How to Create or Delete a RAID Using Apple Disk Utility

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Larry

Here’s how to create or delete a RAID 0 or RAID 1 multi-disk storage system using Apple Disk Utility.

NOTE: Here’s a tutorial that explains what these RAID levels mean.

Disk Utility is a Mac application that is stored in Applications > Utilities. Disk Utility can only create RAID 0 and RAID 1 volumes. You’ll need to use other software, such as SoftRAID from OWC, to create RAID 4, 5, 6, or 1+0.

TO CREATE A RAID

To create a RAID, open Disk Utility and choose File > RAID Assistant.
Select the type of RAID you want to create. (RAID 1 should only be used for 2-drive systems and generally not for SSDs.)

Select the drives you want to include in the RAID. Here I included all the blades in a four-blade OWC Thunderblade.

Specify the name, format and chunk size of the RAID.
This screen illustrates my recommendations.

Click Next and, after a few seconds, the RAID is created and displayed on the desktop.

TO DELETE A RAID

To delete a RAID, first, unmount it from the Desktop.

Open Disk Utility

NOTE: Even though the RAID is unmounted, Disk Utility will still display it. If it doesn’t, make sure the RAID is turned on and connected to your Mac.

Select the RAID’s name in the RAID Sets section at the bottom of the sidebar.
Click the Delete RAID button on the right.
After a few seconds, the RAID will be gone.

IMPORTANT NOTES

Creating or deleting a RAID destroys any data currently recorded on the drives in the RAID.
Once a RAID is created, it can’t be modified, without first deleting it and creating a new one.

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6 Responses to How to Create or Delete a RAID Using Apple Disk Utility

Don Stafford says:

December 12, 2022 at 4:38 am

Do you format the individual blades and then create RAID? Or create RAID and then format?

Reply
- Larry says:
  
  December 12, 2022 at 5:08 am
  
  Don:
  
  It depends upon the software. Apple Disk Utility formats drives during the RAID creation process. OWC SoftRAID requires individual drives to be formatted first, then combined into a RAID.
  
  In both cases, any existing data on the drives is erased when the RAID is created.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Robert Withers says:

December 14, 2022 at 5:33 pm

I think “blade” is new jargon for SSD drive, no? For those of us working in 4K I think the spinning drives are still fine,right? Please advise and correct as needed. Thanks for all your info.

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 14, 2022 at 7:42 pm
  
  Robert:
  
  Blade is a very old IBM term for a device mounted on a card that slips into a slot on a chassis. Think of those PCIe cards that plugged into old IBM PCs.
  
  In general, a spinning hard disk is OK for single camera editing of 4K. But it will have problems with multicam. For 4K I recommend a RAID, either HDD or SSD.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Jim Edds says:

January 3, 2024 at 2:26 pm

It’s so much easier creating a RAID0 with Apple RAID Disk Utility using your way Larry vs the Apple Support way. I’m getting rid of all my SoftRaid RAID 5 and just going with Apple RAID0. Fewer problems to deal with when Apple rolls out another OSx update.

Thanks for the step by step with photos.

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  January 3, 2024 at 4:05 pm
  
  Jim:
  
  Happy to help. Please remember, though, that RAID 5 protects your data in case one hard drive dies. RAID 0 is faster and holds more, but you lose all your data if one drive fails.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply