G-Technology G-RAID Studio User manual

Professional High-Performance Dual-Drive Storage System
Welcome to G-

p.2
Table of Contents
Welcome to G-RAID
Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions .................................4
Backup Your Data .................................5
About Your G-RAID
Introduction ..........................................7
What’s in the Box .................................8
System Requirements .............................9
Overview of the Drive ...........................9
Using Your Drive on Mac
Easy Installation for Mac ......................11
Optimize Performance .........................11
Disconnect the Drive ...........................12
Maintenance for Your Drive
Initialize Drive for Mac .......................14
Restore the Drive Icon ..........................17
Reformat with Partitions ........................19
Using Your Drive on Windows
Windows Use .....................................24
Cross Platform Use ..............................25
Support & Warranty
Technical Support ................................29
Limited Warranty.................................30
Copyright ...........................................32
Table

Table of Contents
Safety & General Use
• Safety Precautions ................ p.4
• Backup Your Data ................. p.5

p.4
Safety & General Use
Safety Precautions
G-RAID 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 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. 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

Safety & General Use
p.5
Safety & General Use
Backup Your Data
The disk drive contained in your G-RAID device is a delicate electronic instrument and
is susceptible to damage due to excessive physical shock. Under no circumstances will
G-Tech be held liable for the recovery or restoration of lost data. Any loss, corruption or
destruction of data while using a G-Tech 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-Tech drive. Keep a
second copy on your internal hard drive, another G-Tech drive, or a form of removable
storage media.
backup

About Your G-RAID
• Introduction ......................... p.7
• What’s in the Box ................. p.8
• System Requirements ........... p.9
• Overview of the Drive ............ p.9

p.7
About Your G-RAID
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the G-RAID™ from G-Tech. G-RAID hard drives are a high
speed, low-cost RAID which makes the ideal storage solutions for content creation
professionals. With its unique industrial design and all aluminum housing, G-RAID is
the de facto standard for post-production facilities worldwide.
G-RAID features a quad interface with 3 Gbit eSATA, FireWire 400, FireWire 800
and USB 2.0 connectivity. When connected via eSATA, G-RAID provides data trans-
fers rates in excess of 200 MB/second to support the most demanding professional
content creation applications like Final Cut Studio, Avid and Adobe Premiere.
A soft on/off electronic power switch on the rear panel and a quiet thermo-regulated
‘smart’ fan inside round out G-RAID’s professional feature set.
intro

p.8
About Your G-RAID
What’s in the Box
The following items are included in the box:
• G-RAID drive (eSATA, FW800/FW400/USB 2.0)
• eSATA cable
• FireWire 800 cable (9 Pin to 9 Pin)
• FireWire 800 to 400 cable (9 Pin to 6 Pin)
• USB 2.0 cable
• External DC Power Supply
• Product CD
If any items are missing, please contact G-Tech at [e-mail]
or call [phone].
inbox

About Your G-RAID
p.9
About Your G-RAID
Overview of the Drive
This diagram shows the helpful features of your G-RAID. There is a Power &
Activity LED on the front of the unit and a Heat Sink beneath it. The activity light
will glow when power is applied via the USB or FireWire ports and it will ash
brighter as data is transferred to or from the hard drive.
On the rear of the unit is a Kensington™ security slot, a high speed eSATA port,
two FireWire 800 ports, a USB 2.0 port, DC Power In and Soft-touch On/Off
switch.
overview
System Requirements
G-RAID supports the folllowing Operating Systems. The drive is set up at the
factory for use with Mac OS X systems, and formatted as ‘HFS+ with Journaling’.
• Mac OS 10.5 or higher
• Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
NOTE: G-RAID models greater than 2TB are not supported by Windows XP or
older 32-bit operating systems. These OS’s limit maximum volume size to 2.2TB.

Using Your Drive on Mac
• Easy Installation for Mac ...... p.11
• Optimize Performance ......... p.11
• Disconnect the Drive .......... p.12

p.11
Using Your Drive on Mac
Easy Installation for Mac
G-RAID attaches to your computer via a
USB 2.0, high speed eSATA, or one of
two FireWire 800 ports. FireWire 400
connectivity is handled by a 9 to 6 pin
cable (included). Choose the connection
appropriate for your system and connect
G-RAID with the matching supplied cable.
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
if you are running Mac OS X.
install
Optimize Performance
G-RAID can be connected to any Mac or Windows machine equipped with an
eSATA, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 or USB 2.0 port.
For maximum performance, we recommend connecting G-RAID via the eSATA port or
FireWire 800 port. On computers that do not support eSATA, we recommend install-
ing an eSATA PCIe adapter for desktops, or an eSATA CardBus adapter for laptops.
If you wish to use G-RAID in conjunction with AJA’s IO, Avid’s Mojo or any other
video editing system that utilizes a FireWire connection, you must connect G-RAID
to either an eSATA PCIe adapter or eSATA CardBus adapter for proper operation.

p.12
Using Your Drive on Mac
Disconnect the Drive
A great feature of G-RAID is its ability to connect and disconnect 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 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, press and hold the On/Off power button until the unit
shuts down.
Helpful links
• To use G-RAID on Windows, go to Windows Use.
• To use G-RAID on Mac and Windows together, go to Cross Platform Use.
disconnect

Using Your Drive on Mac
Maintenance for Your Drive
• Initialize Drive for Mac ........ p.14
• Restore the Drive Icon ........ p.17
• Reformat with Partitions ..... p.19

p.14
Maintenance for Your Drive
invitialize
Initialize Drive for Mac
G-RAID was factory-formatted for use or ‘initialized’ for Mac OS X. You can
reinitialize if you would like to quickly erase the contents of the drive. Here are
the steps.
1. First, open the Disk Utility program. This application is located on your hard
drive under Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. The window below will appear.
Your G-RAID will be displayed in the left-hand column.
2. Select the G-RAID by clicking its drive icon in the left-side column. Information
about the drive willl be displayed at the bottom of the window.
3. Select the Erase tab to view the formatting options. By default, the Format pop-
up menu is set to the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) option.

Maintenance for Your Drive
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Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Choose the Format option that you prefer.
• Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Use this format if you intend to use the drive
for Time Machine or to create a separate bootable installation of OS X.
• Mac OS Extended: Use this format for best performance and media storage.
To select, click the Format pop-up and its option to Mac OS Extended.
5. 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-RAID partition.
format

p.16
Maintenance for Your Drive
WARNING: THIS NEXT STEP WILL ERASE ALL DATA ON YOUR DRIVE.
6. Click on the Erase button to continue. A progress bar in the lower right corner
of the window will show the progress of the disk’s reformatting.
7. 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.
8. Quit the Disk Utility program. After reinitializing the drive, the custom icon for
G-RAID has been erased. You can optionally restore this icon with the steps on
the next page.

Maintenance for Your Drive
p.17
Maintenance for Your Drive
Restore the Drive Icon
If the G-RAID drive icon was erased during the reinitializing process (see the pre-
vious section), you can restore the icon with the following easy steps.
NOTE: This process is not required for the operation of the G-RAID. However,
it will make your drive’s appearance on the computer desktop look nicer and
more accurate.
1. To get the G-Tech 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 in the package window. Press
Command+C to copy the icon. (below)
restore

p.18
Maintenance for Your Drive
4. Select the default G-RAID drive icon on your desktop and press Command+I.
This opens 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 custom G-RAID icon into the Get Info window.
(below right)
The icon for your G-RAID has been restored and you can close the Get Info
window. Your drive is now fully ready for use!

Maintenance for Your Drive
p.19
Maintenance for Your Drive
multiple
Reformat with Partitions
‘Partitioning’ a hard drive is the process of dividing a hard drive into separate,
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 is useful to partition your hard drive so sections
of its space can be used for different purposes. For instance, segment user data
from backup data, set up a multi-boot environment with different Operating Systems
or create a dedicated capture scratch disk for programs like Final Cut Pro.
The following steps will guide you through this simple process of partitioning your
drive. In this example, we will partition a 500 GB G-DRIVE mini connected via
FireWire.The steps will be identical for your drive, only the name may be different.
1. First, open the Disk Utility program. This application is located on your hard drive
under Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. The window below will appear. Your
G-Tech drive will be displayed in the left-hand column.

p.20
Maintenance for Your Drive
2. Select the FireWire or USB icon – not the G-Tech drive
icon – by clicking it in the left-side 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.