view enclosure information, click the System Information icon. System Information includes: • • • • • • • • Alias * – (same as controller alias) Model WWN (Worldwide Number) Vendor Serial number Revision number System date and time Firmware version *Adjustable under “Making System Settings” below. Making System Settings To make enclosure settings: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click the System Information icon.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Clearing Statistics To clear statistical data on the RAID controller, physical drives, and logical drives: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click the System Information icon. Click the Clear Statistics button. Type the word “confirm” in the field provided. Click the Confirm button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Saving a Service Report A service report can be useful to technical support for troubleshooting or diagnosing device issues. To save a service report to your Mac®, click on the System Information menu link, then click on the Save Service Report button. A prompt will ask where you want to save the HTML file containing the service report. Choose a location, then click the Save button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 2. Click on the padlock icon to unlock the menu, then type in the password for your Mac® when the prompt appears. 3. Click the Choose File button and locate the .img file you downloaded from G-Technology. 4. Click the Submit button. 5. In the Confirmation box, type the word “CONFIRM” in the field provided and click the Confirm button. 6. The process will take several seconds. When complete, you will be prompted to restart your Mac®.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Enclosure information includes: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Enclosure ID Enclosure Warning Temperature Threshold Controller Warning Temperature Threshold SEP Firmware Version Max Number of Controllers Max Number of Fans Max Number of Power Supply Units Enclosure Type Enclosure Critical Temperature Threshold Controller Critical Temperature Threshold Max Number of Physical Drive Slots Max Number of Temperature Sensors Max Number of Voltage Sen
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Locating an Enclosure If you have multiple G-SPEED Studio XL units and you want to verify which unit you are accessing in the G-Technology Utility, use the Locate function. To locate an enclosure: 1. From Logical Drive Icon Click the Locate button. The Drive Power /Status LEDs on all drive carriers blink blue for one minute.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Controller information includes: Controller ID Vendor Operational Status Cache Usage – Percentage Part Number Hardware Revision SCSI Protocol Supported Single Image Version Host Driver Version Alias * (same as enclosure alias) Model Power On Time Dirty Cache Usage – Percentage Serial Number WWN (Worldwide Number) BIOS Version Single Image Build Date To view advanced information, click the Advanced Information tab.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Controller Statistics To view controller statistics: 1. Click the Dashboard icon, then click the Controller link. 2. Click the Statistics tab. Controller statistics include: Data Transferred Write Data Transferred Non-Read/Write Errors Write Errors Non-Read/Write Requests Write I/O Requests Statistics Collection Date and Time Read Data Transferred Errors Read Errors I/O Requests Read I/O Requests Statistics Start Date and Time 3.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Write Back Cache Flush Interval – Enter a value into the field from 1 to 12 seconds. Enclosure Polling Interval – 15 to 255 seconds. • • • • • • • • • Adaptive Writeback Cache – Check the box to enable or uncheck to disable. Forced Read Ahead – Check the box to enable or uncheck to disable.
Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Managing Background Activities Background activity management includes: • • • • • • • • • • • “Viewing Current Background Activities” “Adding a Scheduled Background Activity” “Changing a Background Activity Schedule” “Enabling or Disabling a Scheduled Background Activity” “Deleting a Scheduled Background Activity” “Media Patrol” “Redundancy Check” “Initialization” “Rebuild” “Migration” “PDM” Background activities perform a variety of prev
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Scheduled Background Activities To view a list of scheduled background activities: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Scheduler button. The list of scheduled background activities will appear. Adding a Scheduled Background Activity To add a new scheduled background activity: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click on the Background Activities icon. Click the Scheduler button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Choose an End On option: • No end date or perpetual • End after a specific number of activity actions • Run until date from the drop-down menus For Redundancy Check, choose: • Auto Fix option – Attempts to repair the problem when it finds an error. Check to enable. • Pause on Error option – The process stops when it finds a non-repairable error. Check to enable.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Choose a Start Time from the drop-down menus. The menus have a 24-hour clock. Choose a Recurrence Pattern option: daily, weekly or monthly. • For the Daily option, enter an interval in the Every field. • For the Weekly option, enter an interval in the Every field and choose one or more days of the week. • For the Monthly option, choose a Day of the Month option or a sequential and specific day from the drop-down menu.