Huge Stripe #1 dissapeared on system

We have FCP 4HD on a G5 PowerMac with a Dual Channel
320 HUGE SYSTEM 1.2TB drives.

I went to digitize a New Clip on Drive #1 (HugeStripe#1)
and up pops up "General Error"

I rebooted and then HugeStripe#1 went away.

We called our vendor and they say the entire computer
must go back to California to Apple; and that we will lose
all our data (including that on Huge Stripe #2 that has a
full length HD movie on it!)

Before we take such a drastic step; have any one you had
experience with this; and if so; isn't there a better way
to fix drive #1; rather than losing everything!

If you need more details I will gladly elaborate
(been forced to write this on a PC! argghh as the Mac
is now in un-well mode)

Not sure what manufacturer you are referring to? Huge Stripe sounds like a local naming convention you use at the facility.

If the entire mounted volume is Huge Stripe#1 and it now fails to mount, there could be controller or disk drive or power problems.

""We have FCP 4HD on a G5 PowerMac with a Dual Channel
320 HUGE SYSTEM 1.2TB drives.""

This sounds like either a SCSI or Fibre Channel setup. Did you add software or something else before the reboot when the volume went away?

Are you operating at RAID 5? If so, you merely need to swap out the bad drive and the RAID will rebuild itself. If it's RAID 0, you're pretty much hosed.

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Hi! It is a HUGE SYSTEMS 320 Dual Setup.

What I don't understand is why it would have to
go back to Apple to be fixed.

I am only 6 months into FCP-Motion-DVD Studio
and I am hoping that it doesn't have to go 3000
miles to California and shipped back to us in Sarnia

John Foley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure what manufacturer you are referring to?
> Huge Stripe sounds like a local naming convention
> you use at the facility.
>
> If the entire mounted volume is Huge Stripe#1 and
> it now fails to mount, there could be controller
> or disk drive or power problems.
>
> ""We have FCP 4HD on a G5 PowerMac with a Dual
> Channel
> 320 HUGE SYSTEM 1.2TB drives.""
>
> This sounds like either a SCSI or Fibre Channel
> setup. Did you add software or something else
> before the reboot when the volume went away?

Have you tried Disk Utility to see what, if anything, shows up and might be repaired with the utility? Have you checked cables for good connections, and possibly re-seated the controller card? Zapped the PRAM? Don't panic yet. You have to go through some basic trouble shooting first...then panic.

Your vendor must be busy and trying to make you go away. This is a drive issue most likely or at worst a software issue with FCP. Without knowing more its hard to diagnose. Have you contacted Ciprico to see what if any issues there are with Huge and your version of FCP?

General errors are a beast to pin down. Thats why they are called general errors.

Michael Horton
-------------------

I have learned more about the system
There are two drive arrays A and B
both are HUGE DRIVE HMV 320S -1200DM
(or 1.2TB a piece)

The ID/ STRIPE CODE on A is 1020
(the number switches on the back of the drive)
ID #1 Raid 0 ID #2 Raid 0

The ID/ STRIPE CODE on B is 3040
ID #3 Raid 0 ID #4 Raid 0


Out of the G5 goes a cable to "A" array
and the other cable goes to "B"

if I power up both A and B and the Mac G5 then Hugestripe #2 (B)
shows up in the Finder/Go Computer/Disks

However, if I only power up B and the Mac G5 then Hugestripe #2
does not appear at all.

Before the "fall" there would be System Drive (C: Drive in PC terms)
Hugestripe #1 and Hugestripe #2

I ran the Disk utility (only to look) and it only sees the C: Drive
and Hugestripe #2

The vendor says that the two drive bays are striped across each other
However; if this was the case; why does Hugestripe #2 appear fine
and Hugestripe #1 not appear at all.

There were no overt signs of failure besides the loss of the drive
and if anyone has experience with such a loss; please advice
as we really don't want Apple to zap the working drive
(not to mention the border hassles as the computer has to go
from Canada to the U.S and back to Canada)

can this Disk Utility detect a drive if it is broken (kind of like FDISK for MSDOS)
I have no experience with Macs and don't even want to pop the case
(I'll let my boss do that)


thanks for bearing with my ignorance






Michael Horton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your vendor must be busy and trying to make you go
> away. This is a drive issue most likely or at
> worst a software issue with FCP. Without knowing
> more its hard to diagnose. Have you contacted
> Ciprico to see what if any issues there are with
> Huge and your version of FCP?
>
> General errors are a beast to pin down. Thats why
> they are called general errors.

