Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

iPod Shuffle RAID

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tue Feb 08, 2005 02:11 PM
from the because-you-can dept.
Data Storage Portables (Apple) Hardware
ricercar writes "So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course! The original intent was to actually install OS X on the RAID and boot from that, but the OS X (Panther, 10.3.5) Installer wouldn't allow it."
+ -
story
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

iPod Shuffle RAID 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • If you could install it (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheKidWho (705796) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:13PM (#11609199)
    What would the boot times be like?

    Wait, anyone know of any flash hard drives for PCs/Macs that work via SATA? This would be interesting to do, almost instant boot.

    • Re:If you could install it (Score:5, Informative)

      by bigtallmofo (695287) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:18PM (#11609275)
      I tried this a number of years ago. In fact, there's an CF->IDE interface board that is very inexpensive that I purchased. Turned out that CF was much slower than my hard drive.

      Might be interesting to try it again with today's professional flash memory, but with readily available CF memory from about 3 years ago, I was able to install a Windows OS on it but it was slower than my hard drive.

      If you really want something like this, there are memory drives that use actual battery-backed up RAM (take your pick of varities) that are as you would expect lightning quick. Last I checked though Bitmicro's Site [bitmicro.com], they were very expensive.

          • Re:If you could install it (Score:5, Informative)

            by b1t r0t (216468) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @03:01PM (#11609847)
            Um, you don't have DMA on flash media because you address it just like RAM.

            Um, actually you don't. Linear flash went out of style years ago, as any Newton owner can tell you. With the exception of flash cards for older Cisco gear, all flash cards these days use an ATA interface. Anything that uses a non-PCMCIA slot (CF, MMC, SD, XD, SonyStick) is 100% ATA.

  • RAID Array? (Score:5, Funny)

    by CrankyFool (680025) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:13PM (#11609204)
    I don't think I could afford that without going to the ATM Machine and using my PIN Number to withdraw more money!

  • Awesome Hack! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ackthpt (218170) * on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:13PM (#11609205) Homepage Journal
    This, however underscores the difference between geeks and non-geeks:
    "So, what do you do when you and some friends are all getting iPod Shuffles? You make a RAID array out of them, of course!
    Among non-geeks such inspiration usually begins with acohol and ends with an entry in the Darwin Awards.

    • Re:Awesome Hack! (Score:4, Funny)

      by lakiolen (785856) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:15PM (#11609232)
      I'd like to see whatever it is that would get one into the Darwin Awards using the Shuffle.

      Being a nerd and all....

    • Re:Awesome Hack! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by geoffspear (692508) * on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:20PM (#11609315) Homepage
      I'm guessing the idea of a RAID of iPod Shuffles began with alcohol too.

      It's probably unlikely to end with a Darwin Awards entry, though, unless there's a mjor design flaw.

      A RAID of 40GB iPods would be orders of magnitude more useful, but if you've got that kind of money you'd be better off buying an Xserve RAID; you can get a 1 TB unit for the price you'd pay for a 600GB iPod RAID, without the rats nest of firewire cables (not to mention the really slow performance).

      • Re:Awesome Hack! (Score:4, Funny)

        by ackthpt (218170) * on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:28PM (#11609401) Homepage Journal
        I'm guessing the idea of a RAID of iPod Shuffles began with alcohol too.

        In my experience it's hard NOT to ruin delicate fiddly hardware and NOT to mangle code or scripts when under the influence. It's also somewhat less rewarding, should I pull it off.

        A RAID of 40GB iPods would be orders of magnitude more useful, but if you've got that kind of money you'd be better off buying an Xserve RAID; you can get a 1 TB unit for the price you'd pay for a 600GB iPod RAID, without the rats nest of firewire cables (not to mention the really slow performance).

        I can see it now ... Darwin Award entry:

        He got into jogging for his health, but found the running tedius and therefore got an iPod. That was pretty good, but then he considered the advantages of hauling around a 1 TB server and all the speakers and all the batteries necessary for Full Dolby Surround. In the end, he tripped and his liver was crushed by the whole apparatus.

    • Re:Awesome Hack! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Bilestoad (60385) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @03:24PM (#11610193)
      Among geeks the only insipration you need is "because it was there!". Witness cheap RAID on Mac that works, driven by a Mac mini:

      "The Mac mini Maxi" [appletalk.com.au]
      http://www.appletalk.com.au/articles/index.php?a rt icle=4433

  • Steps to success (Score:4, Funny)

    by iluvcapra (782887) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:14PM (#11609219) Homepage
    1. Read joke on slashdot
    2. Implement joke on slashdot
    3. ???
    4. PROFIT!!!

  • hackaday.com (Score:5, Informative)

    by Unreal7000 (728903) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:15PM (#11609234) Homepage
    This and other hacks can be found at hackaday.com

  • A Thumb Drive Raid Array (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MankyD (567984) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:15PM (#11609240) Homepage
    I really don't want to be a troll, but this seems rather inane to me. They made a RAID array from a bunch of thumb drives - so what? If they had installed OSX on it, then maybe, but for now, can't we limit slashdot to innovative and never-before-seen things?

  • Injustice (Score:5, Funny)

    by DisasterDoctor (775095) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:17PM (#11609264)
    That is unfair. The Apple Store is sold out of them for weeks, and I can't buy one for my wife for Valentine's Day, and these guys have so many they are making a RAID with them.

    Where is the justice? :-)

  • The best feature (Score:5, Funny)

    by gUmbi (95629) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:17PM (#11609273)
    And the best part is that every file request is randomized! You'll rediscover the data you already own and haven't worked with in years!

