OWC Mercury Elite RAID User manual

OWC Mercury Elite RAID
4 Bay Rack Enclosure
Owner’s Manual

Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
• Quickstart Guide 2
Chapter 2
• Package Contents and Accessories 3
Chapter 3
• Hardware Overview 3
• Important note before proceeding! 4
Chapter 4
• Cable Connections 5
• FireWire 800 (1394B) connection options 6
• USB 2.0 connection options 7
• How to daisy chain multiple enclosures 8
• How to NOT hook up your enclosure (what NOT to do) 9
Chapter 5
• Using with a Macintosh 10
• Setting up as JBOD (4 individual hard drives) 11
• Setting up as RAID-0 (2 hard drives striped for performance) 14
Chapter 6
• Using with a PC 17
• Setting up as JBOD (4 individual hard drives) 18
• Setting up as RAID-0 (2 hard drives striped for performance) 24
Chapter 7
• Customize - Swap drive trays, change system drive icons 30
Chapter 8
• Troubleshooting 31
Chapter 9
• Tips 32
Chapter 10
• Contacting Customer Service 33

Page 2
You can start using your OWC Mercury Elite RAID Rack storage solution
immediately with a few easy steps if you don’t want to read the entire
manual. The drive solution is formatted for a Macintosh and ready to use
right out of the box. If you’re using a Mac, Simply follow the instructions
on this page and dive in!
1. Open the boxes and remove the above items
3. Plug the power cable in and turn the power switch on. Your
drives will mount on the desktop and you can start using them.
2. Look at the back of the storage enclosure. You need to choose which
interface you want to use - FireWire 800 or USB 2.0.
FireWire 800
USB 2.0
Quickstart Guide
Chapter 1

Page 3
Item Quantity
OWC Mercury Elite RAID Rack Enclosure 1
SATA Hard Drive in carrier (installed) 4
1394b (FireWire 800) cable 2
USB 2.0 (A-B) cable 2
Power cable 1
Drive Carrier Keys 2
Software Bundle CD 1
Installation & Setup Guide 1
Front panel LED status indicators:
• Access LEDs will light up blue if the hard drive is installed.
• Access LED will always light up red if the hard drive is removed.
• HDD Access LED will ash blue when data is being accessed.
• Power LED will light up blue when the power is turned on.
• Fail LED will light up red when the internal temperature exceeds 60˚C
or if the internal fan has failed.
Hardware Overview
Chapter 3
Package Contents and Accessories
Chapter 2

Page 4
1. Before installing, make sure that you have reviewed the previous
page and that all necessary cables and parts are present.
2. Please be sure to use the heavy duty power cord that is provided. The
unit is able to be used with 100-240V, 60Hz power and is autoswitching.
3. Any disassembly of the enclosure or modication will void your
warranty. If you are experiencing problems, please contact our technical
support department before opening the enclosure.
4. Hardware Requirements:
• For the best performance, connect the enclosure using the included
1394b cables (FireWire 800). See note below about gaining even more
performance than a single FireWire 800 connection can provide.
• You can also use a USB 2.0 connection (but not at the same time) if you
do not have a FireWire port on your computer.
If you are looking to maximize the performance of this enclosure, it
has the ability to utilize 2 discrete FireWire 800 connections. You can
connect 2 drives to one FireWire 800 interface, for example, the built-in
FireWire 800 connection on your computer, and the other 2 drives to a
PCI/PCI Express FireWire 800 card, doubling the bandwidth available.
5. OS Requirements:
• Mac:
Compatible with all Apple OS Versions 8.5 through 9.2.x; Apple OS X
10.0.3 and higher (including OS X ‘Leopard’ 10.5.x).
• Windows:
Compatible with Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP; Any OS or
device with standard FireWire or USB support.
IMPORTANT!!
Please read before proceeding with installation