A bit confused. Are the names of your drives Hugestripe #1 and Hugestripe #2? If so, that may cause troubles. The names are too similar. Need to be called Dick and Harry or something. Plus and am unsure here, the symbol "#" should not be part of a naming scheme when it comes to drives.

Was all well until just recently? For how long was all well.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Sorry, there is no #symbol in the name
my 3ds max scripting brain added that in

the names are Hugestripe 1 and Hugestripe 2

-the system had gone well for 1 1/2 year without fault


Michael Horton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A bit confused. Are the names of your drives
> Hugestripe #1 and Hugestripe #2? If so, that may
> cause troubles. The names are too similar. Need to
> be called Dick and Harry or something. Plus and am
> unsure here, the symbol "#" should not be part of
> a naming scheme when it comes to drives.
>
> Was all well until just recently? For how long was
> all well.

You cant give drives names that similar. This may be the cause of your issues

Michael Horton
-------------------

Anyhow - is the vendor who wants the entire computer back - someone who sponsors this LAFCPUG group or is it another Apple reseller.

I ask that since intergrating a RAID system into an Apple Mac computer is something that most Apple Resellers are not really familiar with. They also probably don't understand the damage they can induce by requiring the entire computer be sent back. Negotiate - first!

Since you have identified both HugeStripe #1 and #2 as RAID 0, it is most likely that either a power supply has failed in HugeStripe #1 - if Hugh Stripe #2 is not in the same enclosure - OR - one of the drives has failed and as a RAID it can not mount.

As with a RAID 0 scenario - it would be almost impossible to recover the data from a one of x#drives in the RAID,, unless the problem is not a drive. Then again, it could also be one of the two controller ports on the SCSI card???

I would try to listen intently to the drives inside the HugeStripe #1 box and feel to see if the drives are all spinning. That doesn't necessarily mean that the drives are good, but it would isolate a power problem.

Mark,

Have you tried Disk Warrior - maybe only the directory is corrupted.
And as Micheal Horton said try to keep your HD names in a UNIX way: Huge_1 instead of Huge 1.

Regards
Andreas

also if you had your drives striped across eachother implying huge stipe one is striped across huge stripe 2 than you would A see only one drive at any given time, and B if one failed you would loose it all.

Also if your comfortably try changing the order, it sounds as if you have your to drives daisy chained together, which is never a good thing to do, let alone with larg drive sizes

I got a reply from Ciprico who said maybe the SCSI drivers
got erased however we still sit at 10.3.9. OSX

and if the scsi drivers got erased why can i still see hugedrive2

Here is the cabling at the back
maybe this will help

[www.agilemedia.biz]

the id modes are 1020 for array #1
and 3040 for array #2


Aaron Zander Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> also if you had your drives striped across
> eachother implying huge stipe one is striped
> across huge stripe 2 than you would A see only one
> drive at any given time, and B if one failed you
> would loose it all.
>
> Also if your comfortably try changing the order,
> it sounds as if you have your to drives daisy
> chained together, which is never a good thing to
> do, let alone with larg drive sizes

mid west media out og michigan is the installer/reseller
and they want to ship it to Huge Systems


John Foley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyhow - is the vendor who wants the entire
> computer back - someone who sponsors this LAFCPUG
> group or is it another Apple reseller.
>
> I ask that since intergrating a RAID system into
> an Apple Mac computer is something that most Apple
> Resellers are not really familiar with. They also
> probably don't understand the damage they can
> induce by requiring the entire computer be sent
> back. Negotiate - first!
>
> Since you have identified both HugeStripe #1 and
> #2 as RAID 0, it is most likely that either a
> power supply has failed in HugeStripe #1 - if Hugh
> Stripe #2 is not in the same enclosure - OR - one
> of the drives has failed and as a RAID it can not
> mount.
>
> As with a RAID 0 scenario - it would be almost
> impossible to recover the data from a one of
> x#drives in the RAID,, unless the problem is not a
> drive. Then again, it could also be one of the two
> controller ports on the SCSI card???
>
> I would try to listen intently to the drives
> inside the HugeStripe #1 box and feel to see if
> the drives are all spinning. That doesn't
> necessarily mean that the drives are good, but it
> would isolate a power problem.