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Enabling or Disabling a Scheduled Background Activity Background activity schedules are enabled by default when you create a schedule. If you want to stop a background activity now but plan to use it again in the future, disable the scheduled activity rather than deleting it. To enable or disable changes in an existing scheduled background activity: Click on the Background Activities icon. Click the Scheduler button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Media Patrol Media Patrol is a routine maintenance procedure that checks the magnetic media on each disk drive. Media Patrol checks are enabled by default on all disk arrays and spare drives. Media Patrol is concerned with the media itself, not the data recorded on the media. If Media Patrol encounters a critical error, it triggers Predictive Data Migration (PDM) if PDM is enabled on the disk array. See Making Disk Array Settings.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Redundancy Check Settings To change Redundancy Check settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Redundancy Check Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are required for redundancy checking, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between redundancy checking and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Initialization Settings To change initialization settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Logical Drive Initialization Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are allocated to initialization, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between initialization and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Rebuild Settings 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Rebuild Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are allocated to the rebuild, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between the rebuild and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Migration Settings To change migration settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Migration Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are available for migration, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between migration and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing PDM Settings To change PDM settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the PDM Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are allocated to PDM, leaving more resources for data read/ write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between PDM and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Transition Settings To change Transition settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Transition Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are available to Transition, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between Transition and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Changing Synchronization Settings To change Synchronization settings: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Click the Settings button. 3. Click the Background Synchronization Rate drop-down menu and choose a rate: • Low: Fewer system resources are available to Synchronization, leaving more resources for data read/write operations. • Medium: Balances system resources between Synchronization and data read/write operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing a List of Physical Drives To view a list of physical drives in your G-SPEED Studio XL, click the Physical Drive icon.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL • Drive Interface – SATA 1.5, 3 Gb/s or 6 Gb/s • Serial Number – Serial number of the drive • Firmware Version – Firmware version on the drive • Protocol Version – ATA/ATAPI protocol version 3. Click the Advanced Information tab.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Physical Drive Statistics To view physical drive statistics: 1. Click the Physical Drive icon. 2. Mouse-over the physical drive you want, then click the View button. 3. Click the Statistics tab.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Physical Drive SMART Log Information To view physical drive SMART Log information: 1. Click the Physical Drive icon. 2. Mouse-over the physical drive you want, then click the View button. 3. Click the SMART Log tab.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Running the Locate function to identify a physical drive: Drive power/status LEDs blink blue and orange Changing Global Physical Drive Settings To change global physical drive settings: 1. Click the Physical Drive icon 2. Click the Global Physical Drive Settings button 3. Check the following boxes to enable functionality; uncheck them to disable. • Enable Write Cache • Enable Read Look Ahead Cache • Enable Command Queuing 4.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL To change individual physical drive settings: 1. Click the Physical Drive icon. 2. Mouse-over the physical drive you want, then click the Settings button. 3. Make changes as needed: • Enter, change or delete the alias in the Alias field. • Choose Unconfigured or PassThru Configuration. • Unconfigured drives are not visible to your computer. You will use these to make disk arrays.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Clearing a Stale or PFA Condition Stale – The physical drive contains obsolete disk array information. PFA – The physical drive has errors resulting in a prediction of failure. Be sure you have first corrected the condition by replacing the physical drive and conducting a rebuild operation, etc. Then clear the PFA condition. To clear a Stale or a PFA condition: 1. Click the Physical Drive icon. 2.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Running Media Patrol on Your Physical Drives Media Patrol is a routine maintenance procedure that checks the magnetic media on each disk drive. Media Patrol checks are enabled by default on all disk arrays and spare drives. Media Patrol is concerned with the media itself, not the data recorded on the media. If Media Patrol encounters a critical error, it triggers Predictive Data Migration (PDM) if PDM is enabled on the disk array.