Was this content helpful?
How could we make this article more helpful?
Toolkit helps you easily configure the initial RAID level and formatting for compatible drives.
| Supported devices | Product support page | User manual |
|---|---|---|
| LaCie 2big RAID | Product | Documentation |
| LaCie Rugged RAID Pro | Product | Documentation |
| LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle | Product | Documentation |
Toolkit is designed for quick configuration of your initial RAID level. Toolkit will not launch the RAID Setup wizard once the RAID level or drive format was changed from its factory setting.
Use LaCie RAID Manager if you need to make further changes to your RAID or drive format. LaCie RAID Manager helps you configure and manage arrays, set up important email alerts, measure the health of hard drives, and more.
| Learn more about LaCie RAID Manager |
|---|
LaCie RAID Manager for 2-Bay Devices Download LaCie RAID Manager Supported operating systems |
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 initially configure select LaCie and Seagate RAID storage devices with two drives. Available 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.
To summarize, each RAID level has its own advantages:
| RAID level | Capacity | Performance | Protection | Factory default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAID 0 | 100% | Excellent | None | Yes |
| RAID 1 | 50% | Good | Excellent | No |
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 reccommended that you maintain copies of your files on more than one device—for example, keep one copy on your 2-bay device and another copy on one of the following:
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.
| Full Capacity and Better Transfers (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. |
| File Protection (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. |