  • who will the RIAA bust... (Score:4, Funny)

    by jxyama (821091) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:19PM (#11609310)
    if one shuffle goes "corrupt" and music from one shuffle gets "recreated" on another? ;)

  • Very James Bond (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Idimmu Xul (204345) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:20PM (#11609312) Homepage
    doing this with 2 normal usb key drives, a raid array with the striped data on them, you could save all kinds of secret stuff on them which would be useless unless you had both drives!

    It could replace those security systems where 2 people have a key and there are 2 locks which must be opened at the same time for it to work.. just have 2 usb keys stripped, with a pgp key on them, which must be then inserted in to the security system at the same time for it to work or something

    i dunno, im just spouting things!

  • iApache (Score:5, Funny)

    by mushupork (819735) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:20PM (#11609314)
    Site's been slashdotted...or the damn battery died again!

  • RAID? (Score:5, Funny)

    by null etc. (524767) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:24PM (#11609369)
    Thanks to the RIAA, I want to avoid anything having to do with digital music players and "raids".

  • Gave up because the installer wouldn't let them? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DoctorPhish (626559) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:26PM (#11609377) Homepage
    That's hardly the right attitude from a supposed hacker.
    When Solaris 10 wouldn't allow installation on my Ultra1, I hex-edited the ISO, reburned, and installed anyways (and that only took me one evening).
    It's SOFTware for crying out loud! Show some initiative!

  • Yeah (Score:5, Funny)

    by sulli (195030) * on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:27PM (#11609399) Journal
    But this guy ate [erasing.org] his iPod shuffle.
  • Now that we can do a RAID Array, I want to see someone turn it into a beowulf cluster. Imagine the sound processing power we could harness by chaining 400 iPods together! Music listening would never be the same again!

    Ooh, ooh! I know! Setup an Uber iPod (uPod) add in wireless (wiPod? because!). If we got normal iPods with built-in wireless in the future, we could have one hell of a distributed computing network :) Either that or a really expensive geek tracking system

    Useless tech implementations rock :)

  • As seen on Pinky & The Brain (Score:5, Funny)

    by JLavezzo (161308) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:35PM (#11609485) Homepage

    Brain: Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?

    Pinky: Yeah, Brain, but if we could get that many iPod Shuffles and set them up as a RAID device would we still be able to listen to music on them?

    Brain: stares blankly at Pinky

    • It's obvious what their problem was ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:49PM (#11609630)
      The Shuffles kept returning the boot blocks in a random order!

    • Re:Instead of OS X... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by biglig2 (89374) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:51PM (#11609661) Homepage Journal
      Yeah, man, we don't want to hear about insane and pointless misuse of hardware unless Linux is involved!

      Heh, OK, let's get round that by thinking of a use for this... in fact I know a good one.

      RAID 5 your very sensitive data onto say 5 shuffles. Then unplug them and all five people take one each.

      You then can't access the data on those sticks unless you are quorate - 4 or more people needed to mount the volume.

      Hmmm, I was trying to think of an example of what to put on this and all I could think of was terrorist plans. Does this make it a bad idea?

      • Re:Instead of OS X... (Score:5, Funny)

        by chill (34294) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @03:32PM (#11610314) Homepage Journal
        I now have this vision of 4 scruffy terrorists in a room, three iPods hooked in to the array and the 4th guy listening to some U2 track and going "what? What'd I do?"

        -Charles

      • Re:Instead of OS X... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by jacobcaz (91509) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @03:41PM (#11610457) Homepage
        • Hmmm, I was trying to think of an example of what to put on this and all I could think of was terrorist plans. Does this make it a bad idea?
        How about corporate secrets? You know, like how the Coca Cola formula is supposed to be stashed in several bank vaults in Atlanta?

        If you have 1/5th of the data (plus parity) you can even duplicate your iPod Shuffle as needed to keep the data intact.

        Just make sure that 4 out of your 5 all fly on the same plane or travel in the same car (or really, attend the same conference) with their share of the data.

        You can also scale it up and down (4 drives needing 3 or 25 drives needing 24).

        The only downside with RAID5 is that you can only lose 1 device, so with larger numbers you need a higher and higher majority of your group to unlock the data.

        Another idea is to RAID the data and form a tontine using iPod Shuffles. It worked for Abe Simpson [snpp.com].

    • Re:Write life of flash again? (Score:5, Informative)

      by jnd3 (116181) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @02:31PM (#11609443) Homepage
      Most NOR-flash is rated for at least 100,000 erase cycles. And some of the newer AMD flash devices have a minimum 1,000,000 erase cycle guarantee per sector. Even erasing the entire flash 100 times a day would give you about 27 years of life.

      • Bwahahaha! (Score:5, Funny)

        by ggvaidya (747058) on Tuesday February 08 2005, @03:14PM (#11610025) Homepage Journal
        And lo, for the Darkness which feeds on Slashdot arose in wrath, and spake thus: "Mention an ancient near-dead Slashdot 'joke', do you, boy? Feel the force of the Slashdot as it falls upon thee!"

        And then the Darkness descended, and a storm of nerds fell upon the thread, and tore it hither and thither with their teeth and keyboards and mice, and the jokes made were of a putridness hitherto unknown even in the dark ASCII-porn and GNAA-filled underbelly of Slashdot.

        Yea, and verily was there a gnashing of teeth and a banging of heads as Natalie Portman, petrified and covered in hot grits, reminded YOU that all your old Korean ladies were now belong to us ... in Japan! And all, as one, welcomed their new Slashdot overlords - except in Nebraska, where a million Slashdot editors cried out in torment, and were silenced.

        And lo, for in this time of despair a glimmer of hope appeared, as finally was revealed the Secret Concealed from all since time immemorial, the unknown last-but-one step in the great Slashdot Business Plan. The answer was found to be simp...

        ATH+++
        NO CARRIER

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.