LaCie Two Big User manual

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LaCie Two Big Hard Drive
User Manual
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword 3
Precautions 5
1. Introduction 7
1.1. What Your LaCie Two Big Can Do 7
2. Your LaCie Two Big 8
2.1. Minimum System Requirements 8
2.2. Package Contents 9
2.3. Views Of The Drive 10
2.3.1. Front View 10
2.3.2. Front View without Front Panel 10
2.3.3. Rear View 11
2.4. Cables & Connectors 12
2.4.1. Serial ATA II and eSATA 12
3. Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big 13
3.1. Set up the Two Big 14
3.2. Storage Policies 15
3.3. Changing the Storage Policy Configuration 16
3.4. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big Disk Drives 18
3.4.1. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big Disk Drives — Windows 18
3.4.2. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big Disk Drives — Mac 23
4. Maintaining Your LaCie Two Big 25
4.1. Removing/replacing a drive 25
4.2. Firmware updates 26
5. LaCie Two Big Front Panel LED Indicators 27
6. Tech Tips 28
6.1. Available Storage Capacity 28
6.2. File System Formats 29
6.2.1. File System Formats — Mac Users 29
6.2.2. File System Formats — Windows Users 30
6.3. Serial ATA II Questions and Answers 31
7. Understanding RAID and Two Big Storage Policies 33
7.1. RAID 0 (Fast) 33
7.2. RAID 1 (Safe) 35

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7.3. Concatenation (Big) 36
7.4. JBOD 37
8. Troubleshooting 38
8.1. LEDs and Fan 39
8.2. LaCie Two Big connection to LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E 40
9. Contacting Customer Support 41
10. Warranty 43

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LaCie Two Big Hard Drive
User Manual
Foreward
Copyrights
Copyright © 2005 LaCie. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written consent of LaCie.
Trademarks
Apple, Mac, Macintosh and FireWire are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Microsoft, Windows NT, Windows
98, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition and Windows XP are registered trademarks of Micro-
soft Corporation. Sony and iLink are registered trademarks of Sony Electronics. Other trademarks mentioned in this manual
are the property of their respective owners.
Changes
The material in this document is for information only and subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have
been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, LaCie assumes no liability resulting from errors or
omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. LaCie reserves the right to make changes
or revisions in the product design or the product manual without reservation and without obligation to notify any person of
such revisions and changes.
FCC Statement
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to
the following conditions:
1. The devices may not cause harmful interference
2. The devices must accept any interference received, including interference
that may cause undesired operation.
NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15
of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential
installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accor-
dance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or televi-
sion reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try and correct the
LaCie Two Big Hard Drive
Tested To Comply
With FCC standards
FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE
CAUTION: Modifications not authorized by the manufacturer may void the user’s authority to operate this device.

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LaCie Two Big Hard Drive
User Manual
Foreward
interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
Modifications to this product not authorized by LaCie could void the FCC & Industry Canada regulations and negate your
authority to operate the product.
Canada Compliance Statement
This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
Manufacturer’s Declaration for CE Certification
We, LaCie, solemnly declare that this product conforms to the following European standards:
Class B EN60950-1:2003, EN55022: 1998, EN55024:1998 +A1, EN61000-3-2: 2000, EN61000-3-3:2001
With reference to the following conditions:
73/23/EEC Low Voltage Directive
89/336/EEC EMC Directive
This symbol on the product or on its packaging indicates that this product must not be disposed of with your other
household waste. Instead, it is your responsibility to dispose of your waste equipment by handing it over to a de-
signed collection point for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment. The separate collection and
recycling of your waste equipment at the time of disposal will help to conserve natural resources and ensure that
it is recycled in a manner that protects human health and the environment. For more information about where
you can drop off your waste equipment for recycling, please contact your local city office, your household waste
disposal service, or the shop where you purchased the product.
CAUTION: A shielded-type power cord is required in order to meet FCC emission limits and also to prevent interfer-
ence to the nearby radio and television reception. It is essential that only the supplied power cord be used.

