Xserve Raid, what a piece of kit it could be...

[Alf Torp]

Having started my odyssey in to the world of Xserves their RAIDs, the shortcomings of the RAID is bugging me. UltraATA disks is a thing that can be overcome by way of adapters, but... 1TB pr. disk size limit, as well as the... finickyness (that's a word, right?) with regards to what disks it will accept is basically what limits these otherwise brilliant RAIDs.

I've been trawling the interwebs for information about ways to get around these limitations but there is very little by way of factual information.

At this stage, I am guessing that the limitation in disk size is determined by the RAID controllers, rather than anything between the controllers and the disk drives but I have found very little usable information in that respect.


- Does anyone here know of anyone who has successfully bypassed the 1TB disk limit in the Xserve RAID?
- Would anyone happen to know what the actual "snag" is?

Would it be possible to "hack" some firmware or other, replace the RAID controllers with a different version or something to that effect, and still use Apples own RAID Admin?

These are questions that I ponder when I can't sleep at 4 in the morning. As well as right now, at 11.52AM. Hey... Lunch!

 

[Alf Torp]

Been doing a little bit of digging with regards to the maximum drive size allowed in the XServe RAID. It seems to be the RAID firmware ONLY, that limits the disk size. The UltraATA standard supports far larger drives than the 1TB limit in the firmware. Now, all I need to do is find the guys who wrote it and ask them to kindly modify it for me...

That said, the XServe runs really well under El Cap, but Catalina was a no-go. Graphics issues.

I have the RAID set up with 2 volumes, 3.75TB and 3TB, to be expanded as money permits. I've put in 2 x 1TB Sata 2.5" disks with adapters, and they seem to work really well. I'm going to do some more searching with regards to possible workarounds for the RAID disk size limit. It's such nice hardware, I want to maximize its use as much as possible.

 

[Alf Torp]

So... it's -18°C here today. Naturally, that prompted me to check the status of my Xserve RAID:

It's in a small workshop room (2x7 meters) I have outside, and there is no other heat in the room than the Xserves and the RAID.
Coolest RAID in tow....vill...comm... my place. Coolest RAID in my place.

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

That’s not a bad way to heat a shed!