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Managing Disk Arrays Disk array management includes: • • • • • • • • • “Viewing a List of Disk Arrays” “Viewing Disk Array Information” “Creating a Disk Array Manually” “Creating a Disk Array and Logical Drive With the Wizard” “Making Disk Array Settings” “Locating a Disk Array” “Deleting a Disk Array” “Preparing a Disk Array for Transport” “Rebuilding a Disk Array” Also see Disk Array and Logical Drive Problems.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Disk Array Information To view disk array information: 1. Do one of the following actions: • From the Dashboard window, click the Disk Array link. • From the Storage menu, choose Disk Array. 2. Mouse-over the disk array you want, then click the View button. Disk array information includes: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Disk Array ID – DA0, DA1, etc.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL To create a disk array: 1. From the Dashboard menu, click the Disk Array link. 2. Click the Create Disk Array button. 3. Accept the defaults or make changes: • Enter an alias in the Alias field with a maximum of 32 characters (letters, numbers and spaces between characters). • Enable Media Patrol – Uncheck to disable on this array. For more information, see Media Patrol. • Enable PDM – Uncheck to disable on this array.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Creating a Disk Array and Logical Drive With the Wizard A disk array is a method of organizing data across hard disks or solid state drives. One or more logical drives can be created on a disk array. Your computer saves files within logical drives on G-SPEED Studio XL. The G-Technology Utility includes a Wizard to help you set up a disk array, logical drives and spare drives. To open the Wizard, click the Storage menu and choose Wizard.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Choosing Automatic Configuration To use the Automatic Configuration Wizard: 1. From the Storage menu, choose Wizard. 2. Click the Automatic button. The Automatic Configuration dialog box will appear. Automatic Configuration dialog box: 3. Do one of the following actions: • If you agree with the proposed configuration, click the Submit button. The Wizard will create your disk array and logical drive.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Choosing Express Configuration To use the Express Configuration Wizard: 1. From the Storage menu, choose Wizard. 2. Click the Express button. The Express Configuration dialog box will appear. Express Configuration dialog box: 3.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 5. From the Application Type drop-down menu, choose an application that best describes your intended use for the logical drives. • File Server (default) • Video Stream • Transaction Data • Transaction Log • Other 6. Click the Next button to continue. The Summary dialog box will appear with information about the disk arrays, logical drives and spare drives you are about to create. See example below. The Summary dialog box: 7.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Choosing Advanced Configuration This option enables you to specify additional parameters for a new disk array, logical drives and spare drives. To use the Advanced Configuration Wizard: 1. From the Storage menu, choose Wizard. 2. Click the Advanced button. The Create Disk Array screen will display. Task 1 – Disk Array Creation To create your disk array: 1.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL • Enter a value for capacity and choose the appropriate size unit of measurement (MB, GB or TB) • Choose a Stripe size: 64 KB, 128 KB, 256 KB, 512 KB and 1 MB are available. • Choose a Sector size: 512 B, 1 KB, 2 KB, and 4 KB are available. • Choose a Read Cache Policy: The choices are Read Cache, Read Ahead (cache), and None. • Choose a Write (cache) Policy: The choices are WriteThru and WriteBack.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Task 4 – Summary 1. Review your choices of disk array, logical drives and spare drive. • To make any changes, click the Back button to reach the appropriate screen. • To accept, click the Submit button. Creating the disk array, logical drive and spare drive will take a few moments. 2. Click the Finish button to close the Wizard.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 3. Make the following setting changes as required: • Enter change, or delete the alias in the Alias field. An alias must be a maximum of 32 characters (letters, numbers and spaces between characters). • Enable Media Patrol – Check to enable or uncheck to disable on this array. • Enable PDM – Check to enable or uncheck to disable on this array. 4. Click the Save button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 2. Mouse-over the disk array you want to identify, then click the Locate button. The drive power/ status LEDs for the physical drives that comprise the array will blink blue for one minute. Running the Locate function to identify a disk array: Drive power/status LEDs blink Deleting a Disk Array To delete a disk array: 1. Perform one of the following actions: • From the Dashboard window, click the Disk Array link.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Preparing a Disk Array for Transport This feature prepares the physical drives that make up the disk array to be removed from the enclosure and installed in a different G-SPEED Studio XL enclosure. To prepare a disk array for transport: 1. Perform one of the following actions: • From the Dashboard window, click the Disk Array link. • From the Storage menu, choose Disk Array. 2.