Aleratec 11 HDD PortaCruiser Hard Disk Drive Duplicator and RAID User Guide

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Overview
Power Up Sequence
During the normal power-up sequence of the HDD PortaCruiser, the following 
information will be displayed.Figure 1 shows the firmware version
• 
Figure 2 shows the memory initialization
• 
Figure 3 shows the scanning of the drives
• 
Figure 4 shows the number of drives loaded. 
• 
Figure 5 shows the first function. The HDD PortaCruiser will initialize in either 
• 
Duplicator Mode or Dual Disk RAID (USB) Mode depending on its last sta\
te. 
Duplicator Mode
ENT
HDD Duplicator
1-1  ver: 0.92C 
ESC
RESET
MUTE

ENT
Initialize SDRAM 
ESC
RESETMUTE

ENT
Detect Drives 
ESC
RESETMUTE

ENT
Initialize SDRAM 
ESC
RESETMUTE

ENT
Detect Drives
Found 0 Devices 
ESC
RESETMUTE

ENT
1. Copy HDD 
ESC
RESETMUTE

USB Mode
ENT
USB Mode: Normal
D1: HDD  D2: HDD 
ESC
RESET
MUTE
 
						

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Overview
Understanding RAID
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a system composed of many hard 
drives; that is, multiple physical drives form a single virtual drive to be recognized 
by the system. Different RAID modes have different advantages and disadvantages.
RAID 0 (Striping)
RAID 0 must be composed of a pair of hard drives at least. When data is written into 
the whole hard drive, it will be equally striped and written into each hard drive of the 
array. Thus the access speed becomes quicker. The effect of RAID 0 is to proportion 
the data to a number of hard drives. More hard drives mean more read/wri\
te heads, 
and therefore higher speed. Though RAID 0 is quick in read/write speed, it has no 
data redundancy, and accordingly has no fault tolerance. It is suggested to compose 
RAID 0 with hard drives of the same capacity. Because the capacity of striped disk 
array is the multiplication of the smallest hard drive capacity with the\
 number of 
hard drives. For example, a 100GB hard drive and a 120GB hard drive unit\
e into 
RAID 0. The total capacity is 200GB (100GB×2). 
RAID 1 (Mirroring)
RAID 1 must be composed of hard drives in even numbers. The RAID controller 
willdivide the hard drives into a pair, and write data simultaneously into the two hard 
drives. The two hard drives contain the same data. When one hard drive’s data are 
damaged, you can replace the failed hard drive, and the RAID controller \
will restore 
the data by the backup on the other hard drive. RAID 1 provides fault to\
lerance. It 
is suggested to compose RAID 1with hard drives of the same capacity. Because the 
capacity of mirrored disk array is that of the smallest hard drive. For \
example, a 
100GB hard drive and a 120GB one unite into RAID 1. The total capacity is 100GB.
JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks or Spanning)
JBOD is not a real RAID setting. It simply combines a bunch of disks int\
o a single 
virtual drive. It doesn’t have the functions of quick read/write speed and error 
tolerance. However, compared with RAID 0, JBOD doesn’t waste any hard drive 
capacity. Its capacity is the total of all hard drive capacities. For example, s\
et a 
100GB hard drive and a 120GB one as JBOD. The total capacity is 220GB. 
						

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Overview
Duplicator Main Menu
In Duplicator mode, there are eight main menu items that can be seen in \
the HDD 
PortaCruiser Copy Controller Display Panel. These are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Note: The Advanced Setup function is a hidden menu. To access this menu, 
press ESC for 3 seconds. After you have completed any desired adjustments, 
press ESC to exit Advanced Setup.
1. Copy HDD ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

2. Compare HDD ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. PreScan Source ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

4. ReScan Bus ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. PreScan Source ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

5. Source Size ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

6. Setup ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

7. USB RAID Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

8. Adv Setup ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE
 
						

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Overview
Duplicator Subfunctions
The “Setup” menu has eight (8) subfunctions. These are:
6-01 Language
6. Setup ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

6-02 DMA Mode
6-03 Copy Size
6-04 Startup Menu
6-05 Auto Compare
6-06 Copy with Detect
6-07 Button Sound
6-08 Device Info
6-09 System Info 
						