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Health & Safety Precautions
Health and Safety Precautions
Only qualified persons are authorized to carry out maintenance on this device.
• Read this User Manual carefully and follow the correct procedure when setting up the device.
• Do not open a disk drive or attempt to disassemble or modify it. Never insert any metallic object into the drive to avoid
any risk of electrical shock, fire, short-circuiting or dangerous emissions. The disk drives shipped with your LaCie Two Big
contain no user-serviceable parts. If it appears to be malfunctioning, have it inspected by a qualified LaCie Technical Sup-
port representative.
• Never expose your device to rain, or use it near water, or in damp or wet conditions. Never place objects containing
liquids on the LaCie Two Big, as they may spill into its openings. Doing so increases the risk of electrical shock, short-cir-
cuiting, fire or personal injury.
• Make sure that the computer and LaCie Two Big are electrically grounded. If the devices are not grounded, there is an
increased risk of electrical shock. Power requirements 100-240 V~, 1.5 A, 60-50 Hz, (Supply voltage fluctuations not
exceeding ± 10% of the nominal, transient over-voltages according to over-voltage category II).
General Use Precautions
• Do not expose the LaCie Two Big 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-operating humidity beyond 10-90%, non-condensing. Doing so may
damage the LaCie Two Big or disfigure its casing. Avoid placing your LaCie Two Big near a source of heat or exposing it
to sunlight (even through a window). Inversely, placing your LaCie Two Big in an environment that is too cold may dam-
age the unit.
• Rated cooling for altitudes up to 2000 meters.
• Always unplug the LaCie Two Big from the electrical outlet if there is a risk of lightning or if it will be unused for an ex-
tended period of time. Otherwise, there is an increased risk of electrical shock, short-circuiting or fire.
• Use only the power supply shipped with the device.
• Do not use the LaCie Two Big near other electrical appliances such as televisions, radios or speakers. Doing so may cause
interference which will adversely affect the operation of the other products.
• Do not place the LaCie Two Big near sources of magnetic interference, such as computer displays, televisions or speakers.
Magnetic interference can affect the operation and stability of your LaCie Two Big.
• Do not place heavy objects on top of the LaCie Two Big or use excessive force on it.
• Never use excessive force on your LaCie Two Big. If you detect a problem, consult the Troubleshooting section in this
manual.
• Protect your LaCie Two Big from excessive exposure to dust during use or storage. Dust can build up inside the device,
increasing the risk of damage or malfunction.
• Never use benzene, paint thinners, detergent or other chemical products to clean the outside of the LaCie Two Big. Such

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Health & Safety Precautions
products will disfigure and discolor the casing. Instead, use a soft, dry cloth to wipe the device.
• Please replace defective hard drives only with a new drive provided by LaCie. For drive removal process, see section
4.1. Removing/Replacing a Drive.
CAUTION: Drive warranty will be void if you replace the defective drive by a drive not purchased from LaCie.
CAUTION: The LaCie Two Big’s warranty may be void as a result of the failure to respect the precautions listed
above.

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1. Introduction
Congratulations on the purchase of your new LaCie Two Big. This
high-performance, extremely flexible RAID (Redundant Array of
Independent/Inexpensive Disks) subsystem is ideally suited for in-
tegration with databases, imaging systems and e-mail and Web
servers.
RAID technology is one of the best means to protect your data,
while providing greater data integrity and availability than stan-
dard 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 Two Big is the ultimate approach to a flexible RAID
solution, with its ability to manage various RAID levels (0, 1, Con-
catenation, and JBOD).
1.1. What Your LaCie Two Big Can Do
• Supports powerful RAID 0, 1, Concatenation, and JBOD
• High-performance storage
• The newest in Serial ATA (SATA) technology
• Easy plug-and-play installation on PC or Mac
Introduction
IMPORTANT INFO: Any loss, corruption or destruction of data while using a LaCie drive is the sole responsibility
of the user, and under no circumstances will LaCie be held liable for the recovery or restoration of this data. To help
prevent the loss of your data, LaCie highly recommends that you keep TWO copies of your data; one copy on your
external hard drive, for instance, and a second copy either on your internal hard drive, another external hard drive
or some other form of removable storage media, such as CD, DVD or Tape. LaCie offers a complete line of CD, DVD
and Tape drives, and if you would like more information on backup, please refer to the LaCie white paper on backup
methods and technology.

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LaCie Two Big Hard Drive
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Your LaCie Two Big
2. Your LaCie Two Big
2.1. Minimum System Requirements
Hardware
• For x86 platforms: Intel PIII 500MHz equivalent or faster
• For Mac platforms: Mac G4 500MHz or faster
• CD-ROM drive
• 64 MB of RAM minimum
• Mouse or compatible pointing device
• External SATA cable connection between the Two Big and the host computer
Software
• For x86 platforms: Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 with the latest Service Pack
installed.
• For Mac platforms: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later.
• LaCie SATA II PCI-X card CD

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Your LaCie Two Big
2.2. Package Contents
Your LaCie Two Big should ship with the system tower, an accessories box and the LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E. For
information about the PCI-X Card, please consult the User Manual and Quick Install Guide packaged with it.
2
6
LaCie Two Big RAID system tower with
two trayless, hot-swappable hard drives
SATA 3Gb/s external cable (2 meters)
LaCie Two Big Utilities CD-ROM (includes
User Manual and Quick Install Guide)
LaCie Two Big Quick Install Guide
(printed version)
External power supply
LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E
PCI-X Card CD-ROM (includes User
Manual, Quick Install Guide and Drivers)
PCI-X Card Quick Install Guide (printed
version)
Two plastic drive stands with rubber feet
for drive stands
1
2
3
5
6
4
7
8
Accessories box contents
1
3
LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E
Quick Install Guide
4
5
7
High-SpeedSATA II RAID system with 2 hot-swappable drives
LaCie Two Big
Quick Install Guide
8
IMPORTANT INFO: Please keep your box. In the event that the LaCie Two Big RAID subsystem tower should need to
be repaired or serviced, it must be returned in its original packaging. In the event that an individual disk should need
to be repaired or serviced, please refer to section 4.1. Removing/Replacing A Disk.
99

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Your LaCie Two Big
2.3. Views Of The Drive
2.3.1. Front View
Drive LEDs – Indicate drive status
System LED – Indicates system on/off status
Panel removal tab
Two Plastic stands with rubber feet
Removable front panel
2.3.2. Front View without Front Panel
Handles to remove the drives
Drive slot 1
Drive slot 2
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
1
23
TECHNICAL NOTE: For more information about these LEDs, see Chapter 5. LaCie Two Big Front Panel LED indica-
tors.
1
2
3
5
4
5

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Your LaCie Two Big
2.3.3. Rear View
Casing Fan
Mode change rotary switch
Power Switch
Mode change confirmation
button
External SATA II 3Gb/s Port
Power Supply Connector
Plastic stands with rubber
feet
Lock hole
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
CAUTION: To avoid overheating, the LaCie Two Big should be installed in a well-ventilated area and in such a way
as to maintain sufficient airflow across the controller chips. Also ensure that the Ventilation Fan is not obstructed.
Please use the included plastic stands and rubber feet which elevate the Two Big and allow for better heat dissipation.
Environmental Requirements:
Temperature: 0 – 35° C (32 – 95° F)
Operation Humidity: 20 – 80%, non-condensing
Storage Humidity: 10 – 90%, non-condensing
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
7

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Your LaCie Two Big
2.4. Cables And Connectors
2.4.1. Serial ATA II and eSATA
Your LaCie Two Big uses the latest in SATA technology, featuring transfer rates of up to 3Gb/s. Both the Two Big and the
LaCie SATA II 3Gb/s PCI-X Card 4E come equipped with eSATA ports and require the use of an external SATA cable,
(included). 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.
eSATA Cables And Connectors
The cables and connectors used to attach Serial ATA drives to your computer are as follows:
Serial ATA Port Serial ATA Cable

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Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
3. Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
This chapter covers the installation and configuration of your LaCie Two Big. A relatively easy process, you will be guided
through the five following steps:
3.1. Set up the LaCie Two Big – This process helps you to get your LaCie Two Big plugged in and ready to use.
3.2. Storage Policies – Terms to know before you configure the Storage Appliance. The terms represent LaCie Two Big
configuration options.
3.3. Changing the Storage Policy Configuration – Your LaCie Two Big comes preconfigured in the FAST storage
policy configuration. This process will modify the policy configuration.
3.4. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big disk drives – During this process, you will format the drives. For more informa-
tion about file system formats, see chapter 6.2. File System Formats.

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Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
3.1. Set up the LaCie Two Big
1. Make sure that the PCI-X card delivered with your LaCie Two Big has
already been installed. Please refer to the card’s Quick Install Guide
for setup instructions.
2. Plug in the AC power adapter into the proper AC outlet (fig. A-1),
and then turn on the Two Big using the switch on the back (fig. A-2).
3. Plug one end of the external SATA cable to the external SATA connec-
tor on your host computer. Connect the other end of the cable to the
Two Big (fig. B).
TECHNICAL NOTE: The LaCie Two Big default configuration is in FAST (RAID 0) mode. To change the storage
policy configuration mode, see sections 3.3. Storage Policies, 3.4. Changing the Storage Policy Configuration, and
7. Understanding RAID and Two Big Storage Policies.
TECHNICAL NOTE: The disks shipped with the unit are formatted HFS+.
Fig. B
Fig. A
12

