Move RAID 5 from Mac Pro to Enclosure

When you create a disk Utility RAID, the drives are tagged with a Volume type of OTHER so that ordinary Drivers do not try to mount them. Their RAID-ness is written inside the partion information, along with the identifiers of the other RAID members.

You can remove the drives that make up the RAID, shuffle what slots they are in and install them in a different Mac, and it will still be a disk Utility RAID set of the same type, with the data intact.

This four bay enclosure looks to my eye like it would do the same 'trick'. It is from OWC, a Mac-centric company that prides itself on its support. Call them and ask!

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQCTJB000/

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Spitfirejd wrote:

Ah, I have not read this before. Do you know of any enclosures off-hand that can do that? Or at least what that method/mode is called so I can look for it? Thank you.

You need an enclosure that allows it to be configured for JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) so all the drives are independent so that software RAID can be used. I agree with @Grant on using OWC since they have been supporting Macs for decades.

<< I know just moving the disks won’t work >>

¿ how did you decide that?

what is a DAS setup? NEVERMIND

Direct-attached storage is called DAS because it is directly attached to the computer or server, meaning that the storage can only be accessed by the device that it is connected to and not over a network. A DAS system can comprise hard disk drives or SSDs inside a personal computer or server chassis or an external storage enclosure connected to a server.

another very high-powered term for a very ordinary concept.

<<. External enclosures include their own hardware RAID controllers and wouldn’t be able to read the disks. >>

SOME external enclosures REQURE the use of their internal RAID card, and present a single composite device.

Some enclosures can allow the drives to show through as individual drives, and that kind can be used to move the Disk Utility drives, unchanged, into an external enclosure where they will be seen as a Disk Utility RAID again.