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Performing a Manual Rebuild To perform a manual rebuild: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Mouse-over Rebuild, then click the Start button. 3. From the Source Physical Drive drop-down menu, choose a Source disk array and physical drive. Arrays have an ID number. Physical drives have a sequence number. 4. From the Target Physical Drive drop-down menu, choose a Target physical drive. 5.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Pausing and Resuming a Rebuild To pause or resume a Rebuild: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Mouse-over Rebuild, then click the Pause or Resume button. Stopping a Rebuild To stop or cancel a Rebuild: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. 2. Mouse-over Rebuild, then click the Stop button. 3. Click the Confirm button. Also see Making Rebuild Settings.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing a List of Logical Drives To view a list of logical drives, perform one of the following actions: • Click the Logical Drive icon. • From the Storage menu, choose Logical Drive. The list of logical drives will appear. Logical drive information includes: • ID – LD0, LD1, etc.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL • Capacity – Data capacity of the logical drive • Number of Axles – For RAID 10, two axles • Physical Capacity – Data capacity of the physical drives • Number of Physical Drives – The number of physical drives in the disk array • Stripe size – Set at logical drive creation • Read Policy – ReadCache, ReadAhead or None * • Sector size – Set at logical drive creation • Write Policy – WriteThru or WriteBack * • Current Write Policy – May change
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 2. Mouse-over the logical drive you want, then click the View button. 3. Click the Statistics tab.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Viewing Logical Drive Check Tables This feature allows you to view error tables. Use this information to evaluate the integrity of a logical drive and determine whether corrective action is needed. To view logical drive check tables: 1. Do one of the following actions: • Click the Logical Drive icon. • From the Storage menu, choose Logical Drive. The list of logical drives will appear. 2.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 1. One of the following actions: • Click the Logical Drive icon. • From the Storage menu, choose Logical Drive. 2. Click the Create Logical Drive button. 3. Click the radio button of the disk array you want to use, then click the Next button. 4. Accept the defaults or make changes from the following: • Optional. Enter an alias in the Alias field with a maximum of 32 characters (letters, numbers and spaces). • Choose a RAID level.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Formatting Your Logical Drives If you left the Format box checked when you created your logical drives, they will be formatted automatically. If you Unchecked the Format box, you must format your logical drives manually. See Formatting Logical Drives. When the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility finishes formatting, new drive icons, each representing one logical drive, will appear on your desktop (right).
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Deleting a Logical Drive This action requires administrator or superuser privileges. To delete a logical drive: 1. Perform one of the following actions: • Click the Logical Drive icon. • From the Storage menu, choose Logical Drive. The list of logical drives will appear. 2. Mouse-over the disk array you want, then click the Delete button. 3.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL To initialize a logical drive: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. The list of background activities will appear. 2. Mouse-over Initialization, then click the Start button. 3. Check the box to the left of the logical drive you want to initialize. 4. Choose the initialization option you want: • Quick Initialization – Check this box and then enter a value in the Quick Initialization Size field.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Redundancy Check on a Logical Drive Redundancy Check is a routine maintenance procedure for fault-tolerant disk arrays (those with redundancy) that ensures the redundant copies of data still match the original source data. Redundancy Check can also correct inconsistencies. To run Redundancy Check on a logical drive: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. The list of background activities will appear. 2.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Migrating a Logical Drive Migration means one or both of the following: • Changing the RAID level of a logical drive • Expanding the storage capacity of a logical drive Before you begin a migration, examine your current disk array to determine whether: • The physical drives in your array can support the target RAID level • There is sufficient capacity to accommodate the target logical drive size If you need to add physical drives to your ar
