Let me ask you something: do you like fast storage? Redundant, fast storage? Lots and lots of gigabytes of fast, redundant storage? Sure you do, buddy -- but what's with the software RAID on your Mac Pro or your Intel-based XServe? That's so last week, now that Apple is shipping the RAID cards for Mac Pro and XServe; you can now do hardware RAID 0, 1, 5, or (Mac Pro only) 0+1 arrays of SATA drives, or superfast SAS drives on the XServe, for the precise mix of speed and reliability that you're craving.Formerly only available as build-to-order options but now shipping as add-in parts for $999 each, the cards come with a raft of requirements. First, they're only for the machines mentioned above; G5 XServes are out of luck. Second, you can't mix and match drive types on the XServe, it's all SAS or all SATA please. Third, a minor point, barely worth mentioning really, but both these cards are listed as requiring some sort of OS update. Yes, on the heels of this morning's announcement of the MacBook revisions, we now have a total of three pieces of Apple hardware that demand Leopard to work at all.
Update: Clarified that the cards were previously available as BTO parts. Note that even though the specifications say Leopard-only for these cards, existing RAID cards (and possibly these as well, for anyone brave enough to spend a grand to test them) continue to work with Tiger.
via Apple Hot News -- thanks Nelson
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-01-2007 @ 5:46PM
john said...
Haven't these been available for months now?
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11-01-2007 @ 5:52PM
Michael Rose said...
John -- have they been? Hmm... what OS would you be using on the machines where they're installed? (Hint: It wasn't available until last Friday.)
They were announced a while ago but did not ship until today, per Apple.
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11-01-2007 @ 5:54PM
artifex said...
With this kind of pricing and these requirements, are they still serious about the enterprise market? (Have they ever been?)
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11-01-2007 @ 5:57PM
Jt Hollister said...
You make it sound like Apple's attempts to force people to keep with the times are a bad thing. In my opinion it's quite admirable. In my experience, the people who like to dis Apple for things like this are hypocritical in that they (like most of us) criticize Microsoft's attempts to hold technology back (browsers constantly not supporting standards, forcing developers to develop with 5-year-old technology).
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11-01-2007 @ 6:04PM
john said...
@ Michael...
I remember seeing them available as build options on Mac Pro a while back. Maybe I missed it, but I don't remember seeing anything about requiring Leopard at the time. It's entirely possible that I missed it, 'cause I certainly wasn't looking carefully at them.
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11-01-2007 @ 6:38PM
Jon said...
I'm pretty sure that the RAID cards have been out for a while but these are probably updated versions. The real question is: does it NEED to require Leopard? I don't see that it does.
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11-01-2007 @ 6:51PM
gascar888 said...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you raid the drives in a mac pro without this? Or is this a hardware vs software raid? Sorry of this is a obvious answer but i do have dual 500gb in my G5 striped and i've been happy so far with the speed and reliability. Is this just faster? Apple's basic explanation on their Mac Pro page does not shed any light on this, anyone?
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11-01-2007 @ 6:57PM
Michael Rose said...
Gascar: yes, software v. hardware. The software RAID is limited to 0 or 1; the hardware RAID (with enough drives) can also do RAID 5 or 0+1. Hardware RAID is noticeably faster.
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11-01-2007 @ 7:00PM
Tom Rodgers said...
The RAID card options have been available for months on Mac Pros and XServes, it runs under Tiger just fine. I should know, I have three XServes with RAID cards, they work great. You don't need leopard to use a Mac Pro or Xserve RAID card. The reason you are seeing it in hot news is the fact you can buy them after you order a system. Until today, you needed to add the card as a CTO option while ordering your machine.
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11-01-2007 @ 7:20PM
Michael Rose said...
Tom -- clarified the post, thanks.
The specs on the store are explicitly saying that these parts require 10.5, but if anyone wants to buy one and try it...
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11-01-2007 @ 7:21PM
Michael Rose said...
John, my apologies for being snotty.
It would be great if someone could cross-check the listed part numbers against the already-deployed cards and determine if they are actually the same part, or different... I don't have one in-hand...
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11-01-2007 @ 7:23PM
Michael Rose said...
FYI -- Apple store:
The Mac Pro RAID Card delivers enhanced storage performance and data protection through a powerful hardware RAID engine, 256MB of cache, and an integrated 72-hour battery for protecting cache data. The card occupies the top PCI Express slot (slot 4) of your Mac Pro and requires Mac OS X v10.5 or later.
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11-01-2007 @ 7:58PM
Alex Valentine said...
999 for a SATA raid card is highway robbery.
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11-02-2007 @ 12:08AM
jay said...
@ alex valentine
so go buy a dell and quit your whining.
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11-02-2007 @ 12:11AM
James K-L said...
@Michael Rose: Tiger can do 0+1 using concatenation. Make two striped sets in disk utility then nest them inside a mirrored set and bingo!
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11-02-2007 @ 2:28AM
john said...
@ jay
Why do you feel like you have to jump a guy who brings up a valid point? $999 *is* too much for a SATA RAID card. I love Apple's stuff, but let's not run to their defense when something seems overpriced. I'd love Apple even more if they didn't charge so much for their upgrades and add-ons.
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11-05-2007 @ 8:10PM
Alex Valentine said...
@jay
First off I wouldn't touch sata on a server class system. The 8-way 256mb HP P-400 SAS controllers we use cost $500.
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