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3.2. Storage Policies
Before you use the LaCie Two Big Manager to configure the Storage Appliance, take a minute to study the following terms.
The terms represent The LaCie Two Big configuration options or storage policies for mapping the physical to the virtual
drives. You’ll choose from these policies during the configuration process. Your choice is important and impacts how best
you can use the Storage Appliance.
FAST A storage policy configuration in which I/O processing is balanced evenly to all disks in a method known as strip-
ing, equivalent to RAID 0. Fast offers the best performance in terms of speed but no redundancy of data. Striping
increases storage operation speed by using several disk drives in parallel. Each portion of data is divided into
segments which are written to different disks simultaneously. Striping provides improved performance but does not
enhance reliability because there is no way to retrieve or reconstruct data stored on a failed drive. Please check the
LaCie Web site, www.lacie.com, for updates of the User’s Manual reflecting product updates.
SAFE A storage policy configuration in which all data is stored in duplicate on separate disks to protect against data loss
due to disk failure. At least two drives mirror each other at all times, equivalent to RAID 1. Each write goes to both
disks. Safe provides the highest level of data protection but halves the amount of storage space since all data must
be stored twice. To implement the Safe storage policy, the Basic Configuration Wizard creates two volumes. Each
volume consists of two hard disk drives that mirror each other.
BIG A storage policy configuration in which multiple physical drives are strung together (concatenated) and treated
as one large volume. Big provides the maximum amount of storage space but no additional performance or data
redundancy. This configuration allows you to increase logical volume size beyond the capacity of individual drives.
The Basic Configuration Wizard implements the Big storage policy by concatenating all the hard disk drives into a
single volume.
JBOD A storage policy that grants the host PC direct access to a physical disk drive. With JBOD (just a bunch of disks),
the number of available drives is equal to the number of physical drives. JBOD is also called the bypass mode as
the host bypasses the LaCie virtualization engine to directly access the disk.
TECHNICAL NOTE: Total disk capacity can vary depending on the storage policy or RAID level.
Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
IMPORTANT INFO: Your LaCie Two Big comes preconfigured in FAST (RAID 0) mode. For more informa-
tion about RAID levels, see chapter 7. Understanding RAID and Two Big Storage Policies.

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Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
3.3. Changing the Storage Policy Configuration
1. Turn off the LaCie Two Big.
2. Insert a small, flat-blade screwdriver into the groove on the rotary
switch and turn the screwdriver handle to the left or right to select a
different mode (fig. A).
3. Remove the screwdriver from the rotary switch and use it to depress
the MODE Change button (fig. B)
IMPORTANT INFO: Changing the Storage Policy destroys data stored on the LaCie storage device. If you have
saved data on the drives, back up data before following these steps.
SAFE
BIG
FAST
JBOD
MODE
Change
Fig. A
SAFE
BIG
FAST
JBOD
MODE
Change
Fig. B
CAUTION: Disk Drives must be inserted correctly in the Two Big
before configuration can be changed.

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4.Turn on the LaCie Two Big while continuing to hold the MODE change
button for 10 seconds before releasing it (fig. C)
5. If applicable, restore previously backed up data onto the appliance.
Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
IMPORTANT INFO: You must partition the disk drives after changing the storage policy configuration.
SAFE
BIG
FAST
JBOD
MODE
Change
Fig. C

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IMPORTANT INFO: Before reconfiguring a virtual drive, back up your data and delete previously defined volume
partitions. Do not, however, delete the partition that represents the LaCie processor (the “Not Initialized” disk with no
capacity allocated to it). After you configure and partition the new virtual drives, restore the backed-up data to the
new configuration.
Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
3.4. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big Disk Drives
You must partition the drives after changing the Two Big configuration mode (SAFE, FAST, etc). During this process, you will
format the drives. For more information about file system formats, see chapter 7.2 File System Formats.
3.4.1. Partitioning the LaCie Two Big Disk Drives – Windows Users
This example illustrates the FAST storage policy, which optimizes the LaCie Two Big for performance.
1. Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Manage from
the pop-up window (fig. A).
Fig. A
IMPORTANT INFO: The disks shipped with the LaCie Two Big are formatted HFS+. To use the drives with Windows
operating systems or for cross-platform use between Mac and PC, the drives must be reformatted. For more informa-
tion, see section 7.2 File System Formats.
IMPORTANT INFO: Remember, do not partition the disk that represents the LaCie Two Big processor (the “Not
Initialized” disk with no capacity allocated to it).

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Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
2. Select Disk Management under Storage to open the
Windows Disk Manager (fig. B).
3. Right-click the configured disk’s unallocated space and select
New Partition. If the New Partition option is not available,
select the disk and initialize it first (fig. C).
Fig. B
Fig. C

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Setting Up Your LaCie Two Big
4. Click Next to start the Partition Wizard (fig. D).
5. Select the Primary or Extended option and click Next
(fig. E).
Fig. D
Fig. E