Mac Pro in Bits

Today was spent continuing working on the Mac Pro computer. Despite following all of the normal procedures for rebuilding a RAID set, it was quite impossible to get a new drive to merge with the existing RAID 1+0 set; a flag was set somewhere in the Operating System that refused to permit the last step to take place. In the end I decided to remove the hardware Raid card and revert to software RAID, a bit slower, but much more flexible and less restrictive regarding other computer applications. This meant stripping out the card, restoring the original wiring configuration, fitting a single hard disk and restoring the latest full backup of some 182GB. If it all went pear shaped, I could still revert to the previous arrangement, the only thing that I could lose was time. Well I am pleased to say that the computer is up and running, although I still have three hard drives to wipe format and configure into a new software RAID 1+0, which has never previously been a problem.

Today's blip shows the computer again, what else would have been appropriate? This time it is open, on its side, with fans, graphics card and other bits removed, while I re-configured the wiring. The RAID card and some other parts are outside the picture. To avoid scratching the computer, it is recommended that it should be placed on a blanket, while it is worked on; in my case it was placed on our duvet. Everything is working now, I have two full backups of the current hard drive and I am using the machine for this blip. The picture is a little dark, but I was not prepared to spend too much time taking it, as I would like to get the computer fully restored before midnight.