Managing the RAID configuration
The initial/default configuration of My Book® Thunderbolt Duo and My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage devices is as a striped RAID 0 disk array for high-speed/maximum-storage performance. You can use the WD Drive Utilities software to check the device status and reconfigure the device as either:
The WD Drive Utilities software provides a status indication of the device configuration.
To check the device status:
Additionally, when the configuration is either Stripe or Mirror, the Status display shows:
Note: In the Status displays, Drive A Status refers to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive B Status refers to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.
Changing the device configuration
CAUTION! Changing the device configuration reformats both drives, which erases all of the data on them. If you have been using the device in one mode and then want to switch to a different mode, back up your files to another storage device before changing the configuration.
Note: Changing the device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files. You can download these to restore the device to its original configuration after the change. See Restoring the WD software and disk image.
To change the device configuration:
The WD Drive Utilities software displays a volume dialog for specifying the new configuration.
Note: In the Individual Drives volume dialog, Drive A refers to the drive installed in the left slot of the device enclosure, viewed from the front, and Drive B refers to the drive installed in the right slot, regardless of the actual label on the drive.
Note also that the exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) format is not RAID configurable.
Important: If you want to save any of the data that is on the device drives, back it up to another storage device before continuing with the configuration change.
Note: The Encrypt Backup Disk check box only appears on computers using
the Lion or Mountain Lion operating system. DO NOT select this check box if you have
converted to a RAID volume. Your My Book Thunderbolt Duo or My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage device leverages the operating system to enable RAID configurations. The Stripe and Mirror RAID modes of your
My Book Thunderbolt Duo or My Book VelociRaptor Duo device is software configured and the
backup disk encryption feature is not compatible with software-configured
RAID devices.
Restoring the WD software and disk image
In addition to deleting all of the data on your My Book Thunderbolt Duo or My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage device, changing the device configuration also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files.
If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer, or move the device to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD software and disk image on your My Book Thunderbolt Duo or My Book VelociRaptor Duo device. To do this, after you have reconfigured the device, see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 at http://support.wdc.com.
See also: