Configuring RAID 1 (Mirroring) on the 2011 Mac Mini Server

With the release of the new Mac Mini Server without an internal CD/DVD and Lion OS, Apple has stopped shipping installation DVD's with the new Mac Mini's. When booting the Server for the first time, the Setup Assistant runs and configures Lion OS on the primary drive leaving the second internal HD for use other than for booting. In my configurations for my customers, the 500GB internal HD's are not large enough to store my customer's data so I'm often connecting an external HD RAID such as a Drobo or Promise RAID. When doing so though, the second internal 500GB HD has little use for me and would serve me and my customer best if it were configured as a part of the boot HD in a RAID 1 configuration (mirrored). Without an installation DVD now, configuring this is more challenging. Here is how I've been successful:

1. When booting the Mac Mini for the 1st time, hold the "T" key down to force the unit into Target Disk Mode
2. Connect a laptop via Firewire 800 cable
3. Open Disk Utility on the laptop
4. Select the primary Macintosh HD mounted from the Mac Mini on your laptop HD in Disk Utility
5. Select New Image and change the type to Read Only and the save destination to your laptop's Desktop and start creating the image (approx 5-7 minutes)
6. When finished imaging, select each of the 500GB internal HD's and Erase leaving the name as the default
7. Select RAID and drag each of the Untitled HD's into the RAID window
8. Press the Options button at the bottom and put a check in the "Automatically rebuild RAID mirror sets" and leave the RAID Block Size: at 32K
9. Press Create RAID and wait till finished (~30 seconds)
10. Select Images from the top pull-down and then Scan Image of Restore…
11. Select the image of the Macintosh HD from step 4 on the Desktop to prepare it for the restore
12. Press Restore at the top right and drag the new RAID volume into the Destination box
13. Select the Browse… button to the right of the Source and select the Macintosh HD image you just scanned for restore
14 Select Restore and press Continue at the warning box
15. When the restore is finished, quit Disk Utility and drag the Macintosh HD Firewire mount to the trash to disconnect it from Target Disk Mode
16. Push the power button on the Mac Mini Server to shut it off and pull off the Firewire 800 cable
17. Restart the Mac Mini Server and begin the Setup Assistant process

An alternative to this would be to run thru the Setup Assistant till the setup is complete and you've got a working machine. You could run all the updates or not and then start the imaging process. This seems to work well for me when needing to RAID the internal HD's on the new Mac Mini Server. For on-site or remote assistance, please visit my web site at www.sourcenetworks.com for contact information.