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Running PDM on a Logical Drive Predictive Data Migration (PDM) is the migration of data from the suspect disk drive to a spare drive, similar to rebuilding a disk array. But unlike rebuilding, PDM automatically copies your data to a spare drive before the drive fails and your logical drive goes critical. PDM can be triggered automatically by Media Patrol. See PDM. To run PDM on a logical drive: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Managing Spare Drives Spare drive management includes: • Viewing a List of Spare Drives (see below) • “Creating a Spare Drive Manually” • “Making Spare Drive Settings” • “Running Spare Check” • “Deleting a Spare Drive” • “Running a Transition” Viewing a List of Spare Drives To view a list of spare drives, perform the following action: • From the Dashboard window, click Spare Drive.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Spare Drive information will display, including: • Spare Drive ID – Spare0, Spare1, etc.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 3. For each of the following items, accept the default or change the settings as required: • Check the Revertible box if you want a revertible spare drive. A revertible spare drive returns to its spare drive assignment after you replace the failed physical drive in the disk array and run the Transition function.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Running Spare Check Spare Check verifies the status of your spare drives. To run Spare Check: 1. From the Dashboard window, click the Spare Drive link. The list of spare drives will appear. 2. Mouse-over the spare drive you want, then click the Spare Check button. 3. Click the Confirm button. Spare Check has no pause, resume or stop functions.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Running a Transition To run a Transition on a revertible spare drive: 1. Click on the Background Activities icon. The list of background activities will appear. 2. Mouse-over Transition, then click the Start button. 3. Choose a Source Physical Drive. The Source Physical Drive is the revertible spare drive that is now part of the disk array. Source Physical Drives are identified by their disk array and sequence numbers within the disk array.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Formatting Logical Drives A RAID logical drive must also be formatted to be compatible with your computer. In this User Manual, the term “format” includes both partition and format operations.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL When the G- SPEED Studio Software Utility finishes the format operation, new removable drive icons, each representing one logical drive, will appear on your desktop. When you see the icon, your logical drive is ready to use. For more information, see Creating a Disk Array and Logical Drive With the Wizard and Creating a Logical Drive Manually.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL • For Macintosh® computers, the default GPT Format partition and the default. • Journaled HFS+ format are recommended. 3. Click the Format button. When the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility has finished the partition and format operation, new removable drive icons, each representing one logical drive, will appear on your desktop. When you see the icon, your logical drives will be ready to use.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL 4. Change your Volume Scheme, Volume Information and Options settings, then click the Apply button. For Macintosh® computers, the default GPT Format partition and the default Journaled HFS+ format are recommended. 5. In the Confirmation dialog box, click the Partition button.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Configuring G-SPEED Studio XL Requirements The spare drive must have adequate capacity to replace the largest physical drive in your disk arrays. Additionally, it must be the same media type as the physical drives in your disk arrays. A revertible spare drive requires you to replace the failed physical drive in the disk array and run the Transition function.
Maintenance for Your Drive • Replace a Failed Disk Drive ....................... p. 101 • Initialize Drive for Mac® .............................. p. 103 • Restore the Drive Icon ............................ p. 106 • Reformat with Partitions ........................ p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive Replace a Failed Disk Drive The G-SPEED Studio RAID Controller continually monitors the health of each disk drive in G-SPEED Studio XL. In the event of a disk failure, you will be alerted based on the notification settings you entered in Set Up Alert Notifications. G-SPEED Studio XL will report the failed drive and help you locate its physical position in the G-SPEED Studio XL enclosure.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 1. Launch the G-SPEED Studio Software Utility. 2. Select the Physical Drive. 3. The Physical Drive List will show all of the drives and next to its name the status will indicate Dead. 4. Right-click on the failed drive and select Locate. WARNING: Make absolutely sure that you remove the correct drive as indicated in the steps below. REMOVING THE WRONG DRIVE CAN RESULT IN LOSS OF THE ARRAY AND ALL CONTENT STORED ON YOUR G-SPEED STUDIO XL. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 5. The failed drive’s LED will begin to blink in the G-SPEED Studio XL enclosure, making it easy to identify which drive needs to be replaced. Be certain to remove the correct drive, as removing the wrong drive could cause data loss. NOTE: It is possible for the failed drive to be completely offline. In this case, the drive’s activity LED will be entirely turned off, indicating the failed drive. Drive Activity LED 6.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 2. Select G-SPEED Studio XL by clicking its drive icon in the left column. Information about the drive will be displayed at the bottom of the window. 3. Select the Erase tab to view formatting options. Select Mac OS® Extended on the Format menu and enter “G-SPEED Studio XL” for the name. 4. Click the Erase button in the lower-right corner of the window. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to erase the G-SPEED Studio XL partition.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 6. After the drive is reinitialized, you should automatically see the Time Machine dialog box. Click the Don’t Use button if you do not want to your G-SPEED Studio XL as a Time Machine backup target. 