G-Technology G-RAID Studio User manual

Professional High-Performance Dual-Drive Storage System
with Thunderbolt Interface

p.2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions.................................4
Backup Your Data .................................5
About Your Drive
Introduction ..........................................7
What’s in the Box .................................8
System Requirements .............................8
Overview of the Drive ...........................9
Using G-RAID with Thunderbolt
Easy Installation ..................................11
Disconnect the Drive ...........................12
Maintenance for Your Drive
Congure the RAID mode ....................14
Restore the Drive Icon ..........................18
Support & Warranty
Technical Support................................21
Limited Warranty.................................22
Copyright...........................................24
Table

With Thunderbolt™
Safety & General Use
• Safety Precautions ................ p.4
• Backup Your Data ................. p.5

p.4
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions
G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive’s warranty may be void as a result of the failure to respect
the precautions listed here. If you detect a problem with your drive, please contact our Tech-
nical 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. If it appears to be malfunction-
ing, have it inspected by a qualied Technical Support representative.
• Moisture: Place the device away from moisture or liquids. To reduce the risk of damage,
do not expose this drive to rain or moisture. Do not use it in damp or wet conditions.
Never place objects containing liquids on the drive as they may spill into its openings.
• Ventilation: Place the device in a vented area. The drive should never be placed near
or over a radiator or heat source.
• Temperature: Do not expose this drive to temperatures outside the range of 5°C to 35°C
(41°F to 95°F); or to operational humidity beyond 5-80%, non-condensing, or non-operat-
ing humidity beyond 10-90%, non-condensing. Avoid placing your drive near a source of
heat, or exposing it to sunlight (even through a window), or in an environment that is too
cold or humid.
• Physical Damage: Do not place heavy objects on the drive. Never use excessive force
on your drive.
health

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Safety & General Use
Backup Your Data
The disk drive contained in your G-RAID with Thunderbolt (G-RAID TB) device is a deli-
cate electronic instrument and is susceptible to damage due to 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.
Make Two Backups
To help prevent the loss of your data, we highly recommend that you keep TWO copies
of your data in separate storage locations. Keep one copy on your G-Technology drive.
Keep a second copy on your internal hard drive, another G-Technology drive, or a form
of removable storage media.
backup

With Thunderbolt™
About Your Drive
• Introduction ......................... p.7
• What’s in the Box ................. p.8
• System Requirements ........... p.8
• Overview of the Drive ............ p.9

p.7
About Your Drive
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About Your Drive
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the G-RAID™ with Thunderbolt (G-RAID TB)
from G-Technology by Hitachi.
Since 2004, G-RAID has been the go-to storage for content creation
professionals around the globe, and now G-RAID TB redenes high-
performance storage for content creation. Performance that was once
only possible on MacPro desktop computers is now available on
Macbook and iMac systems thanks to Thunderbolt and G-RAID TB.
Thunderbolt technology enables blazing fast transfers over an inter-
face that is capable of sustaining two data streams at over 1000MB/
sec each! This opens up incredible possibilities for mobile applica-
tions as well as simplifying high performance connectivity.
G-RAID TB incorporates many of the same features of the standard
G-RAID, including a thermo regulated smart fan, all-aluminum enclo-
sure, and soft touch electronic power switch. The drive supports the
most demanding professional content creation applications like
Final Cut Studio™, Avid™ and Adobe Premiere™.
intro

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About Your Drive
What’s in the Box
The following items are included in the box:
• G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive
• External AC Power Supply
• Quickstart Guide
If any items are missing, please contact G-Technology at
www.g-technology.com/support/contact_support.cfm
System Requirements
• Apple®Mac®computer equipped with a Thunderbolt port
• Thunderbolt cable (sold separately)
inbox

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About Your Drive
Overview of the Drive
For maximum performance, G-RAID TB comes congured as a ‘Striped RAID set’ or
RAID 0. In this RAID mode, data is written or ‘striped’ across both disks, doubling
both capacity and performance as compared to a single disk drive. RAID 0 is the
best choice to take advantage of the amazing performance of the Thunderbolt
interface.
G-RAID TB can also be congured as a ‘Mirrored RAID set’ or RAID 1. In this RAID
mode, data is written to both drives simultaneously, creating a ‘mirrored’ copy on
both drives. RAID 1 is the best choice when data protection is important. The over-
all capacity and performance in RAID 1 is equal to that of a single drive.
To congure the RAID mode, go to the Congure the RAID mode section.
The images below highlight some of the features of your G-RAID TB. There is a
Power & Activity LED on the front of the unit that will glow when the unit is pow-
ered on, and will ash brighter as data is transferred to or from the hard drives.
On the rear of the unit is a Kensington™ Security Slot, two high speed Thunderbolt
ports, DC Power In and Soft-touch On/Off switch.
overview

