- Nick Gold

As I began to write up the next segment of the Storage Primer, discussing external Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) options for the Mac Pro, I realized that I was starting to talk a lot about RAID solutions on the market, without having discussed in more general terms what exactly “RAID” means, and why it’s important. While I have talked about RAID 0 striped volumes and RAID 1 mirrored volumes in past installments, there is quite a bit more to RAID than that, and it really calls for its own article. Please read on to get a more thorough understanding of RAID storage technology!

Keep in mind that some of my explanations here veer toward using layman’s terms, rather than complex technical language, and that is every bit the intent. For more in-depth information, a simple Google search using the term “RAID” will net you more results than you could ever hope to review. With that said, let’s review the various RAID levels, as well as software-based versus hardware-based RAIDs.

- Nick Gold

After having discussed both internal storage options and third-party external Direct-Attached Storage options for Apple’s portable products, it’s time to turn our attention to the desktop Mac Pros. We begin our examination of professional desktop storage by looking at the inside of the Mac Pro tower, and what kind of storage is possible without having to add external hardware of any sort. A number of areas discussed here, namely software-based RAID 0 striped volumes and RAID 1 mirrored volumes, build off of lessons learned in Part 2 of the Storage Primer.

This month’s edition of The Primer will stay on the topic of laptop/portable storage, but this time moving outside the machine itself and examining external storage options of several types that are suitable for laptop use. These kinds of external storage devices, when directly connected to the system, are referred to as “Direct-Attached Storage”, or DAS devices. For anyone doing serious work on a laptop, especially when dealing with high-bandwidth digital media such as digitized audio and video, a DAS device of one kind or another is essentially a necessity due to size and speed issues of the drive your media lives on. Some external storage devices are better than others at such tasks, and there is always the issue of how well-protected the device is from breakdown and data loss. Read on to learn about the primary options available in this space.