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Overview
The Duplicator “Advanced Setup” menu has eight (8) subfunctions.\
 These are:
8-01 ReScan Bus Delay
8-02 Read Error Skip
8-03 Quick Erase HDD
8-04 H/W Diagnostic
8-05 Load Default
8-06 Link Option 
(for USB Mode)
8-07 USB Auto Link
8-08 Copy HPA
8. Adv Setup ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE
 
						

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Overview
Dual Disk RAID (USB) Mode Main Menu
In USB mode, the options seen in the HDD PortaCruiser Display Panel depe\
nd on 
the RAID mode of the system. These are:
Normal Mode
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
JBOD Mode
1.
2.
3.
4.
1. Duplicator Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

2. Information ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

4. D1 Drive Select ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. Change RAID Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

5. D2 Drive Select ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

1. Duplicator Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

2. Information ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

4. Initial JBOD ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. Change RAID Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE
 
						

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Overview
RAID0 Mode
1.
2.
3.
4.
RAID1 Mode
1.
2.
3.
4.
1. Duplicator Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

2. Information ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

4. Initial RAID0 ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. Change RAID Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

1. Duplicator Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

2. Information ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

4. Initial RAID1 ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE

3. Change RAID Mode ENT
ESC
RESETMUTE
 
						

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Using the HDD PortaCruiser 
Loading the Hard Drives
IDE Drives 
Use an IDE cable (not included) to connect the source/target hard drive’s IDE 
1. 
port to the HDD PortaCruiser’s Source/Target IDE port.
Use an IDE cable (not included) to connect the source/target hard drive’s power 
2. 
port to the HDD PortaCruiser’s Source/Target port.
SATA Drives 
Position the HDD PortaCruiser on a flat surface with enough area around it to 
1. 
place the source/target hard drive.
Align the source/target hard drive’s SATA port with the HDD PortaCruiser’s 
2. 
SATA connector.
Slide the source/target hard drive against the HDD PorrtaCruiser so that the 
3. 
SATA connection is made.
Note: If you are duplicating, the hard disk drive you are copying goes on the\
 side 
labeled “Source”, and the hard disk drive you are copying to goes \
on the side 
labeled “Target”. 
Note: When both the IDE and SATA connectors on the Target (or Source) side are 
connected to hard drives, the HDD PortaCruiser will only recognize the S\
ATA drive.  
						

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Using the HDD PortaCruiser 
Removing Hard Drives
Remove the IDE and power cables (for IDE drives) or slide the hard dri\
ve away 
1. 
from the HDD PortaCruiser unit (for SATA drives).
Note: Do not attempt to remove the hard drive if the drive activity LED is on\
 or 
the unit is in the middle of a process.  
						

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Using the HDD PortaCruiser 
Duplicator Mode 
Main Menu: Copy HDD
The “Copy HDD” function performs an actual copy from the source HD\
D to the target 
HDD. The target HDD must be at least as large as the source. The HDD PortaCruiser 
will copy every block of capacity on the source HDD. Load the source HDD and the target HDD into the HDD PortaCruiser. The system 
1. 
will auto-detect the hard drives. After the drives have been detected, a screen 
similar to the one below will be displayed. 
Note: Before copying be sure that the capacity of the target HDD is equal to \
or 
larger than the source hard drive. 
Press 
2.  ENT to start copying. The system will auto-detect the hard drives. The 
following information will be displayed. 
During the copy process the HDD PortaCruiser will display progress infor\
mation.
3. 
The amount of data remaining to be transferred (shown in gigabytes), a\
nd time 
will be displayed in decreasing increments as the percentage of completi\
on 
increases. 
Note: The copying speed, capacity and duration may vary from one source hard 
drive to another. 
Once duplication is complete, a job status screen will be displayed.
4. 
ENT
1. Copy HDD
   149.1GB 
ESC
RESET
MUTE

ENT
Detect Drives
Please wait... 
ESC
RESETMUTE

ENT
Copy - 36MB/s  0%
235.7GB    1:48 
ESC
RESET
MUTE

ENT
1. HDD
OK:1    Fail: 0 
ESC
RESET
MUTE
