In 2004, a blogger explored creating a striped RAID array using four USB floppy drives under OS X. Driven by curiosity and a desire for slightly faster floppy access, they used the then-available Disk Utility to create a RAID 0 set. While the resulting "RAID" technically worked and offered a minor performance boost over a single floppy, the setup was complex, prone to errors due to the floppies' unreliability, and ultimately impractical. The author concluded the experiment was more of a fun exploration of system capabilities than a genuinely useful storage solution.
In a 2004 blog post titled "USB Floppy Disk Striped RAID Under OS X," author Andreas Ohlsson details his experiment in creating a software RAID 0 array using four USB floppy disk drives on a Mac OS X system. Motivated by a desire to increase floppy disk performance beyond the limitations of a single drive, Ohlsson leverages the operating system's built-in disk utility software to achieve this goal.
The post begins by highlighting the inherent slowness of floppy disks, a technology already considered outdated at the time of writing. Ohlsson emphasizes that his project isn't intended for practical everyday use, but rather serves as a proof of concept and a playful exploration of OS X's capabilities. He then outlines the steps involved in configuring the RAID array. This process involves connecting the four USB floppy drives to the Mac, opening the Disk Utility application, selecting the drives, and choosing the "RAID" tab. Within Disk Utility, Ohlsson opts for a striped RAID 0 configuration, which distributes data across all four drives simultaneously, theoretically quadrupling the read and write speeds compared to a single floppy disk. He explicitly chooses RAID 0 over other RAID levels, acknowledging the inherent risk of data loss associated with RAID 0. Since RAID 0 provides no redundancy, a single drive failure would result in the loss of all data on the array.
After configuring the RAID set, Ohlsson names it "FloppyRAID" and proceeds to format the newly created virtual volume with the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. He then conducts a series of performance tests using the "dd" command-line utility to measure the read and write speeds of the FloppyRAID volume. The results, while still significantly slower than modern hard drives, demonstrate a noticeable improvement over a single floppy drive. Ohlsson presents the read and write speeds achieved, showcasing the benefits of striping the data across multiple drives. He concludes the post by reflecting on the successful implementation of the RAID 0 array and reiterates the experimental nature of the project. While acknowledging the impracticality of using floppy disks for serious data storage, Ohlsson expresses satisfaction with the outcome, demonstrating that even outdated technology can be utilized in unconventional and interesting ways thanks to the flexibility of OS X's Disk Utility.
Summary of Comments ( 7 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43699301
Hacker News users reacted with a mix of nostalgia and amusement to the 2004 article about creating a striped RAID array from USB floppy drives. Several commenters reminisced about the era's slow transfer speeds and the impracticality of the setup, highlighting the significant advancements in storage technology since then. Some appreciated the ingenuity and "mad science" aspect of the project, while others questioned its real-world usefulness. A few pointed out the potential data integrity issues with floppy disks, making the RAID setup even less reliable. The dominant sentiment was one of lighthearted appreciation for a bygone era of computing.
The Hacker News post titled "USB Floppy Disk Striped RAID Under OS X (2004)" links to a archived blog post about creating a striped RAID array using USB floppy drives. The discussion on Hacker News is fairly brief, consisting of only a few comments, and doesn't delve deeply into the technical aspects.
One commenter expresses amusement and nostalgia, calling it "peak 2000s," highlighting the era's fascination with pushing the boundaries of then-current technology, even if the results were impractical. They also mention how the project embodies the hacker spirit of playful experimentation.
Another comment points out the absurdity of the setup in terms of performance, noting that the combined throughput of multiple floppy drives would still be incredibly slow compared to even a single hard drive of the time. This comment underscores the impracticality of the project while still acknowledging the ingenuity and entertainment value.
Finally, a commenter reminisces about the era of modifying and experimenting with hardware, contrasting it with the more locked-down nature of modern devices. This comment adds a layer of reflection on how technology has evolved and the changing landscape of user involvement with hardware.
In summary, the comments are primarily focused on the nostalgic and humorous aspects of the original blog post, reflecting on the ingenuity and sometimes impractical nature of early 2000s tech experimentation. There is no substantial technical discussion or debate in the comments.