RAIDManagement
WD Drive Utilities Help
Managing the RAID configuration
The initial/default configuration of RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage devices is as a striped RAID 0 disk array for high-speed/maximum-storage performance. You can use the WD Drive Utilities software to check the device status and reconfigure the device as either:
- A mirrored RAID 1 disk array for maximum-protection/reduced-storage performance
- JBOD (individual drives) that can be formatted differently for enhanced flexibility
Checking the device status
The WD Drive Utilities software provides a status indication of the device configuration.
To check the device status:
- If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device that you want to check.
- Click RAID Management > RAID Status.
- Depending on the model of the selected device, the Status display shows:
- Current Configuration as either:
- Stripe or RAID 0 (Striped)
- Mirror or RAID 1 (Mirrored)
- Individual Drives or JBOD (Individual Drives)
- RAID Status as either:
- Cannot Access Data
- Data Loss Detected
- Degraded
- Failed
- Healthy
- Not Configured
- Offline
- Online
- Rebuild Failed
- Rebuilding (x%)
- Unknown
- Drive A Status and Drive B Status as either:
- Failed—The drive has failed
- Online—Drive is online and available
- Rebuilding—The drive is being rebuilt
- Removed—The drive has been removed
- Standby—The drive is part of the RAID array but needs to be rebuilt
- Unknown—The drive has some other undetermined status
- Drive 1 Status and Drive 2 Status as either:
- Drive Not Supported—The drive model is not supported
- Empty—There is no drive installed, but none was expected
- Failed—The drive has failed
- ID Mismatch—The drive metadata information does not match its serial number
- Insufficient Capacity—The drive you installed has insufficient capacity to be part of the mirrored RAID disk array
- Missing—The expected drive is not installed
- New Drive—The installed drive has not been configured
- Online—The drive is healthy and part of the RAID disk array
- Rebuilding—The drive is the target disk of the rebuild operation and that operation is still in progress
Note: In the Status displays for RAID-enabled My Book devices, Drive A Status and Drive 1 Status refer to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive B Status and Drive 2 Status refer to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.
Changing the device configuration
CAUTION! Changing the device configuration reformats both drives, which erases all of the data on them. If you have been using the device in one mode and then want to switch to a different mode, back up your files to another storage device before changing the configuration.
Note: Changing the device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files. You can download these to restore the device to its original configuration after the change. See Restoring the WD software and disk image.
To change the device configuration:
- If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device that you want to change.
- Click RAID Management > Configuration to display the Configuration dialog.
- On the Configuration dialog, select the option for the mode that you want to change to:
- Stripe - Maximum Capacity and Performance (RAID 0)
- Mirror - Maximum Data Protection (RAID 1)
- Individual Drives (JBOD)
The WD Drive Utilities software displays a volume dialog for specifying the new configuration.
- On the volume dialog:
- If you want to change the name of a volume, type over the name in the Volume Name box.
- If you are converting to individual drives, select the option to specify the file format for each volume:
Note: In the Individual Drives Volume dialog for RAID-enabled My Book devices, Drive A and Drive 1 refer to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive B and Drive 2 refer to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.
Note also that the exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) format is not RAID configurable for My Book Thunderbolt Duo, My Book VelociRaptor Duo, and My Passport Pro devices.
- Read the warning about the loss of data when you change the device configuration
and select the I understand check box to signify that you accept the risk.
Important: If you want to save any of the data that is on the device drives, back it up to another storage device before continuing with the configuration change.
- Click Configure to begin the configuration change.
- When prompted, type your password and click OK to continue.
- During the configuration change:
- The WD Drive Utilities software:
- Displays a status bar to show the progress of the conversion
- Clears and redisplays the Finder listing and desktop icon display to support your new device mode
- The device power/activity indicator on My Book Duo devices begins blinking rapidly to show:
- Read/write activity for RAID 0 stripe or JBOD individual drives configurations
- Rebuild activity for a RAID 1 mirror configuration
- The first time you convert to a new volume, a message asks if you want to use the
drive to back up with Time Machine.
Note: The Encrypt Backup Disk check box does not appear on computers using
the Snow Leopard operating system. On Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks systems, DO NOT select this check box for a RAID volume on My Book Thunderbolt Duo, My Book VelociRaptor Duo, and My Passport Pro devices. Your RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device leverages the operating system to enable RAID configurations. The Stripe and Mirror RAID modes are software configured and the
backup disk encryption feature is not compatible with software-configured
RAID devices.
- If you do not want to use the Time Machine backup software, click:
- Don't Use on Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks computers
- Cancel on Snow Leopard computers
- If you do want to use the Time Machine backup software, then for:
- A stripe or mirror RAID volume, click Use as Backup Disk and skip to step 8.
- Individual drives volumes, proceed to step 8.
- To use JBOD mode as a backup disk with Time Machine:
- Select the volume that you want to use:
- My ... - A or My ... - 1
- My ... - B or My ... - 2
- Depending on your computer's operating system:
- Using Snow Leopard, click Use as Backup Disk and skip to step 9.
- Using Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks:
- If you want to create a password to secure your backup files, select the
Encrypt Backup Disk check box and proceed to step c.
- If you do not want to create a password to encrypt your backup files, click
Use as Backup Disk and skip to step 9.
- Click Use as Backup Disk and complete the backup password dialog that
displays.
- Click Encrypt Disk and proceed to step 9.
- After the configuration change completes, click OK to close the message display and see Restoring the WD software and disk image in the next section.
Restoring the WD software and disk image
In addition to deleting all of the data on your RAID-enabled WD dual-drive storage device, changing the
device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities,
and user manual files.
If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer,
or move the device to another computer and install the software there, you will need to
restore the WD software and disk image on your device. To do this, after you have reconfigured the device, see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 at http://support.wd.com.
See also: