LaCie 4BIG QUADRA USB 3.0 User manual

4big Quadra User Manual 1
4BIG QUADRA USER MANUAL
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INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on the purchase of your new LaCie 4big Quadra. This high-performance,
extremely flexible RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks) subsystem is ideal
for integration with databases, video, and every creative system.
RAID technology is one of the best means to protect your data, while providing greater data integrity and

4big Quadra User Manual 2
availability than standard hard disk storage. With the ability to provide single error detection and redundant
information to recover the original if a disk fails, a RAID system is an ideal means to safe-guard valuable data
while also stream-lining performance.
The LaCie 4big is the ultimate approach to a flexible RAID solution, with its ability to manage various RAID levels
for a wide range of applications.
These pages will guide you through the process of connecting your LaCie product and will explain its features. If
this manual doesn't answer your questions or if you are having trouble, consult the Getting Help page.
BOX CONTENT
Your box contains the following:
LaCie 4big RAID system tower with four hot-swappable hard drives
■
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable
■
FireWire 400 cable
■
FireWire 800 cable
■
eSATA cable
■
External power supply
■
LaCie Utilities CD-ROM
■
Quick Install Guide
■
2-in-1 RAID mode change and drive removal tool
■
Note: A PDF of this User Manual and software utilities are pre-loaded on the drive.
Important info: Please save your packaging. In the event that the drive should need to be repaired or
serviced, it must be returned in its original packaging.

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MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows Users
Windows 20001, Windows XP1, or Windows Vista
■
500MHz Pentium III or higher (or equivalent processor)
■
512MB RAM or greater
■
Available USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 or eSATA interface port2
■
Mac Users
Mac OS X 10.3 or later
■
G4, G5, Intel Core Duo or Intel Core 2 Duo
■
512MB RAM or greater
■
Available USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 or eSATA interface port2
■
Compatible with Time Machine
■
1Windows 2000 and Windows XP will not recognize logical volumes with capacity greater than 2TB. For details,
see Formatting and Partitioning.
2Most computers do not come from the factory with FireWire 800 or eSATA ports, so you may need to purchase
a PCI, PCI-X or PCI-Express card to be able to connect your LaCie 4big via FireWire 800 interface. LaCie offers a
wide selection of PCI cards. Visit the LaCie website at www.lacie.com/accessories.

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VIEWS OF THE DRIVE
Front View
The blue button on the front of the LaCie 4big serves as an LED drive status indicator and the LaCie Shortcut
Button.
See the LaCie Shortcut Button User Manual on the Shortcut Button CD-ROM for more information.
See LED Status Indicators for more information.

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Rear View
RAID selection switch1.
Power input connection2.
USB 2.0 port3.
FireWire 800 ports4.
FireWire 400 port5.
eSATA 3Gbits port6.
on/auto/off power switch7.
Drive tray handle8.
Drive lock9.
Drive status LED10.
LED STATUS INDICATORS
Use the 4big’s front and rear LEDs and the chart below as a reference to determine the status of your 4big:

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If the front
LED is:
And the rear
LED is:
And the RAID
mode is: Then:
Solid blue
Blinking blue
All The 4big is working properly, only active disks’ LEDs blink.
Blinking red
All One or more errors have been detected on the drive, but
while it is still functional, replacing it is recommended.
Blinking blue Blinking blue
All The 4big is starting up; front LED and LEDs of functional
disks become solid blue when initialized.
Dimming blue
(5s)1
Off All
The 4big is in standby mode. If the power switch is set to
“auto” the 4big will enter standby when your computer is
either off or in standby. If rebuilding has begun, the
process will finish before the 4big can enter standby. After
30 minutes of standby, the LED will switch off.
Alternating long
blue and short
red:
Three disks are
blinking blue,
while one disk is
blinking 3 blue, 1
red:
RAID 10, 3, 5,
3+/5+ RAID is rebuilding.
Solid red (failed
disks) and solid
blue (functional
disks)
RAID 10, 3, 5, 5+
One drive has failed or was improperly inserted; RAID is
functional but the security of the drives has been
compromised.
Solid red Solid red (failed
disks) and solid
blue (functional
disks)
RAID 0,
concatenation
One or more drives have failed or are improperly inserted;
RAID is not functional.
10, 3, 5, 3+/5+ Two or more drives have failed or are improperly inserted;
RAID is not functional.
Blinking
blue/red Normal LED
activity All
Temperature alert; allow the 4big to finish current
processes and then shut it down. Make sure the ventilation
holes on the back of the 4big are not obstructed and that
there is ample room for airflow around the unit. Allow the
4big to cool before turning it back on.
Dimming red
(5s)1
Off All
During standby mode, when one or more drives have
failed or are improperly inserted; RAID is not functional.
Dimmed LED stays on for 30 minutes.
Dimming red
(5s)1
Off All
Temperature critical; LaCie recommends that following
this event you leave the 4big in standby for at least an
hour before restarting to prevent damage to the disks.
Off Off All
The 4big is either turned off, or has been in standby mode
for more than 30 minutes, or system or electronic board
failure; in this case, contact LaCie customer support.

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1 LED dims for 5 seconds and then remains at a low intensity.
CABLES AND CONNECTORS
USB 2.0
USB is a serial input/output technology for connecting peripheral devices to a computer or to each other.
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 is the second-to-latest implementation of this standard, and it provides the necessary
bandwidth and data transfer rates to support high speed devices such as hard drives, CD/DVD drives and digital
cameras.
Your LaCie product is shipped with a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable to ensure maximum data transfer performance
when connected to a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port. The cable will also work when connected to a USB 1.1 port, but
performance will be limited to USB 1.1 transfer rates.
Connector Face
(to computer)
Cable End
(to computer)
Cable End
(to product)
Connector Face
(to product)
FIREWIRE 400
FireWire 400, also known as IEEE 1394, is specifically aimed at multimedia peripherals such as digital video
camcorders, CD-RW drives, DVD drives and hard drives.
FireWire is also a point-to-point interface, meaning that a FireWire device can transmit data to another FireWire
device without having to go through a computer. This lets several computers share a given device, and also
allows up to 63 devices to be daisy-chained to the same FireWire bus (with a max of 16 devices on one branch).
Connector Face
(to computer)
Cable End
(to computer)
Cable End
(to product)
Connector Face
(to product)

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FIREWIRE 800
FireWire, also known as IEEE 1394, is a high-speed serial input/output technology for connecting peripheral
devices to a computer or to each other, and FireWire 800 is the implementation of the new IEEE 1394b standard.
FireWire 800 offers increased bandwidth and extended distance between devices. FireWire 800 is ideal for
bandwidth-intensive applications, such as audio, video and graphics.
Connector Face
(to computer)
Cable End
(to computer)
Cable End
(to product)
Connector Face
(to product)
Note: FireWire 800 is backwards compatible with FireWire 400, which means that if you have an adapter
cable, you can connect your LaCie FireWire 800 product to a FireWire 400 port on your computer. In this
case, file transfers will be limited to FireWire 400 speeds. If your product does not include an adapter cable
in the package, you can purchase one from www.lacie.com/accessories/.
ESATA
Your LaCie product offers the latest in SATA technology, allowing interface (or bus) transfer rates of up to 3
Gbits/s. SATA technology was originally developed to serve as an internal interface, delivering improved
performance to internal connections.
Soon after, eSATA, or external SATA was developed, allowing for the use of shielded cables outside the PC.
eSATA technology was developed to be rugged and durable. eSATA connectors do not have the “L” shaped
design of other SATA connectors. In addition, the guide features are vertically offset and reduced in size to
prevent the use of unshielded internal cables in external applications.
Connector Face
(to computer)
Cable End
(to computer)
Cable End
(to product)
Connector Face
(to product)
GETTING CONNECTED

4big Quadra User Manual 9
This section covers the installation and configuration of your LaCie 4big.
CONNECT THE INTERFACE CABLE
Plug one end of the interface cable (USB, FireWire or eSATA) into the corresponding port on your host1.
computer.
Connect the other end of the cable to the matching port on the 4big.2.
Technical note: If two interfaces are connected at the same time, the first one connected remains active
and the second will not work.

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TURN THE 4BIG ON
The power supply kit is composed of two cables: one cable (A) connects to the LaCie drive; and the other cable
(B) connects to a power outlet, such as a wall outlet or a surge protector.
Connect cable A to the 4big.1.
Connect cable B to the power supply brick (C).2.
Connect cable B to a surge protector or wall outlet.3.
Turn on the drive by moving the power switch on the back of the drive to the “on” position.4.

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The 4big system may take up to 30 seconds to boot up.
Caution: Only use the AC adapter supplied with your specific LaCie device. Do not use a power supply from
another LaCie device or another manufacturer. Using any other power cable or power supply may cause
damage to the device and void your warranty.
Always remove the AC adapter before transporting your LaCie drive. Failure to remove the adapter may
result in damage to your drive and will void your warranty.
Technical note: You may use your LaCie drive when in a foreign country thanks to its 100-240 Volt power
supply. To be able to use this feature, you may need to purchase an appropriate adapter or cord. LaCie
accepts no responsibility for any damage to the drive resulting from the use of an inappropriate adapter.
Using an adapter other than one authorized by LaCie will void your warranty.
Note: Depending on your country, power outlet connections may be different from the one shown above.
RAID
ABOUT RAID MODES

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This section will help you decide which RAID mode is right for your application.
RAID Number RAID Mode Capacity Protection Speed
0 RAID 0 100%
1 RAID 10 50%
2 Concatenation 100%
3 RAID 3 75%
4 RAID 3+Spare 50%
5 RAID 5 75%
6 RAID 5+Spare 50%
7 N/A (no RAID changes will take effect if 7 is selected)

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RAID 0
The 4big Quadra is pre-configured in RAID 0, the fastest RAID mode. Requiring at least 2 drives, RAID 0 stripes
data onto each disk. The available capacities of each disk are added together so that one logical volume mounts
on the computer.
If one physical disk in the array fails, the data of all disks becomes inaccessible because parts of the data have
been written to all disks.
Applications
RAID 0 is ideal for users who need maximum speed and capacity. Video editors working with very large files
may use RAID 0 when editing multiple streams of video for optimal playback performance. A RAID 0 array is
more suited for actively working with files (editing video, for example) and should not be used as a storage
backup.

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RAID 10
RAID 10 (also called RAID 1+0) is another RAID level that combines the attributes of other levels, specifically
RAID 1 and RAID 0. It is a “mirror of stripes”, meaning that data is striped across two mirrored arrays. The
Striping occurs between arrays and the mirroring occurs within the same array. See the diagram, right.
In a RAID 10 array, one disk from each mirrored pair can fail with no data loss. However, the working disk in an
array with a failed disk becomes a weak point for the entire array. If the second disk in a mirrored pair fails, the
entire array is lost.
Applications
RAID 10 provides good speeds because of RAID 0 striping, but cuts the available capacity of a device in half
(assume all disks in the array have the same capacity).

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Concatenation
When disks are concatenated, their capacities are combined and data is written to the primary disk in the array
until is it full, and then to successive disks. Concatenation provides no performance advantage or added
measure of data safety. It is simply a method of combining more than one physical disk into one volume for
greater overall capacity.
Concatenation allows full use of the capacity of all disks in the array and most data can survive a disk failure.
Only data on the failed disk and data that is partially written on the failed disk and an operative disk is lost.
Offers the maximum possible capacity by combining the capacities of several drives into one large volume.

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RAID 3 and RAID 3+Spare
RAID 3 uses byte-level striping with a dedicated parity disk (Disk 4 in the illustrations, right) so that one volume
mounts on the computer. A RAID 3 array can tolerate a single disk failure without data loss. If one physical disk
fails, the data from the failed disk can be rebuilt onto a replacement disk. If a second disk fails before data can
be rebuilt to a replacement drive, all data in the array will be lost.
In RAID 3+Spare, one disk in the array is left empty. If a drive in the array fails, the data from the failed disk is
automatically rebuilt to the empty or “spare” disk.
Applications
RAID 3 provides good data safety for environments where long, sequential files are being read, such as video
files. Disk failure does not result in a service interruption because data is read from parity blocks. RAID 3 is
useful for people who need performance and constant access to their data, like video editors. RAID 3 is not
recommended for intensive use with nonsequential files because random read performance is hampered by the
dedicated parity disk.
In RAID 3+Spare disk failure does not require immediate attention because the system rebuilds itself using the
hot spare, but the failed disk should be replaced as soon as possible.

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RAID 5 and RAID 5+Spare
RAID 5 combines the striping of RAID 0 with data redundancy in an array with a minimum of three disks.
Data is striped across all disks and a parity block (P) for each data block is written on the same stripe. If one
physical disk fails, the data from the failed disk can be rebuilt onto a replacement disk. No data is lost in the
case of a single disk failure, but if a second disk fails before data can be rebuilt to a replacement drive, all data
in the array will be lost.
In RAID 5+Spare, one disk in the array is left empty. If a drive in the array fails, the data from the failed disk is
automatically rebuilt to the empty or “spare” disk.
Applications
RAID 5 combines data safety with efficient use of disk space. Disk failure does not result in a service interruption
because data is read from parity blocks. RAID 5 is useful for people who need performance and constant access
to their data, like video editors.
In RAID 5+Spare disk failure does not require immediate attention because the system rebuilds itself using the
hot spare, but the failed disk should be replaced as soon as possible.

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CHANGING THE RAID MODE
The 4big comes preconfigured in RAID 0 mode. Before you change the RAID mode of the LaCie 4big, familiarize
yourself with the 4big’s RAID modes. See About RAID Modes.
Important info: Changing the RAID mode destroys data stored on the LaCie 4big. If you have saved data
on the drives, back up data before following these steps.
To Change the RAID Mode
Unmount or safely remove the 4big Quadra volumes from your computer, disconnect the interface cable and1.
switch off the 4big.
To enter RAID modification mode, push and hold the front button and simultaneously turn on the 4big.2.
Continue holding the front button for 15 seconds.
Push the + or - buttons on the RAID mode selector until the desired RAID number appears.3.
0=RAID 0
■
1=RAID 10
■
2=Concatenation
■
3=RAID 3
■
4=RAID 3+Spare
■
5=RAID 5
■
6=RAID 5+Spare
■
7=N/A. Although the number 7 appears in the RAID selector, no RAID changes will take effect if 7 is
■
selected.
Validate the mode by pushing and holding the front LED button for 2 seconds.4.
Let the drives turn on, and then turn off the 4big, allow it to shut down and turn it back on.5.

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Partition the disks. See Formatting and Partitioning.6.
Important info: You must partition the disk drives after changing the storage policy configuration. See
Formatting and Partitioning.
Caution: Your LaCie 4big comes preconfigured in RAID 0 (Fast) mode. RAID 0 allows access to the whole
storage capacity but does not provide any security. If a drive fails, all data will be lost. If you are concerned
about data security, LaCie highly recommends a RAID 10, 3, 3+SPARE, 5, or 5+SPARE configuration. See
RAID for more information.

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REMOVING AND INSTALLING DRIVES
In the event that an individual hard disk fails in the LaCie 4big, please contact your LaCie reseller or LaCie
Customer Support. Please replace a defective hard drive only with a new drive provided by LaCie.
Caution: After continuous use of the LaCie 4big, drives may be hot. Use caution when removing.
To Remove a Drive
If the 4big is in RAID 0 or Concatenation mode, turn it off and unplug it. If the 4big is in RAID 10, 3, 3+, 5 or1.
5+ mode, you can leave it turned on and continue to step 2.
The drive tray may be locked. To unlock it, insert the round end of the provided 2-in-1 tool into the slot on the2.
drive lock and turn the lock until the slot is vertical.
Draw out the drive tray by inserting your finger into the space behind the drive tray handle and pulling to3.
disengage the drive.
Grasp the drive tray handle and carefully extract the drive.4.
Turn the drive on to continue using the remaining drives.5.
To Install a Drive
If the 4big is in RAID 0 or Concatenation mode, turn it off and unplug it. If the 4big is in RAID 10, 3, 3+, 5 or1.
5+ mode, you can leave it turned on and continue to step 2.
Carefully insert the drive tray into an empty drive bay. When the drive tray is most of the way in and you feel2.
resistance, press the drive tray handle firmly until you feel the drive snap into place and the drive tray handle
is flush with the back of the 4big.