7. Quit Disk Utility: After reinitializing the drive, the custom icon for G-SPEED Studio XL will be erased. You can optionally restore this icon with the steps on the following page. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive Restore the Drive Icon If your G-SPEED Studio XL drive icon was erased during the reinitializing process (see previous section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps. NOTE: This process is not required for G-SPEED Studio XL operation. However, it will make your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look more attractive and intuitive. 1. T o get the G-SPEED Studio XL icon package, go to www.g-technology.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 4. Select the G-SPEED Studio XL icon on your desktop and press Command+I. This will open its Get Info window (below left). 5. Select the default icon in the Get Info window (below left). 6. Press Command+V to paste the G-SPEED Studio XL custom icon into the Get Info window (below right). 7. The icon for your G-SPEED Studio XL will now be restored, and you can close the Get Info window. Your drive is fully ready for use! p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive Reformat with Partitions Hard drive partitioning is the process of dividing a hard drive into discrete sections called volumes. Each volume works like a separate disk. You can create up to 16 different partitions on a hard drive in OS X, and each partition can be a different size and format. With hard drives getting bigger, it can be useful to partition your hard drive such that sections of its space can be used for different purposes.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 2. Select the appropriate icon — not the G-Technology drive icon — by clicking it in the left column. 3. Click on the Partition button in the main window. 4. Select the number of partitions you would like from the Volume Scheme menu. Below, we have selected “2 Partitions” to create two partitions. p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 5. Click on the first partition in the Volume Scheme area. Your partition will be highlighted by a blue bounding box. • In the Name field, type a name for the partition. • From the Format menu, choose your desired disk format. If you will use your drive primarily on Mac OS® X, it is recommended to use Mac OS® Extended or Mac OS® Extended (Journaled). • In the Size field, type in a size for the partition.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Maintenance for Your Drive 8. Click on the Partition button to continue. A progress bar in the lower-right corner of the window will show you the disk’s reformatting progress. 9. When partitioning is complete, the multiple partitions will be displayed in the Disk Utility’s left panel. 10. Quit Disk Utility: After reinitializing the drive, the custom icon for the G-Technology drive will have been erased.
Appendix • RAID Levels Explained ........................... p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Appendix RAID Levels Explained RAID Level Description Advantage Disadvantage Ideal for 0 Disk stripping Offers the highest performance and a 100% of total available storage capacity No fault tolerance – failure of one drive in the array results in complete data loss Content creation applications requiring highest performance and storage capacity 1 Mirroring Maximum level of data protection: identical data is written to multiple drives Usable storage space i
Support & Warranty • Technical Support ................................... p. 115 • Limited Warranty .................................... p. 116 • Copyright ................................................... p.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Support & Warranty Technical Support Thank you for purchasing G-SPEED Studio XL. If you have any comments or questions about this manual or the product, please let us know! G-Technology appreciates and values its customers. We strive to give you the finest service and support. If you encounter any difficulties while installing or using your G-SPEED Studio XL, please contact G-Technology Technical Support at: www.g-technology.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Support & Warranty Limited Warranty Limited Warranty HGST, a Western Digital Company (“HGST”) including G-Technology for External Hard Disk Drives What does this limited warranty cover? This limited warranty applies to new HGST products purchased from an authorized HGST dealer by the original purchaser for normal use and not for resale. HGST warrants that a covered product is free from defects in materials and workmanship, with the exceptions stated below.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Support & Warranty insurance in shipping the drive to our logistics center. You should remove all personal information from the product prior to its return. What will HGST do? HGST will replace the drive with a functionally equivalent replacement product, transportation prepaid. HGST may replace your product with a product that was previously used, repaired, and tested to meet HGST specifications.
G SPEED STUDIO XL with Thunderbolt™ Support & Warranty Capacity Definition and Disclaimer For G-Technology products 1TB or greater: 1 gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1 billion bytes and 1 terabyte (TB) equals 1,000 GB (1 trillion bytes). Accessible capacity will vary from the stated capacity due to formatting and partitioning of the hard drive, the computer’s operating system, and other factors.
g-technology.com One GB is equal to one billion bytes and one TB equals 1,000 GB (one trillion bytes) when referring to hard drive capacity. Accessible capacity will vary from the stated capacity due to formatting and partitioning of the hard drive, the computer’s operating system, and other factors. Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Design by G-Technology in California.