With Thunderbolt™
Using G-RAID TB
• Easy Installation ................. p.11
• Disconnect the Drive .......... p.12

p.11
Using Your Drive
Easy Installation
G-RAID TB attaches to your Mac with a Thunderbolt cable*. Simply plug one end
into the Thunderbolt connector on your Mac, and the other end into either port on
the rear of G-RAID TB.
*Thunderbolt cable sold separately
install
One of the great features of Thunderbolt technology is the ability to daisy-chain
up to six high-performance devices.
Connect the power cord to the unit and plug the other end into a surge protector
or wall outlet. Press and hold the power button until the unit turns on. The drive
will automatically mount on the desktop.

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Using Your Drive
Disconnect the Drive
A great feature of Thunderbolt technology and G-RAID TB is the ability to connect
and disconnect the drive while your computer is running. To prevent failures
and/or data loss, it is important to follow the steps below when disconnecting
or ‘unmounting’ the drive from your computer.
1. Before powering down and disconnecting the drive, unmount the system
by simply dragging the G-RAID TB icon to the trash located in the dock.
Keyboard shortcut: Select the drive icon and hit Command+E.
2. It is safe to remove the drive from your system when the drive icon is no
longer present on your desktop.
3. To power off G-RAID TB, press and hold the On/Off power button until the unit
shuts down.
disconnect

With Thunderbolt™
Maintenance for Your Drive
• Congure the RAID mode.... p.14
• Restore the Drive Icon ........ p.18

p.14
Maintenance for Your Drive
Congure the RAID mode
G-RAID TB was congured at the factory as a Striped RAID set, or RAID 0.
To change the RAID mode, follow these steps:
WARNING: THIS WILL DELETE ALL DATA STORED ON THE G-RAID
1. Open the Disk Utility program. This application is located on your hard drive
under Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. The window below will appear.
2. Your G-RAID TB will be displayed in the left-hand column as ‘XX TB G-RAID
with Thunderbolt’ (XX = the capacity of your unit). Select the RAID set.
3. Click ‘Delete’ at the bottom of the screen.
2
3
congure

p.15
Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Conrm you would like to Delete the RAID set by clicking on ‘Delete’.
Warning: This will destroy the data on the RAID.
5. Enter a name for the new RAID set.
6. Leave the default Mac OS Extended (journaled) option for Format.
7. Select the desired RAID mode.
• Striped RAID set (RAID 0) for performance.
• Mirrored RAID set (RAID 1) for data redundancy.
5
6
7

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Maintenance for Your Drive
8. Click and drag the two identical Hitachi drives, one at a time, into the center
area of the application to add the drives to the RAID set.
9. Click the ‘Create’ button in the lower right corner.
10. Click ‘Create’ again in the popup
window that opens.
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Maintenance for Your Drive
11. After the drive is reinitialized, you should automatically see the Time Machine
dialog box.
• Click the ‘Use as Backup Disk’ button if you want to use
the drive with Time Machine.
• Click the ‘Don’t Use’ or ‘Decide Later’ button if you do not
want to use Time Machine at this point.
12. Quit the Disk Utility program. After creating a new RAID set,
the custom icon for G-RAID TB has been erased. You can
optionally restore this icon with the steps on the next page.

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Maintenance for Your Drive
Restore the Drive Icon
If the G-RAID TB drive icon was erased during the conguration process (see the
previous section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps.
NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of the G-RAID TB. However,
it will make your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look nicer and
more accurate.
1. To get the G-Technology icon package, go to www.g-technology.com/support
and navigate to your product. There will be a link to download the icons.
2. Once downloaded, it should automatically open the G-Tech Icons folder as
shown below. If not, double-click the Zip le to open. Next, double-click the
DMG le to open the G-Tech Icons package.
3. Click to select the drive icon for G-RAID TB in the package window. Press
Command+C to copy the icon. (below)
restore

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Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Select the default G-RAID TB drive icon on your desktop and press
Command+I. This opens the Get Info window. (below left)
5. Select the default icon in the Get Info window. (below left)
6. Press Command+V to paste the custom G-RAID TB icon into the Get Info
window. (below right)
The icon for your G-RAID TB has been restored and you can close the
Get Info window. Your drive is now ready for use!

With Thunderbolt™
Support & Warranty
• Technical Support ............... p.21
• Limited Warranty ................ p.22
• Copyright .......................... p.24