Page 5
Please review the following pictures to determine the best way to hook
your new drive solution to your computer.
Power Plug On/O Switch
Insert the power plug and connect to your standard wall outlet. The
internal power supply is autoswitching and you can use it with voltages
ranging from 110V to 220V, 60Hz.
Drives 3 & 4 Drives 1 & 2
1394B
(FW800) USB 2.0 1394B (FW800) USB 2.0
These are the connections you will use to attach the storage solution
to your computer. You will need to decide if you are going to hook the
solution up via FireWire 800 (1394b) - which is the fastest interface this
drive solution uses, or via USB 2.0, or both.
The OWC Mercury Elite RAID Rack has two separate back panel connec-
tions - called bridges - each controlling 2 hard drives. On the following
pages you will see the dierent methods used to connect the drive solu-
tion to your computer.
Cable Connections
Chapter 4

Page 6
Connection option #1 - Connect to the same FireWire 800 source (built
in FireWire 800 ports, or a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card) using two cables -
direct connection for each bridge card.
Connection option #2 - Connect to the same FireWire 800 source (built
in FireWire 800 ports, or a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card) via daisy-chaining
the two bridges together, then connect one bridge to the computer.
Connection option #3 - Connect to separate FireWire 800 interfaces
(such as a built in FireWire 800 port, AND a PCI/PCIe FireWire 800 card).
Use the 2 included cables to connect one cable to each of these inter-
faces, doubling the bandwidth.
Of the 3 types of FireWire 800 connection listed above, Connection
option #3 is the fastest.
FireWire 800 (1394B) Connection Options

Page 7
Connection option #4 - Connect to the same USB 2.0 source (built in
USB 2.0 ports, or a PCI/PCIe USB 2.0 card) using two cables - direct con-
nection for each bridge card.
Connection option #5 - This option allows you to use both a FireWire
800 and a USB 2.0 connection. Connect one cable from the FireWire 800
ports on either bridge card to the computer, and then connect the USB
2.0 connection on the opposite bridge card to the computer.
This allows you to maximize the performance, of the storage solution,
even though you do not have two identical interfaces.
USB 2.0 & Other Connection Options

Page 8
Mercury Elite RAID #1
Mercury Elite RAID #2
Mercury Elite RAID #3
If you wish to connect multiple storage enclosures together, use the
above diagram to properly connect the enclosures to each other. You
can of course split the enclosures onto multiple FireWire 800 sources to
improve data transfer speeds, but it is possible to connect multiple units
together in the described method.
Daisy Chaining Multiple Enclosures Together

Page 9
The below described methods show what NOT to do to hook your
storage enclosure to your computer.
You cannot share the storage enclosure between two computers.
Do not attempt to hook cables between the storage enclosure and 2
computers as shown, data loss and damage to the unit can occur.
You also cannot hook both the FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connection
to the computer on the same bridge card. Once again, data loss and
damage to the computer can occur.
Ways to NOT hook your storage enclosure to your computer

Page 10
Once you have decided on the proper way to connect the OWC Mercury
Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack to your Macintosh, you’re now ready to power the
unit on and begin using it. Do so now.
The OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack comes from the factory pre
congured one of 3 ways. Please refer to your invoice to verify which
method of conguration you ordered if you do not know already.
The methods are:
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual
hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Elite 4
Bay RAID Rack, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using
a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your
desktop.
RAID 0+1 - This method is a bit dierent than the above two methods as
it uses a piece of software that is included with this bundle - SoftRAID.
SoftRAID combines two Stripe (RAID-0) volumes into a RAID-1 Mirror
- allowing both speed, and full redundancy. If you had 4 1TB drives in
your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack using this method, you would
have 1 2TB volume mount on your desktop.
Your solution should be congured properly to work the way that
you ordered it right out of the box. However, if you decide you want
to recongure or change the method you ordered, please see the
following pages to reformat or recongure your RAID.
Using your OWC Mercury Elite 4 bay RAID Rack with a
Macintosh Computer
(If you are using a PC; please turn to page # 17
Chapter 5

