RAID Setup

Toolkit helps you easily configure the RAID level and formatting for compatible drives.

Supported devices	Product support page	User manual
LaCie 2big Dock	Product	Documentation
LaCie 2big RAID	Product	Documentation
LaCie Rugged RAID Pro	Product	Documentation
LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle	Product	Documentation

RAID explained

RAID stands for redundant array of independent disks. RAID contains the word array, and the two terms are often used interchangably. An array is a combination of two or more physical disks that are presented to the operating system as a single volume.

Disks are combined into different RAID configurations known as RAID levels. The RAID level you choose depends on which storage attributes are most important to you:

Capacity	The total amount of data you can store
Performance	The speed at which data is copied
Protection	The number of disks that can fail before data is lost

Toolkit RAID helps you configure compatible LaCie and Seagate RAID storage devices with two drives. Available RAID levels are RAID 0 and RAID 1:

RAID 0—Data is not duplicated on both drives. This results in faster transfers and more storage, since the full capacity of both drives can be used to store unique data. However, RAID 0 lacks data protection. If a single drive fails, all data in the array is lost.

RAID 1—Data is duplicated on each disk in the array. If a drive fails, the data remains available on the other drive. However, this comes at a cost—since the same data is written to each drive, copying data takes longer and overall storage capacity is reduced by 50%. RAID 1 is a good choice when protecting your data is more important than performance or overall storage space.

The array can also be removed by configuring the drives as JBOD:

JBOD—”JBOD” stands for “Just a Bunch of Disks”, meaning that your two drives have not been configured as an array and operate as two independent disks. JBOD configuration is only available for 2-bay devices: LaCie 2big Dock and LaCie 2big RAID.

To summarize the advantages of the different RAID levels:

RAID level	Capacity	Performance	Protection	Factory default
RAID 0	100%	Excellent	None	Yes
RAID 1	50%	Good	Excellent	No
JBOD	100%	Varies	None	No

RAID and data security

While RAID 1 can protect data in case of a single drive failure, it cannot guarantee complete data protection for all cases of hardware failure or data corruption. To help prevent data loss due to any extreme event, it’s recommended that you maintain copies of your files on more than one device—for example, keep one copy on your RAID device and another copy on one of the following:

Another direct-attached storage (DAS) device
A network attached storage (NAS) device
Some form of removable or archival storage

Any loss, corruption or destruction of data while using a Seagate or LaCie hard drive or hard drive system is the sole responsibility of the user. Under no circumstances will Seagate or LaCie be held liable for the recovery or restoration of data.

Setting RAID level and formatting with Toolkit

Formatting erases everything on the storage device. It's highly recommended that you back up all data on your storage device before performing the steps below. Seagate and LaCie are not responsible for any data lost due to formatting, partitioning, or using a storage device.

Follow the instructions in your product user manual for setting up your device and installing Toolkit.
On the Toolkit home screen, click on the RAID activity.
Click Set Up.
Select a RAID level:

RAID 0	Configures the device as RAID 0. Full storage capacity is available for your files and your data transfers are faster. However, RAID 0 lacks an important feature: data protection. If a hard drive fails, all data in the array is lost.
RAID 1	Configures the device as RAID 1. Each file is stored on both drives in the array, which means your data is still available if a single drive fails. However, storage space is cut by 50% and data transfers are not as fast as RAID 0.

If you want to remove the RAID array and configure the drives as JBOD, click on the Non-RAID tab and select the JBOD option.

Click Continue.
Select one of the following formats for the drive:

Mac users
Windows and macOS Compatibility	Formats the drive in exFAT. Your device can be used with both macOS and Windows. However, transfer rates are not optimized for either operating system.
macOS Performance	Formats the drive in HFS+. Your device is optimized for macOS, resulting in better transfer rates. However, compatibility with Windows would require a third-party utility.

Windows users
Windows and macOS Compatibility	Formats the drive in exFAT. Your device can be used with both macOS and Windows. However, transfer rates are not optimized for either operating system.
Windows Performance	Formats the drive in NTFS. Your device is optimized for Windows, resulting in better transfer rates. However, compatibility with macOS would require a third-party utility.

Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the process.