Question: Hardware RAID1 setup

[Vargr]

I get the feeling I am in over my head...

That said, I wanted to add a RAID1 array to my home network - a friend extolled the virtues of his own RAID5 array and I thought, "why not?"

I had just purchased a new computer, an Acer Predator and I've updated to Win 7 Pro.

So I picked up a Sans Digital MR2UT+B and two WD 2TB Enterprise HDDs.

I decided to use the USB 3 connection from the MR2UT to my computer.

I initialized and formatted the two HDDs and just put them in the MR2UT. I set it to RAID1 (≤ 2TB) and turned it on (while holding the RESET button down for 5 seconds as the very sparse instructions said).

The power light came on green, and the link light came on amber (I assume that is normal, I cannot find anything that tells me otherwise) and the drive lights are both blue (HDDs detected). Windows recognized the USB3 to SATA Bridge device. So far so good.

I check My Computer and the... RAID(? Heck, I don't even know what it will look like) isn't showing up. I check the Disk Management and... nothing. What I assume should be a HDD or RAID or something, is instead an unallocated, uninitialized 2TB disk.

I don't understand - I initialized the disks already (took almost 5 hours per disk). So I fear I have missed something that perhaps the MR2UT makers assume I already know.

I stumbled upon this forum and have found everyone to be friendly and helpful to one another... (and yes, I'll admit to a little flattery, but truth is truth).

I'm at a loss.

 

[Vargr]

Not a peep; not even a "fuck off" from anyone.

Anyway, for completeness and in case anyone else has the same issue:

I looked at the manual for another similar product (I was thinking about returning the MR2UT and getting something else) and saw that it had the same kind of switch/toggle setting for RAID setup. This manual filled in all of the details the Sans Digital manual was missing.

I had already formatted my two HDDs prior to inserting them into the MR2UT and that did not need to happen. Instead, formatting occurs after the unit has been set to which ever RAID type is desired and the unit turned on.

Disk Management sees the RAID1 as unallocated space - so it needs to be initialized and formatted. Once this is complete the RAID is set up and good to go.