MyBook Studio II and Yosemite/El Capitan

[mosesontheweb]

Hi everyone,

I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to El Capitan and I’m now thinking about going to 10.11 on my iMac Mid 2010 as well. Problem: I have two MyBook Studio II 2TB (in raid 1 configuration) connected to my iMac, one for Timemachine backups, the other one is my image archive (well, additionally there are two MyPassport drives attached as well …)

I remember that there was an issue with the WD Drive Manager when Mavericks was released (data loss), and it was fixed with a new release. I was looking for an updated version for the Drive Manager for versions 10.10+, however, Drive Manager disappeared completely from the downloads page. The Drive Utility shows only the MyPassport Studio drive as manageable device (and always reports, that there’s a raid problem on that small 3.5" drive …).

Anyway, I’m stuck. Before upgrading to El Capitan I somehow would like to know if I can use both MyBook Studio II drives still under El Capitan, even when the Drive Manager is not installed or working. Is the Drive Manager necessary to reflect both harddisks as one drive and thus created the raid level? Or is it just like a monitoring/configuring tool?

Any advice, hint or tip is very appreciated! Many thanks in advance!

Regards, Thomas

[ERmorel]

Hello,

At the moment, WD does not have a new version that is fully compatible with the new Mac OSx.

I haven’t try using that drive on the new OSx. Let’s see if any of the users can share some information about this.

[Ortwin_Gentz]

I’m experiencing huge problems with my MyBOOK Studio II since upgrading from 10.9 to 10.11. The RAID volumes just eject by themselves during normal operation.

In /var/log/syslog it says

kernel[0]: disk2s4: media is not present
kernel[0]: hfs: unmount initiated on Time Machine on device disk2s4
kernel[0]: jnl: disk2s4: close: journal is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions

This does not look good at all!

[antoninus]

I’m having the same problem: after moving to the new operating system I’m
no longer able to manage my drive. Although the drive still runs OK,
I’m bot able to change RAID I to RAID 0 because the proper WD-software
appears to be outdated.
(I’m running MACOSX 10.11.2 El Capitan)

[estwd]

Why would people never learn from the lesson of “Maverick” experience?

DO NOT use the manufacturer’s disk software, such as WD Disk Manager because the manufacturer may not fully know what Apple has done or will do when it updates/upgrades its OS.

You are lucky that you can still read your hard disk. When I upgraded to Maverick, I lost all the data on My Book Studio Edition II. Without backup, I would have lost all my images and video files accumulated over more than 15 years.

If you want to change RAID mode, take the disk to a computer with older Mac OS or to a Windows PC and configure it there. I guess you would not change the RIAD mode very often, most probably, only once.

WD should have a RAID set up switch at the back of the drive so that the RAID mode can be changed without the help of a computer.

I have just got a Lacie 2Big. It has such a switch at the back.

It is even better if it has a small LCD panel, showing various information about the disks.

Lesson: NEVER install the Disk Manager. If you have done it, remove it COMPLETELY from your system.

I would not expect WD to update its Disk Manager to make an old product compatible with new OS forever. It would stop supporting an old product one day but you still want to keep on using the disk because it is still working fine.

[estwd]

I had made an enquiry to WD about the compatibility of My Book Studio Version II to El Capitan. The following is its response:

"About your inquiry for the compatibility with Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, kindly be informed that this device is not officially compatible with El Capatan. Kindly refer to a list below of OS Compatibility for My Book Studio Edition II device;

Mac OS X:

- Tiger 10.4
- Leopard 10.5
- Snow Leopard 10.6
- Lion 10.7

Windows:

- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7

The My Book Studio Edition II was released quite many years before the EL Capitan was launched, and currently there is no new firmware update for this device available. So, the EL Capatan is not officially compatible with this device. If it cannot be detected or work on your Mac, you may try to check and do the OS/software updates on the Mac. However,I cannot give you a guaranty whether if your device will work properly on El Capitan or not. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and we do hope for your kind understanding."

I had also just upgraded to El Capitan. I do not have the courage to connect my Studio II to the computer yet. I am planning to replace the two disk drives in the Studio II with two identical old disk drives, connect the Studio II to the Mac and see what would happen.