Page 11
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy
all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack and
locate the switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they
are both on the “JBOD” position (LEFT).
Choose the connection method you desire (USB, FireWire 800),
and power on the OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack enclo-
sure. You will see these dialog boxes pop up. Click on “Initialize”.
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual
hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Elite 4
Bay RAID Rack, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Setup your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack as JBOD
(4 individual hard drives) on a Macintosh

Page 12
Once Disk Utility opens, you will see a screen that looks similar
to this - note the 4 individual hard drives shown on the left side,
all unformatted with no volumes listed.
Click on the rst hard drive in the list that has no volume, as
shown above.
Step 4
Step 5

Page 13
Enter a name for your new hard drive, select a volume format,
and click Erase.
Are you sure? Click Erase.
1 drive down, 3 more to go. Continue naming and formatting
each of your drives. You’re all set!
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8

Page 14
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using
a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your
desktop.
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy
all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack and
locate the switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they
are both on the “RAID 0” position (RIGHT).
Choose the connection method you desire (USB, FireWire 800),
and power on the OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack enclo-
sure. You will see these dialog boxes pop up. Click on “Initialize”.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Setup your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack as a
RAID-0 (2 striped hard drives) on a Macintosh

Page 15
Once Disk Utility opens, you will see a screen that looks similar
to this - note the 4 individual hard drives shown on the left side,
all unformatted with no volumes listed.
Click on the rst hard drive in the list that has no volume, as
shown above.
Step 4
Step 5

Page 16
Are you sure? Click Erase.
1 pair of drives down, 1 more pair to go. Repeat on the 2nd set
and you’re all done!
Step 7
Step 6

Page 17
Once you have decided on the proper way to connect the OWC Mercury
Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack to your Macintosh, you’re now ready to power the
unit on and begin using it. Do so now.
The OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack comes from the factory
precongured one of 3 ways. Please refer to your invoice to verify which
method of conguration you ordered if you do not know already.
The methods are:
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual
hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Elite 4
Bay RAID Rack, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Stripe (RAID 0) - Two volumes will mount on your desktop, each made
up of a high-speed RAID-0 Stripe - combining two volumes each. Using
a RAID-0 Stripe format, if you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury
Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack, you would have 2 2TB volumes mount on your
desktop.
RAID 0+1 - This method is a bit dierent than the above two methods
as it uses a piece of software that is included with this bundle - SoftRAID.
SoftRAID combines two Stripe (RAID-0) volumes into a RAID-1 Mirror
- allowing both speed, and full redundancy. If you had 4 1TB drives in
your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack using this method, you would
have 1 2TB volume mount on your desktop.
Your solution should be congured properly to work the way that
you ordered it right out of the box. However, if you decide you want
to recongure or change the method you ordered, please see the
following pages to reformat or recongure your RAID.
Using your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack with a PC
(If you are using a Mac, please turn back to page # 10
Chapter 6

Page 18
Click on the start button and then Control Panel.
Step 3
JBOD - All 4 hard drives formatted independently, as four individual
hard drive volumes. If you had 4 1TB drives in your OWC Mercury Elite 4
Bay RAID Rack, you would have 4 1TB volumes mount on your desktop.
Look at the back of the OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack and
locate the switches to the right of the USB port. Make sure they
are both on the “JBOD” position (LEFT).
Step 2
(IMPORTANT) Realize that reconguring your RAID will destroy
all data on this storage enclosure. Be sure you have a backup
before proceeding. Make sure that the power is turned o.
Step 1
Setup your OWC Mercury Elite 4 Bay RAID Rack as JBOD
(4 individual hard drives) on a PC (Windows XP / Vista)

Page 19
Double click on Computer Management.
Click on Disk Management under the Storage subcategory.
Step 5
Step 6
Open Administrative Tools.
Step 4